A Holiday Sale And A Journey To Death Valley

Posted on December 6th, 2012

Editor’s Note: Tis the season … to scramble around for last minute stocking stuffers. We’re here to help. MichiganTrailMaps.com is having its first holiday sale. Order a book and we’ll throw in one of our new trail maps, a $4.95 value! Order any book from our e-shop and fill in the “Name of F… read more

Thoughts on a Wilderness Island

Posted on October 29th, 2012

Editor’s Note: Jim DuFresne has long since departed the Manitou Islands of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore but he filed one more blog entry for MichiganTrailMaps.com since his return to the mainland. Mark your calendar for a pair of Jim DuFresne presentations in November. DuF… read more

Chipmunks & Ticks on North Manitou Island

Posted on September 22nd, 2012

Editor’s Note: This is Jim DuFresne’s third Trail Talk blog in a series from the Manitou Islands in Lake Michigan, where he was working recently on a mapping project for MichiganTrailMaps.com. By Jim DuFresne Chipmunks I have no fear of. These small, striped rodents are so numerous on… read more

The Cosmopolitan World of South Manitou Island

Posted on September 14th, 2012

Editor’s Note: Here is the second blog in a series based on Jim DuFresne’s recent research trip on South and North Manitou Islands, part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. By Jim DuFresne There are two former U.S. Lifesaving Service boathouses on South Manitou Island. Th… read more

First Time Backpacking? No Worries

Posted on May 24th, 2012

Editor’s Note: Jim DuFresne has suggestions for anybody heading to Isle Royale National Park for the first time. For more on the island park check out the Isle Royale pages at MichiganTrailMaps.com. By Jim DuFresne Teresa sent me an email recently with a question about backpacking that I hav… 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

Upper Bushman Lake: A Place To Escape

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

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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