Wandering Knight

New post by Kenknight

New post by Kenknight

New post by Kenknight

New post by Kenknight

Hollerfest has been running now for 5 years. Put on the by the King family on their farm, Frog Holler Farm, the festival is an intimate gathering for performers and patrons alike. The music is varied and the atmosphere is congenial. I joined several friends this year, at long last, for the festival weekend and had a wonderful time. I had not planned on doing a podcast for this festival so I apologize for any audio quirks as all I had with me was my iPhone. I think it turned out rather well. My heartfelt thanks to all those who gave me a bit of their time to take part in this podcast. I especially want to thank the bands I recorded under-the-radar as it were. In order that you heard them (I hope): 1 Appleseed Collective 2 Dorkestra 3 String Cheese 4 Frank Allison 5 Nutshell 6 Blue Party 7 Griff's Jams 8 Isosceles 9 Natalie Mae 10 Lac La Belle 11 Nervous But Excited 12 Bliss 13 Creole du Nord

New post by Kenknight

New post by Kenknight

New post by Kenknight

The first geocaching rally was off to a rollicking start on an overcast, snow bound, January afternoon in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The energy and enthusiasm of the teams was undeniable. People wanted to win. Even our little team of myself, Laurence and Marla, and Paul wanted to at least not finish last. Lar, Marla, and I have been geocaching for several years but we are hardly power cachers,having logged fewer than 50 finds in that time. Compare that against some folks who likely find that many caches in a routine day of geocaching and you get a sense of how we go about things. Our goal: not to finish 25th out of 25th. Paul, a long time friend through hiking and camping, joined our merry band as we were in his neck of the woods. I never did get an official arrival time but I believe it was just short of an hour. Probably closer to 55 minutes. We finished fifteenth. If I have any regrets it is only that we spent a lot of time in the car and very little searching out of the car. But then driving is not somethi

The Gathering is held at the old Schoolhouse near White Cloud, Michigan. The Schoolhouse, run by the Western Michigan North Country Trail Chapter, has served us well over the years. Although we were expecting iffy weather we knew this would be another fine Gathering. The Gathering draws people for a quick visit or the whole weekend. It also sometimes happens to fall on a couple group members birthdays though this year would not be one of those times. This year marks the tenth gathering and although only a handful of people have managed to attend all the of them, including myself, it is no less special. In fact it is a remarkable testament that the event has endured this long given the size and spread out nature of the group that spawned the event. For various reasons this Gathering would be a bit smaller than some in the past, but quantity alone does not make an event special. Quality is key and the quality of the people at this year's Gathering was high. We spent Friday evening catching up with each other s

It was a glorious day to maintain our section of trail. This is the Highbanks section of trail that runs between 13 Mile and 16 Mile roads in Newago County about 6.3 miles of North Country Trail. The section rolls through a passing of Manistee National Forest passing by several lakes over its length, along ridge lines, and a few slightly wetter areas. It is one of the prettier section of trail and over the past few years we have whipped into shape. We all maintain the new Highbanks Campground connector trail which we had a hand in scouting and building earlier this year. To do proper trail maintenance you really need to come out three times a year, more if the trail warrants it. Autumn is an ideal time for us because we can roll our trail maintenance into the long weekend before firearms deer hunting season opens when the Great Lakes Hikes hiking group plus a few friends from outside of the group, who are always welcome to come, hold our annual Schoolhouse Gathering. This year would be our tenth such gatherin

On the second weekend of September for the past 35 years their has been a music festival held near the town of Remus, Michigan. The Wheatland Music Festival is an exciting varied event that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. I've been a couple of times, still a newbie compared to some people I know who have been dozens of times. I've plenty to still see and learn but that will have to wait for the 36th festival next September. One thing that makes Wheatland Music Festival special is that they feature a broad array of musical styles. They also tap into things associated with music, most notably, as with the group you hear in the background—Sole Impact—dance. Their is a lot that goes on at Wheatland. You have the Main Stage, Centennial Stage, and the Dance Stage which represent the big three. Then you have the massive Kids Hill area plus a stage for kids shows, workshop stages, an Open Stage pavilion, and this only covers the "official" music scene. People run drum circles and jam sessions all over the plac

Our group is out this blustery late October day celebrating a birthday of a friend. He's passing a prime number, the last one before he turns 40 a few years from now. He came up with the idea to visit the corn maze at Talladay Farms and a handful of his friends including myself were able to come out and join the fun. One of the joys of the fall season, even on a windy and hence somewhat nippy, about 50 degrees before the wind chill, day is being able to sit down with friends over freshly made doughnuts with cups of fresh hot spiced cider. Wasem Fruit Farm is just a hot, skip, and a jump from the corn maze at Talladay Farms and we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon repast. Sites of Interest Talladay Farms Wasem Fruit Farm

