When I was in high school my family used to take annual trips to the Leelanau, MI area to go skiing. We stayed in a cabin within walking distance of Lake Michigan. Our view from the beach included both North and South Manitou Islands, places that I thought would be great to explore. Years later I did some research on the islands and figured a trip to the Island was a little out of my league at the time, so it got placed on the back burner for a while with the rest of my outdoor adventures.
Fast forward 20 years and the topic of backpacking on the island comes up again. A friend's wife had bought him some backpacking equipment for his birthday. Planning for the trip got serious in the fall of 2011. We had no idea how it was going to work out, but sitting by the campfire at deer camp commitments were made to make the trip to North Manitou Island happen during the summer of 2012.
I started doing some research again, this time made easier by better resources available on the Internet, and we started making plans. I studied several maps of the Island, as well as trip reports from other backpackers. I stumbled across a trip report written by a guy that had spent 14 nights on the island in a hammock. I also found a guy whose family used to own a cabin on the island in his youth when the Island was a private hunting preserve.
Excitement was building!
We settled on a 4 day trip at the end of June, we guessed the weather would be good, and everybody involved was able to schedule time away from work. This trip was going to be Mac, his wife Renee, Chrissy, and I.
Tentative Itinerary
Day 1
Leave home early and drive to Leeland to board the ferry to the Island. Arrive on the Island, complete our arrival briefing by the National Parks Service, hike toward the North West corner of the Island near the Pot Holes. Find a suitable camp site for the night.
Day 2
Explore the west side of the Island, moving camp somewhere south. I wanted to find Tamarak Lake. Planned points of interest include Swenson's Barn and Fredrickson's Place.
Day 3
Move camp to the east side of the Island. One of my college professors told me about a hill covered in strawberries near the school house, I thought it would be great to have some fresh strawberries while out on the Island with breakfast.
Day 4
Hike back to the boat dock for the ferry ride back to the main land. Have lunch at the Village Shanty Cheese Shop which I heard had amazing sandwiches, and then drive back home.
Our main goal for this trip was to get away from people to some relaxing peace and quiet. We wanted to explore the north half of the Island and leave the south side for another trip. What I really wanted was to see the stars without any light pollution from the main land, I've only been able to experience that once on a sailing trip on Lake Superior and couldn't wait to do it again.
