Blind Lake hike

It's been a while since the last time Sultan of Brunei went on a hike (almost a year now I think), but we managed to get a quick one in last weekend. We booked a couple of sites at Blind Lake. It's one of the rustic campgrounds out at the Pinckney Recreation Area that you can only get to via the trail system. Rich stumbled across the sites while planning the trip. I've been going out to Pinckney for almost ten years and I never knew that you could book sites there so I was pretty excited to check it out.

Day 1

Map
We left Dearborn around 7:00 am and stopped at the Original Pancake House in Southfield for a good breakfast. Afterwards we made a quick stop at Whole Foods to pick up beer and steaks for that nights dinner and Walgreens for a few last minute items. One more stop by work to pick up some music and we were on our way.
We finally got to the trailhead around 11:30 after checking in at the Ranger Office. The lady at the desk pointed out a shortcut on the map that would save us a couple of miles on the way in. That left us with about 7 miles of hilly terrain to cover. The weather was nice so we decided to skip the tents and bringing a rainfly to create a makeshift shelter in case of rain. Rich and I opted to go without out sleeping bags as well since overnight temps were supposed to be over 60 degrees.
The hike in was easy enough although we did get bitten up by the bugs. At one point we ended up off the trail on a rural street where we were greeted by a dog who seemed to feel we might not belong there. He was kind enough to follow us back onto the trail and make sure we were back on track. You can actually see the spot on the map where we head straight north and then back. We rolled in to the camp area around 2:30 and after some deliberation decided on site 5, the furthest from the water, assuming the bugs would be less active there.
After setting up camp we went for a swim in Blind Lake. The water was nice and warm and the bottom was covered in a gray, mushy clay that looked perfect for sculpting. Bill even managed to snag a few clams from the bottom and was prepared to steam them for dinner. After further consideration he decided against it and threw them back.
Dinner went well. We cooked the steaks over the campfire and each enjoyed a bottle of St. Peter's Cream Stout (try it) to wash it down. Our biggest regret at this point was that we had but one bottle each. After dinner I got out my camera and shot a bunch of long exposure pictures in the dark.
Around 11:30 we were all ready for bed so we calmed the fire down to coals and settled in for a restful nights sleep. That's when things got a little rough. I haven't been camping in the middle of the summer in a long time. I usually opt for early spring and late fall when there are less people out so I forgot that people where not the only things that were plentiful this time of year. No sooner did we lay down than the bugs began their attack. The bites through the clothing I could handle well enough but it was the constant flybys with them buzzing in my ears that was driving me nuts. Every time I was about to doze off I would get an earful. First on the left, then on the right. On the few occasions I did manage to fall asleep I would wake up to one in my nose. The rumblings of the others let me know I was not alone. At one point, around 2:30, we even contemplated packing up and hiking back in the dark, but we managed to hold out catching little nuggets of sleep here and there.

Day 2

Map
Unable to sleep, we got an early start on day 2. We had eaten, packed up camp and were back on the trail by 7:30. We were prepared for a rough hike back. We were all tired from lack of sleep, sore from the previous day's hike and some ominous looking clouds had rolled in. About 15 minutes into our hike it started to sprinkle but it didn't last long and while the morning was a bit gloomy we were able to trek the 4.5-5 miles back to camp a lot more quickly and easily than we had expected.
After we got on the road we stopped for breakfast at the Lighthouse Cafe in Dexter and then headed home. I made it back just in time to join Jen and the kids at the Yoga for Peace Festival at Ford Field.

By nate at 08/16/2007 - 23:32
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By NoelD at 06/17/2009 - 02:51
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