The trip took place early September near the end of my summer break, and I had really wanted to go backpacking somewhere, like North Manitou Island of Sleeping Bear Sanddunes. But, my parents wanted to go to an area close enough to the national lakeshore to taunt me, but far enough to not be able to go backpacking there. My parents wanted to stay in a Hampton Inn.
But Petoskey State Park turned out to be quite a nice place for camping and exploration. And the drive there yielded some nice pictures of the clouds.
We arrived at the Hampton Inn on a cold night, and we were all staying together in the hotel first. It was a bit stressful; a lot of people, including my parents, are too disconnected and afraid of nature. I had to go downstairs and relieve my stress on the treadmill, so I jogged barefoot on it.
The next morning we enjoyed a nice free hotel breakfast. I don't know why, but I always enjoy those. The food is always good enough for me, and I guess family breakfasts just don't happen that often.
Anyhow, we drove out towards the park through the town of Petoskey, which is a pretty rural/suburban community. A very wealthy one, too. There were a lot of quaint Victorian looking houses (that my mom was obsessing over due to the recent decision to repaint the house).
But civilization was not what I was looking for; I had had enough of that for the time. But before we arrived at the park, we stopped at Walmart to do last minute camping shopping, since this was sort of an ill-prepared camping trip for us. All I have to say is that I wanted to get out of that Walmart immediately. The sterile, artificial atmosphere, the low-quality, materialistic products, and all the people there that did not interact with each other... Ugh.
We arrived at the park, and at first it did not look too promising; there was a simple parking lot, some forests in the distance, and a small ranger station. But I looked at a sign and saw a picture of a good looking set of sanddunes.
We got our camping pass and set our tent up.
After setting up camp, Bryan and I sat around for a little while my parents walked on the beach. We later went walking around on the dunes as well, but Bryan was tired and went back. I continued exploring.
The beach was beautiful, and even more so were the sanddunes.
The entrance, so to speak, into the valley of dunes was quite beautiful. The grass flowed from the lake shore wind. The expanse of the dunes seemed outdone only by the intricate, cloud-filled sky. I had to walk with my two bare feet through the dunes and explore all the nooks and crannies.
There was a bunch of drift wood speckling the landscape. You could easily use them to build a little dug out shelter. I continued walking, up the dunes this time, and into all the bushes at the tops of the hills.
There were a number of secrets. Little groves of bushes that almost formed an organic grotto that you could peak out of and stare across the dunes. There was also a clump of three trees with branches that hung down, and they formed a sort of hut. The area had even been lined with rocks by a previous traveler, and there were perfect branches to sit on.
I of course explored the area with bare feet and open shirt, and my goodness it felt amazing. It felt so right to be so open and intimate with nature.
I briefly returned to camp, but then got bored and continued hiking along the dunes. When I returned again, my parents had apparently driven to and from the hotel. They had bought sandwiches to eat.
We also prepared a bowl of ramen noodles with tomatoes, corn, and spinach using the Supercat alcohol stove.It was very delicious. As we ate, this guy was watching us keenly, just sitting up in a branch the whole time. I fed him some cashews.
After eating, we all went to this trailhead that led up some wooden stairs and to a trail that sloped along a sandy, forested hill. It was beautiful. The sandy soil and the birch trees gave off a bright, earthy vibe.
We hiked up and down the hill, and my dad stopped often to point out some natural phenomena, like an insect egg in a plant or some fungi. There were lots of birches, pines, and oak trees. As we hiked, we looked for good sticks for firewood. And at one point, after coming down the opposite slope of the hill, the forest opened up to a little grassy prairie-like landscape. The sudden openness of the place was refreshing but mysterious. It felt like some ancient land full of magic.
This open area eventually connected to the main dunes. We walked back through a forest though and crossed a road into another forest. We hiked on a little trail until we got back to the camp.
We went to watch the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful.
We made a fire and toasted some marshmallows, which my parents enjoyed. After this, they left, and Bryan and I ate a bit more.
Well, after this my camera broke. It had been acting up as we watched the sunset (sand seemed to have gotten into it). And you know, right as this happened, the clouds cleared and all the stars came out, and you could even see a faint but nonetheless distinct milky way in the sky. I was breath taken. The absolute infinite expanse of the stars, with the glory of the milky way, was amazing.
Bryan and I walked out to the dunes to lie in the sand, endure the cold wind, and gaze at the stars. Some thoughts on this: I wondered if my camera breaking was actually a good thing; it helped me to remember the stars in the moment, rather than obsess over capturing them on camera. I had thought about this while taking pictures of the sunset. Yet, at the same time, I wish I had been able to photograph the stars; the Milky Way is such a rare wonder these days.
