As always, family committments try to put a crimp into plans, so we left on a Saturday afternoon, with plans for a two nights camping. The first leg of the journey involved a couple of hours of riding to Harrisville State Park, on the Lake Huron coast of Michigan. The ride took us through some well-populated areas, but was largely uneventful.

When we got to the campground, there was no one staffing the gate, so we rode in to see what sites were available. As luck would have it, the first people that we met pointed us to the camp hosts, who were out walking there dog and we chatted with them for a while. They said to go ahead and find a spot, and only worry about paying the site fee ($23/night) if a ranger stopped by and asked (we paid it the next morning, more on that later). We rode around looking for a suitable site, and settled on the high ground. This turned out to be a good thing, as it rained during the night, and the lower sites were mildly flooded.

This was my first time camping with a hammock, so I was excited to get it set up. I also brought my old faithful Mountain Hardware Skyview 2 tent which two of the other riders sheletered in for the night. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the hammock, but you can see the other tents set up in the picture below.

There was no wood for sale at the campground, but we were able to scrounge up some fallen pieces and get a good fire going. It burned hot until we were ready to bed down for the night, and kept us warm as the temperatures fell. One thing about lake-side camping is that the temperatures are quite low compared to even a mile inland. The fire and some tea prepared on my MSR Reactor stove were almost necessities.

We headed to bed, and I prepared myself for a (hopefully) comfortable night in the hammock. I'll do a proper review of the accomodations (technically a Hennesey Hammock) in the future, after I've had a couple more nights. Suffice it to say that I was warm and dry all night, and the slight rocking motion served to lull me to sleep quickly once I found a comfortable position. I'm not sure when the rain started, but I did wake up once in the middle of the night to hear the pattering of raindrops on the rain fly. My alarm went off before sunrise (that was the point of the whole trip, after all!), and I got up feeling quite refreshed. Sleeping in a hammock has the great advantage of keeping you up off the hard ground, so I wasn't sore or stiff at all.

Unfortunately, the morning was foggy and overcast, so there was no sunrise to speak of. See for yourself:

The plan all along was to eat at restaurants, so we packed up our wet accomodations and hit the road, heading out to find some place to get some breakfast. The staff at the campground had arrived, so we stopped and paid our fee (it supports the campground, and we made fairly heavy use of the electricity at the site to charge our various gadgets).

Following breakfast, we continued to follow the Lake Huron coast all the way to Mackinaw City. It's been more than ten years since I saw the bridge, and it always impresses me. It's the third-longest suspension bridge in the world!

Following Mackinaw city, we headed for one of the reported best motorcycling roads in Michigan - State Route 119. We had lunch at Leg's Inn, and with full bellies hit the blacktop. 119 didn't disappoint. It is "officially" two lanes, but there is no center line, and it's tight to fit two four-wheelers next to each other when passing. Being on motorcycles, we probably rode too fast, and had a ton of fun on the curves. There are several points where the "shoulder" is actually a long drop-off into Lake Michigan. SR 119 ended too soon, but we still managed to find some good roads (including SR 22 on the West Coast). Everybody kept the wheels on the pavement, and we stopped in Frankfort for a delicious dinner. Check out my Salmon Wellington!

While were preparing to get back on our bikes, we had a "courtesy visit" from one of the local lawmen. He informed us that there was some nasty weather coming our way, including "lightning, heavy thunderstorms, and possibly hail." That was enough for us to make reservations at a motel in Manistee. We got to the parking lot just as the rain started, and managed to get most of our gear inside before it got soaked. I was not so lucky, as the repeated trips ended with me soaked. The shower was a very welcome feature of our 2nd night "camp site."

With the rain pouring down, it wasn't even worth it to snap a photo of the sunset (which was virtually nonexistent).

The ride home on Monday from Manistee was pleasantly fast. We continued South on the Lake Michigan coast until Muskegon, then hopped on the highway for the speedy trip back home.

I have to admit, I was disappointed that the weather didn't cooperate, and I saw neither Sunrise over Lake Huron, nor Sunset over Lake Michigan. The riding was great, and the one night of camping was fantastic. Motorcycle camping brings with it a few unique challenges (very limited space, but really no concern for weight), and the increased range and joy of having two wheels at your disposal is well worth the effort. I'll try the trip again some time in the future, with a better eye toward the weather forecast. All in all, this would be an easy single-rider trip, and I might consider such an adventure in a year or two. For now, I have my eye out for another upcoming pair of trips... Fathers' Day with friends at a local campground, followed almost immediately by a high-altitude adventure in Colorado!