Chief Ambition: When he‘s not upholding the law, chances are you‘ll find Chief Ralph Soffredine out backpacking the wilderness

March 6, 2002

Who knew? Beneath the badge of Traverse City Police and Fire Chief Ralph Soffredine beats the heart of an adventurer.
Specifically, a backpacker. In the past few years, Chief Soffredine, 64, has hiked through much of Michigan‘s wildest country, including a 21-day trip along the rugged 40-mile Minong Trail, considered the toughest, loneliest route across Isle Royale.
“Backpacking is something I always wanted to do,“ says Soffredine, who celebrated his 25th year as police chief on July 15th. “But I probably talked about it for 12 years before taking a trip.“
Chief Soffredine is at or near the top of the list each year among readers of the Northern Express in the “Best Cop“ category for the annual reader‘s choice survey, so consider this a story long overdue...

FITNESS BACKGROUND
While few people think of taking up backpacking in their 60s, Soffredine gave it a plunge in part because he has a lifelong background in fitness. He was a canoe instructor in college and has paddled many of Michigan‘s rivers. A former runner, he now enjoys competing in powerlifting contests, working out with weights at the Traverse City fire station for an hour-and-a-half three days a week. He bench-pressed a staggering 340 lbs. in a statewide competition last September.
Quite a feat at the age of 64, or even for someone half his age.
Still, Soffredine had a lot to learn about living in the wilderness when he and Traverse City attorney Lou Brooke took their first trip to Isle Royale seven years ago.
“I didn‘t have one piece of equipment and had no idea of what to take at the time,“ Soffredine recalls. Fortunately, his friend Lou was an avid outdoorsman, and by the time the two set off on the four-hour boat ride on the “Dramamine Queen“ from Copper Harbor in the U.P., they had more than enough gear for their seven-day trip.

THE PATH TO WISDOM
Soffredine notes that their first trip to Isle Royale was a “learning experience“ that was sometimes painful as well as humorous.
“I think my backpack must have weighed 80 pounds,“ he says, noting that he‘s since learned to carry a 35-40 lb. pack. “I could have lived on the island for six months with what we brought along.“
Starting out at 3 o‘clock in the afternoon at a fast pace with heavy packs, Soffredine and Brooke soon learned the “three R‘s“ of Isle Royale: “Roots, ravines and rocks.“ They tackled a five-mile trail and didn‘t make camp until dark that night, exhausted and dining on trail mix.
Despite their heavy packs, the two didn‘t bring a water filter to a place noted for its hazardous parasites. “That was our first mistake,“ Soffredine recalls. “We decided to boil all our water and had brought along five cans of fuel, but that wasn‘t enough for all the water we needed.“
Fortunately, some boaters along the Lake Superior shore came to the rescue. “Here I‘ve got a master‘s degree and my partner‘s an attorney and we‘re begging for water,“ he says with a laugh.

FOOTLOOSE
Another problem related to the “3 R‘s“ was that of blisters. Soffredine says his first trip taught him the importance of high quality hiking boots which have been broken in. “It‘s hard to get used to the rocks and ravines on Isle Royale,“ he notes. “You soon find out that whatever goes up goes back down again, so your feet are always taking a beating.“
He says he used up plenty of moleskin and bandaids on his first trip, but also learned an unusual (but valuable) tip from a group of medical students camping on the island, who advised using duct tape to keep blisters at bay. “You use duct tape preventatively to wrap your feet in the areas where you know the blisters will show up,“ he says. “After you‘re done hiking, you just stick your feet in the water and the tape comes off.“
Today, he breaks in a new pair of boots by walking the Vasa Trail in Acme, and also takes care to bring along several changes of socks.

INTO THE WILD
The wildlife and the views made up for the rough going of that first trip, however.
“The wildlife on Isle Royale is fabulous,“ Soffredine says. “The first moose we ran into, we were walking down this trail and this great big moose was just standing there, looking at us. I had seen moose before, but never that close -- I didn‘t realize they were that damn big.“
There are no bears on Isle Royale (although Soffredine has encountered one camping in the Porcupine Mountains), but there are plenty of moose, fox, otters and squirrels. “On my second trip, I saw 32 moose, including cows, calves and bulls,“ he says, adding that there are over 3,000 on the island, along with a fluctuating wolf pack of predators.
Did he have any fear of getting charged by the moose?
“No, they‘re so big, they know you‘re not going to mess with them, so they‘re pretty safe unless it‘s rutting season. Isle Royale has the best wildlife I‘ve seen anywhere. I didn‘t see any wolves because sightings are very rare, but we did hear them.“

HOME & BACK AGAIN
Soffredine and Brooke got hooked on the wild country and trails of the region and have backpacked many other remote areas since, including the Porkies, the Pictured Rocks Trail, the Canadian woods north of Lake Superior and back to Isle Royale for a 21-day trip which took them along the rough and lonely Minong Trail on the north shore of the island.
By their second trip to the island, the two were well-versed in the craft of backpacking.
“We did the Minong Trail the following year and they said it was going to be tough and weren‘t lying,“ he recalls. We hiked for 21 days from one end to the other and hit every single place you could hit on the island.“
This time, Soffredine had two water bottles, a better stove and boots and a water purifier. Breakfast was generally oatmeal and coffee; lunch was turkey jerky and 2 oz. of trail mix; and supper was a glass of powdered milk, coffee and a 10 oz. package of freeze-dried food.
“One thing that‘s nice is that there are no phones (as police chief he gets plenty of calls), and my partner is a hell of a guy.“
Another benefit: Isle Royale has numerous lean-to shelters for sleeping, and there are few hikers deep into the island. Soffredine says they only had to pitch tent one night on their second trip.
Soffredine noted a curious side effect to living off trail mix, oatmeal and jerky for three weeks: “I always wind up losing weight on these trips, but you miss things like grease, vegetables and salad. When I got back from Isle Royale that time, I wanted some fried potatoes with grease in them.“

HAPPY TRAILS
Last summer Soffredine and Brooke hiked the rugged Lake Superior Trail north of the Sault, Canada. It‘s an extremely demanding trail which runs 15-20 miles over a course of boulders along the shore of Lake Superior near the Agawa River.
Once he retires in 2003 after 35 years in law enforcement in places such as Flint, Ishpemming and Menominee as well as Traverse City, the chief hopes to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail -- more than 1,000 miles. He expects the trip will take him six months.
“I like backpacking because of all the physical stuff it involves,“ he says. It‘s a welcome break from his administrative duties of both the police and fire departments, not to mention his new role as a member of the Traverse City School Board.
Plus, for all the wild things he encounters -- the wilderness and animals -- there are also great people to be met out on the trail.
“I meet a lot of people in my business, and some of them aren‘t very nice,“ he notes. “But when you‘re out backpacking, you meet so many great people out there. People who are so friendly and willing to share whatever they‘ve got. It‘s a great experience.“