Wisconsin Century Ride (5/25/12)

Distance Total: 118 miles
Total Time: 11 hours 35 minutes
Start: 5:50am
Genoa City: 11:27am
Return: 6:25pm

TRIP NOTES:

We had a larger group this year riding four up to the border and back. Where we had just Matt, Ken, and I last year we added my Dad, Denny this year (who has done this trip probably more times than the rest of us combined). Denny and I got started from our house in Lombard and headed up to the Great Western where we met Matt and Ken just a few moments after 6am. The Great Western was in great condition this year where we had quite a bit of mushiness and standing water last year. We faced some head wind but made it through this section well.

Mt. Elbert Winter Ascent (2/18/12)

Route Name: East Ridge
Start Elevation: 9,607 ft. (2WD TH)
Summit Elevation: 14,433 ft.
Elevation Gain: 4950 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 11.4 mi
Start Time: 6:16am
End Time: 4:10pm

TRIP REPORT:

We left at just past o-dark-500 this morning to head for Twin Lakes and the South Mt. Elbert trailhead. We arrived in the morning twilight of about 6am and proceeded to get our gear ready. Another pair of vehicles were in front of us in the parking lot with four guys also getting their gear in place. They were testing out their avalanche beacons which were obviously new to them. We also would later learn they had rented their snowshoes as well. They had the impression there would be plenty of avy terrain on Elbert today, but the recent beta we'd read said otherwise.

Hoosier Ridge (2/17/12)

Route Name: East Ridge
Start Elevation: 11,539 ft. (Hoosier Pass)
Summit Elevation: 13,352 ft.
Elevation Gain: 2965 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 8.79 mi
Start Time: 9:30am
End Time: 4:07pm

TRIP REPORT:

We hit the trail from Hoosier Pass at 9:30am. The weather looked perfect for the day. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground at Hoosier Pass and so we started right away with snowshoes. The main trail heading east was well packed into the trees and so its possible snowshoes weren't entirely necessary, but we always like to have them. It was a clear trail to follow that led us out of the trees and into the shorter brush. We ascended mostly to the north of the crest of the ridge. At around 12000 we left the last of the brush and it was open meadow ahead of us. At this point there was also no clear trail anymore so we just navigated by sight to what seemed the high point of the ridge.

Mackinac Island (10/12/11)

Location: Boyne Mountain, Michigan

Hike #1: Biked the highway loop around the Island
Distance: 8.25 mi.
Elevation Gain: ~100 ft.
Time: 1 hr. 7 mins.

Hike #2: From downtown to Fort Holmes
Distance: 1.56 mi.
Elevation Gain: 292 ft.
Time: 30 mins.

TRIP REPORT:

Our pastors conference ended things nicely the day before and gave us an entire free day on Wednesday to do as we pleased. Being so close to Mackinac Island Sarah and I decided to get ferry tickets and head over there. I had done some research on the hiking here ahead of time as well. I found some decent maps outlining trails all over the island to get from place to place. As we arrived we debated what we wanted to see and ultimately settled on renting some bikes.

Boyne Mt. (10/10/11)

Location: Boyne Mountain, Michigan

Hike #1: Basic loop up/down Boyne Mt. (10/10/11)
Distance: 1.22 mi.
Elevation Gain: 469 ft.
Time: 43 mins.

Hike #2: Descent from top through northern side of Boyne Mt. (10/10/11)
Distance: 2.00 mi.
Elevation Gain/Loss: 189ft, -580ft.
Time: 42 mins.

Hike #3: Ascent of southern highpoint and loop down the middle of Boyne Mt. (10/11/11)
Distance: 2.29 mi.
Elevation Gain: 658 ft.
Time: 59 mins.

TRIP REPORT:

The hiking I was able to do at Boyne Mountain was on conjunction with the Pastors Conference that our district had taking place there for a few days. In looking forward to this I was doing all sorts of research on hikes in northern Michigan near Boyne hoping to take advantage of the free time the conference offered us. I'd found short tracks for the walk up Avalanche Mountain in Boyne City (only about 200ft) and I'd found ways to get on sections of the North Country Trail that runs through northern Michigan. I wasn't able to find any information on the web specifically about hiking at Boyne Mountain Resort so I hoped for the best when we arrived.