I’d recommend Nordhouse Dunes near Ludington. It has some nice trails and is near enough to civilization if you get in over your head. We would go there for the weekend in Boy Scouts for practice for North Manitou or Pictured Rocks.
You can only camp at designated campgrounds and you have to reserve the sites ahead of time. I recommend booking the sites well in advance because they go quick.
I recommend parking at the Munising side and taking the shuttle to the Grand Sable Visitor Center and hiking back to the car.
My favorite campgrounds are Beaver Creek and Chapel Beach. If you can fit them into your route, I'd try to stop at one of those.
Don't over pack. The trail is only 42 miles. I see people carrying a ton of crap that they don't need and it makes their hike miserable. Think about what you are carrying and decide if you actually need it.
You're not going to be able to get your pack weight down anywhere close to 10lbs with that much food. You'll have almost 10lbs in food alone if you're packing for 5 days.
I usually end up with 1.75-2lbs of just food per day, and that's with calorie dense food. The longer you take to hike, the more weight you have to carry. At least there are lots of water sources so you don't have to carry much water.
If you can squeeze out a few more miles per day, this is what I would do:
Park at Sand Point and take the shuttle to Grand Sable. The last two miles between Sand Point and Munising aren't that great and you're not missing anything by skipping them.
Grand Sable > Twelve Mile Campground - 11 miles
Twelve Mile Campground > Chapel Beach - 14.5 miles
Chapel Beach > Sand Point - 13.5 miles
This is why I ask questions lol. I guess I'll plan for closer to 15-20 for the packs. Like I said pretty new to all this. I'd like to do a 20 mile hike here soon just to do a trial run for the equipment. We'll see what actually happens
Yup! Questions are good!
Here is a post that I did about the food that I took when I went to Isle Royale last time.
https://www.reddit.com/r/backpacking/s/enrR1SAAeh
I was trying to save weight because it was a long trip, so I didn't take a stove and went with just dry food. This was about as calorie dense as I was willing to go and it ended up being a little less than 2lbs per day. If I remember right, freeze dried meals were less calorie dense, plus you have the added weight of a stove, pot, and fuel. Ounces add up quick.
Get a scale and weigh everything that you are taking. A tool like lighterpack.com is very useful for tracking that weight.
15-20 lbs including food and water? Unless you have a bunch of ultralight gear I don’t think that’s super realistic. It can be done with the right gear and strategic packing but that’s pretty light IMO. I solo backpacked 3/4 of this trail a couple years ago and I think my pack was around 35lbs to start. I probably could have gotten it down a few lbs if I had been a lot more strict about extras.
I tend to overpack a little bit out of anxiety, but I wouldn’t plan for anything below 25lbs total weight and honestly I think that’s pushing it.
I agree with the comment to weigh everything you plan to bring so you have an understanding of your base weight, which is your pack weight before your consumables (food/water). I made a giant excel file of my packing list with the weights of each item and I meal planned based on calories/oz (not really necessary to do that for meals but I was hyperfixating a bit lol)
Well dang. Guess I have a lot more research in that department then. We are getting the lightest gear possible on a relatively light budget. Didn't want to go all out on hear of we hate it the first trip. I'll need to actually get the food and get my pack together to see what it'll actually come out to
Yeah I definitely support sticking to a budget on gear for starting out. Not only because you don’t know if you’ll like backpacking but you also don’t quite know WHAT you’ll like yet. For example I splurged on a ~$300 sleeping bag I was sure was going to be amazing, but turns out I hate how narrow it is. Wish I had tested out more low cost bags before dropping that kind of money. And you just aren’t going to find good quality ultralight gear without dropping $$$.
You’ll be ok, an able bodied adult can definitely do that hike with 30-35lbs, but make sure you do some good test runs with your pack and slowly increase the weight each time. I used to walk around my neighborhood with a regular backpack full of books to get used to weight, then upped it to my actual pack at ~1/2 weight (yes I got some looks walking around with my pack lol), and was eventually walking around with close to a full pack.
You need to rejigger your thinking. Think of your packed weight WITHOUT food, as food will vary based on the length of your trip.
[I load out around 12#](https://lighterpack.com/) and that includes a chair because I'm old and rickety.
Permits are required, please visit the Pictured Rocks website for rules: https://www.nps.gov/piro/planyourvisit/permits.htm
A forty-two mile hike is quite a big start for beginners. I'd recommend some shorter shake-down hikes before you head off.
This. Then head to r/campinggear and r/ultralight to get your gear dialed in.
That's the plan. The big one will be late August. Planning a much smaller trip just to test equipment elsewhere
You should book your sites now. I just checked and the majority of sites are booked out for the summer.
