If senior Henry Hovinga has learned anything from his frequent backpacking trips, it’s to always be prepared—however, no matter how ahead of the game he seems, any event can wreak havoc on his circumstances.
Last summer, for example, a group trip to Isle Royale was upturned after one of the adults suffered a serious fall, resulting in a broken arm.
“One of the moms slipped on the boardwalk we were on,” Henry said, “put her arm out and ended up with a compound fracture in her wrist and upper forearm. We went through a fun process of trying to figure out what to do when you’re in the center of an island with zero signal. [My friend Connor and I] hiked her and all her gear to McCargoe Cove on the shore and got a boat to get her out of there.”
Thankfully, another seasoned hiker understood the importance of anticipating anything when being isolated from aid and came with a small source of communication: a Garmin inReach Mini. From that, they were able to send a preset message to people back in Copper Harbour about their situation.
That state of affairs is the closest Henry’s ever gotten to a solo backpacking excursion. He and his friend hiked back to camp alone for around three days after rescuing their group member, and that experience was enough to show him exactly what goes into traveling independently. Henry emphasizes now how crucial it is to be equipped for any circumstance that he may come across, therefore, not many of his journeys are spontaneous.
“Generally, I like our trips to be fairly planned,” Henry said. “But one of the things about backpacking is that there’s always a wrench that can be thrown in your plans, like when someone falls and breaks their arm. There has to be an element of [preparedness], but there’s always a little bit of surprise that can play into whatever you have going on.”
He credits the expansion of his naturistic passion to his long-time involvement in Boy Scouts. Not only has his participation taken him to some visually stunning places around the country, but it has also taught him the essentials of being an outdoorsman. A portion of his house is dedicated to all his backpacking supplies, and while he always packs the basics, everything else depends on his destination and weather predictions.
One of his first trips with the Boy Scouts took him to the opposite side of the state, to Milford Recreation Park, where his lesson for preparedness was learned the hard way. Though the wind chill was in the negatives, his water supply froze immediately, and he was quite miserable for the entire experience. That excursion to Milford was the most recurrent journey. Like any time he spends in nature, every voyage back invariably teaches him something new.
“I definitely have taken a lot from my experiences at different times going out in the woods,” Henry said, “whether it was hunting, fishing, backpacking, or anything like that. One of my favorite quotes has always been, ‘You walk into the tree stand with more than you walk out with,’ so that shows more of a mental stance on [being outside]. I’ve grown in my mindset on what I’m doing—there’s a lot more experience—but I’ve also physically grown in my capabilities from what I was doing before. When you go from doing six-mile days to doing 24-mile days in ten hours, it’s hard.”
Along with traveling near the vicinity of Grand Rapids, some of his favorite places being the Manistee National Forest and around the Muskegon River, the troop has also taken him across state borders. New Mexico remains a front-runner in all the places he has been; the vast scenery and warmer weather of their camp in Philmont prove a hard standard to beat.
For Henry, backpacking has always been a given experience. Some arranged trip is consistently on the horizon, giving him something to look forward to. This summer has allowed him to spend a significant amount of time hiking in Yellowstone, a much-anticipated adventure. But these excursions don’t just illuminate the immediate future; they have given him insight into what he wishes for himself in the coming years.
“There are a lot of really good schools in-state for [Wildlife Ecology Conservation, which is] what I want to go into,” Henry said. “Michigan State and the University of Michigan are some of the better ones, but it was really hard to try to convince myself to go to either of those: they’re in the city, they have a lot of people around them, and they’re not where I wanted to be. I was bouncing between attending Northern Michigan University and Michigan Tech because both Houghton and Marquette are really small towns. Just being in the Upper Peninsula played a bigger role in that whole decision.”
He hasn’t quite started preparing for visiting his dream destinations as much as he has awaited the start of his career, but his ideas for what lies ahead are sharp: Alaska is high on his bucket list, and hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail is something that’s provoked his interest.
However, as he’s gotten older, Henry has now learned exactly what goes into travel preparation. While also having fun, it’s crucial to anticipate anything going wrong, especially if you have to deal with a broken limb in the middle of the woods. So, as much as he emphasizes the importance of taking in your surroundings, for any new backpackers, he provides even more insightful recommendations.
“If you’re trying to get into backpacking, the first step is to just go for it,” Henry said. “There’s a lot of gear you can get second-hand that’s just as good as when you buy it new. I buy a lot of my stuff second-hand, so there’s always a way to get into it. If you get a few friends to go with you, it’s better, but you have to learn from what you’re doing.”