And you know, as we lied there stargazing, Bryan eventually started talking about ordinary things like videogames. I suppose the Milky Way was still too faint to capture his wonder. And of course, society's forces on one's mind are powerful. But isn't it weird that we've taken away the milky way from our own skies? I do not think it has made the Milky Way more magical by making it rarer. I think it has only taken wonder away from those who desperately need it. Granted, I was desperate to photograph it because it was so rare, but only because I would not be able to enjoy it in real life each night with the new or crescent moon.
The sun sets every night, yet never fails to amaze me.
We headed to bed. During the night I woke up from the cold and discomfort a few times (the rocks I left in my pockets didn't help). I shifted positions quite a bit.
Bryan and I awoke at about ten, and we started a fire from the previous coals and had hotdogs (cheese-filled jalepeno dogs. I had to give up my vegetarianism for this. BUT! I will say, no matter what the nay-sayers say, vegan sausage/hotdogs taste JUST AS GOOD. Anyone who says otherwise is simply not hungry enough and too greedy.)
We headed to the beach and ran. Bryan did sprint intervals, while I jogged about 2 miles down and back the beach. It was very fun, jumping over the water, avoiding the rocks, and running through the soft seaweed that had washed ashore. My parents arrived as I finished jogging (which felt fantastic!). We walked for a while and then came back to make a fire.
I had what I thought to be cedar bark (it was from the pines there), which i had heard makes good tinder. It must not have been the right kind, however, because even after I ground it up into a dry, fluffy powder and mixed it with magnesium, the sparks from my flint would not catch.
However, a sheet of birch bark, completely unaltered other than some magnesium scraps, INSTANTLY caught my spark and gracefully lit up. I had so much fun wandering around the campsites in my bare feet, looking for firewood and tinder, and gathering it with my knife. I carefully took small strips of birch bark off multiple trees, careful to leave plenty of bark to supply the tree with life.
We had noodles and baked beans with my parents, and after that they left. It was a bit sunnier this morning, and Bryan and I hiked through the forested hill path again. I went barefoot this time, and it felt so liberating and wonderful.
We watched as some campers pulled in, but for some reason did not talk to them. If I remember correctly, I hiked around on the beach some more, and Bryan and I chilled about at the campsite.
Later, my parents returned to watch the sunset with us. It was absolutely beautiful, like a portal into a Japanese painting. The clouds looked as though they had been dipped in pink fire, swirling around in such a mysterious but majestic manner.
We sat for a long time watching, and Bryan and I sang Trevor Hall's Unity while he strummed the guitar. It was a great time. We headed back to the campsite and had hotdogs and marshmallows. My parents left eventually, and unfortunately the sky clouded up again. We were going to call them if it ever cleared up, but unfortunately it did not.
The next morning, I started a fire using birch bark and last night's embers to warm both of us up as we packed.
After packing, we returned to the hotel for breakfast. The lady working there was extremely nice and talkative, as I so wish more people could be. I wonder, is she that way to stay human during her job? Stay Human...
Some Beachy Treasures
Well, that was the end of the camping trip. But that day, we still wandered around the town quite a bit. We saw lighthouses, restaurants, art galleries, and more. Thinking back, I am very surprised at how much we did and saw on that last day. It is interesting, this town Petoskey. It is full of people and ideas which sometimes sicken me and at other times fill me with hope.
For example, we were in a very bourgie part of town, with buildings most would regard as idyllic. There were clothing shops full of stereotypical rich-man sailor style clothes. The kind with the nerdy slacks and the polo shirt with the sweater wrapped around the neck. Seriously.
But worse than the expensive and untasteful clothes was this: A leather case that was designed to hold two cigars. Do you know how much it costed? How much should something like that cost? Ten dollars? Fifteen? Twenty? This damn thing costed NINETY-EIGHT DOLLARS. Think about this for a moment. Someone who buys this is willing to spend MORE MONEY to give shelter and security to his CIGARS than he is to help a man on the streets! Perhaps I overgeneralize, but when the wealthiest of this nation fight so hard to prevent their tax cuts from expiring, how can I think anything else?
Yet at the same time, as we went all around town looking for the famous Petoskey Stone, at one point my dad and I were climbing about on a limestone cliff on the side of the road. We found some fossils, when suddenly a truck slowed to a stop near us. I thought someone was going to yell at us for climbing the cliffs. But no, this man got out and started talking to us about the stones. He happily opened up the back of his truck for us and showed us a giant Petoskey Stone he had found, and told us about how he likes to sell them to support himself. He told us where he found some good specimens. This is how people should be: open, unjudgemental, friendly, and willing to talk to strangers.
In the original Adventure Archives I wrote for this trip, my last sentence simply states: "We can learn a lot about what to and what not to do from these people."
