OK, so it’s been over a month since we posted anything to our blog. We have been busy almost every day, seeing all the sites we can at all our stops. I have been taking so many pictures, as you’ll see in the Gallery that Walt is writing the posts now. His posts are probably longer than mine because he is a much better writer than I am and remembers more about where we go, because I am so busy taking pictures. This is his first posts and he will continue from now own (it sure makes it easier on me).
We left the Lower Peninsula, on Monday, June 7th, driving almost 300 miles to Marquette, Michigan, on Lake Superior. Traffic crawled up US 31 north through Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petosky. Once we crossed the Mackinaw Narrows Bridge (Big Mac) at Mackinaw City (the bridge opened in late 1957 – younger than Walt by several months) we were in the Upper Peninsula (UP). The remainder of the drive was pleasant along the north shore of Lake Michigan past the Michigan Dept of Natural Resources campground at Little Hog Island (the location of Walt’s first camping trip in August 1957 at 2 months of age), north across the UP to Lake Superior at Munising, then along the lake to Marquette. 300 miles makes for a long day and we were tired.
Residents of the UP are colloquial know as Yoopers and have a reputation for being some of the nicest people in the world, https://dayoopers.com/whatwher.html.
“The U.P. is an edgy place. I mean, in the sense that it still hangs on out there like a rawhide flap of the old frontier, outposted from the swirl of mainstream America. The U.P. is a hard place. A person has to want to hurt a lot to live there. In winter we shovel snow and in summer we swat mosquitoes. During the spring and fall we rest up for swatting and shoveling”.
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes and the largest lake in the world by surface area. The lake is 300 miles east to west (Sault Ste Marie, MI, to Duluth, MN) and 160 miles from north (Canada) to south. It is the deepest lake with a maximum depth over 1300 feet. If you put all the water from the remaining great lakes (Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario) into Lake Superior, there would be room to spare. We were also told that the volume of water in Lake Superior would fill the entire continental United States to a depth of 5 feet.
We arrived at Rippling River, 5 miles from downtown Marquette and at the base of Mount Marquette (next door to the Mount Marquette Ski Resort), to find that we were west facing into the sun AGAIN (same as at Indian Creek – Geneva on the Lake and Duck Harbor – Muskegon). We put up our dog pen and our shelter – The Clam – on the back side of the Canyon Star (east side) to get some shade. The Carp River flows down the east side of the campground and has glorious river scenery and shade. The resort also had a pool and a hot tub!!
On Tuesday, June 8th, we set out to explore Marquette, eating breakfast at 3rd Street Bagels, visiting the Michigan Welcome Center on US 41/M 28 along Lake Superior and shopping at Wal-Mart (groceries) and Lowes (wood pellets for the Flame Genie firepit and repair items for the bathroom door – yes rough roads AGAIN broke the aluminum channel on the door top – 3rd time).
On Wednesday, June 9th, we did a short hike to Dead River Falls, west of Marquette. Marquette is on a promontory sticking out from the south shore of Lake Superior, and the drop in elevation down to the lake forms many small rivers and waterfalls.
On Thursday, June 10th, we ate pasties for lunch. The pasty, a UP delicacy, (rhymes with “nasty”) is a traditional workingman’s meal from Cornwall, England. Pasties are traditionally made with beef, diced potatoes, onion, and rutabaga, although the proportions and type of meat change depending on who’s making it. Unfortunately, we were pronouncing it PASTE-EE and were informed that those are only found at gentlemen’s clubs. https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/michigan-pasty-meat-hand-pie-2042803
In the late afternoon, we traveled 40 miles east to Munising, MI, to visit Pictured Rocks National Seashore for an evening boat cruise. Evening is very relative in the UP. Our cruise was at 5 PM, but the daylight made it seem like about noon. Marquette and Munising are at the very west end of the Eastern Time Zone. That combined with the north latitude – close to 50 degrees, makes the days very very long. The sun rises about 5 in the morning and doesn’t set until after 10 PM. It had rained much of the day, but just in time for the cruise, the skies cleared up and it became a very beautiful evening. The boat route was to the northeast from Munising past many cliff formations carved by the waves and the freeze/thaw action of the winter weather and culminated in Spray Falls, leaping from the top of the cliff into Lake Superior. We ate dinner at Eh! Burger in Munising having the mandatory Whitefish. Whitefish and Lake Trout are the two most common fish from Lake Superior and are very tasty both fresh and smoked.
On Friday, June 11th, we relaxed at the campground and went to see a local performer named Troy Graham (https://www.facebook.com/troygrahammusic/) perform at the campfire circle alongside the Carp River. Troy performs 70’s folk along with other genres and is a big Stephen King fan. Walt enjoyed talking with him about these interests.
We finally got in a bike ride on Saturday, June 12th, on the Lakeshore Bicycle Trail, riding from the Michigan Welcome Center to Presque Isle Park and return, a total of 17 miles. https://trailgenius.com/trail-genius-map/marquette-bicycle-path. The trail passed by two Iron Ore Loading Docks: Lower Dock – operated from 1931 to 1971 and Upper Dock – still operating. Marquette is famous for mountain biking. There are two trail hubs (North Trails and South Trails) with multiple bike routes ranging out of each. While we were at Rippling River the “Margie Gesick Trail Riding Camp” was being held at Rippling River. Through the weekend of June 11 – 13, there were mountain bikers all over the resort. https://marjigesick.com/details/marji-camp/.
On Sunday, June 13th, we bade goodbye to the Yoopers and traveled west to Bayfield, Wisconsin, and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.