Great Lakes

22 June – After the laundry and internet stop at Escanaba, Michigan we followed the lake east with threatening skies to our camp at Indian Lake State Park (not the lake in the Cowsills’ song). We chose a site well away from the taller trees as the forecast is bad. Eventually the sun came out and we tried to dry the washing. We thought the storm must have bypassed us until the ranger came around and warned us of storm and tornado conditions to the south of us for the next few hours, which he hoped we would miss us. (charming!!) We put together a grab-bag of our passports, documents and camera just in case we needed to evacuate to the toilet blocks. The skies darkened but the storm fortunately did not arrive.

23 June – It was windy in the night and still blowing this morning. We drove in cold conditions and some drizzle north across the Michigan Upper Peninsula leaving Lake Michigan and eventually reaching Lake Superior before heading inland again to the State Park at Tahquamenon Falls. In the afternoon we rugged up and walked around the Lower Falls. There are four low falls but with a lot of water going over them. They are tea coloured like the West Coast rivers. Quite unusual. Tomorrow we will explore the Upper Falls as we drive west.

24 June – It was a short drive of 4 miles to the upper Tahquamenon Falls. This was a big water fall (200ft wide and 50ft high) and we view it from a couple of vantage points. We continued west thru mostly forests to the town of Munising where we stopped at the visitors centre. This area is called the Painted Rocks Landshore but the cliffs can only be view from the lake. We decided against a boat trip to see this and further along the road we realised we had made the right decision as we could see lots of fog out on the water.

Our camp was at Bay Furnace State Park We had a nice isolated site so we both had haircuts. Half way thru this it started to rain and I completed them under the awning. After it cleared we walked to the site of a pioneer iron furnace giving the bay its name.

25 June – We followed the coast west along Lake Superior. It is hard to imagine how huge this body of water is. At Marquette, the largest city on the Upper Peninsula, we stopped for fuel and a stock up of supplies. We passed the highest mountain in Michigan, Mt Arvon – 1979ft, really only a hill! It stopped raining and we camped at  a State Park at Keweenaw Bay. We sat beside the lake and enjoyed a read in the sunshine.

26 June – It was a chilly morning with fog off the lake. We headed up a huge peninsula sticking out into the lake. This is mining country with mainly copper mines. The road followed a ridge up the centre of the land and we eventually descended into Copper Harbour right at the end of the peninsula, where we have a booking for the weekend at Fort Wilkins State Park. The sun is out and we are in a great site overlooking Lake Fanny Hooe with Lake Superior 100m away. We hopped on our bikes and road around the park to orientate ourselves.

We had a quick look at the fort and will spend some time there tomorrow. It was a warm night and we sat outside until it got late, not dark, that does not happen until around 11:30pm

27 June – As there is a laundry in this park we cycled to it. While Val did the washing, I sent some time cleaning. Near lunch time we cycled back into the town of Copper Harbour for a look around and to try one of the pasties famous in this area. The last time we had a pasty was in Cornwell, England where they also mined tin. The pasty was designed to allow the miners to have lunch underground without washing the poison from the mining off their hands. They throw away the end crust. The pasties were good but the Cornish ones were better. Back in the park we went to the site of Fort Wilkins. This fort was established around 1860 to protect the copper miners etc, but the Indians were not aggressive so it was abandoned when the Civil War broke out. It was only manned for 4 years. The fort has been preserved and today there were actors acting out various roles. It was all very interesting and the various characters carried on a conversation as if they were in the period. Our neighbours left us some firewood so we will have a camp fire tonight.

28 June – We left Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbour and drove the coast road around Lake Superior thru Eagle Harbour and Eagle River, a beautiful drive. Leaving the Keweenaw Peninsula we headed west thru more forest and small towns into the Ottawa National Forest and a small forest camp at Lake Marion. The sun was out, and with a great view of the lake, we sat out side and read. I decided to take the opportunity of easy access to the lake to wash the outside of “Ernie”

Just as I started the clouds came over and down came the rain. In an hour the rain stopped and the sun came out again. Unfortunately the mosquitoes also suddenly appeared!

29 June – I finished the washing of “Ernie” before we got back on the road west out of Michigan and back into Wisconsin again. There are lakes everywhere in this area and in the small towns there are many boat sales and marine suppliers. After a few attempts we found another forest camp at Sailor Lake. These forest parks are great. They have no facilities but each camp site is huge with the usual fire ring and table. They are also cheap. (US$12) Again we had a great view of the lake but after lunch the usual afternoon storm brewed up sending us inside. This storm was an electrical storm which seemed to pass right over us. The usual mosquito invasion followed the rain.

30 June – After another drive west we planned to stay in another forest park but we could not find a suitable one. It is drizzly so we settled for a small camping ground at an unnamed lake. The sun comes out from time to time but it is still cool around 16C. The camp had internet which was a bonus and we skyped Linley and Ron.

1 July - We are going west on the “77” for the trip today. A great drive with more forests. The trees have changed now and there are less deciduous trees and more pines. At Danbury we crossed the border from Wisconsin into Minnesota. The country changed and we passed a lot of small farms before arriving at our State Park at St Croix. The weather warmed up and we sat outside for quite a while in T-shirts. We have not done any walks or bike rides lately so we set off for an 8km walk along a snowmobile track and the St Croix River. The ranger had warned us of ticks that were a problem in the park. We stopped half way and I discovered about 20 ticks climbing up my legs. They are like small hard backed spiders about ¼” in size and climb up your legs from your boots. After some mutual grooming we managed to get rid of most of them but had to stop frequently on our return hike to clear them again. Most unpleasant! Back at “Ernie” we stripped off and completely cleared ourselves of the ticks. Surprising where they had got to!! Fly spray on our boots and hopefully we will not have them again. It was a lovely evening and we sat outside watching the sun set.

2 July – A quick dash along the “I-35”, interrupted by a stock up, to our pre-booked camp at an RV park 9 kms from Duluth and Superior. These two port cities, Superior in Wisconsin and Duluth in Minnesota, are at the western end of Lake Superior. This is the 4^th of July weekend and Friday is a holiday thus the need to book. This is a huge camp and we had to bike around to explore it all.

3 July – The camp is slowly filling up. We set off on our bikes along the Munger Trail, a paved cycleway that goes 70 miles between Duluth and Hinckley. Our aim was less ambitious however, to go the Jay Cooke State Park about 10kms down the trail. It was an easy ride to this park where there is a swing bridge across the St Louis River. There are rapids either side of the bridge as the river flows thru an area of slate rock. We walked either side of the river and had lunch with a great view of the rapids.

Back at the camp we walked up to the restaurant/bar for a drink and the use of the internet. We have managed to contact a camp within walking distance of an LPGA golf tournament in a couple of weeks in Michigan.

4 July – “Happy 4^th!” This is the greeting you get around here today. It is a short drive to Superior where we found a park at the middle school and joined the crowd waiting for the parade. Luckily we took our chairs as the parade lasted about 1 ½ hours. At the head of the parade are the veterans, even two from WW11, then the various services organizations followed by all the community groups and the college marching band, with baton twirling majorettes and a pipe band. It all got a bit strung out thus the long duration.

Great entertainment though. We walked back to “Ernie” for lunch and then rode our bikes into the centre of the town where there was a car show. Plenty of big muscle cars and many classic yank tanks of the past.

There was even a few English classics including a Ford Perfect, my first car, but tricked out as a dragster. Back at the camp we got a bundle of firewood and had a great fire filling the time until the fireworks at 10:00pm. The camp turn on the display which was spectacular, very professional and lasted for about 15 minutes. Hate to think what it cost but a great way to finish Independence Day.