Campground Review:

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness has quickly become one of my go-to camping spots. As it is a designated wilderness area, there is no need for pre-arranging reservations, making Nordhouse the perfect last minute destination. You'll have to hike in about 2.5 miles from the parking area to the beach and then anywhere from 0.2 to 6 miles along the beach to find your ideal camping spot. There are no designated camping spaces in the wilderness area but you can easily spot pre-established spots peppered along the beach.

In true wilderness style, the trails are unmarked an unnamed. There are multiple trails that all lead to the beach at dispersed entry points. Starting from the parking lot trail head, following the trails is quite intuitive and easy. However, hopping back on them from the beach can be a little difficult and disorienting so make sure you take good note of where you leave the forest trail and enter the beach. Retracing your steps can become exceptionally confusing if you run into foot trails that lead to other campsites or seemingly nowhere at all--so take good mental notes and don't say that I didn't warn you!

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness has become an increasingly popular summer weekend getaway location so if you're looking for solitude, I'd recommend going mid week or off season (it's open year round). With this increase in visitors, there has also been an unfortunate increase in litter on the beach and on the trail. If you run into any abandoned garbage, do me a favor and take a little bit back with you to be properly discarded of.

Some important details to note are: $5/day parking fee, bathrooms at trail head, map at trail head, no potable water.

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Gear Review:

As a Dyrt Ranger, I also get products to test and review in the field. For this trek, I brought with me the Midland ER310 E+READY Emergency Crank Weather Radio. This radio has many features including a USB charger, LED flashlight, high frequency dog whistle, NOAA weather alerts, solar panel and hand crank. The top 2 things I love about this radio specifically in the camping setting include:

1. You can set alerts for incoming severe weather. This can be particularly useful when out hiking as it eliminates the need to constantly scan the radio for updates or search for cell reception in order to access the weather.

2. Strong reception and battery life. I found the reception and audio quality to be quite clear while using the device out in the backcountry. I had the radio playing for essentially 2 days straight without needing to recharge the device, which is particularly helpful when you do not have access to electricity.

My two primary critiques of the device are concerning the initial start up of the radio and the design of the power button. When I first received the device, it was unclear what exact steps needed to be taken in order to get the radio started. After some fiddling with the device, I discovered that it is necessary to open up the battery compartment, remove the lithium ion battery and then plug in the lithium ion battery. The radio itself does not come with any instructions that explain this, however, on the product page on Midland's website, there is a link clearly labeled ER310 Battery Installation Instructions. My next critique is that there is not a button protector for the power button and in a fully packed backpack, the radio is susceptible to randomly turning on and off at times. You could maybe avoid this by hooking the radio by its handle on the outside of the pack.

Notable specs: at 2.95” x 6.85” x 9.61”, the radio is about the size of a loaf a bread. It takes up approximately 3.2 L of space which is roughly 5% of a 65 L pack. I like to economize my pack weight and space as much as possible so I am not sure if I will take this out on every trip moving forward but certainly on the trips where the weather is uncertain.