OT -Camping/fishing
I've more or less been a lurker here for a couple years after being a fairly regular participant. Just got back from the central UP followed by several days at Gates Lodge on the Au Sable. Checked the board and saw XM's Friday post. So I'll brag. Chicken thigh/ham hock/ northern pike gumbo from the dutch oven in camp along with Two Hearteds and basil julips.
Anyway, we caught several nice pike on the spinning gear and a couple good browns on the fly (well) after dark. Pretty sure we're not having college football this year so I encourage all of us to get outside and enjoy a night or two in a sleeping bag.
How were the black flies?
Let's fire up the plans for that Mgoblog camping trip that never materialized several years ago.
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/mgoblog-camping-trip-good-idea
The laughs in this classic thread never grow old!
It's threads like that that keep me coming back here.
Once or twice a year, there's a thread that comes along at just the right moment, usually by accident and because the OP does not know the audience that well. Those are the threads we remember. The camping thread was such a thread.
I'm ashamed to say I completely missed participating in that discussion.
I always wondered whatever happend to old Dennis. Hope he didn't die by bear attack cause none of us showed up!
"Eleven hundred men went into the woods. $#!& went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first mod for about a half-hour."
From the dutch oven you say...
Great spot -- did you get the pike on the river, below Mio or near McMaster's Br section?
We're heading up this weekend for a week -- always drop in at Gates, for flies and impulse buys.
Pike came from a nice little lake in the central UP called North Gemini. Maybe 20 miles south of Grand Marais. Good Luck!
Brook trout and walleye make my ears perk up.
Just camped and fished on Grand Island for the past two days. Caught nothing... But did make some clam chowder with some smoked trout. Amazing.
Where'd you camp in the UP?
Just got back from camping the Grand Tetons, Badlands, Yellowstone, and Montana. Also stopped at Field of Dreams in Iowa. great camping road trip.
Any favorites among those places? Glacier is tops on my list current if I'm able to swing a trip out west, though Tetons wouldn't be far behind. In the meantime, I don't want to brag, but I hit up a state park in Indiana this weekend and did some minor backpacking and camping with my 6 year old. Carrying all the gear and enough snacks for a kindergarten classroom made the park feel like I was hiking the width of Glacier.
Unrelated, I spent a handful of tailgates at the BOX house waaaaay back in the day, around the time it was "founded". You live there by any chance?
I know this wasn't directed at me but we spent all of June tent camping out West. The Tetons and Yellowstone are beautiful but feel like your at Disney World, so many people, lines to get into the park and at attractions. The Badlands are cool, more deserty climate so we didn't camp there because we like trees and forests. An hour or two past Badlands is Custer State Park which we really enjoy, great hiking and camping. Between Custer and Yellowstone are the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. We liked this better because you still get mountains but with a lot less people. Seven hours west of Yellowstone there is great camping in Idaho. The beauty of Idaho blew my mind, I always thought they just grew potatoes.
The Bighorns and the Sheridan, WY area are a very nice secret.
Seconded! My buddy and I were pretty disappointed in Yellowstone. Every single spot of interest was just packed with tourists. Seemed like a big money grab, with back-to-back $35 entrance fees that doesn't include any overnight camping. We didn't really like Rushmore for this reason either. We are very much off-the-beaten path campers, preferring solitude, so our favorite spots were Makoshika State Park (badlands) in Montana and Brooks Lake in the Tetons. At the latter, a recent Michigan grad and her boyfriend offered us free drugs.
I do wish we would've made it to Glacier, but that's another adventure.
p.s. I lived at BOX way back in the Rich Rod era.
Excellent, thanks for the tips. If you prefer solitude and don't mind some hiking, you need to take a trip to Isle Royale. It'll be the polar opposite of what you describe about Yellowstone. Pro tip: If you really want solitude up there, go early or late in the season. You might go a full day of hiking and not see a single other person. Last time I went, the moose to person ratio of my encounters was like 8:1 in favor of the moose.
Ahh, Rich Rod eh? You must be a youngster, my BOX experience pre-dates that a little bit if I remember correctly. Around the time of the "founding", they had a dude there who wanted to save on rent, so he pitched a tent in the basement and lived there for the year. That is certainly another way to experience "camping".
Little Lake called North Gemini. Very pretty with lots of wildlife.
When you get older the ground is too hard to sleep on. Plus, I don't like that gamey feeling.
I'm currently enjoying a campground in the greater Hartland area and will be camping until August 7th.
Well, I guess it would be more glamping; seeing that I'm typing this on my laptop with the Tiger game on TV in the background.
Good advice! Spent the weekend on the North Fork of the Flathead river bordering Glacier national park catching some westslope cutthroat trout with the fly rod.
Will WD be there ?
I used to love camping when I was a kid in the Boy Scouts. Then I joined the army and completely lost any interest in camping for fun.
Learned to hate camping when my kids were in the scouts.
September 18th, 2020 at 1:39 AM ^
Totally agree with your recommendation. Camping outside is great and since this year is such a bad one then it's better to do everything you can to make it better. Camping is one of such activities. I've chosen recently a decent cold weather tent for my next trip. It's so relaxing. After this, I'll try fishing too.