Munising and the Pictured Rocks

Aug 23-24

Beginning Note:  We weren't in Munising long and with the weather we didn't take many pictures.  Most of the pictures we did take were lost due to a disk crash on my computer.  I encourage the use of the many embedded links to get a visual on the places we're describing.

One of the places everyone mentions when you say you're going to the U.P is the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, MI.  Back in July I tried to get a reservation at the Munising Tourist Park Campground right on Lake Superior, but there were no openings, it's a very popular park.  I made the reservation at Muskallonge Lake State Park instead.

We tried to get an early start leaving Germfask, the weather forecast was for rain by 11:00am.  We did our research the night before on campgrounds in and around Munising.  There were only 3 candidates.  We decided on one and called that morning to make a reservation. It was a short route, only 43 miles, about a 50 minute drive from Germfask to Munising.

One good thing abut these short trips, we didn't have to fill up the truck with fuel the night before.  A good thing since the nearest diesel was about 8 miles away.  That might not sound like a long trip but all our activities over the last 4 days involved no more than a 3 mile commute, we were spoiled!  

Hopefully we'd get to our new location and setup before the rain started.  As is sometimes the case, the weather man was wrong, it started raining about half way there.  It was a light rain so setting up shouldn't be too bad... right?

The campground was south of Munising, off M-94 and down a dirt road.  The dirt road was in pretty good condition, considering all the rain we'd had recently.  The rain was ushering in a cold front and the temperature was already starting to drop. We arrived at the campground in a cold drizzle. One thing that was immediately obvious, only a few campsites had any grass,  the rest were all dirt/mud, Strike 1!  This campground only had one central water source, luckily we'd filled our on board water tank back at Big Cedar. At least that was one task we didn't have to do in the rain.  Our site was #13... and ominous sign!  On paper it was a nice looking site, very large pie shape, high and dry and backing up to forest.  As it turns out it was all dirt with some low hanging trees we had to work around.  The only utility on the site (electric) was at the far corner, the corner opposite our electrical port. Strike 2.  Luckily I had a 25' 30 amp extension, and the 50' was juuuust long enough.  When I lifted the cover on the electrical panel, I found no 30 amp plug!  Strike 3. When we made the reservation we were assured they had 30 amp service.  There was no cell service and the "free Wi-Fi" only worked in and around the office (Strike 4) so I walked to the office.  Again, I was assured there was 30 amps service, they were just running it through 20 amp plugs, did I need a adapter?  No, I said, I had the adapter, Strike... what number was I on?  Oh yeah, Strike 5!  This was turning into the worst campground of the summer!

To be fair, a lot of our negative opinions of this campground was due to the weather.  We stayed two nights and it was cold, windy and drizzly most of the time. We picked this campground because of the good reviews, so somebody liked it.  One thing we learned, Michiganders really like their camping and this was prime camping season!  A little cold rain doesn't stop them.

One good thing about this campground was the bathrooms, they were some of the best we'd seen. They were like a luxury hotel with high end tile, bronze colored fixtures and an attractive north woods motif, all be it sightly unfinished away from the shower area.

Oh well, we were here so we were going to make the best of it. We'd follow our pattern and stay at least 2 nights (one full day) and then decide what to do.

Aug 24.

It was overcast, cool and windy but at least the rain had stopped.  We drove into Munising and found the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore visitors Center. Even with the bad weather, it was packed. There were tourists like us and even some backpackers getting back woods permits.  We asked for information on short hikes and waterfalls.  The Munising area has an abundance of easy to access waterfalls, some within a short walking distance from a parking area.  That was important with the weather we were having.

Munising Falls,
one of the few pictures that survived.

Link to the above map with pictures and details on each of the falls.

The first one we picked to visit was a short distance from town along the coast just off Sand Lake Rd, Munising Falls.
We parked the truck and started walking the short path toward the viewing platform.  We took a few obligatory pictures, with all the other tourists then headed back to the truck.  The cold wind was cutting right through us and we just weren't having fun!  We decided the rest of the day we'd find something to do... inside!

