OUR YUUP LOOP

 Our start today was delayed by heavy fog. We eventually headed north, first stop was Mount Bohemia on the Keweenaw peninsula. I’m glad to have seen it, but am quite sure I will never ski it. It did look like a fun place to stay with all of the yurts. The ride up to Copper Harbor was beautiful, I’m pretty sure Rob had a huge smile on his face as he navigated all of the curves and hills.The fog started to roll in again when  we reached the harbor. It was a chilly ride but really beautiful roadways along the Lake Superior coast. Passed a few more waterfalls along the way. Another stop revealed an interesting bridge supported by wood.

This morning, we were pleasantly surprised to find it was 20 degrees warmer. We had received 2 recommendations for stops from a barista in Munising; the first was a place called Lakenenland, which was  a park filled with the most unusual iron art work. Some were tributes, others were political statements, and some just fun, but all were most unusual! The second stop was a nice hike out to Canyon Falls & gorge. As we headed into our destination for the night; Baraga on the Keweenaw Bay, we encountered our first rain drops. Our timing was perfect as we pulled into the hotel a little earlier today. 

 Today was significantly chillier, only in the 50’s. Our 10am boat cruise was cancelled due to high winds so we headed to our first stop, Horseshoe Falls. We were fortunate enough to get there just before a school bus of kids arrived to hunt for gnomes 😳.  After a quick stop downtown to purchase some warmer gear, we headed out to view Alger falls, Wagner falls and Laughing Whitefish falls.The hikes were beautiful, especially with the large ferns covering the forest floor.   After a quick lunch stop for our first pasty, the winds had died down a bit, so we were able to take a 32 mile boat cruise along the Pictured Rock National Lakeshore, viewing the colorful cliffs and sea caves.

 First stop this morning was Grand Marais to get a good cup of coffee at the Dream Bean Machine, great coffee and very friendly staff. We continued on through Pictured Rock National  Park, first hiking out to Sable falls. We found our way to the lake shore and took a walk in search of the infamous Lake Superior Agate - no luck, but did find a few gems. We then hiked up to the Log Slide scenic overlook. Logging was a big industry and this was part of the log hauling equipment and one of the “slides” used to get the logs down to the lake. We chose to just look down the slide rather than climb down and then have to climb back up. Our next hike was out to the Au Sable Light Station.  This afternoon as we traveled further along the lake shore, temperatures dropped into the upper 50’s. Some of the roads were a bit challenging also due to lack of pavement and ruts. The next hike took us out to the Chapel Falls. The last hike of the day was to the Miner’s Falls, followed by the M...

 Today we were blessed once again with blue skies and warm temperatures. After leaving Sault Ste Marie  we headed west and followed the shoreline of Lake Superior. Our first stop was the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It told the stories of many of the ships that went down just off the coast of  Whitefish Point. Despite the severe weather it was surprising how many sunk simply because they ran into each other. The most famous and largest of all the vessels that sank off of White Fish point was the Edmund Fitzgerald.  After lunch in Paradise , ( yes their really is a town named Paradise- not sure why..) we headed to the Tahquamenon State Park where we hiked a few miles to take in the views of the lower and upper falls. Today our total mileage was 190 miles, we were happy to call it day as we checked in to the Pleasant Moose Lodge , in Newberry ( which is the moose capital of the UP! )  Unfortunately or fortunately we did not encounter a single moose. . 

This morning we boarded the ferry and returned to St Ignace. Our timing was good as we noticed a cruise ship had docked over night and so I’m sure the island will be jumping today. We headed 60 miles north to the city of Sault Ste. Marie. Stopping at the visitor center we were told that we had picked the best day of the year to visit as it was “Engineers day”. This gave us the opportunity to get a rare, up close view of the  locks and we were able to watch 2 vessels passing through. Note the height change of the vessel as the water level dropped 21 feet from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The locks serve more than 7,000 vessels annually, moving 75 million tons of cargo. The largest of these are 1,000 feet long carrying up to 77,000 tons of freight in a single load. It truly is an engineering marvel.

 Thursday morning we boarded the ferry and headed to Mackinac Island. It definitely is a place everyone should visit at least once with all of it’s horse drawn carriages and beautiful turn of the century architecture. All of the lilacs were in bloom which added a special  treat.The mingling of aromas however from all of the dozen fudge shops mixed with that of the horses makes for an interesting scent 😳 that hits you the moment you walk down Main Street. We stayed at the Inn of Mackinac, which was very quaint, had a lovely hot tub where we spent time relaxing and a large veranda in the front where we also relaxed and watched all of the foot traffic down below. Between our hikes and biking I believe we covered almost every square mile of the island. It was beautiful. We visited a butterfly room which was fun and we even managed a stroll through the Grand Hotel.