Bruin Lake Camping

The camper went out two weekends in a row! Last weekend Grace and I took it to Bruin Lake for an overnight trip. The original idea was to go to Fort Custer, but the weather foiled our plans. I will have to admit that the weather was not optimal at Bruin Lake, either, but since it's only about 40 minutes from home we decided to chance it. The rain (mostly) held off, but the the temperature was a little chilly. I don't think the temperature ever broke 50 degrees, and Saturday night was down in the mid 30's. But with plenty of clothes and blankets we still had a good trip.

After setting up camp Grace went for a hike and I went for a ride. I kind of wandered around; a little trail, a little road, a little more trail...you get the idea. It was a nice ride; all places I have been before but I just linked trails and roads together as I saw fit. The dirt roads and trails were finally nicely packed again after such a dry, dusty summer.

And the fall colors were getting quite bright!

This patch of sumac was so brilliant it almost seemed fluorescent.

On Annarbor.com recently there was a short video of Matthaei Botanical Gardens Horticultural Manager Mike Palmer talking about fall colors.


After some good riding and hiking we got a fire started for dinner. When packing for the trip we more or less just threw in whatever food was available, and figured we would at least not be hungry. Fortunately, one of the things we had "just laying around" was a nice, big T-bone steak. Along with some potatoes in the fire and some various cut-up vegetables, we put dinner together.

After dinner we burned up the rest of our firewood trying to stay warm. The temperature was a little chilly but we stuck it out.

As the night went on, I noticed that the eastern horizon was staying light, as if the sun was just a little below the horizon. The sky was quite cloudy and I can only guess that the city lights from Ann Arbor, Ypsi, and Detroit and its suburbs were lighting up the night sky. I played around with the camera settings and got some pictures. The light from the sky is reflecting on Bruin Lake, making for an interesting view. In the first picture I maximized the light, making a grainy, but bright picture. The second picture is pretty close to how the sky actually looked that night.

Sunday we got up, made some oatmeal, and took a walk around the campground. It was pretty cold out and we decided to head on home. Not quite the weekend trip we had in mind, but we also did not let the weather completely spoil our plans.