CRAZY S'MORES FOR REALLY CHEAP

You’re camping on top of a cliff, it’s a beautiful 65 degrees out, you have an unobstructed view of the moon and stars, and the only sound you hear besides the crackling fire is you and your friends having a great time… oh and don’t forget the s’mores. This trip is a perfect mix of backpacking, swimming, and sightseeing, for this cheap trip, we’re going to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Prep: Although this is a relatively easy backpacking trip, you still need to be prepared or else you are being unreasonably crazy and we can not encourage doing stupid shit like that.

• The first step is finding a few friends (1-4) to do the trip with. It is best if these friends are also into doing C.S.F.R.C trips!
• Get a few days off from work, you’ll be backpacking for 4 days and 3 nights, so it’s a little more than a weekend excursion!
• Get exercising, although you won’t be walking more than 20miles a day and your pack will stay relatively light, you should make sure that you are capable of doing this.
• Make sure that you and your friends have the necessary equipment for backpacking:
  • You can rent a lot of this gear from REI too (especially the tent!)
  • You also will need weed.
• Read this and adjust it to you pace:
• Get familiar with this itinerary!
  • If using two cars (recommended) drop off one car at the Munising Falls Visitor Center then all get into the other car with your shtuff.
  • Drop off a second car at the Grand Sable Visitor Center (early in the am!)
  • Site 1 and distance: Seven Mile Beach (14.4miles) or Benchmark (13.1miles) - (whichever is available)
  • Site 2: Beaver Creek (6-7 miles)
  • Site 3: Cliffs (17.5miles) - no water at site
  • Exit: Munising Falls Visitor Center (5miles)
• Reserving Your Campsites:
  • Make your reservation for the campsites here
  • It’ll cost $5 a person per night plus a $15 reservation fee (so with 4 people the trip is just $18.75 not including food)
• Getting your food:
  • Get S’more stuff! Graham Crackers and chocolate are hard to keep intact while backpacking so either pack it and use on your first night, or just bring the marshmallows!
  • Pro tip for preventing the marshmallows from sticking: Leave them out exposed to the air for a day or two before your trip so they get slightly stale, then put them into a ziplock bag for the trip!
  • You're gonna want oatmeal for breakfast, it’s filling and easy to make with some boiling water.
  • These dried food dishes from REI are BANGIN too
  • If you're feeling fancy, you can get some shake-n-pour pancake mix for just $2 and some Velveeta Shells!
  • And the C.S.F.R.C Certified trail-mix
    • Peanuts, Dried Cherries, Plain M&Ms, Pretzel M&Ms, Gluten Free Pretzel Sticks, Cashews
• Extra Things to Pack:
  • You are gonna want to treat every piece of clothing and shelter with deet before you embark on the trip. The deet will last for a long time and really help you with the bugs C.S.F.R.C did this and got ZERO bug bites on their trip
  • If you are gonna go swimming, you definitely need a swimsuit, but you also need one of these bad boys. Trust me, Chamois dry super well and are tiny as fuck for you pack.
  • You also need a Hacky Sack so you can play the iconic C.S.F.R.C Backpacking game, PELT. If you don’t know how to play, look it up (though it’s hard to find instructions)

The joy of backpacking is discovering the land and trails while you are there, so I won’t give any thing more away. But remember, study your map and trails, always be prepared on water (especially for the Cliffs campsite), and never try to take a “shortcut” off-trail.

Now get out there and Live Crazy.