We were up bright and early again today to return to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. We were the third car at the trail head. The parking lot was almost full when we left. Today our focus was on the Presque Isle East and West River Trails. These trails follow the Presque Isle River, the largest river in the park and three of the biggest waterfalls in the park. The hike includes sections of boardwalk and stairs, wooded trail, and a suspension bridge. Usually, the two trails make a 2.4 mile loop but currently one section of the west trail is closed to hiking due to erosion. This means that the hike as we hiked it today was almost 4 miles. All-Trails classifies it as an easy hike even though there were a lot of stairs on the boardwalks – mostly on the West trail. There were also many roots to navigate especially on the east trail along with elevations changes. The waterfalls were very nice. We enjoyed the east trail as it was very quiet and peaceful with fewer hikers. We were also able to follow the river to the juncture with Lake Superior which was really nice on this beautiful day.
Might be the last time we use our Michigan Non-resident Annual Recreation Passport. But we got our money’s worth.
If you remember, we were in another Presque Isle a few days ago. A ranger explained that there are several because Presque Isle in French means “almost an island.”
The West River Trail boardwalk has a lot of boardwalks.
The East River Trail was a little more rustic.
The largest of the falls we saw on the hike.
We waited for a family to get out of the way to get a good picture of these falls.
These falls are best viewed from the east side of the river.
Interesting erosion in the river bed
The trails are in an old growth hemlock forest. Some of the trees are over 400 years old. This is a hemlock cone.
One more brief stop on a Lake Superior beach
Interesting driftwood on the beach
Apparently mountain trails have plenty of stairs.
It’s nice to come back to the van and have everything you need to rest and fix a meal.
When we were planning our route today, we had an icon pop up for Interstate Falls. On a whim we decided to find it. The parking lot is in Wisconsin but the state line between Wisconsin and Michigan goes through the the falls. It was a short 1/3 mile hike. While viewing the falls we met a nice couple from Wisconsin. We had a nice conversation with them. They gave us some suggestions on other things to do in Wisconsin. They have done Habitat projects in the past but now work in the Habitat ReStore. They were very interested in BB and requested a tour. After their “tour” we had lunch before leaving the parking lot.
The Porcupine Mountains area is ski country
Interstate Falls
This picture of Interstate Falls in the winter is posted at the trailhead.
We even took time to find a couple of geocaches today along the trail.
As we pulled onto the road, Max looked across the way and saw another white Beyond in the veterinary parking lot. We pulled across the road and parked right beside the other Beyond. As it turns out, we were all at the Ocala show in March. We spent the next hour talking all things Beyond. They just got their rig in December and wanted to see all the mod’s we have make to BB and asked lots of questions. We of course exchanged contact information and they generously invited us to their home. We already had commitments in Wisconsin but we may visit them another time.
Another chance meeting with a Beyond family
We had a wonderful time visiting the Michigan UP. We are a little sad that time is over. We have some new places to explore but just might plan another summer trip to the UP.
We were at Walmart again this morning. Needed Bananas and some frozen fruit for smoothies. Living in BB does require more grocery stops. Then we headed west, still in the UP. Just as sort of an afterthought, when we saw the sign for Agate Beach, a village park, we made the turn to head that way. Interestingly, the road to Agate Beach was named Misery Bay Road. Another of the roads was Arctic Circle Lane. Before we arrived at the beach, the pavement abruptly ended without warning and became a seriously rub board dirt road. We adventured on and soon arrived at another Lake Superior Beach. Again, a very pretty beach and clear water. We started talking with a lady who was sitting on the sand looking for rocks. God Wink. Anne started talking to her and told her that we do a lot of mission work and explained a little about what we do. Her response was “Are y’all NOMADS?” The lady’s parents were NOMADS. They are both still living and in their 90’s with poor vision but still talk of their days as NOMADS. Anne asked her to thank them for us for all they did for NOMADS. We had a nice conversation about her parents and it seemed to mean a lot to our new friend. Wow! We just randomly decided to go out of our way to this strange beach? NO! It was a God thing. Thank you God, for giving us the opportunity to meet this sweet lady.
The rub boards do not show up well in this picture, but we sure felt them.
Agate Beach. Apparently hunting agates is a really big thing in the UP. Almost every beach we saw had people looking at rocks.
