Idyll

It was like any other morning except that, after days of thinking about it, I decided to go somewhere.  It's not that hard to do, and there was no real reason to do it, but I did run away from it all for a few days.

Driving  north to the Baldwin area, I discovered  Saluk Recreation area where there are 10 quiet, rustic campsites so secluded from each other the adjacent campsites couldn't even be seen.

With the Pere Marquette river meandering through, the area promised to provide some angling adventures to keep me busy in the evenings.

I couldn't have picked better days.  The gravel roads in the area had just been graded and treated for dust control.  For the most part they were smooth and predictable while the weather produced perfect Michigan summer.   The rest of the world seems to be broiling but we are caught in a pocket of pleasure. 3 1/2 hours of riding was barely enough to work up a sweat.

It was a weekday, so the ORV trails in the area 

 provided a little more adventurous riding in the forest.  

The trails get to be downright challenging when they look like climbing a sand pit.  For those familiar, this stretch makes Sager Rd on the Barry Roubaix route look like a stroll on the beach.  Maybe if I was 40 years younger and had the greatest knobbies of all time under me, I MIGHT have thought about it a moment longer.  But, I'm not, don't have and didin't even consider it.

A few days of wandering about in the forest was good for the soul and the HUNQ.  The gravel was biting and the trout are all safe.  One fringe benefit was the lack of cell service.  It would fade between 0-1 bar making the phone so useless I gave up for 3 days and spent my time listening to the forest population taking care of things the way they should.  Nice to have places like this a couple of hours away.