In a last ditch effort to get this trip report wrapped up I am using some of Betsy's journal entries and only using a few of the photos I originally planned to use.
Route from Manistique to Munising
Sunday, September 15, 2013
We awoke to clouds and rain - a good day to travel! We took our time packing things up and finally rolled out of the Star in Manistique around 10:30 a.m.
Didn't take us too long to get up to Grand Marais. (on our way past Seney we saw trumpeter swans on the water fairly close to the road!) I remember Grand Marais as a quaint and charming little town with sun glinting off the water in the harbor. Today it was wet, cold, gray and unappealing! We couldn't think of any reason to stay, so we headed west to H 58 along Pictured Rocks.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
We had breakfast and a maps session at the Sportsman's Restaurant before heading west. In response to my inquiry about the surface of RT 58 to Munising, the waitress confirmed it was indeed paved the entire way.
As we drove along, some creature sprinted out across the road in front of us. It was black and low to the ground, bigger than a cat. What was it? The folks at the visitor center couldn't tell us. I was very disappointed. I was hoping they would say "Oh, of course, that must have been a so-and-so." I tried Googling it and found nothing. Probably someone's lost dog.
We remembered stopping before in Munising and decided that depending on how we felt, we might stay there or move on to Marquette. Even in the gray, cloudy, cold weather, Munising looked quaint and charming. Then we found Scotty's Motel downtown but set back from the main street. A bit rough around the edges, but clean and just right for us. Flow through air (ventilation), windows that actually open and $42.00 dollars a night including tax and senior discount, Wifi, refrigerator and microwave.
Scotty's Motel - built in 1949. The current owners have been running it since 1968.
We checked in, put on warmer clothes and headed out for a walk.
We saw interesting architecture, trees, flowers and plants. We walked along Lake Superior. We found the post cards Mike was looking for and also a great coffee and bookshop we remembered from a previous trip.
We saw this oddball on our walk. It is a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that has reverted to its natural form.
We found a brew pub with in walking distance of the motel, and although I didn't care for their "homegrown" beers, we enjoyed sitting there drinking commercial beer and eating their wood fired pizza (which, by the way Mountain State Brew pub fans, were $5.00 each).
Now we are holed up in our hotel room anticipating tomorrow's nicer weather and a return trip to hike Bruno's Run Loop.
Monday, September 16, 2013
We did our usual morning routine and finally got ourselves ready to head out for Bruno's Run. It was a good hike - very long - but somehow did not have the "specialness" of our hike there in 2010. So many factors go into that! I know I missed the bird song. Then there is the first time factor, too.
Ready for a nice 8.9 mile hike, or is it 9.0 miles...
This sign says 10 miles! Wonder which one it is...?
We saw some very nice Hemlocks on the Bruno's Run hike.
We also saw some nice stands of Running Pine Clubmoss.Lycopodium clavatum)
Ground Cedar Clubmoss (Lycopodium tristachyum) was growing profusely on some of the sand banks.
Fish Lake and the Indian River were crystal clear.
This fern caught my eye. It did not look "quite right". I saw in it some of the traits of the Crested Shield Fern (Dryopteris cristata) and something else as well. A hybrid perhaps? When I showed the photo to FellowFernFreak Joan she also picked up some of the characteristics of Goldie's Wood Fern (Dryopteris goldiana). Sharp eye, Joan!
Now let's see - D. cristata X D. goldiana? Hmmm... That would be D. clintoniana! It is a fertile hybrid between the two. I had only seen this fern once before and that was way back in 1977 with Herb Wagner.
This woods, like others we have we have seen up here, is lush with ferns.
This interesting looking shelf fungus was growing on a fallen White Birch.
One more rest stop and soon we were back to the van.
We came back and took our (smoked) whitefish and beer down to the waterfront.
Our Happy Hour view of Lake Superior after the Bruno's Run hike.
After that we had salad, but were both too full for stew.
