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Hibby · 11-21-2010, 08:58 AM

My wife and I are avid outdoors "people", and we love the opportunity to hunt and fish. One of our primary reasons for buying an Airstream was the abiity to take our lodging with us, and have the flexibility to hunt or fish on our own schedule.

With a travel trailer, we're no longer bound to timelines and reservations that keep us in an area longer than we'd like, or that force us to move on before we really want to leave.

Our Sport 22 is perfect for this, and we would like to discover and share as many ideas as possible. Northern Michigan is close to home for us and there are great opportunities to hunt grouse and woodcock, or to fish for trout and salmon.

Please offer your any good or bad experiences, wonderful locations, and tips or ideas related to travel or equipment that would be helpful...

CanoeStream · 11-21-2010, 11:11 AM

I've found that water spigots may not be near loop roads in some national forest campgrounds (and 1 state park!). So I always carry an empty 5 gallon plastic jerry can I bought at a local fleet store. It does double duty if I have to add a bit more water to the tank after the 3rd or 4th day staying anywhere in the same spot -- easier carrying the jerry can than hitching up to fill the tank.

Unless absolutely sure of the weather (an hour or so ahead) I avoid having the awning out when I'm away from the campground. It comes down to whether someone will be in camp. Tends to keep me from putting up our chili lights on the awning.

Hibby · 11-22-2010, 07:38 PM

CanoeStream, good ideas... I've often wanted to do a fishing trip to the Boundary Waters when it's not winter in Minnesota (winter is September through June). There must be some AMAZING places to park an Airstream. Have you done much exploring in this area?

Nuvite-F · 11-22-2010, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hibby

I've often wanted to do a fishing trip to the Boundary Waters when it's not winter in Minnesota (winter is September through June).

Winter is September through June??!!!! Where's your sense of northwoods adventure?! My favorite months in Nordern Meeneesota are September and October--by then most of the mosquitoes and biting flies have flown south. (And most of the people.) The sky is usually clear, and because of the low sun angle, an impossible shade of blue, like an old Ektachrome slide.

Crisp nights, a nice campfire, and a little dram-shop antifreeze should set you right up. The snow doesn't usually start sticking until November.

The National Forest campground on Fall Lake is a nice campground and the north end of Fall Lake is actually in the BWCA, so a good jumping off point. Can't actually take your 'stream into the wilderness area, unless maybe you want to tow it with sled dogs. . . (Besides which, no roads.)
.

Hibby · 11-23-2010, 04:36 PM

Thanks Nuvite! That's what I'm looking for. How remote is the campground, or does it have full facilities? We don't require much either way, as we love to boondock.

FYI - Last year I called my sister for some sympathy because we were getting so much snow here in Michigan (she lives just outside of Minneapolis) and she told me that it was too cold to snow in Minnesota... something like 18 below at the time!

tkasten · 11-23-2010, 05:37 PM

Hibby - We have two favorite areas for boondocking/hunting/fishing in Northern Michigan. 1. Between Trout Lake (U.P.) and Strongs E. of Hwy. 123. Good Grouse & O.K. Deer hunting. Some of the best Bear hunting in Michigan. 2. E. of Mio and S. of McKinley. Good deer hunting and wonderful fishing on the Ausable. Both are in National Forests where camping is free. Both are several miles from the nearest light pollution so the fall night sky is wonderful. The pic below is E. of Mio in the Huron National Forest....Tim

dznf0g · 11-23-2010, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuvite-F

Winter is September through June??!!!! Where's your sense of northwoods adventure?! My favorite months in Nordern Meeneesota are September and October--by then most of the mosquitoes and biting flies have flown south. (And most of the people.) The sky is usually clear, and because of the low sun angle, an impossible shade of blue, like an old Ektachrome slide.

Crisp nights, a nice campfire, and a little dram-shop antifreeze should set you right up. The snow doesn't usually start sticking until November.

The National Forest campground on Fall Lake is a nice campground and the north end of Fall Lake is actually in the BWCA, so a good jumping off point. Can't actually take your 'stream into the wilderness area, unless maybe you want to tow it with sled dogs. . . (Besides which, no roads.)
.

Fall lake CG is the front porch to my favorite place on the planet. 1,000,000 acres of wilderness canoe area (if that's not enough, there's another million acres on the Canada side!

The campground is very nice, with a lot of electric sites. Dump station and water is available. About 5 years ago, a brand new visitors center/office and a new large shower building were built.

I am not sure what services are available in the winter. The latest I have been there was 2nd week of October.

