Mount Arvon - November 2, 2018 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Mount Arvon |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | Michigan |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | November 2, 2018 |
| Duration: | 3 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Good |
| Trail Traffic: | None |
| Trip Weather: | Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | None |
| Trip Precipitation: | None |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 41-50, Low: 31-40 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | Decided somewhat on a whim to make a trip to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan to bag the high point. As such, Gidget, Beans, and I knocked off work a bit early Thursday afternoon, and drove approximately four hours to Saginaw, Michigan where we grabbed some takeout and a hotel room. Got a good night’s sleep, took our time getting ready in the morning, grabbed a few pastries from the complimentary continental breakfast, and hit the road again. The intent was to spend the bulk of the day Friday getting to an area of the UP that would put us in easy striking distance of Mount Arvon the following morning. As such, we did a quick online search, and found a small motel, the Three Lakes Motel, that would put us within an hour and a half of the summit. Made a phone reservation and established a time to meet the owner. This was a very small hotel and the owner had some prior plans so we needed to establish a time to meet him to get the room key. Continued on with our long drive and ended up arriving at the Three Lakes Motel early despite stopping for a couple fresh walleye sandwiches at a road stop restaurant along the way. We were at least an hour early and the owner wasn’t there. As such, and after determining we probably still had a couple hours of day light left, we decided to go ahead and knock out the high point. Made the drive to L’Anse and then on towards Mount Arvon using the directions above. After a couple wrong turns, finally made it to the gravel / dirt road. There were a few confusing points, but for the most part, the aforementioned directions are pretty straight forward, and there are blue markers along the way. Nonetheless, if you are expecting to have to hike the last half mile, you still end up second guessing yourself looking for the correct parking area. Finally ended up getting there, but only after watching a very large wolf nonchalantly walk across the road right in front of us. Would have loved to have gotten a photo, but we were completely dumbfounded and caught off guard. This was for sure the highlight of the trip, and also the reason for the five-star trip rating, but all we could think about is how our little beagle, Beans, would have probably looked like a nice little snack for the wolf had we been outside hiking at that point. Once at the summit, we knew we were running out of daylight. As such, and not wanting to get stuck on a muddy dirt road out in the middle of nowhere after dark, so we made quick work of signing the register and snapping a few photos, and then headed back to the motel, which, for all practical purposes was in the middle of nowhere itself. We debated about what we were going to do for dinner, but ultimately made the great decision to eat at the Snowshoe Inn, a small little restaurant and pub located right next door to the motel, which had been opened up by a married couple who had quit their jobs as police officers in Wisconsin and moved to the UP to live and open the Inn. Spent a nice evening over dinner and a couple IPAs talking to the owners and a couple locals, got another good night’s sleep in the nicely renovated motel and then took our good old time Saturday and Sunday making our way back to Ohio, working in a couple more hikes along the way and a few stops at Marquette, Mackinaw City, and Frakenmuth. |
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