Prepping for the Hiking Season

Posted on May 10th, 2011

Editor’s Note: Jim DuFresne, the main contributor at MichiganTrailMaps.com, is headed for Alaska this summer and will be spending more than a month in Southeast Alaska exploring the region’s wonderful trail system. He promises to blog about his walks beginning in mid-June. We’re goi… read more

From Argentina – A Personal Trophy of a Trout

Posted on March 21st, 2011

After a flight halfway down the world and another halfway across Argentina, an all-night bus ride and jaunts on subways and taxis, after dreaming and planning about this day for over six months, there I was—finally—standing on the banks of the Rio Malleo in the foothills of the Andes. The river w… read more

A Personal Journey to Argentina

Posted on March 11th, 2011

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of reports from Jim DuFresne, the main contributor at MichiganTrailMaps.com, who is traveling in Argentina. Due to technical problems in South America this entry of Trail Talk is a week late getting posted. I was on a roll on my journey halfway arou… read more

Growing Old with a Sense of Adventure

Posted on February 21st, 2011

Editor’s Note: This is the first of hopefully several Trail Talk entries on Jim DuFresne’s search of the world-class fly fishing in Argentina. My right knee aches. Yesterday I ran six miles, pushing it at the end, knowing that my right knee would throb that night and I would be sore t… read more

Dave Forbush and the Art of Grooming

Posted on February 2nd, 2011

On a day when the wind was nonexistent, when the woods were covered by a fresh inch of snow, when the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds every now and then – in other words, a perfect day for Nordic skiing – I was on some of the best trails in Northern Michigan but nowhere near my skis. Jim DuFre… read more

A Tree in the Middle of the Trail: The Need to Support MI State Forests

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

The World in a Kelty Backpack

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

A Day at Sleeping Bear Dunes

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

Wolves in the Wild

Posted on August 5th, 2010

I was up north, researching trails in Antrim County for www.michigantrailmaps.com, when the press release arrived in my inbox. The tag line was intriguing: Wolf Pup Captured and Released in the Northern Lower Peninsula The release was fascinating: “A USDA Wildlife Services employee was r… read more

Sharing a Lifetime of Love for Trails

Posted on July 27th, 2010

I like to hike. Pure and simple. I like to put one boot in front of the other in the sand dune country of Michigan, the mountains of New Zealand or the great wilderness areas of Alaska, following a path away from the chaotic noise of civilization and into the slower and quieter pace of the natural world.… read more

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