After leaving Munising Falls, we drove further down Sand Lake Rd and stopped at a kayak launching beach.  An outfitter was trying to make a go of it but had given up and was loading his boats. We parked and sat in the truck watching the waves roll in. From this vantage point we could see a famous landmark, the Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse.

Grand Island
East Channel Lighthouse,
Munising Bay

We continued down Sand Point Rd till it ended on another nice beach.  While researching this write up I saw all the interesting things to do in the area.  It's too bad the weather wasn't better, we could have had a lot of fun here.

Back in Munising, it was about lunch time.  Joan pulled out her smart phone and Googled "Brewpubs".  We decided on Shooters Firehouse Brewpub.  The beers on tap didn't sound interesting but they did have a beer I'd been wanting to try,  Keweenaw Brewing Co. Widow Maker Black Ale.  According to their web site...

"Don't let it's looks deceive you.  Clean and smooth, easy on the hops and easy on the palate; this light bodied ale has a surprising depth of malt flavors with pleasant hints of smokey molasses."

I first noticed this beer back in Kinrose MI but hadn't gotten around to trying it, here was my chance.

For variety, Joan choose a similar dark beer, Blackrocks Brewery North Third Stout, Recommend by the waitress.

"A dark, roasty, chocolate, yet very drinkable Stout Ale."

The food was good but the beer was great.  They became our favorites of the summer!

***

After lunch we drove around Munising and did some shopping.  It's a pretty little town, here's some pictures of Munising (on much nicer days) I found on the Internet.

***

In case you didn't notice, we weren't very happy with our campground, so we drove over to the Munising Tourist Park Campground to see if they had any openings.

Some pictures form the Internet...

  

They did have 1 opening and some space in the overflow area.  It was decision time!  Do we move to the Tourist Park, stay where we are (not likely) or move on.  As mentioned earlier, the Tourist Park is on Lake Superior and that cold wind was blowing right off the water  The weather forecast was for more of the same.  The main draw to the area was The Pictured Rocks (not very picturesque in this weather).  We decided to save Munising and The Pictured Rocks for another trip.  True to our pattern, we stayed two nights and one day in an area and if we weren't having fun, move on.

But, where to go? 

Coming soon, Marquette and Gwinn MI

Seney Wildlife Refuge

Aug 18-22

Somewhere in our travels we picked up a brochure for the Seney Wildlife Refuge. After a little investigation, it sounded like a place we'd like to visit. There's a 7 mile driving tour, a 1.4 mile nature trail, biking trails and a canoe trail on the Manistique River. The route runs about 60 miles from Muskalonge Lake State Park south west of Newberry, MI to the town of Germfask, MI.

When I first heard the name Germfask, I immediately thought it has a Germanic origin, but that's not the case. The name was derived from the first character of the surname of the original founders (Grant, Edge, Robinson, Mead, French, Ackley, Sheppard and Knaggs).

Here's some links to more information about Germfask MI and some photos of the area.

Here's a link to the below map for easier reading.

When we go to a new location we always check for any campgrounds in the area that offer a discount from one of the clubs we belong to.  We chose Big Cedar Campground, right in Germfask and just 3 miles form the Seney welcome center. Big Cedar is a nice park and Barry and Tanya Peters are very accomodating, offering us our choice of a couple campsites.  We chose #39, a grassy site with some nice shade trees and near the bathhouse.

We forgot to take a picture of our campsite.  So, here's one from from the Big Cedar Campground web site.  We were in the site nearest the camera with the silver truck/with topper. 


The campground is on the Manistique river and we arranged shuttle with Berry for a canoe trip in the next few days. But, the main draw to the area was Seney Wildlife Refuge.  The weather forcase was mixed, but even if it rained, we'd be able to enjoy the refuge from our truck on the driving tour.  After we got setup, we drove the 3 miles to the welcome center. Our timing was good.  The next evening (Wednesday) there was a guided bus tour through the refuge on some of the back roads not open to normal car trafic. We jumped at that oppurtunity and quickly signed up. We also got a map showing the bike route so we were ready when we had a nice weather day.

Aug 19

Wednesday dawned cloudy but we were eager to drive through the Refuge.

View from the begining of the driving tour road

Weather was threating all day but we didn't get any rain.

Sandhill cranes and Canada Geese.



