Back in November of last year, I spoke of the tendency to commercialize and overcomplicate camping trips. Yes, expensive modern equipment is useful and lightweight in many situations. I just wonder if a short-term, recreational camping trip is it. Don’t get me wrong in what follows. I’m not trying to be dogmatic about not using expensive or modern gear. Rather, I’m making a point that there are lots of dispersed camping opportunities in Northern Michigan (and other places) and it doesn’t take much to take advantage of them.

Usually, I do most of my camping in May and June. I got a late start this year, but one Saturday I packed up my ATV and off I went about 10 miles into public land a good ways from any paved roads. You don’t need a backpack or even an ATV to dispersed camp in Northern Michigan. Due to Michigan’s history of logging and homesteading, logging trails and farm-lanes are now dirt forest roads and ATV trails. Obviously, you’re better off with four-wheel drive and more ground clearance, but there’s plenty of locations accessible to passenger vehicles. Nonetheless, I didn’t pass anyone on the way there, didn’t see anyone at my campsite or going for walks, and saw one truck on the way back home.

I chose a campsite where I know some people make their deer camp come fall. There’s a clearing close to relatively swampy area near the backwaters of a creek. Tree cover includes jack-pine, cherry, and aspen which blends into alders closer to the creek. The area is good habitat for grouse, woodcock, deer, bear, bobcat, racoon, otter, and beaver. In the end, I mostly heard whippoorwills and heard a deer blowing alarm in the dark after smelling my camp.

Setting up camp takes about an hour’s worth of work. When you’re camping with a motorized vehicle, there’s simply no good reason to work with folding saws and hack away with big knives. However, I do find a fixed blade knife useful for starting fires and odd tasks. Basic hand tools available for a few dollars in a flea market or barn sale make it easier and safer to have a cooking fire. If you choose to have an all night fire, it will take a considerable amount more time and several times as much firewood. It also takes a lot of care to ensure such a fire doesn’t get out of control when you’re sleeping.

In addition to having a campfire, obviously I need something to sleep on and under. I opted for my canvas tarp, some wool blankets, and a foam pad. It only got down to 50 degrees during the night and this makes for a relatively comfortable setup. I’ve done quite a bit of camping under tarps and in bivvies in situations ranging from backwoods to wilderness. I do prefer tents these days if I’m making an extended base camp in poor weather. But I feel that sleeping outside can be part of the experience as well.

I’m not a chef and tend to keep meals simple. I cooked two meals during the trip. During the evening, I placed burger and potatoes into aluminum foil with real butter and cooked it over coals in the fire. In the morning, I scrambled quail eggs in a cast iron skillet.

Overall, it was a good camping trip and excuse to be outside for 18 hours. This opportunity is open to all regardless of the gear you choose as the options for dispersed camping are many in Northern Michigan. Depending on where you go, you’ll see few other people probably limited to others driving by your campsite.