Summertime in the U.P.

We survived the drive over the mighty Mackinaw Bridge – some fellow campers we met while in SC had advised us they had to camp for three days at the bridge as it is often closed to trailers due to high winds. Luck was with us and we had clear skies and low winds when we arrived! The nice weather did not stay with us long though. We arrived at Tahquamenon Falls and were welcomed by a swarm of mosquitos, horse flies and black flies, luckily a little Yard Guard and Deep Woods Off made short work of those pests. The falls were beautiful and the logging history of the area was a powerful statement of the hard work and foresight of the original settlers to harvest the timber from this area and donate the land to the Michigan State park system.

We made a day trip to Whitefish Point to check out the Lighthouse and Shipwreck museum. This is the same area where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. It is one of the Northern most points in Michigan with a clear view of Canada across Lake Superior. The beach is littered with drift wood and a variety of pebbles of every color imaginable, we were told you could find Agates on the beach, however we were not so lucky. But we did collect a bag of the most colorful stones that will be sent to brother David to support his artistic endeavors.

Also visited the Oswalds Bear Ranch which is a family owned business that rescues bear cubs from all over the United States and then allows them to live out their lifetime at the ranch in a captive environment as close to their natural environment as possible. Of course we could not resist the tourist trap photo with the bear cub who loves letting all the tourist feed her PB&J.

The journey continued 250 miles to the west to Porcupine Mountains State Park. We have PJ Hoffmaster to thank for making sure the largest state park in the Midwest at 60,000 acres was preserved in its natural state. We arrived to gorgeous weather, sunny with temps in the lows 60’s. We hiked to the Lake of the Clouds which is literally a beautiful lake that is viewed from a 500 foot sheer cliff above it.

 

The following day we awoke to steady rain and temps in the 50’s but we did not let that stop us from hiking the four mile Escarpment Trail that runs along the ridge of the Porcupine Mountains.

A few shots of our campsite and the view at sunset (when it wasn’t raining).

Hoping the weather clears as we are headed to Wisconsin and the Apostle Islands tomorrow.