Moving on further west, we were driving through Ontonagon Harbor and saw a sign for a lighthouse and decided we needed to find it. It was sort of a maze to get to, but it was a quaint little light house. We just stopped and took some pictures, but didn’t go in.
Ontonagon Lighthouse
We needed to get on down the road. Our goal for the day was to visit the Porcupine Mountains. We had been wanting to see the Porkies for 8 or 9 years and we wanted to finally make it happen. We arrive at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (the largest Michigan State Park) shortly before lunch. We did the usual visitors center tour and asked for recommendations for hikes from the Ranger. First, we went to the Lake of the Clouds Scenic Area. Take your breath away beautiful! After a late lunch, we then hiked the Escarpment Trail which is billed as the crowning jewel of trails, not only in the Porkies but in all of Michigan. This hike combines a high rocky bluff and alpine-like vistas. Awesome. While the scenery was beautiful, the hike was rated moderately difficult. There was a lot of ups and downs and back ups. This hike completed our hiking for the day. It was another wonderful day!
The Visitor Center had some really nice displays.
Our first view of Lake of the Clouds. Now we know why it is one of the most popular spots in the park.
This is the view looking away from the lake.
At Lake of the Clouds overlook
At one of the overlooks on the trail we were looking down on buzzards.
We stepped out of BB Saturday morning to go into Walmart to buy some groceries and we were greeted with a beautiful rainbow. Thank you, God, for such a wonderful start to the day! It was a rainy and dreary day after that beautiful rainbow, but all was okay. We have been going and going and needed a little more rest and time to catch up on the blog and other stuff. We drove out to Presque Isle Park, parked where we could look out the window at the lighthouse and Lake Superior and enjoyed our day. We started out the breakwater to the lighthouse once, but after the concrete walkway turned into very large boulders, we decided that with a very strong wind trying to push us over we should concede to our years and just go back to BB.
Saturday morning at Camp Walmart in Marquette. There were at least 11 RVs there for the night.
We just happened to meet another Beyond family at the park.
A nice place to work for the day
Presque Isle Harbor Lighthouse
We decided not to walk across the wet rocks in the high wind.
We hoped to see a ship at the Marquette Ore Dock, but none came in while we were there. To give you an idea of the size of the dock, those little box-looking things on top of the dock are train cars
As we were leaving the park we stopped to watch some surfers on Lake Superior.
BTW, I know we have complained about the heat in Alabama but… in the UP the second week in August and we are now wearing three layers – short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt and our hoodies. And, with the wind we had today, we weren’t very warm. We even had hot chocolate and turned on the furnace! We had to buy some hot chocolate because we didn’t expect to want hot chocolate in August. The high Saturday was 63 and the low 52 with a really blustery wind all day. The forecast does appear to be improving and the locals think they may get a little more summer – highs of 75 maybe.
Day 6
Today (Sunday) after breakfast, we pointed BB northward again. We left Marquette, headed toward the far northern tip of the Keweenaw peninsula. Today we again had sunshine and mild temperatures, even though we began the day with the furnace and sweatshirts. It was a beautiful day. To make the day even better, we were able to meet up with Suzan and Kevin, dear NOMADS friends, for lunch in Houghton. Suzan had been reading our blog and knew we were in close proximity, but we had been running behind on the blog. She reached out to us yesterday afternoon and we discovered that we were only about 1.5 hours apart and we were planning to be in the same town today. We both will be moving in different directions tomorrow but for a short time today, we were able to reconnect. So thankful for the blessing!
After lunch and hugs, we continued traveling northward to Copper Harbor. There were several small towns to drive through and interesting things to see along the way. We spotted a snow gauge that indicated there is way too much snow in this area for this southern couple.
Snowfall pole in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Even the lowest total is three feet above the van.
We visited another lighthouse, at Eagle Harbor, that was very well restored. It is still an operating light, just automated now. It’s been operating since 1851. The Keweenaw County Historical Society now operates a museum at the site. Admission $8.00.
