i grew up in flat southern michigan
on becoming outdoorsy, and finding adventure everywhere
I used to hate going home to southern Michigan because I felt like returning to the place I was in high school would return me to that person too, but now I know that’s not how time works.
Now, going home is just going home. All four of us kids crowded around the kitchen table ordering pizza, the cat biting at my ankles. Out for breakfast with mom, nicer sheets than I’m used to, better wifi too.
Today I’m going on six years since I started working as a wilderness guide and outdoor writer, but coming back home in 2018 after my first season of guiding I was so scared that returning to Southern Michigan meant leaving the skills and confidence, the new person I’d started becoming on Lake Superior, behind.
Before tackling my first guiding job, I’d been camping just three times in my life. I was lucky to grow up with a grandma who took my sister and I out on walks in the woods and canoeing on the local lake, but beyond that the outdoors were new to me.
Fresh out of college and solidly determined I did not want a job in a lab like my Neuroscience degree promised, I went to Lake Superior to spend the summer working as a kayak guide.
And I was not very good at it at first.
I was a nervous paddler. I didn’t like big waves or cold water. But I wanted to be good at this, and I loved Lake Superior, so I got better and kept working at it.
Today, years later, Lake Superior feels like a part of me—but it took years of getting thrashed in waves, and misreading forecasts, and chased by storms, and making mistakes and learning from them to get here.
Read my guide to getting an adventure guide job
Solo Road Trip from the Mississippi to Michigan
This past week, I wrapped up my early spring solo road trip through Wisconsin & Illinois and Kentucky, landing at my parents place in metro-detroit.
Feeling very grateful for clean sheets, showers, and strong wifi. And of course, my big and loud family. My parents have recently moved to a lake which is super fun!
Solo travel is something I really struggle with— I tend to strongly prefer the company of other travelers, which is probably why I like guiding so much. Initially I’d also planned to hit Cumberland Gap area and Hocking Hills, but after a little over a solid week of getting poured on, wild spring weather, and just… being mostly alone, I decided to cut it short and head back to Michigan.
I could’ve kept going, but for why? I have a lot of adventure travel, most of it for work, planned this summer, and there’s no point in muscling through it just to say I did what I’d initially planned to do.
I didn’t have anything to prove, and the only person to hold me accountable, was me. Plus, I wanted to go home and see my family.
I’m trying to stop conceptualizing doing what I want as quitting with respect to things that are supposed to be fun but aren’t.
Plan a hard hike on your weekend and want to turn around and get a burger instead of camp because it’s pouring? Do it.
There are times for muscling though and toughing it out, but there are also times to pursue what makes you happy— for me, wet gear and dirty clothes on day eight or nine, that was spending some extra time in Michigan with my family.
Check out my full archive of beginner-friendly outdoor resources
Urban Paddling and Adventure wherever
Time at my family’s place is hanging out with my parents and three younger siblings, breakfasts in town with mom, movie nights and takeout pizza.
I’ve been really lucky to have great access to the outdoors throughout my life— my grandparent’s place growing up, and now as someone who works in the outdoors. I have definitely been spoiled in my access to wilderness.
Initially, when my mom suggested I take the kayak out on their little lake nestled solidly in the metro area, I blew off the idea.
I’ve paddled with orcas and under tidefalls (waterfalls into the ocean), to remote Lake Superior lighthouses and under moose— spoiled, for sure. Hauling the kayak into the water to paddle past nice suburban houses didn’t seem… well, worth it.
But one morning I woke up and did it anyways.
In a patch of undeveloped land left wildish, seven or eight species of birds flew in and out of bushes— cardinal, tree swallow, kingfisher. Painted turtles sunned on logs. In shallow areas, lilypads hung at the surface of the water.
Even here in the suburbs there are patches of wild. On the way back home, a beaver and a bass.
In hindsight I don’t think it was ever that the suburbs were so inherently lacking in adventure, in wildlife, rather that I didn’t have practice seeing and naming it like I do now.
Later that night, my brother and I hopped on the water while the Northern Lights flickered overhead— almost unheard of in metro Detroit. Living on Lake Superior, I never would have through I’d see the best Northern Lights of my life in the place I’d grown up and named boring.
There’s some kind of lesson there, I think maybe an obvious one, in being in the place I wanted so badly to leave six years ago, and in finding it beautiful now in ways that I couldn’t then.
Check out my most requested blog topic, published this week: a guide to camping and backpacking on your period!
Good links & events :)
oh hey, speaking of Michigan, here are all my favorite hikes in my home state with maps linked!
June 8th & 9th I’m hosting a beginner women’s guided climb with Forged Guides at Interstate State Park, MN/WI! We just opened up a few more spots on both dates, so come join this small group event!
My August Apostle Islands Women’s sea kayaking adventure is sold out, but there are still just three spots left on the July dates! This is my fourth summer guiding in the Apostles, and my 6th summer working as a paddling guide/expedition kayaker— use the code Maddy24 for $50 off your registration and come join a beginner-friendly women’s adventure trip!
Planning your own kayak trip this summer? Check out this guide to everything from day paddling to overnight trips and show up prepared!
Looking for a fall canoe camping adventure? There are still seven spots available on my women’s Boundary Waters canoe camping trip! Come camp in the BWCA, hike to remote lake overlooks, sauna at the the edge of the wilderness, and enjoy fall colors in a unique place— use the code Maddy24 for $50 off your registration and come join a beginner-friendly women’s adventure trip!
I call Otsego a remote past home.
You?
Thanks for this perspective. A lot of people feel like you should never do anything unless you're fully committed, but I think there's a point where you have to pick your battles. If part of the goal was fun, and you find you aren't having fun... Shouldn't you reevaluate? It feels like quitting, but I prefer to think of it as realigning yourself with the original intent of the plan. Time with family is important as well!