Exploring

When we woke to a cold, cold morning, we decided to spend the day checking out some of the other Ottawa National Forest campgrounds. We've enjoyed each of the places we've stayed over the years but would like to try some others next summer.

We headed west on Highway 2.

The first was Imp Lake, a little lake way off the beaten track. It has 22 sites, but I liked site no. 15 the best because of the lake access and also because smack dab on the tent pad was a pile of bear scat.

My kind of place, isolated and wild, critters a bonus. Gary suggested suggested that my criteria isn't like those of normal people.

Marion Lake is much bigger, with 37 campsites. There are private homes on this lake, which means that motorized boats are allowed. This one would be much busier in the summer.

We stopped at the Ottawa Visitor Center in Watsersmeet. There we met ranger Steve, who turned out to be an amateur storyteller who this summer did a session at the Lake Ottawa at our host's campsite. Anita Joy told me how much everyone enjoyed the event and wondered if I would be interested next year. We'll work something out, I'm sure.

Gary insisted on buying us caps. His is for the Sylvania Wilderness, mine is the Ottawa National Forest, which matches my Nicolet-Chequamagon hat.

We liked Pomeroy Lake, really isolated on a rough road. We could host there at site no. 7 but we would have no cellphone or internet access and the closest grocery shopping would be over thirty mils away at Bessemer. Bobcat Lake would be closer to civilization, but there would be so many more people around.

We would make great campground hosts. Gary has an environmental degree. He knows all about flora and fauna. As an ex-hardware guy at Menard's (a home improvement place) could repair anything. I can tell campfire stories to entertain children. Both of us know the area and can give great advice about camping in general. 

But do we really want to tie ourselves down for a summer?  Time will tell.