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Forewarned
is forearmed
A participant's failure to physically and mentally prepare
for this adventure; acquire the necessary skills and equipment
for this adventure; or recognize, take responsibility for,
and avoid the unknown and unpredictable hazards and perils
that will present themselves on this adventure will likely
result in the participant's serious injury, paralysis, or
slow, painful death.
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Accidents
and injuries
Wilderness adventuresespecially remote, foul-weather
travel; bushwhacking cross-country; cliff and steep slope
travel; climbing; canyoneering; cave exploration; river fording;
swimming; canoeing; portaging; skiing; snowshoeing; winter
camping; ice travel; ice crossing; deep cold; high winds;
etc.involve unknown and unpredictable hazards and perils.
Hypothermia |
Burns |
Hyperthermia |
Fractures |
Dehydration |
Lacerations |
Frostbite |
Joint
injuries |
Eye
injuries |
Near
drownings |
Flu |
Falls
through ice |
Colds |
Car accidents |
Giardia |
Et cetera |
Accidents, injuries, and problematic
incidents are not something that only happen on other people's
wilderness adventures or to other wilderness trippers. They
have happened in the past on Michael Neiger's adventures,
and they may happen on this adventure as well. Click
here to learn more about past accidents, injuries, and
incidents.
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Medical
and dental exams
As with any strenuous activity, it is strongly recommended
participants visit their physician to make sure he or she
approves of their participation in this adventure. A dental
exam is also highly recommended.
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Safety
glasses
It is highly recommended eye protectionsafety glassesbe
worn on this adventure, especially while bushwhacking, as
several participants have suffered near-incapacitating eye
injuries in the past.
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Cotton clothing
Avoid wearing or carrying cotton clothing on this adventure
as whenand not ifit gets wet, it will be extremely
difficult and time-consuming to dry.
On past adventures, wet cotton clothing and its tendency
to conduct heat away from the body much faster than other
fabrics has led to numerous cases of hypothermia, which is
the number one killer of wilderness trippers.
Clothing fashioned from nylon, supplex, polypro, fleece,
microfibers, wool, etc., are much safer and easier to manage
during prolonged bouts of foul weather.
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Survival
kit
An on-your-person (in-pocket), survival
kitfolding knife, waterproof matches, firestarters,
compass, mini-light, and whistlesecured with loss-prevention
lanyards should be carried during this adventure.
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Allergies
to bee stings
If you are allergic to bee stings, consult your physician
before participating in this adventure; inquire about carrying
an injectable epinephrine unitsuch as an EpiPen or Ana-Kitin
your first-aid kit.
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First-aid
kit
The only first-aid equipment available on this adventure
is that which is carried by each participant. Consult your
personal physician to determine what items, including medications,
you should carry.
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Emergency
medical care
There will not be any doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics,
or other trained emergency medical personnel on this adventure.
No one will have first-aid or other emergency medical training.
At best, other participants may only be able to render the
most basic and rudimentary of aid.
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Search
& rescue
No one on this adventure will have training in rope handling,
rappelling, climbing, caving, ice travel, high-angle slope
travel, swift-water travel, etc. N
No one will have training in rescue from these situations
either.
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Insurance
No insurance coverage
of any sort is provided for participants on this adventure.
It is highly recommended that participants consider purchasing
their own insurance
policies:
- Trip cancellation
insurance
- Dental insurance
- Medical insurance
- Prescription insurance
- Evacuation insurance
- Disability insurance
- Life insurance
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Emergency
communications
No emergency communications gear such as cell phones, satellite
phones, or satellite beacons (ELTs, PLBs, & EPIRBs) will
be carried during this adventure.
The only way to summon search and rescue personal or emergency
medical personnel during this adventure will be for another
uninjured participant to walk, snowshoe, paddle, peddle, etc.
to a point where help can be summoned.
The wait for assistance may be very longsometimes measured
in daysand could possibly be very painful, maybe even
fatal.
Since the evacuation process will be both very difficult
and costly to arrange, participants should consider carrying
their own communications
gear as well as purchasing evacuation insurance, as noted
above.
