Return

We had originally planned to come home on Saturday, but thinking about it, there was a lot that needed to be done on Saturday, so we decided to spend part of the day in the area and come home on Friday evening.

First thing was to drive to the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse and launch the kayaks.  The wreck of the Joseph S. Fay is just offshore and I took some pictures from above with the drone yesterday.  Now it was time to look at it from over the side of a kayak.

We were a little disappointed that this was not a calm morning.  The wind was already blowing up a bit of chop on the water, so a really clear view would be much more difficult.

On October 19, 1905, the wooden freighter Joseph S. Fay set sail from Escanaba, Michigan, in calm, clear weather. Destined for Cleveland, Ohio, Joseph S. Fay towed the barge ​D.P. Rhodes. As the ships sailed down Lake Huron, both heavily loaded with iron ore, the weather changed dramatically. Winds exceeded 60 miles an hour, and Joseph S. Fay struggled to maintain a steady course as waves crashed over the decks. Unable to steer, Joseph S. Fay and D.P. Rhodes were at the mercy of Lake Huron. The towline to the barge alternately slackened and snapped taut and eventually tore part of the stern off the ​Joseph S. Fay​. The storm drove D.P. Rhodes ashore, but the storm was still too fierce for ​Joseph S. Fay​. After a massive wave washed ​Joseph S. Fay’s​ mate overboard to his death, the remaining crew escaped in a lifeboat as the freighter quickly sank.  The ship now sits in 19 feet of water only 300 yards from the shore.

Once again I tested the water-worthiness of my iPhone by dunking it in the water for a few pictures.

We also took a tour of the lighthouse.

After having lunch in the parking lot, we headed for home.  Of course, we made a few stops on the way.  Aside from the necessary fuel stop in Gaylord, we also stopped at the Alpine Chocolat Haus downtown, a stop made a lot more challenging by the Alpinfest that was going on.  Traffic was a mess and parking was challenging.  We had to navigate hordes of people and lots of carnival rides and booths to get there.

We made a stop at Ebel’s General Store in Falmouth.  Always good for some meats and today didn’t disappoint.  They were selling whole smoked whitefish and when Deb inquired about it, the guy behind the meat counter grabbed one of the packages, opened it up and gave us a couple generous samples.  He said the rest of the fish would be sampled out in short order.  We came home with one as it was very tasty.

Last stop for dinner at a Menards parking lot in Big Rapids.  We picked Menards because we needed to pick up some countertop material from the Wyoming store.  Stopping here would save a trip.  They had it in stock, so I was able to cancel the Wyoming order and get it here. The RV was now a delivery truck.

Arrived home just before 8pm.  Great trip and it covered a little more of the Lake Huron Shoreline, continuing from another trip.  We still need to finish the last segment from Rogers City to the bridge, but that will be on another trip

Adding in the prior trip, we have covered quite a bit of the upper Eastern Michigan shoreline:

Total miles traveled: 759

38 Years

Happy Anniversary to us.  38 years.  What a great way to celebrate: to take a road trip and spend time doing the things we love.

After a leisurely breakfast we hit the road towards Rogers City.  No real agenda in mind, other than reservations at the Hoeft State Park for tonight.  We took the alternate route suggested by Google Maps, as we had been up and down US-23 four times in the last two days.  This led us through some beautiful farmland along minor roads in the middle of nowhere.

We were cruising along at 55, on a deserted road when I heard the familiar words from Deb:  Let’s stop here.

Here was already hurtling by so I suddenly had the task of bringing over five tons of vehicle to a controlled stop.  I found a driveway for turning around and then approached Deb’s desired stopping point.  A small sign read “Mystery Valley”.  I was immediately thinking of the Mystery Spot, a tourist trap in the UP, but this turned out to be something legitimate, something that any geologist would geek out on.

There was no place to park a big vehicle (or any vehicle, for that matter) as the sign on the gate said “PARK NOT”.

Unlike a valley carved by a river, Mystery Valley was formed by the collapse of the surface into a bunch of subterranean chambers created by the water erosion of the rock below.  We took a hike on the trails through this preserve noting the “swallow holes” and the earth cracks where the earth caved in on itself.

It would have been a much more leisurely and pleasant hike if not for the hordes of mosquitoes that descended on us in the tree-covered portion of the trail.  We probably finished the hike in record time.

Rogers City boasts the largest limestone quarry in the world. So our next stop was going to be the quarry overlook just outside of town so we could add this to our World’s Largest collection.  But the road was fenced off, and we found out from one of the locals that the area immediately under the overlook was being mined at that time, so no more observation point.  We did manage to get a picture later on from a different location.  Had to use a drone to do so, but here it is:

Driving into town, we found the Tradewinds Bakery where we found the most enormous cinnamon rolls.  A day-old package of three was just two bucks.  That just had to come with us.