Eagle Harbor Lighthouse
A picture of the lighthouse after a winter storm in 1938
More stairs, but this time circular
View from the light tower
We also visited Fort Wilkins located at the tip of the peninsula. The fort has an interesting story. The primary purpose of Fort Wilkins was to maintain order and protect the interests of copper mining companies from the Ojibwe. After its establishment, Fort Wilkins served as a military post for only a short period. Due to declining copper prices and improved relations with the Ojibwe, the fort was left in the hands of Sgt. William Wright, in 1846. The rest of his fellow soldiers were sent to Texas, he was the only man to remain. However, Fort Wilkins was reactivated in 1867 after the Civil War and remained in service until 1870. The fort was used as a place for men to serve out the rest of their enlistments from the war. The fort has now been restored by the state of Michigan.
Fort Wilkins Parade Grounds
Short History of Fort Wilkins
The fort hospital held several displays of period medical equipment.
The Bake House. According to the signs, the garrison ate a lot of potatoes, meat and bread.
One of the character actors that was on site to tell the story and answer questions
While returning to Houghton this afternoon, we saw an interesting memorial in the town of Kearsarge. There was a battleship, made of bricks, to depict the USS Kearsarge, a ship of the Union Army during the Civil War. The boat was famous for sinking the CSS Alabama, a Confederate ship that wreaked havoc on the Union merchant and naval ships during its 2-year lifetime. The USS Kearsarge later sank in the Caribbean. The memorial was later built by WPA during the great depression and still sits at a prominent location in Kearsarge, MI. The interesting things you learn when traveling around the country.
Kearsarge Veterans Park. The first brick ship we’ve seen.
We crossed this large drawbridge in Houghton twice on Sunday.
(We spent today trying to get caught up so we are posting twice tonight)
We had a peaceful Thursday night at our Boondockers Welcome site, but were up bright and early to go to Kitch-iti-kipi (The Big Spring) at Palms Book State Park. The park opened at 8:00 and we were there at 8:07. We had been forewarned about long lines at the spring. Kitch-iti-kipi (Chippewa for The Great Water or The Roaring Bubbling Spring) is two hundred feet across, and 40 feet deep. It is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring. 10,000 gallons of crystal-clear water per minute gush from fissures in the underlying limestone. The flow continues throughout the year at a constant 45 degrees. Visitors to the park can step onto a self-operated raft and float out over the spring and watch the water bubble up through the sand. You can also see huge fish swimming over the spring eruptions. Our raft had 10 people. (By the time we left there was probably 40 people on each raft trip.) Everyone was just looking around and no one was propelling the raft so Anne read the directions (of course) and then started moving us out over the spring by turning the big wheel. Soon everyone wanted a turn at “skippering” our raft which was fine because we all wanted time to watch the spring erupt too. A number of years ago we did a lot of scuba diving and watching the spring was very similar to diving in one of the Florida springs. The unique thing here was the self-propelled raft so anyone could see the spring. Very cool!
Anne took the first driving shift
The operator is really just moving the raft along a cable.
We really enjoyed looking down through the boat at the bubbling sand and huge fish.
The crowds started growing as we were leaving
From Kitch-iti-kipi, we drove to the Manistique Lighthouse. It was said it was painted “fire engine red.” It was beautiful in the morning sun. We were able to walk out the breakwater to the light, but it is not open for tours. We spent most of the rest of the morning walking the beach and looking at the rocks. The Great Lake beaches are covered with all sorts and colors of rocks and you can see many people picking up the stones. It’s not illegal most places.
Manistique LIghthouse. We try to wear red shirts on Fridays (even though one of us usually wear greys and blues) because RED means Remember Everyone Deployed.
Once you get past these first few rocks this is an easy breakwater walk out to the lighthouse.
After leaving the beach, we headed northwest to Marquette and stopped at the Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park. The road turned to dirt a mile or so before we arrived. It had been raining earlier so BB isn’t very clean right now. The hike to the falls is about a mile round trip, BUT to go to the bottom of the falls there are 157 steps – one way, so total of 314. Max just loves finding steps for us to climb. Oh well – building muscles. The falls got their name from the Laughing White Fish River, which got its name from the Native Americans who thought the mouth of the river looks like a laughing whitefish. On the way back to the van, it began raining again. YUK!
It was a very nice path to the falls surrounded by large ferns.
Laughing Whitefish Falls from the top viewpoint.
The falls from the bottom
Who knew there would be so many stairs?
We drove on into Marquette and it was still raining. The forecast was for more rain. We decided it was a good afternoon to do laundry and found a very nice laundromat (although expensive) across the road from Walmart.
RVing With a Purpose 