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Point Maurepas Lighthouse on the extreme
eastern tip of Michipicoten Island. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Photo
courtesy of Lake Superior Provincial Park Staff)
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Point Maurepas Lighthouse on the extreme
eastern tip of Michipicoten Island. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Photo
courtesy of sea-kayaking guide Stewart Joseph)
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One of over 200 woodland caribou on Michipicoten
Island. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Photo
courtesy of Lake Superior Provincial Park Staff)
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One of over 200 woodland caribou on Michipicoten
Island. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Photo
courtesy of sea-kayaking guide Stewart Joseph)
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During this free, public adventure, we'll spend 9 days
exploring the north shore of Michipicoten Island, the third largest
of Lake Superior's islands.
Note: This expedition is only open to expert backpackers
who are very physically fit and who have completed prior trips with
the undersigned, preferably a Canadian Expedition.
For the latest info about
this trip, visit the trip discussion
thread on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum.
Current participant list:
Dennis Waite, Berrien Springs, Michigan
Jonathan Monico (Monico), Ontario, Canada
Ewa Roszczenko, Livonia, Michigan
Michael Neiger(LandNavMan), Marquette, Michigan
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While the island was designated as Michipicoten
Island Provincial Park in 1985, it is a closed, non-operating park,
with no facilities, trails, or transportation service etc.
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Click
here or on graphic to view high-resolution imagery of Michipicoten
Island's location in the northeast corner of Lake Superior (Graphic
by Michael Neiger).
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Michipicoten Island, the second-largest island
in Lake Superior. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Image courtesy
of Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)
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Aerial imagary of Michipicoten Island, the second-largest
island in Lake Superior. Click
here or on image to view high-resolution imagery. (Image courtesy
of NavTeq via Bing)
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Approximately 26 kilometers long and 10 kilometers
wide, the following parcels are not part of the park:
- 8 private parcels in Quebec Harbor
- 4 patented lands elsewhere on the islandone
on the northern shore near Bonner Head, one on the old Philips Mine
site (northwestern corner of the island) and two locations on the
eastern shore of the island
- 4 federal, Department of Transport propertiestwo
lighthouses, two beacon locations.
The island is home to an abandoned commercial-fishing
operation, several abandoned copper mining operations, an old mining
railroad, an old log jail, several old lighthouses, shipwrecks (some
visible), endangered plants, and over 200 woodland caribou, the southernmost
herd in the province.
Michipicoten Island is Canadian Shield bush. Exposed
rock formations include Jacobsville, Freda, Michipicoten, and Mamainse
Point.
The island's landscape is defined by east-west cuestas
(hills with both a vertically-faced side and a gently-sloping side)
as well as glacially- and fluvially-eroded valleys.
While the island's interior is pock marked with lakes,
it's coastline is made-up of numerous sand beaches, gravel coves, ancient
raised cobble beaches, sea caves, flower pot formations, and jagged
cliffs.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on Michipicoten
Island:
Michipicoten Island is the third largest island
in Lake Superior. It is located in the lake's northeastern corner
approximately 65 kilometres southwest of the town of Wawa....
At its closest point, the island is located 16
kilometres south of Lake Superior Highlands Conservation Reserve on
the mainland.
Michipicoten Island, its surrounding islands,
and much of the Lake Superior basin were formed by volcanic activity
that occurred in few other places in the province.
This volcanic activity along with glacial activity
and weathering has provided the remarkable geological features associated
with the island.
The island harbours a variety of provincially
and regionally significant plants and animals including arctic relics
and one of the southernmost populations of Ontario's woodland caribou.
The island provides an ideal environment for studying
plants and animals due to its isolated location and the absence of
industrial and other land uses.
Aboriginal myths and past activities on the island
such as small-scale copper mining, commercial fishing, trapping and
lighthouse operation since the 1800's enhance the cultural significance
of the park.
Park use is relatively low. Access to the island
is limited to tour operators, commercial fishing vessels, float planes
and recreational watercraft.
Park visitors are awarded with a variety of recreational
opportunities including wildlife and landscape viewing and photography,
canoeing and kayaking, boating, diving and hiking along the island's
rocky and sandy shorelines.
According to those familiar with this archipelago,
sea kayakers and boaters have visited the island from time to time,
but few, if any, backpackers have ever explored its tangled, "jungle-like"interior
(my long-time sources know of none, and they describe the island's bush
as being 5 times more tangled than the mainland's).