North Manitou island is approximate 7-3/4 miles long and 4-1/4 miles wide. The highest point on the island is 1,001 feet above sea level and therefore 428 feet above Lake Michigan. That high point is somewhere on the northwest corner of the island and we would not visit it this trip we probably were not that far from the high point on the first day on our walk along the trail to the Pot Holes. The group would divide a couple times the first day with some heading straight to the campsite we had agreed upon near Swenson's Barn, the rest hiking along the Pot Holes trail to the overlook on the norhtern shore where we gazed down upon Lake Michigan and then divided once more with some retracing their steps and a group consisting of myself, Doug, and Andy scurrying down to the warm sandy beach and walking the 3-1/2 to 4 miles of beach to reach the campsite. We would have several hours to laze around camp, swim in the cool but not frigid, waters of Lake Michigan, relax, and just have fun. With the setting of the sun

North Manitou Island, the larger of the two islands, is a designated wilderness area. The only real way to reach it if you are not a serious paddler yourself, and the paddle from the mainland to the island should not be under-estimated as Lake Michigan is a serious body of water worthy of considerable respect, is via the Manitou Island Transit Ferry. Today the very full ferry made the hour long crossing on fairly smooth seas, but for some the ride was not quite smooth enough and I am sure they felt an even greater sense of joy upon reaching the dock at the old village remains, the one small bit on non-wilderness designated area, on North Manitou Island. The real trip would begin at this point, just around noon, on a glorious summer day. We planned to stay somewhere near Swenson's Barn which is located on the northwestern shore of the island. A direct hike, across the island center and then north, to the region we wanted to visit is just a few miles. With that in mind our group would split up with the bulk of

Part 5 of my journey across Scotland. From Tarfside to the coast and then Dunnottar Casle required me to walk about 53 kilometers. While the journey can certainly be done in two days I stretched it out to 2 and a half days. In some ways this bit of hiking was the most challenging and most frustrating of any I would do. My meandering travels especially in the vicinity ending not far west of Burn of Badymicks (starting west of grid refernce NO557 812) slowed me down to a crawl. The three deer fences did me no favors either costing me considerable time finding secure spots to climb over them. What should have been an easy 16 or so kilometers ended up comsuming the better part of the day. The kilometers I would cover after my afternoon tea at Charr Bothy themselves were no bull of cherries seeing me go the wrong way more than once especially when I went the wrong way around a fence into a farm field trying to figure out how to cross the Water of Dye. My annoyances would continue as I went through Heatheryhaughs.

Part 4 of my journey across Scotland. This section would prove, in some ways, my most difficult. The walk out of Braemar was the long way around on the highway to Invercould Bridge but at least I got to share much of it with another Challenger which livened things up. Even my navigation error wasn't a really awful thing in retrospect as it just sent me along a more northern route than I'd planned. But my troubles along the narrow, barely a hunter trail, path just after Gelder Shiel really bummed me out. Falling into the stream wasn't even the worst of that. It was upsetting but I felt more irked by my meandering around the holiday homes a couple miles west of Spital of Glenmuick. Being able to share the hike across the mountains around Shielin of Mark made that crossing much easier. I'm confident that I would have made it now, especially the cross-country section that leads from the bothy to the summit of Muckle Cairn which seemed easier than the stretch between the end of the path along Allt Darrarie and th

Part 3 of my journey across Scotland. After a lively night in Kingussie where I would eat way too much and not drink enough I would drag myself back to hiking around 10:00AM. I should have splurged and bought some eggs and made an omelet for myself in the hostel's kitchen. Live and learn. Over the next 3 days I would hike about 52 kilometers to reach the town of Braemar. The Bulk of that hiking would be on the second day and if it hadn't been for that day the hike itself would have been rather dull. Should I hike between these two town again I hope I can find a nicer route to the western edge of River Feshie. But the hike had many high points including my time spent at Ruigh-aiteachain Bothy with numerous other Challengers. My brief visit to Ruthven Barracks was also enjoyable though I should have spent more time there. Mar Lodge was also a very pleasant surprise and I am glad I learned of it from Russ. From a hiking standpoint the high point has to be the walk across the Feshie watershed through the southe

Part 2 of my journey across Scotland. From Fort Augustus my original plan was to do an overnight hike across Corryairack Pass and then along the paved roads to Kingussie. That's a trek of about 58 kilometers with the major ascent and descent coming the first day with the climb and descent of the pass. Instead I decided to take a more relaxed approach and do the segment over two nights. This would make for hiking days about approximately 21, 12, and 18 kilometers respectively. This would yield wonderful benefits in the amount of time I was able to spend immersing myself in some of the more social aspects of the Challenge. Places I stayed at: I did not get a room at Monadhliath Hotel (near Laggan) but slept next door inside the ruins of the old church. I probably could have stayed at the bunkhouse down the road but by the time I learned about that and went down there I decided it wasn't worth shifting camp. Relaxing in the dining room of the Monadhliath Hotel chatting with the other Challengers over dinner and