I was really beat from the hike. Slept on the floor on my sleeping pad cause I slept so crappy the night before on that noisy, hard bed. Floor with sleeping pad was much better!!!!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
We got up at 6:00, got ourselves together by 8:00 and headed out from Scotty's Motel and Munising to hike Clark Lake Loop just beyond Michigamee on Michigan 28.
The trail started about 6 miles down a dirt road on the North Country Trail in Clark Lake State Park, a park with only dispersed, primitive tent camping.
In the parking lot we talked with a guy who was heading out for a day of kayaking. He pointed out on the map the most scenic trails, actually the most scenic part of the trail, since after our 9 mile hike yesterday we were opting not to do the whole 8 mile lake loop.
It was a glorious, sunny day as we started out on the Clark Lake Trail. We soon headed off left on the Sandy Beach trail and got some gorgeous views of the lake and little primitive campsites you could hike or boat into. One was occupied and quite extensively set up. At another, a wooden canoe was pulled up the put-in ramp, but we saw no sign of its owner.
Clark Lake on a picture perfect day.
Steeeeep!
A bizarre, but beautiful looking burl on a old hemlock tree.
Just as nice from the rear!
That is some mighty fancy route work on the trail sign. CNC perhaps?
We hooked up again with the Clark lake Trail and stayed on it when the North Country Trail headed off to the east. The trail was sun dappled and led up and down through the forest. The quiet was pervasive with no noise but the sound of the wind in the trees. All too soon we were heading back towards the car. A beautiful, peaceful hike!
New York to North Dakota - 4600 miles of hiking pleasure.
Once back in the car, we again headed west on 28, then north up 41 towards Eagle Harbor. We passed familiar sites and sights and reminisced about past adventures.
One our way up the Keweenaw Peninsula we got quite a few good views of Lake Superior.
And we ended up on the sunny, quiet beach at Eagle Harbor's Shoreline Resort, a place we had stayed in June 2010. For me, this place has some undefinable quality of peace that calls to me. Old wooden Adirondack chairs are sprinkled over the beach along with a canoe, a kayak and a paddle boat. The randomness of all this, without regard for neat rows of chairs and chained boats, does not create a feeling of chaos or slovenly uncare, but rather a sense that someone has just walked away from an experience of peaceful contemplation and could return at any moment to once again curl up in an Adirondack chair and gaze out into the harbor.
The sounds are of the peaceful slap of waves on the shore and the distant clanging of the bell buoy out in the harbor.
We were the only guests in the eight unit motel. There were a couple of women on the beach that must have belonged to the cabin that is part of the "resort". We were in the end unit with side and front windows facing out to the little beach.
Unfortunately, the wifi does not seem to be working. Nidia, the owner, will call someone to come and work on it, so that will determine whether we stay three nights or two.
We sat on the sunny beach as long as the sunlight allowed, drinking beer and eating our salad and Dinty Moore stew.
Sunset over Eagle Harbor.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
While Betsy snoozed I got out early for a walk around town.
Click the photo to better read the sign.
Day break at the Eagle Harbor Light.
Eagle Harbor Light is a working lighthouse at Eagle Harbor, in Keweenaw County in the state of Michigan. It sits on the rocky entrance to Eagle Harbor and is one of several light stations that guide mariners on Lake Superior across the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The original lighthouse, built in 1851, was replaced in 1871 by the present red brick structure, which is a Michigan State Historic Site and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: WikiPedia
This clearly shows why Eagle Harbor was such an important place in the shipping industry.
Ye old Catholic Church. Bishop Baraga arrived here on January 11, 1847 to what must have seemed a frigid wilderness.
The Venerable Frederic Irenaeus Baraga (Slovene: Friderik Irenej Baraga), was a Slovenian Roman Catholic missionary to the United States and a grammarian of Native American languages. He became the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, originally sited at Sault Sainte Marie, which he led for 15 years.
His letters about his missionary work were published widely in Europe, inspiring Saint John Neumann and Father Francis Xavier Pierz to immigrate to the United States.
