| I was backpacking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was | | | | back, and that only because I threw in some canned |
| March, so when I made it through the woods and | | | | food. I was going light, but I knew the forests here |
| over the dunes, I'd have miles of beach to myself. It | | | | and felt comfortable with my abilities.My down |
| was an over-nighter, a chance to test new ultralight | | | | sleeping bag was a 17-ounce Western Mountaineering |
| backpacking equipment. I hiked the wooded hills | | | | HighLite. It was the first time I would use it below |
| quickly, enjoying the cold air.Halfway through the | | | | freezing (It hit 25 degrees fahrenheit that night). |
| forest, I stopped to cook noodles. The cheap | | | | Fortunately, it wasn't too windy.At the edge of the |
| 3-ounce pot was from a dollar store, and it worked | | | | forest, behind the dunes, I set up my small tarp. I |
| fine. I was happy, because from the catalog | | | | piled pine needles and dead bracken ferns under it, |
| descriptions, the expensive titanium pots are all | | | | finishing just as it became dark. This made a warm |
| heavier, probably because they're too thick and with | | | | mattress, and I slept well, listening to the coyotes, |
| too many gadgets.I had to use a small twig-fire when | | | | and to the waves pushing ice around in the lake.In |
| my homemade alcohol stove didn't provide enough | | | | the morning I was happy to see only a dusting of |
| heat. I later learned that isopropyl alcohol doesn't burn | | | | snow. My one-pound sleeping bag had been warmer |
| as hot as the alcohol used for a gas additive, but the | | | | than my three-pounder - and I thought that was light. |
| twigs worked in any case.Backpacking On The | | | | I poured alcohol in the cut-off bottom of a pepsi can |
| BeachAfter eating, I hiked to Lake Michigan, and sat | | | | (my 1/2-ounce backpacking stove) and made tea. |
| up on a large sand dune. I watched the waves push | | | | After some crackers I was soon hiking in my |
| ice up onto the empty beach. Coyotes began to | | | | mostly-dry shoes, along the Lake Michigan |
| howl in the distance, and the clouds rolled in. I was on | | | | shoreline.Backpacking Lessons LearnedI ended my trip |
| the beach looking for petoskey stones when the | | | | that afternoon, with a hike to the village of Empire, |
| snow began. Backpacking in March has its risks.I was | | | | seven miles away. I was mostly satisfied. Only two |
| in running shoes, and it would be below freezing that | | | | problems: My tarp was too small, and the alcohol I |
| night. In northern Michigan, March is definitely part of | | | | brought was the wrong type.After backpacking in |
| winter. My feet stayed warm while I hiked, but I | | | | Michigan for years, I know it well. I know where to |
| hadn't planned on them getting wet. At least I had a | | | | find dead grass and bracken ferns, for example, to |
| pair of warm, dry socks for sleeping.Ultralight | | | | make a warm mattress in a few minutes. Knowledge, |
| Backpacking EquipmentIt was the first time I used | | | | obviously, can be as valuable as expensive |
| my GoLite Breeze backpack, which weighed only 13 | | | | backpacking gear.Steve Gillman is a long-time |
| ounces. I was hiking with about nine pounds on my | | | | backpacker, and advocate of ultralight backpacking. |