Winter is knocking on the door

Heat was on when I got up. A first since May.

And all those leaves that need clearing :-)

Lucky for us everything is evergreen.

Cool, one less job to do.

I am glad it's getting cooler, it does not get much above 75f and below 0f in my home town in Ireland.

110f here nearly fried my brain.

I did get to see some snow last week in Colorado, my new avatar picture is taken on top Buchanan Pass in the Indian Peaks Wilderness (11,837ft)

Wild temperature fluctuations guaranteed. Yup, it snowed here the other day, and it's right around freezing now but it'll be in the 70s by the afternoon.

Damn, better get down the gym and get proper fit for winter and give up beer, butter, bread, ice cream ;-)

OK, so that's breakfast accounted for, but what about lunch & dinner? :-)

On topic, the SynMat UL's gone into hibernation along with the Megalite and the Soto ODR1 stove. DownMat, Versalite and WindPro II here we come. My shoulders are aching at the thought of the extra ounces already. And so is my bank manager.

Burgers and Donuts for lunch and Roast pig for dinner ;-)

A lot of my Winter kit debuted last weekend between what I was using and Simon borrowed.

I was going to try to get out soon for a weekend but my work colleagues told me to stay out of woods until after hunting season.

Maybe I need a red tent.

Now you understand my reasoning for swapping out the green Soulo for a red one. Of course, that's not going to help me much when I'm on the move during the day :-(

"I was going to try to get out soon for a weekend but my work colleagues told me to stay out of woods until after hunting season."

If you did, you'd be missing out on some of the best backpacking Michigan has to offer. My take: There are many different hunting seasons in Michigan. I leave the woods to the deer hunters during gun season (Nov 15-30)but wear visible colors and take my chances in the remainder of fall and winter. When there is some sort of hunting season going on (archery, muzzleloader) I confine my travels to designated trail systems so as not to ruin someone's hunt or more importantly have them ruin my hike. Few hunters set up right on a national trail because they don't want people walking through their carefully set up stand. Those I have met have typically been responsible outdoors types just using the trails to get around. I also think it takes some skill and visibility for the non-rifle/shotgun hunts so archers aren't typically loosing blindly into the underbrush.

You should definitely get out and enjoy the fall colors. Should be just about perfect this weekend.

You will get some bright orange clothing Stuart ;-)

Hi Ike,

There was talk of going this weekend but my my buddy has has a death in the family, and I don't really fancy solo trips.
Where I live is heavily forested and it sure does look nice right now.

Will drop you a Pm.

Just to chime in, I'm thinking about doing the Manistee river loop with the return section on my UPS-inbound packraft. I'd aim to do the Manistee river trail section between say 10am-4pm.

I'll sport my neon-green Houdini in all cases, but maybe should go with an orange reflective vest? Will it irritate the hunters if I wear a bear bell for good measure? Maybe just strum the acoustic guitar while I go :) The packraft is blue, and I'll wear the houdini on top of my other gear, hopefully they don't hunt seal?

Got off the phone with the Baldwin ranger office and she chuckled "wear orange", when I asked her if she'd go she replied "probably not" followed by laughter…

I'm really itching to try out this packraft on a "real" trip, but would also like to make it to see my 30th birthday!

Stephen – Looking forward to trying those RAB pants!!!

Mike,

You will really like them, they went in the post yesterday morning so you should have them tomorrow or Saturday.

Cheers,

Stephen