Last Winter, we got a call from John Carlisle, who writes for the Detroit Free Press. He was interested in a human interest – off the grid – story for “Around Michigan.”

So on a sub-zero February morning, John and photographer Mandi Wright left Marquette, our nearest city, 30 miles away. Our home isn’t easy to find in the winter. The snowplow stops plowing at our only neighbor’s home, miles away and the snow is 4 feet deep. They didn’t have snowshoes or skis or even a snowmobile, but they did have plenty of gumption and a packed trail to follow.

We spent a very pleasant afternoon with them, chatting away while Continue reading →

If you would like to be in one of these canoes and are in the local area, we offer a guide service. To fish, photograph, or just experience travel on the lakes and Continue reading →

Humans are ingenious. For a hairless primate, lacking significant teeth or claws, we’ve migrated from our ancestral homes in the tropics, where very few technologies are needed to stay warm and fed, to glaciated landscapes where many technologies are needed to stay warm and fed through long frozen seasons.

As a result, it appears that our most significant occupation is Continue reading →