We wandered over a block or two and discovered a stately old house that was now a museum. The PIC Historial Museum, or Presque Isle County Historical Museum is located in this house, the original house of Carl Bradley, who started the limestone quarry.

We checked out the hours, but it didn’t open until 12:30 and it was not quite noon.  We were just walking away when we heard a voice calling behind us. “Come on in,” the docent called.  She was a fountain of information, and gave us a personal tour of the place and regaled us with the local lore.  Turns out she worked at the limestone quarry for many years, and her father was a good friend of one of the later bosses of the place.

We had lunch at the parking lot for the boat ramp and then headed towards Ocqueoc Falls (try pronouncing that!).  We expected empty parking lots and very few people since it was the middle of the day on Thursday, but when we got there, we had to park along the road because the lot was full.  Turns out this is a very popular place.

Not wanting to crowd ourselves into the main pool under the falls, we walked downstream a short distance to another pool and spent some time in the water there.  It was a lot like a very powerful jacuzzi if you placed yourself directly under one of the cascades.  Lots of fun on a very nice day.

Back into Rogers City we had dinner at the Lighthouse Cafe and then headed to the state park to our reserved campsite.  We parked the RV, unloaded the bikes, and biked to the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.  Another Michigan lighthouse to see and another shipwreck just offshore. Some of this wreckage is also on the beach.  We may take the kayaks tomorrow to view the wreck, but I did take a few pictures with the drone.

The lighthouse itself is worth a couple pictures also, especially with that cute couple in the chairs in front:

Parked in front of the lighthouse was a Ford Model A, the same kind of car we made our getaway in after our wedding 38 years ago.  Kind of a nice exclamation point to end the day.

More Wreckage

It was pouring rain when we got up this morning.  Plus, the prediction was for rain off and on for most of the day.  Time for some indoor Plan B type stuff.

We went to the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, a museum which described many of the shipwrecks in the area. One of the central features is a replica of a schooner, complete with the flashes of lightning and roaring of the thunder and surf that this ship would have experienced during its last hours in a storm.

Those sailors didn’t have it easy. And their sleeping berths would never fit a tall Dutchman like me.

It was still raining when we emerged from the museum so we stopped at a couple thrift stores in Alpena.  In all our travels, we have not found thrift stores as nice as the ones in the Grand Rapids area.

We decided to view a couple of lighthouses in spite of the rain.  The rain had nearly stopped when we arrived at the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse, one of the oldest in the Great Lakes.  In front of this lighthouse was a bell.  This bell had nothing to do with the lighthouse, or even the area.  It was taken from the Lansing City Center Clock Tower.  How it ended up here I do not know.  It did have a nice ring to it, however.  A heavy clapper was available on one side and I pulled it back and let it go.  The resulting bong was beautiful and quite loud and could still be heard reverberating a minute later.

There was a family with several kids milling about, and after I rang the bell they got it in their minds they wanted to ring it, too.  The youngest kid was rather comical as he was not quite strong enough to pull down on the clapper.  As he hung, suspended from the handle, it slowly gave way.  He dropped to the ground and let it go.  Bong!  Another kid wanted a turn.  Bong!  As we walked back towards the RV, the bell could still be heard.  Bong! ... Bong!

We drove to the New Presque Isle Lighthouse.  This one has the distinction of being the tallest one in the Great Lakes.

Located near this lighthouse is another shipwreck.  The L.M. Mason was a wooden two-masted schooner launched in 1853.  On October 22, 1861, a fierce storm descended on Lake Huron. Violent northwest winds and a blinding snowstorm wreaked havoc. The heavy weather stranded 14 ships in the North Bay of Presque Isle. Remarkably, there was not a single loss of life, and all of the ships but one were eventually freed. The 125-foot schooner L.M. Mason remained stranded, and Lake Huron’s heavy seas pounded the schooner. Over time, ice, wind, and waves tore apart the vessel.  It now sits in 18 feet of water just offshore.

We parked the RV at the water’s edge and launched the kayaks.  It was about 0.7 miles to the wreck, an easy paddle.  Once again, very cool to see this and very accessible.  The depth and the ripples made it a little harder to see from the air, but it was very visible just looking over the side of the kayak.  I took several pictures by just dunking my phone in the water and snapping pictures under the surface.  It’s supposed to be waterproof and I’m happy to say it passed the test.

We made dinner right there along the water’s edge and then headed up to Thompson’s Harbor State Park.  Unlike most other Michigan State Parks, this one was deserted. Not one other person there.  Perhaps it’s because this park is undeveloped.  With only dirt roads and no campground or picnic area, most people choose to go somewhere else.

