The Smokebox

Welcome back, Internet.

This weekend I was able to return to Trevor's hunting property for the 'winter' version of the two camping trips I do with my old high school buddies every year (the other being the 'summer' one, which usually happens in July.) They had to reschedule it last year (Trevor has something going on with his kids on the weekend we usually do it), so the dates they eventually settled on saw me already occupied with Abby's pom crap. 

Kids are awesome.

As you could probably ascertain, our winter camping trips are usually more chill than the summer ones, when the weather's gorgeous and you have free reign over the entirety of the woods and streams. We're usually stuck inside the hunting cabin on these winter trips, sitting around drinking beer and listening to one another's playlists via Bluetooth speaker. This year we didn't have any snow on the ground, since it's been like the warmest winter I've had outside of Florida and Africa, but it was still pretty wet and cold out.

Matt Lee never comes out for these winter trips, preferring to fly in from San Francisco for the summer outings when it's nicer out, but the usual cast of CHS alums managed to turn out - Trevor, Sean, and Scrunge - and Matt Thomas even made his usual Friday night appearance.

Here you go, folks - another weekend in the woods with some old, crusty Clare Pioneers. Enjoy. . .

Trevor, Scrunge, Sean, and Yours Truly. I rolled in around 5pm (I left straight from work in Saginaw and straight through to Rosebush) just as Scrunge was wrapping up dinner. The others had fully established headquarters by then, and we settled in to the usual beers-and-catch up.

A couple hours later, Scrunge was apparently funned out with hanging out with everyone else and left his dinner on the carpet. Like a gentleman. 

Matt Thomas, who usually comes out for an evening but doesn't stay the whole weekend, popped in after dinner and ended up staying the night.

Sean and Scrunge's two doodles, Max and Marlena.

Sean left Trevor a snack on his pillow, in case he got hungry in the night. That's what friends do.

The next morning was rough. Sean, Matt, and I stayed up until 2pm, but the other two dipshits - who had each fallen asleep much, much earlier, were up and making noise at like 6am. Matt took off shortly after getting up, and Trevor and Scrunge started getting breakfast together.

Doesn't get any more American than this, folks.

Sean attempts to get some more sleep. Him and I both seized naps whenever we could today.

Looking out the window above the sink into the woods beyond.

The haze you see in this pic here is only a taste of what the cabin was like all weekend long. The other guys all smoke cigarettes like chimneys, so it was like living in a cloud all weekend long. I had to deep clean everything I took with me this weekend to get rid of the smell.

A new mount appeared on the wall this year. Sean at one point took it down and started chasing the dogs around the cabin, I should've gotten a video of that (my apologies.)

Found this at Meijer last week. It was pretty good, but Guinness is better.

Later on in the morning, we grabbed a few beers and a brace of dogs and set out for a day hike through the property. It wasn't too cold out, but the ground was wet from the insane amount of rain we've had the last week or two.

Sean inspects the grounds where we set up our Summer camp site.

A weird wall of pallets that Trevor's cousins set up along one of the two-track trails.

We found this pit of coyote skeletons along the first trail back from the camp site. Trevor's cousins have been trapping and killing them for years, and we had to be careful not to let the dogs run off to certain areas of the property (like down by the stream, where the coyotes frequent) because of snare traps that are placed all about.

Coyote skull.

Sean prepares to stab Trevor with a coyote tooth.

More coyote skulls.

Reaching a clearing in the woods.

Whenever there's a clearing like this, there's always a big food pit in the center, with deer blinds positioned all about. Straight up killing field.

Hunter debris under one of the deer blinds.

This crossbow is still hanging up from a tree, where we saw it a couple years ago.

Inspecting a blind.

This one has a super dangerous staircase leading up to a platform without a guardrail, and looks even more delopidated than it did a few years ago. Consequently, no one felt brave enough to venture up there.

The trails were frequently submerged like this in rain water, so you had to be careful where you trudged.

Returning to the cabin after our hike. They've posted deer skulls over the cabin's railing like the Forsworn or some shit.

Trevor explains to Sean how the deck had collapsed a few years ago and they had braced it back up. The cabin sits atop a slope overlooking a stream below, and the ground has washed away in parts, causing the supports to buckle. The deck had been rebuilt, but the handrail still slopes down (as you can see here in the picture.) Trevor had the mind to fix this while we were up here this weekend.

Different strokes for different folks.

A beaver swims in the stream below the cabin.

More deer antlers, covered in moss.

Scrunge brought up his two lightsabers with him this weekend, something to screw around with after a few beers. He bought his from SaberPro - the same company I bought mine from a year or two ago.

The two outhouses. The one on the left is the old one, which has definitely seen better days, while the one on the right is the one we built last summer.

A deer skull, quietly chilling on the back deck.

I'm always in charge of Saturday's lunch, so I make sure to bring various deli meats, cheeses, mustards and breads - these guys might not look like it, but they're high maintenance with their sandwich expectations.

The guys set about fixing up the deck, starting with a loose step on the stairs leading up to the front door of the cabin.

It was cold out, and I didn't feel like standing around outside watching those three idiots work on the deck, so I hung out inside listening to a classic rock playlist while they made their repairs.

Inspecting the fallen handrail - that was next on their list of crap to fix.

Hammering a support beam into place.

They had to jack up this support beam then nail boards into position, which, after an hour or two, they were able to do.

As afternoon began to bleed into evening, the guys were getting hungry again, so we had to make a fire in order to cook up some hotdogs. Sean volunteered to take care of this.

While the fire got started, we ventured back from the cabin a little ways to check out the coyote-killing zone. Trevor's cousins had placed a deer carcass out by a tree in order to lull the coyotes in so they could shoot them from the cabin.

Looks tasty.

There was a massive skeleton back in this section of the woods, much bigger than a deer's. We figured it was a cow.

Trevor finds a large jawbone.

Bones everywhere.

Back at the fire, cooking up some dinner. Mine fell in the ashes, because I'm an idiot and apparently don't know how to do this. I ended up saying 'screw it' and just make another sandwich.

Later on that evening, Scrunge once again broke out his lightsabers and took Sean to task. . .

Scrunge showed Sean how to change the soundboards, colors, and lighting effects on his saber (these SaberPro lightsabers are the best on the market, I love mine.) 

Homosexual Jedi.

Later on in the night, we walked down the long drive in to the property back down to where it meets Rosebush road, and Scrunge fired up his lightsaber on the street. We got a kick of firing it up just as cars drove by, then powering it down again, messing with drivers who were otherwise just driving through the dark woods at night. That'd really mess with you, seeing a lightsaber in the woods randomly, then when you look in your rearview mirror there's nothing there.

- Brian