Nuvite-F · 12-03-2010, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hibby

Thanks Nuvite! That's what I'm looking for. How remote is the campground, or does it have full facilities? We don't require much either way, as we love to boondock.

FYI - Last year I called my sister for some sympathy because we were getting so much snow here in Michigan (she lives just outside of Minneapolis) and she told me that it was too cold to snow in Minnesota... something like 18 below at the time!

Hi, Hibby,

Sorry for taking so long to reply to your questions. I don't subscribe to threads and this one got pushed off the front page before I noticed your post.

Details of Superior National Forest campgrounds are listed here:

Superior National Forest Campgrounds

I note that Fall Lake CG officially closes the first of October. . .

Compared to most National Forest CG's it's pretty developed. RV sites have electricity and there are nice restrooms with flush potties and showers. There is also a swimming beach and boat launch ramp.

As far as "remote", I guess that depends on what you mean by "remote". It's several miles from the nearest town, Winton, on the south end of Fall Lake. But Winton doesn't have a grocery store or a gas station. The nearest town with these things is Ely, probably 10 or 15 miles away.

Ely, roughly located at the intersection of Highway 169 from the west and Highway 1 from the south--both of which quit there--bills itself as "the end of the road", but that's not quite true. Past Ely heading east, Hwy 169 turns into a county road called the Fernburg Road which goes on 20 miles or so to several lakes. The road to Fall Lake CG is off the Fernburg Road.

I think the link should answer your questions pretty well. It also lists a bunch of other CGs in the National Forest that might be of interest.

Happy hunting,
Nuvi

PS - Snowing here in Ohio, too. Way too early for snow here. Must be that global warming. . .

handn · 12-03-2010, 06:22 PM

We archery hunt for deer and elk in Colorado in September in our 25 Safari. We always camp off the grid. Our necessities are a solar charger, a Honda Generator and a water pump for filling jerry cans from nearby stream.
We are good at camping but not so good at hunting although we manage to get deer.
We scout around for good camping places as well as good hunting places.
In early October we usually go to Wyoming to hunt antelope and camp anywhere on BLM land.
My wife cuts up the little critters right in the Airstream. We wish it had more counter space but we have a big cutting board which goes over the stove cover.
Nightime temps get into the high 20's. We have enough battery capacity to get through the night. We buy Wallmart sleeping bags as they are better than a made up bed when temps in the trailer are in the 50's. The nice thing about boondocking is that nobody is around to hear you when you fire up the generator to recharge batteries and make coffee at 5 a.m.
We recently put a dinette in our Airstream in place of the stock couch and flipper table. It makes our trailer more livable.
The dog goes also. Her new place is between our twin beds as the dinette co-opted her sleeping place.
We had motorhomes but hated to be tethered to campgrounds and the Interstate. Our 40 foot Monaco did not provide a camping experiance but was not as comfortable as home. We take our Airstream anywhere over well graded forest service roads and love it.

Hibby · 12-04-2010, 05:03 AM

Handn,

My wife has a dream of making it to Montana someday; I know we'll do it but just a matter of when. I would love the opportunity to hunt antelope, so this may be a trip we try to make sooner than later.

We have outfitted our Sport 22 with dual batteries (see my photos), and we also have a Honda Generator. No solar yet. Off the grid is fine (and usually preferred) for us. You mentioned the cold nights of 50 degrees in your trailer. Is that because you keep the heat set so low to preserve propane?

We would love to identify some very scenic, out of the way places to setup "base camp" that are not campgrounds. A remote parking spot for an off the grid Airstream, if you will.

Aviator · 12-04-2010, 07:24 AM

North Georgia and the Carolina mountains have some fantastic spots. If your are just touring a bit, I suggest a visit to the "Top of Georgia" WBCCI campground. It is only $7 a night and there is a lot of beautiful hiking in the area. Google "Helen, GA" for a look at stuff in the area. The campground is open year around as well should you want to escape a Michigan winter.

Hibby · 12-04-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aviator

North Georgia and the Carolina mountains have some fantastic spots. If your are just touring a bit, I suggest a visit to the "Top of Georgia" WBCCI campground. It is only $7 a night and there is a lot of beautiful hiking in the area. Google "Helen, GA" for a look at stuff in the area. The campground is open year around as well should you want to escape a Michigan winter.

