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- Backcountry Camping
- Backpacking
- Camping Skills and Tips
- Do It Yourself
- For Women
- Hammock Camping
- Hiking
- Historic Preservation
- Kayaking and Canoeing
- Meditations on Nature
- North Manitou Island History
- North Manitou Island Now
- Product Reviews and Demos
- Research and Resources
- South Manitou Island
- South Manitou Island History
- Stories
- Trip Reports
- Volunteering
- Wilderness Ethics: Leave No Trace
- Winter Camping

Outdoor Adventuring Over 50 For Beginners
Better late than never Outdoor adventuring over 50 for beginners. It’s not too late to get started! Are you thinking about getting out into nature and planning some new adventures? As two 50-somethings, we hope to share our experiences with you to get you thinking about what is possible. Nothing extreme – just getting out…

Volunteering in our National Park
Volunteering in our National Park We love volunteering, especially for our local National Park, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore! Fun news: Inkus our dog is also now a volunteer. He is officially a BARK Ranger, helping bring awareness to proper dog behavior in the Park. This helps to protect the local piping plovers, an endangered…

Hammock Camping 101
Want to learn some new outdoor skills? Try hammock camping. Get outside and enjoy your summer! Curious about how to get started hammock camping? This presentation will review the basics: the advantages and disadvantages to hammocks, equipment that you can buy or make, safety tips, and Leave No Trace principles. Either for use as a…

Fishell Canoe Paddles Unboxing
Something new this spring! We purchased new handmade wooden paddles for our canoe from Fishell Paddles. We just got our new Fishell Wooden Canoe Paddles in the mail! Watch us unbox and react to these beautiful new paddles. We had the opportunity to meet Greg Fishell at Canoecopia in Madison Wisconsin this year, and enjoyed…

Packing a Backpack for Backcountry Camping
Packing a backpack for backcountry camping is an essential skill. By mastering this, you will be able to get out to see more natural places! Backpacking is a great way to stay fit, explore, and get to places most people don’t get to see. Learn how to pack your backpack for backcountry camping in the…

Packing Your Kayak for a River Trip
Wonder how to pack your kayak for a river camping trip? In this introductory video see what we pack and how we fit it in our boats. We recorded this on location at the Canoe Harbor State Forest Campground in Grayling, MI on the Au Sable River. Packing your kayak for a river trip is…

Mason Chapel on the Au Sable River
One of the joys of kayaking is exploring along the river! Here is a short video from our visit to the Mason Chapel on the Au Sable River near Grayling, MI. This was a beautiful stop on our 5 day kayaking camping trip last summer. If you are going to be on the south branch…

Ladies Camping Bathroom Tips and Pstyle Product Review
Camping Bathroom Tips Camping bathroom tips for ladies only! Need some tips on bathrooming while out camping? Don’t let your need to urinate or poo outdoors be a barrier to enjoying your adventures in nature. Topics covered include Leave No Trace burying your poo and toilet paper, packing out wipes and menstrual products, and a…

DIY Indoor Hammock Stand and Tablecloth Hammock
Love using your hammock and wish you could sleep in it at home? Check out our DIY indoor hammock stand in this video from our family room. Also included is a tour of our tablecloth hammock. Well winter is almost here! When not out camping, we like to set up the hammock at home on…

North Manitou Island Story Published
New Article Published Want to know more about what is happening on North Manitou Island? Stacie has an article in the current issue of Michigan History Magazine, telling the story of the restoration of the Katie Shepard Hotel Project on North Manitou Island. We met on the project back in 2014, and have enjoyed volunteering…