Swans white feathers are stained by red minerals in the water.

The guided tour began at 6:00pm and the weather hadn't improved.  We saw more wild life during our drive earlier in the day but we did get to see our first loon.

All the clouds made for a colorfull sunset.

It turned dark before the guided tour ended.  As we turned onto the road leading back to the welcome center, an ominous form appeared on the road ahead.  A tree had fallen across the pitch black road.  At first the rangers tried to cut a path with meger hand tools.  When it became obvious that wasn't going to work, everyone pitched in and the road was clear in no time. Ah, the power of team work!

Aug 20

Thursday was much like the previous few days, cloudy and cool but no wind.  Actually, it was very calm and peaceful.

Planning ahead, we brought a thermos full of  hot chocolate.
It really hit the spot on a cool morning!

We saw lots of  beaver trails, but no beaver.

Aug 21

Finally, a good weather day and we planned to take full advantage of it. We were up early for a quick drive through the Reserve, without clouds.

 

The Jolly Inn (restaurant and bar) was recommended by the locals, so we stopped in for a late breakfast.  At 10:15am, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

When our breakfast arived it was amazing.  We ate our fill and had enough potatos and bacon left over for two more meals.

After Breakfast, we went back to the camper and geared up for a bike ride.  The entrance to the bike route was right across M-77 from our campground.  We could have ridden from the campsite but there was a rather steep hill leading to the trail head.  So, we put our bike rack on the truck and drove the short distance.  We wanted to save our energy for the more senic ride in the refuge. It's a good thing we did!

The route had a road leading out and one leading back forming a pie shape.with the small end near the trail head.  There's two short cuts and a main road (M-28, across the river) connecting the wide end of the pie.  Our plan was to ride to the first short cut and connect to the inbound road, a ride of about 7 miles.

It really turned into a beautiful day!  The ride out was truly spectacular. The road was hard packed with little elevation change, almost like riding on pavement.

The first short cut was a little hard to find.  We had to ride past it a couple of times before we figured out where it was.  It obviously wasn't used very much because it was so overgrown.  After riding these nice open roads, riding through the weeds wasn't very appealing.  It was a beautiful day and we were feeling good so we decided to ride to the the next shortcut.

We got to the second shortcut and it wasn't much better then the first.  M-28 was just across the river and we still felt strong so we moved on to ride the full trail.

While the terrain on M-28 was nice, it wasn't as pretty as the gorgeous scenery we'd been riding through.  The road was flat and smooth and we were making good time.

When we were about as far from the trail head as we could get,  we started thinking we'd bitten off more than we could chew.  Oh well, all we could do was push on and take more breaks.

The first leaf of fall... in August.

The road heading back toward the trailhead was mostly through forest, much different from the road out.


At about 12 miles we hit a wall (figuratively). We pulled off the road, found a nice quiet spot and took a break.

Wind blowing through the trees during a 

break on the bike ride.

After about a half hour break, a snack and some water, we pushed on.  This leg of the trail had some up hills. We were too tired to ride so we just got off our bikes and walked till we crested the hills.

Don't believe that max speed!

After over 4 hours and 17 miles we were back at the trail head, very tired.

***

It was late afternoon and after a shower and a little rest we headed back to the Refuge for one last drive through.  Not much wild life but there was a pretty sunset to cap off a busy and enjoyable day.

Aug 22

It was our last day in Germfesk and Seney.  The weather was good but not as nice as the previous day. We'd scheduled a shuttle with Berry for a paddle on the Manistugue River.  The launch was right in the campground.  That made it nice since we could run the shuttle early and start our paddle whenever we were ready.  After the strenuous day we had yesterday, we weren't in any mood the get active early.

View down stream from the Big Cedar Campground

Right off the bat, the river makes a left turn and there's a small rapid.  About a quarter mile downstream, the river makes a right under the M-77 bridge and into the Seney Refuge.

 We had a really good time in Germfesk and the Seney Wildlife Refuge, in spite of the weather.  We'd done everything there was to do at Seney except the 1.4 mile nature trail around the visitors center. Next time we come this way, we'll start with that little walk, if the weather's good.

Coming soon, Munising and the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore