Come forth into
  the light of things;
Let nature be your Teacher.

One impulse
  from a vernal wood
May teach you
  more of man,
Of moral evil
  and of good,
Than all the sages can.
   -- William Wordsworth,
  1770-1850
   English Romantic Poet,
  The Tables Turned--An
  Evening Scene on
  the Same Subject

Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do rather than the ones you did do. So throw off your bow lines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
   -- Mark Twain

My meals
were easily made,
for they were all alike
and simple,
only a cupful of tea
and bread.
  --John Muir
  1838-1914

Everybody needs beauty
as well as bread,
places to play in
and pray in,
where nature may heal
and give strength
to body and soul alike.
   -- John Muir 1838-1914
   The Yosemite (1912)

The wilderness
holds answers
to more questions
than we have
yet learned to ask.
   -- Nancy Newhall
   Encounters with
   the Archdruid, 1971

We do not go
to the green woods
and crystal waters
to rough it,
we go to smooth it.
We get it
rough enough
at home,
in towns
and cities.
   --Nessmuk
   (G.W. Sears),
   Woodcraft, 1963

Seek not
the trip of a lifetime,
but a
lifetime of tripping.
   -- Michael Neiger's credo

It is one
of the blessings
of wilderness life
that it shows us
how few things
we need
in order to be
perfectly happy.
  --Horace Kephart
  Camping & Woodcraft, 1917

The man
with the knapsack
is never lost.
No matter
whither he may stray,
his food
and shelter
are right with him,
and home is
wherever he may
choose to stop.
  --Horace Kephart
  Camping & Woodcraft, 1917

I made
these Sierra trips,
carrying only
a sackful of bread
with a little tea
and sugar,
and was thus
independent and free….
  --John Muir
  1838-1914

The man
who goes afoot,
prepared to camp
anywhere
and in any weather,
is the most independent
fellow on earth.
  --Horace Kephart
  Camping & Woodcraft, 1917

The human race
is bound to defile.
I've often noticed it.
Whatever
they can reach
or name, they'd shit
on the morning star
if they could reach . . .
A day will come
when the earth
will scratch herself
and smile
and rub off humanity.
   -- Robinson Jeffers
   1887-1962

It is impossible
to overestimate
the value
of wild mountains
and mountain temples
as places
for people to grow in,
recreation grounds
for soul and body.
  --John Muir
  1838-1914

The last word
in ignorance
is the man who says
of a plant or animal,
"What good is it?"
If the land mechanism
as a whole is good,
then every part of it
is good,
whether we
understand it
or not.
   -- Aldo Leopold
   1886-1948

As you
sit on the hillside,
or lie prone
under the trees
of the forest,
or sprawl wet-legged
by a mountain stream,
the great door,
that does not
look like a door, opens.
  --Stephen Graham
  The Gentle Art
     of Tramping, 1926

The tendency
nowadays to
wander in wilderness
is delightful to see.
Thousands of tired,
nerve-shaken,
over-civilized people
are beginning
to find out that
going to the mountains
is going home;
that wildness
is a necessity;
and that
mountain parks
and reservations
are useful
not only as
fountains of timber
and irrigating rivers,
but as
fountains of life.
  --John Muir
  1838-1914
  Our National Parks, 1901

All things share
the same breath--
the beast,
the tree,
the man ...
the air
shares its spirit
with all
the life it supports.
   -- Chief Seattle
   1786-1866
   Duwamish

I learned early that
the richness of life
is found in adventure.
Adventure calls
on all the faculties
of mind and spirit.
It develops
self-reliance and
independence.
Life then teems
with excitement.
But man
is not ready
for adventure
unless he is
rid of fear.
For fear
confines him
and limits his scope.
He stays tethered
by strings of doubt
and indecision
and has only
a small
and narrow world
to explore.

