Tom Stormcrowe

And still the best time I've ever had on a bike and I'll do it again until I actually finish the tour I planned!

Intended tour: Perimeter of the UP of Michigan. 720 miles
Resultant tour: Paradise to Marquette, Mi through the National forest. 151 miles

OK, here goes, I met the manager of the Munising City Tourist Park in Paradise, for the price of 2 tickets to the Shipwreck Museum, he ferried my van to Munising. I took off through the National Park and headed toward Grand Marais along the Fire Roads navigating by compass, and miles to the turns. These roads definitely are NOT improved roads or very well marked. By the way, Bek, airing down to 80 psi with 32 mm road tires worked pretty well!I did have to walk the bike and trailer through some sections, but it was ridable with a road touring bike. I did carry an extra tire though.I made 33 miles on the first day, and met an interesting feller!

He went by "Red" and lived in his truck out in the National Forest, living on a military medical pension. His truck was an old 62 Willy's one ton Jeep flatbed truck with a cedar shack on the back and a bumpersticker reading "Guns, God, and Guts, 3 things that made America Great". He wouldn't let me grab a pic, but was a pretty decent guy, if a bit eccentric! He warned me that wolves aren't afraid of people and to watch my butt, as he put it. This brings me to the wolves.....

I set up camp out in the public lands, I was too beat to make it to a state campground (still about 20 miles away and I was about 30 miles from any help). I had set up the tent and finished caching my food bag in a tree about 100 yards from my tent, near dusk. Going back to my tent, I encountered a wolf between me and the tent, not an issue, but he was trying to hold my attention. There were 2 more, as it turned out, one coming up on me from behind and down wind and one more from the right.

Bear Spray is a very, very, very valuable tool for wolves, as it turns out. These wolves gave me a great perspective of wolf pack hunting techniques from the perspective of the prey.......in this case, ME! I sprayed the rear wolf at about 8 feet, and the wolf approaching from the right at about 10 feet, they were taking a run at me. The front wolf apparently decided he or she (didn't take the time to determine sex!) decided I was too difficult of a match to take. The bear spray stopped the charges dead! I do believe if I didn't have the spray, I'd have been the first wolf casualty of the 21st century! Needless to say, I didn't sleep real well that first night either and I made a real concerted effort to go to organized campgrounds after this incident!

The rest of the ride was uneventful, other than some bad winds and too heavy a gear load. I strained my right knee and had to abandon the tour in Marquette due to knee pain from dragging the heavy gear load. I did have the knee checked out and there is no injury, just inflamed tendons and ligaments....no tears or permanent damage, just a week or so off the bike to let the knee heal up.

Lessons learned:

• [*]
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Another rider I met, on the way to Marquette was a man named Pat who was riding from Vancouver to Ottawa. He was traveling light doing a "Credit Card" tour.

Now for a crass plug for a particular couple of campgrounds:

Munising City Tourist Park, Munising, Mi. These people treated me great! Then there was the Gitchie Gumie RV Park and Campground. This place is kind of a perpetual work in progress, but the tent sites are great! They are sheltered from the wind and have a chipped wood bed in the tent sites and this makes for good sleeping. It's quiet and only a mile from a nice casino as well in Marquette (Ojibwa Casino). I don't know if the Bacon Cheeseburger I got there was the best I've ever had or was just a great break from campsite cooking, either way, it was GREAT!

Out of this try at the UP, I got a lot, learned a lot and even though it was a rough trip with a really bad scare in it, I'd do it again and will finish on my next try! The other thing: How many people in Lafayette, Indiana are going to be able to top MY vacation stories after this ride?

Here's a slideshow from the trip, turn on your sound, it's got a great soundtrack with it (2 minutes, not too huge, even if you are on dialup and no wolf pics, I was a bit too busy to think about the camera at the moment!)


and my route:
https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1029685

WhaleOil

That's Awesome Tom! Always carry pepper spray myself for the women that want to attack me!

Pheard

Holy bejebus Tom. I thought you were kidding. While reading that I almost got scared for a sec. Aren't you freaked out right now? The only thing that stopped you from being dinner yum yums was that bear pepper spray, what if you didn't have it? Wow, I'm glad you are ok. Sounds like you had an eventful and interesting time.

cooker

Whoah!

Siu Blue Wind

Wow. What a scary yet wonderful adventure you had. Good thing you kept your cool when coming amongst the wolves.
I hope your knee feels better, remember to alternate hot and cold packs for 15 mins at a time.

It's really nice to have you back! I bet it was nice to come home, right? And to find a blue star by your name!!

Tom Stormcrowe

Yes, it was! I knew about the Blue Star already, it was just going to be put on after I got back from tour.

Actually, I didn't really have time to be scared, just react to the situation at hand. Afterwards though, major shakes and wobbly legs!

spike57

Forget about the "crass campground plugs." I think you just sold a couple hundred bottles of bear spray. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

George

Sorry to hear about the knee Tom, but it sounded like a pretty good trip. I used to camp up there too. I pulled into one campground and the guy wouldn't let me set my tent up. He said they were having a lot of problems with bear at the time. I knew it was going to be cold, but you made me homesick. I'm not from up there, but went up there quite a bit, when I lived near Chicago. I sailed out of Bayfield a few times too. Very pretty country, sometimes I wished I still lived north, but that's another story. Glad you had a good time, take care.

