3 Nights SUP Base-Camping Big Island Lake Wilderness, UP Michigan
Big Island Lake Wilderness is located centrally in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
![3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 1](https://www.theseasonedsurfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/scrnli_10_9_2020_7-55-23-PM-800x426.x43759.png "3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 2")
This wilderness contains 23 small lakes ranging in size from 5 to 149 acres. Some of the lakes are connected by maintained portages while some of the lakes are remote, making access more challenging.
![3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 2](https://www.theseasonedsurfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/scrnli_10_9_2020_7-30-03-PM-800x405.x43759.png "3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 3")
3 Night Spring SUP Camping Trip
100lbs of Gear!
This was a short spring paddleboard camping trip and featured the heaviest gear load I ever packed on the deck of a paddleboard. I took the Atoll 11′ inflatable SUP board.
The initial paddle to base-camp was so short I didn’t bother securing the dry bags to my board.
Base-Camping
For my first trip of the year I decided to make it easy and comfortable by base-camping. I would set up one base camp for the entire trip. That way I could paddle, explore or fish all day without carrying all my gear on my paddle board.
The initial paddle to base camp was very short. Maybe 1/2 mile. The water was flat so I didn’t need to tie down my gear!
Base camp was on top of a small wooded island.
Base camp was on top of a small island.
Mosquitoes were bad on the first day. But not that bad for the rest of the trip!
Here are a few “extras” I took that made my gear so heavy. Mainly it was the food. I ate like a king. All my gear plus food weighed 97lbs!
- Apples
- entire bunch of bananas
- 2 quarts of blueberries
- large summer sausage
- package of cheese
- glass jar of peanut butter (I later found out glass is not allow here, my bad)
- entire jar of coconut oil
- entire package of tortillas
- 3 packages of couscous
- large bag of pancake mix
- large box of steel cut oats
- tuna fish
- an extra set of fleece clothing (glad I brought it too. It got cold at night)
- 5lb cast iron frying pan
- more cooking gear, stove, etc.
- hatchet
- cold weather sleeping bag
- Large 9lb tent
Add to that camera and fishing gear and everything I normally take on a trip.
I had planned on fishing the last full day of the trip. But the wind picked up to about 30mph. So I decided not to fish. Instead I had fun doing short downwind sprints. I paddled upwind on my knees and then flew downwind standing up.
![3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 3](https://theseasonedsurfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GH010005_Moment-600x450.x43759.jpg "3 Night Backcountry SUP Camping Trip [Big Island Lake Wilderness] [video] 5")
