Pewee USD BONS BtU lel EViglN 4) 
Chicagoans at a Michigan Campout 
By Mrs. DorotHy E. HOLMES 
PICTURE A LONG CCC camp mess hall with a group of campers at each 
table busily preparing a meal and you will feel a part of the Michigan 
Audubon Campout at Camp Ocqueoc near Onaway. 
Camp Ocqueoc is located on Lake Ocqueoce and its outlet which flows to 
Lake Huron about three miles away. The lake is a little over a mile long, 
so even the inexperienced could enjoy the boats which were available, and 
several brought their own canoes. The area was cut over many years 
ago and a second growth of alders, birches, aspen, and evergreens provides 
cover and nesting opportunities for a variety of birds. 
We discovered early that food and equipment were necessary to sustain 
birding at this campout. Most of the campers had been on similar trips 
and, for one interested in camping, here was an opportunity to observe 
what can be done on anything from pocket-size gasoline stoves to the three 
enormous army ranges of the mess hall. 
It was through the interest and membership of Mrs. Amy Baldwin that 
Miss Leona Draheim, Dr. Holmes, and I attended this meeting on May 30 
and 31 and June 1, 1947. Through the collaboration of all four this 
material is presented. 
Time passed quickly on our drive the length of Michigan. In spite of 
the intermittent rain and snow we enjoyed a flower display such as could 
scarcely be hoped for as late as a Memorial Day outing. In Indiana the 
dogwood accompanied the redbud and blue lupine. Farther north these 
were displaced by the shadblow, with a profusion of showy trillium in the 
woods and marsh marigold in the wet ditches along the road. The famous 
peach and cherry orchards were at their loveliest, but a prediction of a 
killing frost mixed apprehension with our enjoyment. At Holland, Michi- 
gan, the tulips were in bud on our way up and at their best on our return — 
fine for us but far too late for Holland’s annual celebration. 
Our compensation for being among the first arrivals at camp buildings 
which still held all the cold of a Michigan winter was in securing indi- 
vidual rooms in the Administration Building, where the pot-bellied stoves 
had more effect than in the dormitories where rows of cots reached an 
appalling length. By the next morning the mess hall was warm, and after 
that the weather changed and we had three beautiful days for our outing 
and a wonderful return trip along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. 
The first morning Miss Draheim started off with an unusual observation 
for that area, three turkey vultures. Our first sight of deer — two on 
the far bank of the lake. The group outing took us to Ocqueoc Falls 
where we found Canada warblers and many redstarts. At the falls Mrs. 
Baldwin gathered many mushrooms which she claimed were an unusually 
fine edible species. Not being experts, we heard this with skepticism and 
after considerable discussion decided to let “Baldy” eat them. If she were 
still alive twenty-four hours later we would have some too. Mrs, Baldwin 
is still with us. 