Live each day
as you would
climb a mountain.
An occasional glance
towards the summit
puts the goal in mind.
Many beautiful scenes
can be observed
from each new
vantage point.
Climb steadily,
slowly,
enjoy each
passing moment;
and the view
from the summit
will serve
as a fitting climax
to the journey.
   -- Joe Porcino

When man ventures
into the wilderness,
climbs the ridges,
and sleeps in the forest,
he comes
in close communion
with his Creator.
When man
pits himself
against the mountain,
he taps inner springs
of his strength.
He comes to
know himself.
   --William O. Douglas
   Of Men and Mountains,
   1950

Things which
matter most
must never
be at the mercy
of things
which matter least.
   -- Goethe

The trail
has taught me much.
I know now
the varied voices
of the coyote--
the wizard of the mesa.
I know
the solemn call
of herons
and the mocking cry
of the loon.
I remember
a hundred lovely lakes,
and recall the
fragrant breath
of pine and fir
and cedar
and poplar trees.
The trail
has strung upon it,
as upon
a thread of silk,
opalescent dawns
and saffron sunsets.
It has given me
blessed release
from care and worry
and the troubled thinking
of our modern day.
It has been
a return
to the primitive
and the peaceful.
Whenever the pressure
of our complex
city life
thins my blood
and benumbs my brain,
I seek relief
in the trail;
and when I hear
a coyote wailing
to the yellow dawn,
my cares
fall from me--I am happy.
   --Hamlin Garland
   "Hitting the Trail,"
   McClure's, February 1899

Conversation enriches
the understanding,
but solitude
is the school genius.
   -- Edward Gibbon
   Decline and Fall
   the Roman Empire

A nature lover
is someone who,
when treed
by a bear,
enjoys the view.
   -- Anonymous

I can enjoy
society in a room;
but out of doors,
nature is company
enough for me.
   -- William Hazlitt
   English essayist,
   1778-1830

This instinct
for a free life
in the open
is as natural
and wholesome
as the gratification
of hunger
and thirst
and love.
It is Nature’s recall
to the simple
mode of existence
she intended us for.
   -- Horace Kephart
   Camping & Woodcraft,
   1917

I have a room
all to myself;
it is nature.
   --Henry David Thoreau
   Journal, January 3, 1853

We are always
getting ready to live,
but never living.
   --Ralph Waldo Emerson
   US essayist, 1803-1882

Nature is made
to conspire
with spirit
to emancipate us.
   -- Ralph Waldon Emerson
   US essayist, 1803-1882

I believe that there
is a subtle magnetism
in Nature,
which,
if we unconsciously
yield to it,
will direct us aright.
   -- Henry David Thoreau
   "Walking,"
   Atlantic Monthly,
   June 1862

Going to the woods
is going home,
for I suppose
we came from
the woods originally.
   -- John Muir
   US naturalist, 1838-1914

Let us
permit nature
to have her way;
she understands
her business
better than we do.
   -- Michel de Montaigne
   1533-1592

God has cared for
these trees [old growth],
saved them from drought,
disease, avalanches,
and a thousand straining,
leveling tempests
and floods, but he cannot
save them from fools.
   -- John Muir
   1838-1914

We need the
tonic of wilderness. . .
We can never
have enough of nature.
   -- Henry D. Thoreau
   1817-1862
   Walden: Spring, 1854

Even the Gods
dwelt in the woods.
   -- Vergil
   70-19 B.C.
   Eclogues

If you go only once
around the room,
you are wiser
than he
who sits still.
   -- Estonian Proverb

The sum
of the whole is this:
walk and be happy;
walk and be healthy.
The best way
to lengthen
out our days
is to walk steadily
and with a purpose.
The wandering man
knows
of certain ancients,
far gone in years,
who have staved off
infirmities
and dissolution
by earnest walking--
hale fellows,
close upon ninety,
but brisk as boys.
   -- Charles J.H. Dickens
   1812-1870

Swift or smooth,
broad as the Hudson
or narrow enough to
scrape your gunwales,
every river
is a world of its own,
unique in pattern
and personality.
Each mile
on a river
will take you
further from home
than a hundred miles
on a road."
   -- Bob Marshall

What is man
without the beasts?
If all the beasts
were gone,
men would die
from great loneliness
of spirit.
For whatever happens
to the beasts,
also happens
to the man.
All things
are connected."
   -- Chief Seattle
   1786-1866
   Statement of
   Surrender, 1855

Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry that
I couldn't travel both
and be one traveler
I stood and looked
as far as I could
to where it bent
in the undergrowth.

Then took
the other one
just as fair
and having perhaps
the better claim
because it was grassy
and wanted wear
though as far as
the passing there
had worn them
really about the same.

And both that morning
equally lay
in leaves
no step
and trodden black
oh,
I kept the first
for another day!

Yet knowing
how way leads
on to way
I doubted if I
should ever come back.

I shall be telling this
with a sigh
somewhere
ages and ages hence;
two roads
diverged in a woods,
and I took
the one less traveled by
and that has made
all the difference."
   --Robert Frost
   1874-1963
   The Road Not Taken,
   1916

There is a pleasure
in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture
on the lonely shore,
There is society,
where none intrudes,
By the deep sea,
and music in its roar:
I love not man the less,
but Nature more.
   -- Lord Byron
   1788-1824
   Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,
   1818

In the woods, too,
a man
casts off his years,
as the snake
his slough,
and at what period
soever in life,
is always a child.
In the woods
is perpetual youth.
Within these
plantations of God,
a decorum
and sanctity reign,
a perennial festival
is dressed,
and the guest sees
not how he should
tire of them
in a thousand years.
In the woods
we return
to reason and faith.
   -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
   US essayist, 1803-1882

The mountains
are fountains of men
as well as of rivers,
of glaciers,
of fertile soil.
The great poets,
philosophers,
prophets,
able men
whose thoughts
and deeds have
moved the world,
have come down
from the mountains--
mountain dwellers
who have
grown strong there
with the forest trees
in Nature’s workshops.
   -- John Muir
   US naturalist, 1838-1914

Camp out
among the grass
and gentians
of glacier meadows,
in craggy garden nooks
full of Nature’s darlings.
Climb the mountains
and get
their good tidings.
Nature’s peace
will flow into you
as sunshine flows
into trees.
The winds
will blow
their own freshness
into you,
and the storms
their energy,
while cares
will drop off
like autumn leaves.
   -- John Muir
   US naturalist, 1838-1914
   Our National Parks, 1901

I know of no more
encouraging fact than the
unquestionable ability
of man to elevate his life
by conscious endeavor.

   -- Henry David Thoreau

>Home page  (last revised May 17, 2008 )
______________________________________
Contents of this Web page:
   Welcome to The Rucksack
   Who are the Michigan Bush Rats
   What do Bush Rats do in the bush
   Bush Rats' trips & expeditions
   Fees and expenses
   Liability waiver
   Fitness & experience
   Hazards & perils
   Insurance & SAR-comm gear
   What's new on Web site
   Copyright notice & disclaimer

Remember that one man [woman] is much the same as another, and that he [she] is best who is trained in the severest school.
   --Thucydides, Greek General
   460-400 B.C.
   History of the Peloponnesian War

 

Chris Ozminski
of Frankenmuth,
Michigan found
these two
moose shovels
on Grindstone
Point, deep in
the trail-less heart of Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, on a July '05 wilderness expedition. (Photo by Mary Powell) View more sheds • Read journal from this trip

If you're able to read this Web page...
Thank a Teacher;
If you're able to read it in English...
Thank a Veteran.

Top

Welcome
to The Rucksack

Chimo! * The RuckSack
Web site is dedicated
to Great Lakes-area
wilderness trippers and
expeditioners--Michigan
Bush Rats--who enjoy
remote, multiday
backpacking, canyoneering,
winter camping, and swift-water paddling trips.

No matter what type of
wilderness experience
you happen to thrive on,
I hope you enjoy your visit
to the The RuckSack Web
site. As always, your
comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome at mneiger@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Now I see the secret
of making the best person,
it is to grow in the open air
and to eat and sleep
with the earth.
   -- Walt Whitman
   1819-1892

____________
*Chimo is an ancient Inuit--or Eskimoan--term used to convey the warmest of greetings and salutations. It is often accompanied by a friendly hand gesture; namely, a circular movement of the left hand over one's heart. Chimo is also the name of a military-spec, arctic-grade mukluk widely used by the Canadian Armed Forces and the first choice of many arctic expeditioners. This heavy-duty mukluk (too heavy for snowshoeing) was used by the Bush Rats on the 12-day, 200-km, Jan. 2006 Algoma Highlands Ski Expedition in Ontario, Canada. No longer in production, this hard-to-find, minus-104°F-rated muk was manufactured by Acton Canada and sold by Weaver & Devore Trading LTD., which is located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

 

Top

Who are the
Michigan Bush Rats

The Michigan Bush Rats are an unorganized, loosely-affiliated, Internet-connected network of hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool wilderness trippers and expeditioners who hail from such Great Lakes-area groups as the:

• Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum †
• MidwestHiker Message Board
• GreatLakesHikes Message Board
• MidlandHikingClub Message Board
• TheBackpacker.com Message Board
• North Country Trail Association
• Michigan Sierra Club
• Wisconsin Sierra Club
• Voyageur Trail Association
• School for Outdoor Leadership,
  Adventure, and Recreation (SOLAR)
• SOLAR Message Board
• Great Lakes Sea Kayak Club
• West Michigan Coastal Kayakers' Association
• Lansing Oar and Paddle Club

____________
†The principal bulletin board for Michigan Bush Rats' trip postings, important updates, and pre-trip discussion is currently Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum.
   If you are interested in keeping abreast of the Michigan Bush Rats' adventures, you should consider visiting this online forum. Look for posts by LandNavMan under the "Topic Starter" column header. If you are planning to participate in one of their adventures, you should join (register) so you can receive automatic, e-mail notification of new posts, ask or answer questions, and participate in discussions.
    Joining this free forum is very quick and easy--simply pick a cool bush name and answer a few questions. Join now. If at some point you would like to add an optional avatar--a thumbnail-size photo that will appear with all your posts--and you need help optimizing (cropping, pixel-sizing, and byte-sizing) it, e-mail me. If you would like to add an optional "signature" quote, which will appear at the bottom of all your posts, visit American Trails for a list of unique qoutes.

The Michigan Bush Rats are rain-or-shine, substance-free (tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs) wilderness trippers and expeditioners with strong minds and bodies and who enjoy living out of a rucksack, sledge, or canoe for days--sometimes weeks--at a time.

No matter where they travel or bivouac, the Michigan Bush Rats do their best to adhere to the principles and practices of the low impact doctrine. For example, they try to minimize their footprint on the wilderness, especially when it come to campfires.

If they can't locate a gravelly, sandy, or muddy area that will not be permanently scared by their fire and that can be easily cleaned up and left as they found it, they do without a fire. On most trips where they expect to have a small, Indian-style fire, they backpack in a small, 8-ounce, steel cookie sheet, using it as a fire pan atop several rocks or a couple of logs.

The Bush Rats
often use an
elevated fire pan,
like the one
on the right from
the October '06 Fox
River Canoe Trip,
to prevent a
fire from
permanently
scarring the
ground. The leg-support design on the fire pan shown was developed by Mary Powell of Flint, Michigan. This fire was started by friction, with a bow and drill. (Photo by Gail Staisil) View photo album from this trip • View journal from this trip

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
   --Lord Byron
   (George Noel Gordon)   1788-1824
   Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
   canto IV [1818], stanza 178

 

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What do
the Michigan Bush Rats
do in the wilderness?

The Michigan Bush Rats generally backpack, sledge, or paddle from 5 to 6 hours each day. Regular rest breaks are the norm as are 1-hour-long lunch breaks, which allow one enough time to enjoy a hot cup of bush coffee or soup, read a book, etc. However, Michigan Bush Rats' trips are not not highly-scripted, fair-weather affairs.

Lori Watson
of Walled Lake
takes time
to read a good book
on a Sept '01
wilderness trip
along the
Miners River,
upstream of
Miners Falls, in
the backcountry of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Photo by Mary Powell) Read journal and view photos from this trip

Off-trail exploration

While the Michigan Bush Rats spend a lot of time bushwhacking off-trail, their unscripted, cross-country travel often incorporates maintained or long-abandoned hiking trails, portage trails, trap lines, jeep trails, logging roads, railroad grades, hydrolines, gas lines, survey lines, and fire breaks. They also travel along natural corridors such as canyons, ridgelines, valleys, draws, meadows, marshes, stream beds, river banks, lakeshores, beaches, and game trails.

The common thread uniting many Michigan Bush Rats is a love of traditional, technical, land navigation combined with an insatiable desire to seek out little-known, off-the-beaten-path examples of Mother Nature's finest handiwork--waterfalls, old growth, caves, rocky peaks, cliffs, canyons, coves, points, sandy beaches, and pristine, bivouac sites--many of which still remain hidden in the wilds of Michigan and Canada.

The Bush Rats
negotiate a
flooded section
of Dugout Creek
Canyon--a side-
canyon of the
lower Agawa Canyon--on a May '06 canyoneering expedition in Ontario's Lake Superior Provincial Park. (Photo by C. A. Susan) View photo album from this trip

Historical & cultural sites

The Michigan Bush Rats also keep their eyes peeled for signs of man's passing long ago: old trapper cabins and fly-in lodges, remnants of the logging era (camps, dams, sluiceways, booms), abandoned mines and fire towers, remote bush-plane wrecks, ghost towns, shallow-water ship wreckage, and old trails, trap lines, and railroad grades.

The fireplace
and loft
inside
the Old
Woman
Lake Lodge
were a welcome site to weary trekkers on a Feb '05 expedition to Old Woman Lake, deep in the heart of Lake Superior Provincial Park. (Watercolor by Mary Powell) Read journal no. 1 from this expedition • Read journal no. 2 from this expedition • View photo album from this expedition

Sign-cutting

The Michigan Bush Rats, especially those on point, are always on the lookout for birds and animals as well as evidence of their passing--aerial and ground spoor--such as scat, tracks, hair, and disturbed vegetation. If they are lucky, they'll find a bird or animal bone, shed, skull, tooth, feather, or claw.

Mary Powell of Flint
looks over a huge
moose shovel she
found on a May of '00
wilderness trip in
the heart of Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mary Powell) View more sheds

Journaling and photography

On most Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions, a journal is kept by one or more people who enjoy writing. Those interested in photography capture the essence of the trip digitally, often sharing their photos with other trippers by uploading them to the Net. Others study the local flora, fauna, or geology.

In the school of the woods
there is no graduation day.
   -- Horace Kephart
   1917

Wilderness skills

On breaks, at lunch, and when bivouacking, some Michigan Bush Rats can be found reading a good book or honing essential wilderness skills such as knot tying, land navigation, shelter building, tarp rigging, friction fire starting (bow & drill), plant and tree identification, etc.

On service outings, the Michigan Bush Rats work on maintaining or improving an established campsite or section of trail.

Mary Powell of Flint, Michigan relaxes outside a brush hut she fabricated on a 2003 backpacking trip to the McCormick Tract. (Photo courtesy of Mary Powell) View photo album from this trip • View journal from this trip

Michael Neiger
of Marquette,
Michigan
practices
starting a
fire by friction
with a bow,
drill, socket,
hearth, and
tinder on the
October '06
Fox River
Canoe Trip.
All materials
were gathered
and fashioned
at the bivouac site by the Bush Rats. Thanks to a critical assist by Chris Ozminski of Frankenmuth, Michigan, a fire was successfully kindled. (Photo by Gail Staisil) View photo album from this trip • View journal from this trip

Success is on
the far side of failure.
   -- T. J. Watson
   Founder of IBM

 

Land nav team

Michigan Bush Rats who are interested in land navigation get lots of hands-on experience. After pouring over quads, deciding on a plan, and calculating the corresponding azimuth, distance, and terrain-profile for each plotted leg of the route, they take turns on point, cutting azimuths.

The land nav team
pours over the quads
on an April '06
recon of the bush
in the northern reaches
of the Pigeon River Country State Forest. (Photo by Khai Mong) View photo album from this trip • View journal from this trip

On technical, challenging routes, someone else carefully tracks the group's progress using ranger pacing beads. Hands-on, in-the-field discussions about map interpretation, compass use, aiming off, pace counting, adjusting for magnetic declination, using UTM roamer cards, the UTM coordinate system, configuring GPS units, map prep for GPS use, map waterproofing, etc., are also common.