Based on our first 9-day recon of the western third
of the island in 2012, its some seriously-rugged-and-tangled bush, but
not as bad as we've traversed elsewhere. Blog
post and video from 2011
expedition.
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Expedition advisory: This
is an expedition, not a highly-scripted trek through well-traveled
bush. The organizer has never visited or explored this bush,
or talked with anyone who has. Like most of his expeditions,
the route was laid out after pouring over detailed quads
and reviewing satellite imagery. Come prepared for an adventure;
expect the unexpected; be ready to improvise, adapt, and
overcome...
Swift-water/deep-water crossing advisory:
Since our area of operation is laced with lakes, rivers,
streams, waterfalls, steep terrain, and perhaps flooded
slot canyons, we will likely be making numerous water crossings
of lake narrows, rapids, river pools, and perhaps ascending
or descending straight through flooded slot canyons. While
some may be fordable, others may require swimming. Participants
should be proficient swimmersget in a pool or lake
and swim a couple 1,000 meters so you are one with the water
again before the expedition.
To float your ruck: Line your
critical stuff sacks with heavy-duty garbage-compactor-type
plastic bags; line your entire ruck with a heavy-duty
contractor-grade plastic bag (the barrel-sized ones contractors
dispose of building debris in); and wrap your ruck in
a tarp or a full-coverage, watertight rain cover.
Improvised PFD: In the bush,
fashion an improvised PFD by rolling up your closed-cell
sleeping pad lengthwise, lashing it into a noodle and
attaching a long shoulder loop of cordage so you can tow
it behind you, always at the ready.
Warm clothing advisory: Bring
plenty of warm clothing, as well as an extra set of essential
clothing in case you get wet, as this area is known for
its cold, windy, wet weather, due in part to its proximity
to Lake Superior.
Campfire advisory: Do
not plan on having warmng or cooking fires as we will be
working hard just to find body-sized bivouac spots in many
areas. And much of this region is pristine, scar-free wilderness
where it would be inappropriate. Also, the fire hazard may
be high, perhaps so high that the Ministry of Natural Resources
may have a full fire ban in place.
Bivouac advisory: We will be
working thick, tangled, untrammeled bush, so all of our
bivouacs will be challenging at best.
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Journals from Michael Neiger's prior spring
Canadian expeditions
2011
:: 2010
:: 2008
:: 2007
:: 2005
:: 2004a
:: 2004b
:: 2003
:: 2002
:: 2001
Photo albums from Michael Neiger's prior spring
Canadian expeditions
2011a
:: 2011b
:: 2011c
:: 2011d
:: 2011e
:: 2011f
:: 2011g
:: 2011h
:: 2011i
:: 2011j
:: 2011k
:: 2011l
:: 2011m
:: 2011n :: 2010a
:: 2010b
:: 2010c
:: 2009
:: 2009
:: 2008a
:: 2008b
:: 2008c
:: 2008d
:: 2008e
:: 2007
:: 2006
:: 2004a
:: 2004b
:: 2004c
:: 2003
:: 2002
May 25 lodging option: Those looking for lodging
should consider the White Fang Motel (1-877-399-2672 or 1-705-856-0344),
which is located along the east side of Kings Highway 17, just north
of the big bridge over the Michipicoten River, and south of Wawa, Ontario.
May 26 assembly location: Our 6:30 a.m. pre-trip
assembly location will be the the parking lot of the White Fang Motel.
Everyone should have eaten and be squared away for 9 days of high adventure.
Note: Insertion and extraction arrangements by
helo, fixed wing, or watercraft are pending and will be e-mailed to
participants when they're finalized.
May 26-June 3 itinerary: Our 9-day route on
the island will be dictated in large part by where the weather Gods
allow us to be inserted on or around the island.
The tentative plan is to explore the north shore of
the island, including a bivouac at the Point Maurepas Lighthouse on
the extreme eastern tip of Michipicoten Island. If time permits, we'll
also attempt to locate and document the remains of the 1875 Philipps
Mine, east of Bridal Veil Falls, and the 1853 Bonner Mine inland from
the Clay Banks.