I pulled it up and mapped it! Looks like a beautiful area and yes, it would be a great winter escape... It's about 13 hours driving, which is a very doable trip for us. Thank you for the idea.

handn · 12-06-2010, 07:04 AM

We are more comfortable in sleeping bags if temps are a little cooler, like in the high 50's. Plus, we dislike hearing the furnace cycle on and off constantly which it has to to to maintain temps in the high 60's in the A.S. when the outside air is 40 degrees cooler than inside.
A solar charger works well for boondocking. If there is a lot of sun and nightime temps are in the 40's, the charger will charge the batteries without help. The generator is necessary when it is cold/ and or cloudy.
We hunt antelope for meat. Wyoming is a good deal because there are lots of antelope and non resident doe/fawn tags are in the $35 range and up to 4 tags can be purchased. Last year tags were sold on the internet near the end of August. Get the map and make sure the area you select to hunt has lots of public land.

Hibby · 12-06-2010, 04:55 PM

Makes a ton of sense to me... What type of solar charger do you use?

Thanks for the tip on antelope in Wyoming; we are going to make the trip. We also only hunt for meat, so doe season is fine with me.

Any suggestions on NE/SE/NE/NW quadrants for best antelope populations and available land? I will get the map. We are coming from Michigan, so eastern half of the state can shorten our drive a bit.

handn · 12-07-2010, 07:26 AM

Hibby, the solar charger was on the trailer when we puchased it so I have no information about it. There is a small panel on the roof and a controller panel in the kitchen. It does more than an adequate job. If we had another panel and bigger batteries, I am sure the solar charger would handle all of our power needs
Last year we hunted near Rawlins in the area boundried by I-80 on the south and U.S. 287 on the East. Lots of antelope and BLM land and you can visit Yellowstone Park before hunting as it is right up the road on 287.
I am sure there are good areas in the eastern part of the state. The Wyoming fish and game map is on the internet and the public land is identified in the Wyoming map Gazetter. Good Luck, Hank

Hibby · 12-08-2010, 06:30 PM

Got it! I printed the map yesterday from Wyoming Fish & Game and I see area 61. Looks like a 20 hour drive for us, which we can do. I also have a copy of the Wyoming Gazetteer already, and just need to dig it out. Thanks for the info!

batman · 12-08-2010, 09:20 PM

This is a great thread. The wife and I purchased our 1st trailer (1964 Safari) 8/28/2010 but did not take it with me this season

. I have a bad floor and have an appointment with the doctor to do a frame off rebuild this spring Feb or March 2011. Photo's and details to follow. I have hunted in California, Nevada and Utah. Not many Pronghorn in CA and NV has to many restriction now and UT is changing in 2011. To avoid the crowds I love to hunt mostly archery these days. I shoot a Bowtech bow and Goldtip arrows. However I have a 7MM and a couple of 30-06's that I love also. Here in CA I hunt Deer on NF land. I would like to Hunt Wyoming some time. WY seems to have a larger quota and longer season for antelope than UT or NV. Anyway great thread.

TinLoaf · 12-09-2010, 04:29 AM

We were up in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota in August and liked it so much that we went back in October. Had originally planned to stay at the End of Trails forest service campground on Sea Gull Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais. The website said they wouldn't allow trailers over 20 feet so we scrambled and stayed at Gunflint Pines, which is a very nice privately owned campground with full service.

While driving around we discovered there are all kinds of beautiful forest service campgrounds up there. When we came back in October we stayed at Devil Track Lake forest service campground because we wanted to be close to Grand Marais. They have beautiful lakeside sites with no services. I've included some photos below.

The only thing I didn't like is that the government has contracted out the campground maintenance and operation to a private company. Normally the fee at a forest service campground would be $8. Here it was $16.

handn · 12-09-2010, 07:04 AM

In our home state, Colorado, the Forest Service allows free, dispersed camping in many lightly used locations.
When visiting a new area, we usually stay at a known, in the book location for a couple of days while we check things out. We visit the Forest Service office if convenient and drive the Forest Service roads. Rules are usually posted at the National Forest boundary We like to check out a possible site first without the Airstream to make sure we like the site and can access it easily.
Heavily used areas often prohibit free dispersed camping and require the use of campgrounds. Often these are very nice and charge a reasonable fee compared to a private campground.

flyfisher · 12-09-2010, 10:16 AM

My wife and I spend the summer in MT on the Yellowstone River about 35 miles north of Yellowstone National Park. In addition to our trailer I also keep a couple boats, a Polaris Ranger, and various other toys there. While I'm primarily there to fish, and we stay in a full service campground, there is enough nearby National Forest and private land open to the public, that a person would have no problem in finding nice places to boondock camp and/or hunt to their heart's content. (One problem though for non-resident hunters in MT might be the high license cost.)

From a fisherman's perspective, I'd always like to have more fish to catch, but it appears to me there is an overabundance of deer - so many that we try not to drive at all after dark - somebody please come in the fall and harvest more of them!

John