The Imperfect Backpacker

Backpacking Tips and Stories

Archives for November 2019

Food: Fresh Fish

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Catch of the day in Isle Royale National Park: perch and pike.

There is nothing like fresh fish on the trail. Period. You can carry a lot of stuff to prepare the fish you might catch. For example, I like rainbow trout prepared whole, with a little onion, salt, pepper, and butter (substitute Butter Buds or ghee on the trail). Wrap them in foil and lay on the coals for 10 minutes per side. Flaky and delicious.

But then you might not catch anything, and carry around the extra stuff. And you might not have the luxury of a fire. Simple might be better. A little oil. Some salt and pepper. A pot is cumbersome but will work. A lightweight frying pan works better.

For a recent trip to Isle Royale National Park we used the minimum option. In this case it was perch and pike. Keep the oil hot and no breading is needed to keep the fish together. Just add a little salt and pepper or lemon pepper. Excellent. Take extra care with pike when you eat it, as it is much bonier.

Fresh filets on the backpacking stove.

Campsite Spotlight: Sage Creek Wilderness, Badlands National Park, SD

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Scale is 0 to 4.

  • Time of Year Visited: May
  • View: 2.5 Flat prairie on one side for miles and rising mud spires on the other. In the distance you might spot bison and maybe pronghorn.
  • Water: 0.5 Though you might catch some silty water running down a wash or coulee after a rainstorm, it’s doubtful. A couple small watering holes show up on the map and I could see one of them shimmering like a mirage off to the west. Best to carry it in.
  • Accessibility: 0.5 There are no designated sites in this area. This spot was about 9 miles from the Conata Picnic Area trailhead (about 3 miles north of the Sage Creek Pass). No designated route but you can download the Sage Creek Wilderness loop to follow on your GPS device. Route finding and map reading skills are required.
  • Solitude: 4 Though we saw a private residence or two in the distance on our way in, we didn’t see a soul in this area.
  • Comfort: 3 The prairie grass can be kind of lumpy and damp, but if you get up next to the hills in this area it can be relatively flat and somewhat soft. It is hard to get out of the wind, which blew a fine silt into our tents.
  • Coolness: 2.5 Not the mountains, and not the midwest. Prairie view, solitude and wildlife. Off the beaten path.

Of Note: I saw more wildlife on this loop than in any of my other trips. “Beware of Rattlesnake” signs mark the trailheads in Badlands National Park. I didn’t take them seriously until I nearly stepped on one about a mile from this campsite.

Beer Run

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A trail luxury.

I’ve never taken beer on the trail. I’ve thought about it many times but then decided against it. My pack is generally heavier than it should be to begin with. So in the end, beer doesn’t seem worth the weight. I don’t want one on the trail that bad, right? Besides, going without makes that celebratory beer when you get off the trail taste that much better.

I’ve looked into those carbonating kits as well – the one where you can make your own beer on the trail – like Pat’s Backcountry Brew. And while I may still pull the trigger, it seems a bit unnecessary. My last pack was sixty pounds. I need to be carrying less, not more. Much less.

On a recent trip in Isle Royale National Park (see review in Trippin’ section), we were making our way back towards the lodge after several days on the trail. The last night’s stop would be at Three Mile camp, which was just over, you guessed it, three miles from the lodge. We had ran into a park employee who told us a big storm was moving in that evening with heavy rain and gale-force winds.

Hiking the southern coast of the island.

Ahead of us was a flat and straight hike of 4.2 miles along the southern coast of the island to get to Three Mile. We decided that, since it appeared to be an easy hike, and since Eric and I had been holding the jackrabbit Ben back all week, he could go ahead and try to get us one of the shelters. After lunch Ben left for Three Mile. Eric and I cleaned up, finished packing, and headed out about thirty minutes later.

By the time we got to Three Mile, Ben’s tent was set up in a large group tent site with his big pack inside. He was nowhere around so we dropped our bags and went looking for an open shelter.  As we suspected, they were all full, and no one offered to let us share theirs. We went back to the group tent site and set our tents up next to Ben’s. The site he had chosen seemed like a good one. There was a rock wall twenty-foot high on the Lake Superior side that seemed to block most of the wind. 

