Ravi. Not dead.

In early June, Tom, Ravi, Tammy and I found ourselves in Madison's REI. Ravi and Tammy supposedly came along for the fun of it, but I kind of think there was more to it than that. No sooner did Tom and I turn around than Tammy had Ravi talked into a new backpack! Well, that was no good by itself, so I of course had to make sure he had backpacking-worthy shoes to go with it. And there we were. Ravi all dressed up and no where to backpack. So this past weekend Jeremiah, Jody, Ana, Tom and I put our personal preferences for comfort and air conditioning aside to head to one of our favorite backpacking locations, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in northern Michigan. I know, heroic and self-sacrificing, right?

Car stuck "in a doughnut area"

I'm pretty sure we had him nervous right from the start. We were supposed to meet Ana at our camp site Thurs night, and somehow ended up in a town on the wrong side of Munising, wandering around darkened streets filled with Christmas shops and north pole-themed street names. For real. Once we made it back to the other of Munising, we found ourselves driving around an ATV track in the middle of the night in the midst of a group of long-abandoned camp sites. They looked close enough to the real deal but Jeremiah, who was driving (and whose car we were beating on dirt trails), really didn't think an ATV track was compatible with campground sites. Finally, he peered ahead, motioned, and exclaimed to us all, "you guys! This is a doughnut area!" K, maybe you had to be there. But "This is a doughnut area!" became our rallying cry for the rest of the weekend. Ravi suggested calling Ana and asking her to set off a flare so we could find her in the dark, right about the time Jeremiah's car got stuck in the sand. We all got out and he was eventually able to drive forward and we made it to our site, no flares required. I'm guessing Ravi was by this point becoming pretty dang apprehensive about our ability to navigate the wilderness on foot when we clearly had so much trouble with wheels and not one, but TWO functioning GPS devices on board.

Jody, Jeremiah, Ravi, Tom, me, Ana

Friday we got trail passes, had a lovely breakfast in Munising, and repaired a tent (yes, the "boy" tent. The girl tent was fine. I'm sure Ravi wasn't worried at all about the tent ripping open in the middle of a thunderstorm.) while Ana and Jeremiah dropped a car ahead on the trail. And then we were off! And it was simply beautiful. Tom and I were the only ones who had been there before - and the last time had been quite a bit more foggy. So it really was just fabulous to be there and on the trail. Check out the pictures if you don't believe me! Jody and Ana kept us amused with stories on the trail, Ravi told us stories of a previous camping trip gone wrong, and Jeremiah alternated between making insightful comments and wishing Christy (his fiancee) was there with us.

By the end of the day, it became clear that things were going just a little too well. Since Ravi didn't show any particular signs of impending injury, and since something dramatic needed to happen at some point, Tom decided to take the fall for us all. Literally. We had decided to hang out/cook supper on the stone slab shore and as Tom waded out with his cool camera for a good sunset shot, he slipped and fell. His goal of keeping the camera dry was met, for the most part. However, he sacrificed his elbow in the process. Ravi took a look, saw bone, and referred it to the rest of us. Thankfully, Jody's had some training in backcountry first aid, so with Ravi and Ana running back to the camp site for first aid stuff and the rest of us helping however we could, we got him patched up well enough to stop the bleeding. For the rest of the trip, he tried with varying levels of success to keep it dry, clean, elevated, and from getting bumped. He ended up going to the doctor on Monday where they immediately gave him a tetanus shot and put him on antibiotics. And there - we hope - that part of the story ends. :( Because I'm his girlfriend and I'm writing this :) I get the prerogative to say that I was impressed with how little he complained - between that and several other injuries, he really had grounds for it!

move along, move along... nothign to see here!

Indian Pipe!

Saturday dawned as beautifully as Friday had. We had 10 miles to cover, which didn't seem like much at the outset (it never does), so we had a leisurely pancake breakfast and then set out. Have I mentioned that the Pictured Rocks are just incredibly beautiful? The pictures capture it to some extent, but Ravi and I talked about the fact that there just isn't a way to capture the stillness and the sound of water and the pulsing beauty of it all. At one point we were bumbling along the trail and I noticed something white. I paused to look closer and about fell over with excitement. I had found Indian Pipe, a rare flower that grows in the region but that I had yet to discover on my own. Indian Pipe is cool - it's truly a flower, not a fungus, but you wouldn't know it to look at it, since it doesn't have or use chlorophyl. Ravi's camera can take 3D pictures, and if the blogger technology supported it, I'd post it here. Even in 2D, it's still pretty stink in' cool, hey?!

While I was getting excited about wildflowers, Tom was developing new economic theories. He and Jeremiah hashed through possiblities of eliminating the public sale of stocks and turning all companies into consumer-driven cooperatives. Toward the end of the day's hike, Ravi had yet to be seriously fearful for his life, so it was time to take things up a notch. There's a great swimming hole along the path, where you can jump off the rock into the clear cold water. Never mind that Ravi can't swim: we all were jumping, so Ravi had to too! And he didn't die! We played around in the water and on the rocks for more than an hour, soaking up the sun and the beauty before heading back to the trail for the days last stretch.

Jody giving Ravi impromptu swimming lessons

We wound up the day near a more sandy beach (much easier on elbows). While a few evil stable flies did show up just to make sure we knew there were problems and troubles in the world, we really had a lovely evening. The sun set beautifully and we watched it sink into the water hugging our backpacking meals and just being glad to be alive.

Sunday morning started hot, and got warmer and muggier from there. Jody, Ana and Ravi were smart and started the morning in the water, but after a while even that didn't keep every one of us from getting sweaty and just a teensy bit miserable. Finally! A day for Ravi to give up on backpacking as a valid form of entertainment. Only it didn't work. Even after taking a wrong turn and fighting off bugs and dropping stuff and Ana dropping her pack to run back for it and leaving beautiful Lake Superior for woodland trail, Ravi was STILL smiling! It was a little eerie. I think we were all glad to finally reach the car and the beautiful air conditioning, but Ravi's final, parting comment was, "so, can we go next weekend too?"

still smiling!

Hmm - it's really tempting!