Remote bivouacs

More often than not, the Michigan Bush Rats end up bivouacking in the far reaches of rugged, sometimes inhospitable, wilderness, far from established campgrounds, level or dry sleeping sites, potable water, toilets, fire rings, and picnic tables. Because of this, they have to hump extra water occasionally, like when they bivouac atop a high cliff or a rocky summit.

A Bush Rats
bivouac along
the Agawa River,
deep in the Agawa Canyon, on a Sept '06 canyoneering expedition to 11-Mile Creek Canyon in Canada. (Photo by C. A. Susan) View photo album from this trip

Top

Michigan Bush Rats'
trips and expeditions

Past adventures

To learn more about where the Michigan Bush Rats have traveled in the past, visit the trip journals and photos page and read a journal or view a photo album.

Future adventures

To find out where the Michigan Bush Rats are headed in the months to come, visit the wilderness tripping opportunities page.

Top

Trip fees & expenses

All Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger are free; there is never a charge to participate.

Instead, participants are responsible for their own expenses including, but not limited to, transportation, reservations, lodging, meals, insurance, tickets, licenses, permits, clothing, bush equipment, field rations, safety equipment, etc.

Michigan bivouac notice

Anyone bivouacking on land owned by the State of Michigan, outside of a state park, state forest campground, etc., is required by state law (Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Sec. 74201 et seq., P.A. 451 of 1994) to post a Camp Registration Card (Form no. PR 4134) at their campsite.

This permit--which is free--must be filled out in pencil (to make it legible when wet). Since the two-part permit is perforated and made of heavy cardstock to withstand weathering, it can not be reproduced. These 8.5- by 11-inch permits can be picked up from any Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) office, or they can be ordered by e-mailing the DNR. Backpackers have been heavily fined for not posting Camp Registration Cards in the past.

Review Land Use Orders issued by the Director of the DNR. Tip: To find what you are looking for, search the above Web page using your browser's "find" feature, which may be accessible by clicking the "edit" tab on the toolbar.

Ontario, Canada bivouacs

Anyone bivouacking on Crown land, property owned by the Province of Ontario, outside of a provincial park, etc,. is required by provincial law to purchase Crown Land Camping Permits. These permits cost $10.00 Canadian per night, per person and are generally available from any Ontario sports shop that sells hunting and fishing licenses, such as the one below, which is conveniently located along the east side of Highway 17 on the northern outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Chippewa Trading Post
1332 Great Northern Road
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 5K7
1-705-759-4518
Fax: 1-705-759-0887
E-mail: trading.post@shaw.ca
Web site: http://www.trading-post.ca

Top

Liability waiver
requirement

All persons participating in a Michigan Bush Rats' trip or expedition organized by Michael Neiger must read, acknowledge understanding, and sign a liability waiver at the trailhead.

In nature
there are neither rewards
nor punishments--
there are consequences.
  --Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  American lawyer, orator,
and civil war cavalry commander
Some Reasons Why (1896)

Top

Physical fitness
and prior experience

Physical fitness

Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger are generally strenuous to very-strenuous in nature. As such, they are only suitable for adventurous individuals with strong minds and bodies.

They are not suitable for the overweight, inactive, or out-of-shape. Rather, they are only suitable for those who maintain their muscular and aerobic fitness on a regular and long-term basis.

It is strongly recommended that participants consult their personal physician before participating in a Michigan Bush Rats' trip or expedition organized by Michael Neiger. The following heath checkups are strongly recommended:

• thorough physical exam
• stress test
• complete dental exam

Prior experience

Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger are only suitable for seasoned wilderness trippers with considerable experience, including traveling and bivouacking in foul weather.

They are not suitable for beginners or the inexperienced. Depending upon the nature of a particular trip, participants will need to be at the intermediate, advanced, or expert level.