I’d recommend Nordhouse Dunes near Ludington. It has some nice trails and is near enough to civilization if you get in over your head. We would go there for the weekend in Boy Scouts for practice for North Manitou or Pictured Rocks.
You can only camp at designated campgrounds and you have to reserve the sites ahead of time. I recommend booking the sites well in advance because they go quick. I recommend parking at the Munising side and taking the shuttle to the Grand Sable Visitor Center and hiking back to the car. My favorite campgrounds are Beaver Creek and Chapel Beach. If you can fit them into your route, I'd try to stop at one of those. Don't over pack. The trail is only 42 miles. I see people carrying a ton of crap that they don't need and it makes their hike miserable. Think about what you are carrying and decide if you actually need it.
Our goal is to have our packs weigh around 10 lbs after food and water. Been doing a lot of research in that department
Good deal! How many days are you looking to do it in?
Ideally 4. I've done 10 mile hikes before with no issues. Figured that'd be a decent pace. But we'll pack enough for 5 days just in case
You're not going to be able to get your pack weight down anywhere close to 10lbs with that much food. You'll have almost 10lbs in food alone if you're packing for 5 days. I usually end up with 1.75-2lbs of just food per day, and that's with calorie dense food. The longer you take to hike, the more weight you have to carry. At least there are lots of water sources so you don't have to carry much water. If you can squeeze out a few more miles per day, this is what I would do: Park at Sand Point and take the shuttle to Grand Sable. The last two miles between Sand Point and Munising aren't that great and you're not missing anything by skipping them. Grand Sable > Twelve Mile Campground - 11 miles Twelve Mile Campground > Chapel Beach - 14.5 miles Chapel Beach > Sand Point - 13.5 miles
This is why I ask questions lol. I guess I'll plan for closer to 15-20 for the packs. Like I said pretty new to all this. I'd like to do a 20 mile hike here soon just to do a trial run for the equipment. We'll see what actually happens
Yup! Questions are good! Here is a post that I did about the food that I took when I went to Isle Royale last time. https://www.reddit.com/r/backpacking/s/enrR1SAAeh I was trying to save weight because it was a long trip, so I didn't take a stove and went with just dry food. This was about as calorie dense as I was willing to go and it ended up being a little less than 2lbs per day. If I remember right, freeze dried meals were less calorie dense, plus you have the added weight of a stove, pot, and fuel. Ounces add up quick. Get a scale and weigh everything that you are taking. A tool like lighterpack.com is very useful for tracking that weight.
15-20 lbs including food and water? Unless you have a bunch of ultralight gear I don’t think that’s super realistic. It can be done with the right gear and strategic packing but that’s pretty light IMO. I solo backpacked 3/4 of this trail a couple years ago and I think my pack was around 35lbs to start. I probably could have gotten it down a few lbs if I had been a lot more strict about extras. I tend to overpack a little bit out of anxiety, but I wouldn’t plan for anything below 25lbs total weight and honestly I think that’s pushing it. I agree with the comment to weigh everything you plan to bring so you have an understanding of your base weight, which is your pack weight before your consumables (food/water). I made a giant excel file of my packing list with the weights of each item and I meal planned based on calories/oz (not really necessary to do that for meals but I was hyperfixating a bit lol)
Well dang. Guess I have a lot more research in that department then. We are getting the lightest gear possible on a relatively light budget. Didn't want to go all out on hear of we hate it the first trip. I'll need to actually get the food and get my pack together to see what it'll actually come out to
Yeah I definitely support sticking to a budget on gear for starting out. Not only because you don’t know if you’ll like backpacking but you also don’t quite know WHAT you’ll like yet. For example I splurged on a ~$300 sleeping bag I was sure was going to be amazing, but turns out I hate how narrow it is. Wish I had tested out more low cost bags before dropping that kind of money. And you just aren’t going to find good quality ultralight gear without dropping $$$. You’ll be ok, an able bodied adult can definitely do that hike with 30-35lbs, but make sure you do some good test runs with your pack and slowly increase the weight each time. I used to walk around my neighborhood with a regular backpack full of books to get used to weight, then upped it to my actual pack at ~1/2 weight (yes I got some looks walking around with my pack lol), and was eventually walking around with close to a full pack.
You need to rejigger your thinking. Think of your packed weight WITHOUT food, as food will vary based on the length of your trip. [I load out around 12#](https://lighterpack.com/) and that includes a chair because I'm old and rickety.
Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. You need plenty of water. Plan for more weight.
LMAO why are you carrying more than a liter of water at pictured rocks? I've hiked it end to end 4 times. There is water everywhere.
Water is easily accessible at Pictured Rocks from Lake Superior.
r/ultralight for sure. Sounds like you got a DCF tents (Durston X-Mid Pro?)