Getting up and around behind the cliffs of the north
shore--especially Bonner Head--will be an extreme, potentially-dangerous
physical undertaking involving climbing and technical navigation.
Note: A provisional itinerary/route map will
be e-mailed to participants when it is completed.
June 3 extraction: If all goes well, the plan
is to get extracted from the island early on Sunday, June 3.
Notice:
The dates allotted for this expedition do not include travel days
to and from the north shore area, nor do they include a couple extra
days in case our extraction from the island is delayed by rough seas,
heavy surf, fog, stormy weather, mechanical problems, human error,
etc.
Participants muist be adults (18 or over) who are experienced,
fully-equipped, foul-weather campers who enjoy wilderness adventures
with hordes of biting insects and without campfires, tobacco or alcohol
products.
Note: due to the nature of this expedition, participants
must have completed at least one prior backpacking trip with the organizer.
Participants must be swimmers and in very good physical
condition as this adventure is not suitable for the unfit or overweight.
Bivouacs
will most likely be in pristine, non-campground settings.
Camping permits: since the park is non-operating,
each participant will need to purchase 8 night's worth of $10-a-day
Crown
Land Camping Permits prior to the trip.
These are sold whereever fishing and hunting licenses
are sold. One of the best places to purchase them is at the Chippewa
Trading Post, which is located along the east side of King's Highway
17, just as you are leaving Sault Ste. Marie, and heading north.
Chippewa
Trading Post
1332 Great Northern Road
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 5K7
1-705-759-4518
Fax: 1-705-759-0887
E-mail
Costs: While this is a free trip,
group expenses will be split evenly among all participants and will
include
- the cost for the rental of an Iridium satellite
phone
- the cost for getting inserted and extracted from
the island.
- Water-hauling
capacity: Everyone should have the containerswater
bottles and bladdersto haul 4 quarts of water if needed. While
we won't normally carry this much water, it may be necessary to pick
up water in the afternoon for use at both dinner and breakfast if we
end up bivouacking far from water.
One simple, lightweight solution to this issue is to carry two, one-quart
Nalgene water bottles and one, two-liter, Platypus-brand, 1.3 ounce,
Platy
Bottle (pictured at right) from Cascade Designs.
- Water-fording footwear: In
addition to hiking boots, everyone should consider whether they want
to also carry footwear for fording waterways and flooded areas.
- Safety
glasses: Participants must have one pair of glasses for protecting
their eyes while bushwhacking.
- Survival
kit: Participants must carry a survival kit on their person.
Equipment
recommendations
- Breakfasts: 8 days
- Snacks: 9 days
- Lunches: 9 days
- Dinners: 8 days
- Backup: 1 day
Canadian 1:50,000 quadrangles: 41N/13 Bonner
Head and 41N/12 Michipicoten Island (ordering
info)
Click
here to learn more about land navigation gear.
If
you would like to participate in this free backcountry adventure, or
have any questions regarding it, please provide your full name, trail
name, city, state, e-mail address, and phone number to the organizer:
Michael Neiger
Marquette, Michigan
1-906-226-9620
mneiger@hotmail.com
Registration: participants will receive a registration
form by e-mail prior to the trip.
Liability waiver: participants are required
to sign a liability waiver prior to the trip.
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In God's wilderness
lies the hope of the world,
the great, fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.
John Muir, 1838-1914, Alaska Wilderness, 1890
If
you've been able to read this Web page...
thank a Teacher;
If you've been able to read this Web page in English...
thank a Veteran.
Author
unknown
Copyright
notice
Content Copyright 1984 to
2016-08-21
By Michael A. Neiger
All rights reserved
No part of this Web page or this Web site protected by copyright
law may be reproduced, transmitted, or used in any formincluding
graphic, electronic, Web, mechanical or other formor by
any meansincluding photocopying, recording, taping, Internet
distribution, information storage retrieval system, or by other
meansfor any purpose, except by a reviewer, who may quote
brief passages, without the prior, express, written permission
of the author.
Comments? Suggestions?
Dead links? Inaccurate info?
Contact the WebMaster, Michael A. Neiger, at mneiger@hotmail.com
Web site
URL: www.MibSAR.com
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