Posted on April 19th, 2012Editor’s Note: Don’t forget on Tuesday, April 24, Jim DuFresne will be giving his presentation Michigan’s Top Ten Backpacking Treks at 7 p.m. at Backcountry North, 2820 N. US-31 South in Traverse City. Advance registration for the show is required and can be made by calling Backcountry Nort… read more
Posted on February 20th, 2012
I was the first skier to arrive at Wilderness State Park on Saturday morning after this corner of Emmet County was blessed with three inches of lake-effect snow the night before. I stepped into my skis and headed south on Swamp Line Trail, alone in the woods, surrounded by winter’s stillness.
Jim Du… read more
Posted on January 30th, 2012Editor’s Note:Jim DuFresne wrote and filed this blog for MichiganTrailMaps.com on Friday morning, Jan. 27. That evening five inches of snow had fallen on most of Emmit County and on Saturday Mother Nature added two more. There is good Nordic skiing from Gaylord through most of the northern half o… read more
Posted on January 7th, 2012Editor’s Note: This blog entry by Jim DuFresne was suppose to appear just before Christmas but technical difficulties prevented us from posting it until now. By Jim DuFresne
Jim DuFresne
This is the time of the year when we often pause to reflect, remember and give thanks. Despite thes… read more
Posted on November 8th, 2011
I’m driving a new car. No, let me re-phrase that; I’m driving a newer car.
I picked up a Saturn Vue that is three-years old and has 43,000 miles on it. It’s high tech. For the first time I can use my IPod in my vehicle. It has remote start for those mornings when the windows are all frosted up and during… read more
Posted on September 21st, 2011
On the day of Greg Hokans’ funeral I was hiking in Emmet County, recording trails for MichiganTrailMaps.com and enjoying a beautiful September day in northern Michigan.
At the Elk Rapids Library that evening, my Internet connection when I’m in this corner of the state, somebody emailed me con… read more
Posted on December 31st, 2010
The only thing you can be sure of in life – beyond death and taxes – is that the amount of undeveloped land in the world, places without the heavy footprint of man, will never increase.
Jim DuFresne
It will only shrink.
As our population grows and our needs for fuel, food and housing increases, natur… read more
Posted on November 9th, 2010
A day after the Great Lakes Cyclone, when winds were hitting 60 mph and stronger, I was in the Pigeon River Country State Forest following the 10-Mile Loop of the Shingle Mill Pathway for http://www.MichiganTrailMaps.com. It was still windy, but otherwise the afternoon was cool, clear and crisp, t… read more
Posted on October 5th, 2010
When I dropped my daughter off at the airport and pulled her suitcase out of the trunk , I knew the weight of it even without a scale, a hair under 50 pounds. Jessica was moving to Argentina and needed to take part of her life with her but was too cost conscious (fiscally responsible?) to allow the airlin… read more
Posted on September 9th, 2010
I’m not sure what was more amazing; the look on my friend’s face the first time he saw the sweeping view of Lake Michigan from Empire Bluff or the fact that this lifelong resident of Michigan, somebody who has traveled widely around the country and the world, had never been to Sleeping Bear Dunes Na… read more
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