We had no longer set up our tents and sat down to relax when Ben arrived with two six packs and a bottle of wine. He had gone an additional 6 miles to the lodge and back. And he had made good time. We stored some beer in our water bag to keep it cool, and for our last night on the trail we had cold beer. We ate dinner, made some cinnamon chips, and sat around drinking.

Multi-use: Water bag as a beer cooler.

Later, we decided Ben’s tent was going to leak with no fly, so we got the bright idea of covering it with the large (and heavy) 12’ x 12’ dining fly I had been carrying all week, but had yet to unpack. It completely swallowed his tent like The Blob and we staked it to the ground. It looked pretty silly and Ben had to belly-crawl in an out of his tent.

Somewhere beneath is Ben’s tent, but he stayed dry.

Later still, Eric saw a rabbit that no one else could see. We debated whether being hungry and thinking you are hungry is really the same thing. That night, the storm came. Thanks to Ben’s beer run, it didn’t bother us.

…

Dry Tortugas: National Park or National Monument?

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Approaching Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park.

I recently debated with my brother whether or not the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was a national park. He argued it was. I said no, it was a national monument. As with most discussions these days, this one took place by text.

The logic behind my argument was that the arch was a manmade structure and all of the thirty or so national parks that I had visited were natural wonders. I incorrectly assumed this was one of the criteria used for distinguishing a national park from a national monument. And though I had multiple national park maps hanging on my wall at home, I was wrong. I just had never noticed it before.

This realization brought many questions to mind. How did places come to be a national park? Did COWPAC, the Committee On Which Parks Are Chosen, feel sorry for Missouri because they didn’t have a national park? Was this the only way some places could get federal funding for preservation? Did some places just have a really good lobbyist?

I decided I would lobby to have the Gateway Arch changed to a national monument. To meet my personal criteria. For consistency’s sake. And like any good red-blooded American today, I would do it without any information and without having done any research whatsoever.

The Gateway Arch in April. It will make a fine National Monument someday.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the arch and St. Louis. I’ve visited them many times when I’ve gone to watch my beloved Cardinals. Boring? Not even. Kris Bryant is boring (and no relation to this writer). But come on COWPAC, we need a little consistency here. What next? The Hoover Dam? The Empire State Building? Fort Jefferson?

Oh, wait. Fort Jefferson is a national park, living under the guise Dry Tortugas National Park. I visited this hard to reach “park” in October. It lies 70 miles west of Key West, and is a lovely place to spend a few hours in the sun. You can see some beautiful coral while snorkeling. You can swim at the tiny beach. There is even a tiny campground if you want to spend a few days. You can moor your boat or bring your gear on the ferry. They will even let you bring kayaks and the braver among us can paddle their way to the tiny surrounding islands. But bring your own drinking water because there is none available. Originally named Tortugas, it was renamed Dry Tortugas so that sailors stopping for some turtle soup would know to bring their own fresh water.

Standing atop Fort Jefferson, looking across the parade grounds to the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key in the distance.

But this is all peripheral to Fort Jefferson, a civil war era fort that was built to protect the United States borders and trading interests along one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The two-story brick structure takes up nearly all of Garden Key and is an interesting tour. Like Biscayne National Park lying off the other side of Florida, Dry Tortugas National Park is a boater’s national park. The park is 100 square miles consisting of mostly water and seven small islands. A boat would expand your experience beyond the fort, but land lubbers can still enjoy it. Single day trips to Fort Jefferson run daily out of Key West, but it seems to get the most out of this park you would want to visit those tiny surrounding islands as well.

Having written this, I’ve decided I need to do a little investigation after all. I will try to find out the distinction between a national park and a national monument. It will likely take hours of extensive research. Or maybe just a Google search.

The Yankee Freedom provides breakfast and lunch, as well as the only bathrooms and fresh water for visitors to Dry Tortugas.

To get there:

Sea plane, boat, or the ferry. The Yankee Freedom Ferry that sails from Key West once a day (2 1/2 hours one way).

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