Source: WikiPedia
Later on, Betsy and I went for a walk and I took her around to some of the spots I had walked to earlier in the morning.
I had seen the separated pews before. They were in an old church in South Carolina.
The Reverend Mike - preaching from the heart.
This is Cedar Creek which runs through town and then empties into Eagle Harbor. Pretty.
Lake Superior is know for its frigid waters, even in late summer. Betsy finally got up the courage to go for a dip, as did I.
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Here is Betsy's last entry for this trip. I had photos from the day but somehow managed to lose them all by formatting my camera card before the pics were downloaded.
I had some nice shot of carrion beetles feeding on a dead frog which I regret loosing.
We awoke to a gray day and a bit chilly. We decided to head up to Copper Harbor and poke around. On the way we enjoyed beautiful lake views and saw some pull outs we remembered stopping at in 2010.
We stopped at Hunter's Point and walked on the trail along the shore and over to the state marina.
Our plan was to have breakfast at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, but they weren't serving breakfast except for a continental one for guests which was over already anyway. The woman there suggested The Pines at Copper Harbor, so that's where we headed. We had a good but pricey breakfast which weighed in at $20.00! Loud talking waitress almost knocked our ears out.
Mike wandered across the street to speak with the "trail guru" and I walked down to "The Laughing Loon" gift shop which I remembered visiting in 2010. The many wind chimes on the porch (large, low toned ones) gave a sort of other worldly feel to the place. Inside were some interesting items along with the usual touristy stuff.
By the time we finished with all of this it was just about noon. Mike was up for hiking, but I was tired so we headed back to the room for a nap.
Mid afternoon we decided to hike up Mt. Baldy - about 6 miles round trip. It was a sweaty hike with a beautiful, breezy view to reward us at the top. No bear this time.
The wifi at the hotel was fixed (Yeah!) and the weather was looking up, so we made plans for another day here. Tomorrow sounds like beach weather followed by some afternoon storms which will bring in cooler weather in time for us to leave on Friday.
For dinner we cobbled together a mess of red beans and tomato/green chili glop that actually tasted pretty good. We're getting to the end of our food we brought from home.
And with that entry this Michigan trip officially ends. Betsy and I talked about more stops in Michigan and Wisconsin after we left the Keweenaw. But, (and I hate to admit this) I was tired out and ready to start the three day drive home.
We drove down central Wisconsin and got as far as Janesville where we spent the night.
I took this next series of shots from a bridge on Rt 70. It looks out over a marsh on the south end of Big Arbor Vitae Lake.
Pretty nice color for mid September.
Our route took us through Minocqua which we regretted. We ended up in thick, snarled traffic from a big construction project and then ended up behind a slow moving truck for miles. Bad timing to be sure.
We had been to Janesville before and enjoyed revisiting. It is a nice old town with some nice old buildings still remaining. The Rock River flows right through town and is a big focal point.
We stopped at the book shop on a whim. In my collection days I would have walked out with boxes full. All the books were on sale: 2 dollars for hardcover and 1 dollar for paperback. The inventory was extensive and well filled out. What a treasure trove. The woman who owned it was trying to liquidate so as to close up shop and retire. Too bad, the old book stores are becoming quite a rarity.
This is where I wish we had eaten dinner! It is directly adjacent to an Irish pub. Handy.
After supper we took a walk along the Rock River. There were people out fishing and relaxing. We also noticed several of the eateries and bars had outside decks overlooking the river.
This must have been a mess!
We had chosen this route so as to avoid going anywhere near Chicago. It was scenic, but added at least a half day's drive.
Now it was good-bye Wisconsin as we entered Illinois and then drove east to Indiana
We drove through Indiana on a series of teeny-tiny local roads. This made navigating interesting as few of the road were on our maps.
But Betsy kept us on the right path and we eventually arrived in Fort Wayne where we stayed with Art, her dad for the night.
Then, the next day we started the last leg of the trip home. And six and a half hours later we pulled in the driveway.
Good-bye Michigan. Until next year...?