Since participants are responsible for themselves--as well as their own safety, health, and well-being--they must be:

• at least 18 years old
• nonsmokers
• independent
• self-reliant
• foul-weather ready
• fully and appropriately equipped
• proficient swimmers
• wilderness-skills savvy
• good decision makers who exercise sound wilderness judgment

There's no
such thing
as bad weather--
only wrong clothes.
   -- Anonymous

Top

Hazards & perils--
forewarned is forearmed

Wilderness tripping and expeditioning--especially remote, foul-weather travel, bushwhacking cross-country, cliff and steep slope travel, climbing, canyoneering, cave exploration, river fording, swimming, canoeing, portaging, skiing, snowshoeing, winter camping, ice travel, ice crossing, deep cold, high winds, etc.--involve unknown and unpredictable hazards and perils.

The beginning
of wisdom
is a salutary shock.
   -- Arnold Toynbee

A wilderness tripper's or expeditioner's failure to physically and mentally prepare for a harsh trip or expedition; acquire the necessary skills and equipment for a harsh trip or expedition; and recognize, take responsibility for, and avoid the unknown and unpredictable hazards and perils that often present themselves on a harsh wilderness trip or expedition will likely result in the serious injury, paralysis, or slow, painful death of the tripper or expeditioner.

PegLeg: A totally
blown-out knee
immobilized
by slats of old growth
during a May '01 trip
to the remote,
northern section
of the McCormick Tract in Marquette County. (Photo by Mary Powell) Read journal and view photos from this trip

First-aid kits

On Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger, the only first-aid equipment available is that which is carried by each participant. Each participant should carry their own first-aid kit, which should be stocked with the items and medications recommended by their personal physician.

Emergency medical care

On Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger, there are no doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics, or other trained emergency medical personnel. At best, other participants may only be able to render the most basic of first-aid care.

Search and rescue services

On Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger, there are no search and rescue personnel; no one is trained in rope handling, rappelling, climbing, caving, ice travel, high-angle slope travel, swift-water travel, etc. No one is trained in rescue from any of these activities either; no one is trained in high-angle rescue, ice rescue, swift-water rescue, etc.

Early and provident fear
is the mother of safety.
   -- Edmund Burke
   1729-1797
   Speech, 1792

Top

Insurance and
SAR-comm equipment

Insurance

On Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger, no insurance coverage is provided for participants. It is strongly recommended that participants consider purchasing insurance coverage such as:

• trip cancellation insurance
• dental insurance
• medical insurance
• prescription insurance
• evacuation insurance
• disability insurance
• life insurance

TravelX Insurance Services
1-800-228-9792
http://www.travelex-insurance.com

MedJet Assistance
1-800-963-3538
http://www.medjetassistance.com

International SOS
1-800-523-8930
http://www.internationalsos.com

Travel Guard International
1-800-826-4919
http://www.travelguard.com

U.S. Department of State
http://travel.state.gov
Complete list of air ambulance & med-evac companies as well as travel insurance vendors listed under "International Travel" and "Health"

InsureMyTrip
1-800-487-4722
http://www.insuremytrip.com
A comprehensive listing of 72 policies offered by 15 companies

 

SAR-comm gear

On Michigan Bush Rats' trips and expeditions organized by Michael Neiger, emergency communications gear such as cell phones, satellite phones, and satellite beacons (ELTs, PLBs, & EPIRBs) are not provided or carried. Even if a participant carries SAR-comm gear, it can't always be relied upon, especially in rugged terrain or remote bush.

Nature never overlooks a mistake,
or makes the smallest allowance
for ignorance.
    -- Thomas H. Huxley, 1825-1895
   A Liberal Education,   1868

The only way to summon search and rescue personal or emergency medical personnel on Michigan Bush Rats' trips or expeditions organized by Michael Neiger is for another uninjured participant to walk or paddle to a point where help can be summoned.

The wait for assistance will be very long--measured in days--and possibly very painful, maybe even fatal. Since the evacuation process will be very difficult and costly to arrange, participants should consider purchasing evacuation insurance and carrying their own communications gear:

ACR Terrafix 406 GPS PLB
1-954-981-3333
http://www.acrplb.com
(Personal locator beacons with 406MHz and 121.5MHz transmitters that include GPS position fixes)

Globalstar SPOT Satellite Messenger
1-877-728-7466
http://www.globalstar.com
(GPS-Enabled Satellite Messenger)

GMPCS Personal Communications
1-888-664-6727
http://www.gmpcs-us.com
(Satellite phone rentals)

McMurdo FastFind Plus GPS PLB
1-800-576-2605
http://www.mcmpw.com
(Personal locator beacons with 406MHz and 121.5MHz transmitters that include GPS position fixes)

PLB Rentals LLC
1-425-299-5662
http://www.plbrentals.com
(Personal locator beacon rentals)

It is always dangerous
to try to impose
your will on reality
because reality
has a terrible way
of biting back.
   -- Newt Gingrich
   Former House Speaker

 

Top

What's new
on the Rucksack?