This is the site of another shipwreck.  The American Union was a three-masted schooner.  Larger than the typical sailing craft of the time, the 186-foot, wooden American Union’s giant size ultimately led to its demise. After 30 years of service on the Great Lakes, the American Union encountered a fatal storm on May 6, 1894. Strong winds and pounding waves drove the 3-masted barkentine aground at Thompson’s Harbor. Crew from the Thunder Bay Island Life-Saving Station came to the ship’s aid and rescued the entire crew. Lake Huron eventually tore the American Union to pieces.  Today, the wreckage of the American Union rests a quarter mile from shore in 10 feet of water.

Unfortunately, the remoteness of this undeveloped area means that the closest launch point is a couple miles to the north.  So, no kayak venturing for us, particularly this late in the day.

We hiked a mile-long trail that came out to the Lake Huron shoreline near the wreck.  I took my drone along and flew it over the wreck to get some pictures.  Not as fun as paddling over there and looking over the side, but the “eye in the sky” allowed us to see the wreck from the shore.

I also found other pieces of the same wreck a few hundred yards away.  Must have been quite a storm.

Thompson’s Harbor State Park does have a road that goes to the lake.  Nearly three miles of narrow gravel road will get you to a small turn-around by the rocky beach.  We stopped here and had ice cream while we enjoyed the lapping of the water on the rocks and the lengthening shadows.  So quiet, so peaceful.  It was hard to leave.

The Maritime Junkyard

The weather prediction for today was for clouds the entire day.  So we were pleasantly surprised when the sun rose brightly in the clear blue sky and shone nearly all day long.  Once we finished breakfast and had a last look at the beach, we headed north towards Alpena.

First stop was the Visitors Bereau, where we were hoping to get information on the various shipwrecks in the area.  The woman at the desk was nice enough but really didn’t answer our questions, so we managed to glean what we needed from the brochures we picked up and on the Internet.

I don’t know how we ever did this without readily available mobile Internet, it sure makes planning and navigation easier.

We stopped at nearby Bay View Park and walked the pier.  Various signs described the many shipwrecks in the area and we could see the marker buoys out in the bay where those ships lay. This is a popular spot for divers and even paddlers as some of the shipwrecks are under as little as six feet of water.

Many of these wrecks were ships that ran aground or ran into some other immovable object.  They were unloaded of cargo and crew and towed out away from the rocks or docks and left to sink to the bottom.  This maritime junkyard became valuable years later for its historical significance and recreational opportunities: diving, snorkeling, paddling, etc.

Deb and I were joking about our possible contribution to historical significance.  Exactly 25 years ago, we were on our first RV trip to Yellowstone National Park.  We made it home, but the RV didn’t.  After all the problems we were having with it, I wanted to just drive it into the Des Moines River and abandon it there.  We sold it to a junk dealer instead.  Had I left it in the river, maybe it would have become popular with divers and paddlers, exploring the historical significance of a 1978 Winnebago under the water.

Then again, maybe not.

Interestingly, the metal lighthouse, not your typical lighthouse, at the end of this channel was nicknamed ​Sputnik​.  The name fits.

Leaving here, we drove to Besser Natural Area, about 20 minutes north of Alpena. This had some hiking and paddling we could do.

Little did we realize the treat that was ahead of us.  The small parking lot was deserted when we got there. Nice to have a place all to ourselves.  A 1-mile loop trail goes through one of the few original stands of pine, and also past the ruins of the town of Bell, but the only thing we saw was a lone chimney in the middle of the trees.

And the original stand of pine: what the loggers missed, old age and the weather took care of.  There were indeed some very large and very old trees here, but many of them were dead snags poking up into the sky.

The hike is done, time for some kayaking.  A sign at the parking lot described the wooden schooner ​Portland​, a two-masted 150-foot cargo ship which wrecked just offshore in October, 1877, during a storm.  The gale drove the Portland ashore, where relentless waves and jagged rocks tore the schooner to pieces. The entire crew survived; the Portland was a total loss.  It was loaded with 300 tons of salt, but the sign didn’t give the fate of the cargo. 130 feet of the ship rests in just 6 feet of water, about 100 yards from the beach.  Another large section of the wreck, the stern section, rests in a few feet of water in a naturally formed lagoon just north of the main trail to the beach.

We could see the marker buoy not far from the beach, and decided to kayak out there and take a look.  From the parking lot, we had to drag the kayaks down a trail a couple hundred feet to the beach and we launched them there.  The waters of Lake Huron were clear with a slight chop that may make the viewing a little more challenging, but we arrived at the site with little difficulty.

Arriving at the marker buoy, we looked around a bit but could not see the wreck.  I launched my drone and looked down from above and spotted it right away.  We just weren’t looking in the right place.

How cool to paddle around and view the wreckage.  Despite the ripples in the water, the timbers were plainly visible and so close it seemed we could just reach down with a paddle and touch them.

We paddled to the shore and were able to see the stern section in the lagoon, just a dozen or so yards from where we were standing.