VegaVixen

Nice tour report, Tom! And great pics! Even for someone on, yeah, go ahead and say it: DIALUP.

And nice job with the wolves! I think I'd have had more than wobbly legs afterward!

crtreedude 

Tis fun when you find yourself the object of unwanted attention. Not wanting to be too critical, but you could have saved yourself this comfrontation by better preparation. The bear spray is a good thing, but it isn't guaranteed to work, but there is a method we use here in Costa Rica to ensure that we are safe when venturing into the wilds.

We bring slow tourists with us...

2manybikes

That sounds like a great trip even with a knee problem and a wolf problem. Glad you had a good time. I am jealous.. !!! That's a real adventure!

If the guy in the truck had not mentioned the wolves do you think you would have had the bear spray on you all the time? Did you know much about the wolf problem before the trip? One person I know tells me to test fire bear spray a little once in a while to make sure it still works if you have not used it in a long time. I also hear that dusk and dawn are prime time for being hunted, was it dusk?
Are you thinking about a gun at all now? Or anything else?

Tom Stormcrowe

It was dusk and yes, I knew there were wolves in the region. I had been under the impression that I wouldn't have problems though. As to the device mentioned? I'm not against them, I just don't carry while touring, because anything big enough to do more than tick off the critter will weigh more than I want to carry. Bear spray is quite sufficient for my purposes. By the way, if it's been in storage, I test fire before I head into the woods up there. I'm not worried about just buying another cannister either if it's old enough, my life is worth more than the $30.00 price tag!!

TRaffic Jammer

Wow what an adventure...glad your posting about it.
Bear spray....check

2manybikes

Good plan.

An important lesson from Tom for all who do bike camping in remote areas !!

There may have been a wolf out of sight to your left somewhere also. In fact they may have been planning that you would run in the direction where you could not see a wolf. They won't leave you a way out if they don't have to. Normally they would expect you to run.

Magnolia_Fan

I wonder those dog dazers like this would repel wolves:

https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Dazer-II-2/dp/B000BIZW7W

Tom Stormcrowe

Agreed, that's why I stood my ground. This is not to mention that fleeing prey is a trigger to further aggression. In that respect, they are truly similar to dogs (or should that be dogs are similar to them?).

Magnolia, I don't think I'd trust that item. I rather suspect that item is designed for domestic dogs and wolves are a LOT more aggressive given the right circumstance. I prefer to blind and wipe out their sense of smell temporarily as well as trigger respiratory problems to debilitate them. I KNOW that works, and wouldn't want to go into another scenario that I don't have a pretty good idea of a positive outcome. Just my 2¢ worth based on personal experience, and I sure don't claim to be an expert here!

2manybikes

Good fast thinking. That is truly a story that you can pass down to grandchildren.

I think you can now claim to be the leading expert in the world, having more experience than 99% of all people.

jnoble123

In light of your wolf experience and my impending tour up that way I did a bit more research. You might like to read the following link:

https://personal.inet.fi/luonto/mikael.broo/Val.htm

~Jamie N

LastPlace

Tom,

Never heard of anybody being stalked by wolves, let alone standing up to them. Wow!

Is that a child carrier you were dragging? Have you ever pulled anything else, like a 'Bob' trailer?

StupidlyBrave 

Very cool story, I'm glad you had the spray handy. I spent a week in the Boundary waters last summer and there were reports of wolves in the area, we were also not advised to worry about them (unless alone). No sightings, not howling - but I did see some scat.

I was always more worried about bears because I didn't want to go hungry in the wilderness.

Thanks for sharing, I love adventures.

Tom Stormcrowe

That was a kid trailer, yes. I didn't have the budget for a BOB or Burley. I picked it up used for $50 and it actually does pretty well! Pulls with no wobble even at high speed down a hill and load distribution is excellent.

EDIT: It seems that kid trailers turn out to make good touring trailers, and can be gotten at a really ridiculously low price used. I just picked up a used Cannondale "Bug" trailer for $20 in a yard sale today for the wife to pull with her Delta Trike. Look for a high end like an upper level Schwinn, Burley or Cannondale. you can get a real quality trailer that way, plus, we have young nieces and nephews, so multifunctional capability!

Tom Stormcrowe

Thank you very much! It appears my response was spot on!

Mariner Fan

Wow bro, that was a great trip. The wolves were out to make a dinner out of you. Good move with the bear spray.

Turd Ferguson

Cool tour Tom. You dance with wolves and they run away !!

I'm takin bear spay on the next tour.

Michigander

Sounds like it was a fun trip I've never had the chance to tour the UP except by car.

I tell you what though, thats one odd story about the wolves. I had thought that as a rule wolves NEVER attacked humans, or even made it look like they wanted to.