Wildflowers and Warm Weather on Memorial Weekend in the Sylvania Wilderness, Spring 2023

We packed up and headed north for our first canoe camping trip of 2023 with new canoeists along for the trip. Typically our May trips to the Sylvania Wildreness are cold, wet and buggy. Because guests new to the sport were traveling along, we hoped for good weather and mangeable bugs. We put in on Crooked Lake, paddled the length of Crooked and took the short portage to Mountan Lake to camp on Lynx 1 Campsite. After the second night, we paddled and portaged from Lynx 1 Campsite on Mountain Lake over to Coyote Campsite on West Bear Lake. This is what happened.

Our First Canoe Trip of 2019 - 4 Days in the Sylvania Wilderness

There is nothing like a long, cold winter to make us ache for the warmer, carefree days of summer. Finally, the weather had become right for a canoe trip. With a song in our hearts we loaded up the car and headed north for a four day family trip to the Sylvania Wilderness in the Ottawa National Forest of Upper Michigan. As we drove it began to rain. We talked about the weather, the way people headed into the wilderness tend to do. Our goal for the day, to make it to camp without thunderstorms, and without our everything becoming entirely drenched.

4 Day Canoe Trip: Sylvania Wilderness 2018

As Northerners do, our family dreams of the distant springtime through the icy season. When it finally arrives, we begin our spring rituals. Spring cleaning, garden planning, keeping an eye out for the first robin. My favorite of our family's spring rituals, my husband's lowering of the canoe from it's resting place among the spiders that hang among the garage rafters, marks the true beginning of summer fun for our family.

Sylvania Wilderness 2017 Part 2

Loons swam with their chicks calling loud warnings as eagles swooped down from warm, sunny skies. They called mournful calls as night fell wrapping the lake in a blanket of cool darkness. Bullfrogs croaked. Thousands of tadpoles in various stages of development filled the shallow waters along the lake shore. Turtles sunbathed on logs. Wildflowers waved in the breeze. Fungi and moss thrived on fallen trees. Cool green ferns lined serene footpaths. Reflections of clouds on the lake mirrored the tranquil sky. The Sylvania Wilderness gave our family all of this plus so much more.

Sylvania Wilderness Canoe Trip

A wet, buggy canoe trip in the Sylvania Wilderness beats a dry, air-conditioned day in the rat race anytime. So off we paddled, with smiles in our hearts and bug nets on our heads. Our long weekend in the Sylvania Wilderness started out bright, sunny, and buggy.