• 05-17: Michigan Bush Rats' August 28 to September 2 '08 McCormick Wilderness Tract Backpacking Trip beta uploaded to the Midwest Forum
• 04-11: Gail Staisil's photo album from the April, '08 Mackinac State Forest Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 03-29: Gail Staisil's photo-journal from the March 7-11, '08 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 03-18: Cathy Susan's photo-journal from the Feb 9-17, '08 Trans-Lake Superior Provincial Park Canadian Expedition has been posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 03-17: Michigan Bush Rats' June 28 to July 5, '08 Porcupine Mountains Backpacking Trip beta uploaded to the Midwest Forum
• 03-17: Photo albums from the March 7-11, '08 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 02-17: Gail Staisil's photo album and C. A. Susan's photo album from the Feb 9-17, '08 Trans-Lake Superior Provincial Park Canadian Expedition uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 02-17: Mary Ann Hayman's photo album from the Jan 18-22, '08 Delirium Wilderness Tract Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 02-01: Mary Powell's trip journal from the Jan 18-22, '08 Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 01-31: Michigan Bush Rats' May 24-June 2, '08 22nd Annual Canadian Backpacking Expedition--The Coldwater River and Calwin Falls Expedition--beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 01-27: Mary Powell's photo album from the Jan 18-22, '08 Delirium Wilderness Tract Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 01-26: Michigan Bush Rats' May 2-5, '08 Mackinac Wilderness Tract (Michigan's U.P.) Backpacking Trip beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 01-26: Michigan Bush Rats' April 4-7, '08 Mackinac State Forest (Michigan's L.P.) Backpacking Trip beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 01-25: C.A. Susan's photo album from the Jan 18-22, '08 Delirium Wilderness Tract Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 12-18: Mary Powell's trip journal from the Dec 7-10, '07 Mackinac State Forest Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 12-15: Gail Staisil's, Mike Fogarty's, and Mary Powell's photo albums from the Dec 7-10, '07 Mackinac State Forest Winter Sledge Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-25: Mary Powell's trip journal from the May 27 - June 2, '07 Canadian Backpacking Expedition uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-19: Joanne Sarrasin's trip journal from the Oct 5-8, '07 Pictured Rocks Backpacking and Spelunking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-18: Mary Powell's trip journal from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-15: Big Daddy's Gypsy Caravan fabric outlet added to sewing page on this Web site
• 11-14: Michigan Bush Rats' March 7-11 '08 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Snowshoeing and Ice Exploration Trip beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 11-14: Sarah Kirkish's trip journal from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-12: Mary Powell's photo album from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-08: Gail Staisil's photo album from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-07: C.A. Susan's photo album from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 11-07: Rob Schwenke's photo album from the Nov 2-5 Mackinac Wilderness Tract Winter Backpacking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 10-31: Michigan Bush Rats' Feb 9-17 '08 21st-Annual Canadian Snowshoeing Expedition beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 10-23: Mary Powell's photo album from the Oct 5-8, '07 Pictured Rocks Backpacking and Spelunking Trip uploaded and linked to the Trip Journals and Photos page
• 10-16: Feb through June wilderness-tripping schedule uploaded to Upcoming Trips Page
• 08-08: New Man-Tracking Message Board on Yahoo.com added to Tracking Man & Beast Page
• 07-17: Michigan Bush Rats' Jan 18-22 Delirium Wilderness Tract Winter-Camping Trip beta posted on Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum and linked to the Upcoming Trips Page on this Web site
• 07-16: Michigan Bush Rats' Dec 7-10 Mackinac State Forest Winter-Backpacking Trip beta posted on Backpacker