Definitely a bucket-list item.

We paddled back to the place where we put in, beached the kayaks, and went for a swim.  Another attraction in this hidden gem, a sandy beach and crystal-clear water.  We grabbed a bar of soap, waded out a few hundred feet, and dunked ourselves for a lake-bath and a swim.  The water temperature takes your breath away at first but then feels amazing when you come back out of the water.  We waded and swam here for a while, enjoying the sunshine and the waters of Lake Huron.

If we are ever in this area again, this is a must-visit.

We drove the short distance south to the Rockport State Recreation Area, the site of a former limestone quarry. Part of this area is a moonscape of crushed limestone piles, and the remnants of the jetty used for shipping the limestone is popular with swimmers, who jump off the edge into the deep water.  This limestone quarry was eventually abandoned because the stone was too brittle as it contained large amounts of fossilized coral.  The operation was then moved to Marblehead, Ohio, which we happened to visit about a month ago.

Cool views from atop the rock piles and the fossilized coral attracts lots of fossil hunters, which roam the rocky beaches with buckets, collecting fossils.

We stopped for a while at Starlite Beach in Alpena, to walk around for a bit, then drove just west of Alpena to our boondocking spot for the next two nights, a private driveway just off of M-32.

A Day in Ossineke

Today was a little unusual as we spent two days at the same location.  Well, almost.  Last night we were at campsite 3, tonight we are at campsite 20.  We moved to a different campsite because this one was right along the shore of Lake Huron.

Started out the day with some kayaking.  The waters of Lake Huron were as calm as glass when we started out and just a little bit ripply due to the freshening wind when we returned.  We just paddled south along the shoreline for a while, then turned around and came back.  We have now paddled four of the five Great Lakes.  The only one we haven’t done yet is Lake Ontario.

Once we got back and had some lunch we unloaded the bikes for a bike ride.  While unloading, I got a notification on my phone.  Someone was ringing the doorbell at home.  When the picture popped up, it was Alex smiling into the camera.  We talked with him for a bit via the doorbell, but I don’t think he likes communicating that way.  Grandpa and Grandma’s voices coming out of the doorbell button just didn’t do it for him.

Alex and Stephanie stopped by for a pitstop and snack while out running errands.  Abigail and Nate were there also, having just returned from their vacation up north.

Somehow, even when we are gone, our house is still Grand Central Station.  It’s all good, though.  The more, the merrier.

Having completed our doorbell conversation, we took a 22-mile bike ride.  We didn’t really have a destination, just rode north up US-23 for a ways.  When it was getting to be snack time, we looked on the GPS for a good place to stop and eat cookies.  Just ahead and a mile or two off the road was Partridge Point Park, at the end of a narrow spit of land that jutted out into Thunder Bay.  If it were not named on the GPS, we would have never known about it, even if we rode past it.  There were no signs, and the entrance drive just looked like an unmarked gravel driveway off of Partridge Point Road.  Except there was no mailbox.

Partridge Point Park is just a small parking lot, two picnic tables sitting amongst the weeds, and a narrow path leading to the water’s edge.  Must be not even the locals know about this one. The driveway in has large potholes, most of them full of water, which made the biking a little difficult.

By the time we got back, many of the clouds had dissipated and we were rather warm so we took a dip in the lake.  Quite refreshing after a hot ride back along the highway.  We even grabbed a bar of soap and shampoo and took a bath in the lake.

We took just enough firewood along to make tonight’s dinner: Chicken Hobo Pie Quesadillas.  Kept the heat out of the RV.  And on a warm day like this we want to keep as much heat out as possible.

We took a walk after dinner and then settled in to read/write.  Started out on a lawn chair on the beach but the impending storms eventually drove us back to the RV.

Walk, Bike, Kayak, eat; none of this was scheduled or planned (ok, maybe the eating part has a schedule), we’re just taking each day and each activity as we have the opportunity.  Quite a delightful change over the busy-ness and the schedules of ordinary life.

One could get used to this.

Northeast Michigan Camping

We took off today towards Alpena, intending to take the week wandering along the shores of Lake Huron.  After the busyness of the last few weeks, a break will be nice.

We had a bit of packing to finish up after church this morning, so we didn’t make it on the road until almost 2pm, but we made good time, only stopping twice, first for supplies in Big Rapids, then to eat dinner at a kayak launch location on the Au Sable River.  So we made the four-hour trip in just over four hours, rather unusual for us as we are rather fond of turning a two-hour trip into twelve hours.

Several sites open here at Ossineke State Forest Campground, we chose one near the water and parked and walked the beach for a while.  The water is surprisingly warm, and several people were swimming, even this late in the day.

In the spirit of the 4th of July, someone spent some time creating a sand-flag, which was still very well preserved on the nearly-deserted beach.  Happy 4th!