Fichigan

November Camp

When the sun comes out in Michigan, no matter the time of year, camping sounds good. Highs in the mid-forties, low thirties at night, and somehow a one-nighter up by the Pigeon River was workable. Natch asked and I waffled, admittedly, until I saw the sunny forecast. If the sun’s out… go for it.

Natch, Jake, and I dispersed camped up at Grass Lake on Saturday Night. We met around noon. We wanted to camp at “Burnt Clutch,” our normal late-season spot, but it was taken. A large party of bird hunters were camped there. There are a couple spots along Grass Lake, a little further up the trail, and we managed to get a spot. I was surprised to see it open because we often see people there.

Feral stopped by to pick up a deer rifle I don’t use, a gift from my stepdad Ken. I gave him the rifle but told him the box of shells would be seventy dollars 🙂 Feral didn’t camp, just drove over for the rifle. I thought of making a joke about “the real men are camping” but then thought I might have had to add later: “The smart one stayed home.”

We fished the Pigeon River. Two spots. Last fall Natch and I found new access upstream of Tin Bridge. There’s a locked DNR gate on the main two-track so we parked there and walked in. It opens to a huge field and a footpath leads through it and down through woods to the river. The Pigeon is mostly sand in that stretch, hardly any gravel – which was surprising. A half mile or so upstream it turns to mostly gravel, and then back to mostly sand. Fishing was tough. Natch saw a nice rainbow trout over twenty, and Jake saw a smaller brown trout. We didn’t fish long because there wasn’t much trout cover.

We decided to hit the Cornwall stretch which often produces large browns and rainbows. You can’t keep the browns this time of year but you can keep a rainbow.

No luck on the Cornwall stretch either so we exited at our normal get-out spot and went back to camp. I brought some “Better Cheddar” sausages and we cooked them over the campfire. Warm food helped. It was so cold. Not so noticeable when the sun was out, but come nightfall it was “see how close you can get to the campfire and not burn your shins.”

The new spot on Grass Lake was great. There was a stone circle fire pit and lots of room for tents, even trailers. The lake was spectacular in the setting sun. If we camp this late next year I’ll seriously think about bringing the scamp trailer. I slept okay in my small tent but the ground was hard and it was tricky staying warm. I crawled into my sleeping bag and put a quilt and a Carhart coat over me. It was raining in the morning. I packed up early, in the dark. My fingers froze by the time I was loaded up. I cranked up the heater in the 4runner and took off. Natch and Jake were sleeping in their trucks. I said goodbye but didn’t get an answer from either one. I felt bad about leaving but it’s not like we would have hung out in the freezing rain. Later, by text, they said they had a great time.

Next project: It’s a long time till the next trout season opener and Natch suggested we each make a peace pipe to smoke a little mixture. I like that as an art challenge. He has some distant Cherokee DNA and may have been inspired by the Cherokee peace pipe illustration on one side of my possibles box. (see earlier post). We have added a hiking stick as an optional project for non-smokers in the group. Same rules: make it functional, creative, and unique. Show and tell at spring trout camp.