Great Adventure
Chapter 3: Cedarville, MI to Thunder Bay, Ontario, CA
June 27 - July 7, 2002
Our love affair with the water continues! For four days we camped right on
Lake Huron overlooking Les Chenaux Islands. After spending just two days
in Michigan, Ed & I learned a lot about a state that neither of us had
previously visited. For example, Michigan borders four of the five Great
Lakes. We explored Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore on Lake
Michigan where I was expecting to see beach dunes, like those at Cape
Cod. But these dunes are called “perched” dunes because they sit atop
plateaus. We drove the 7.4 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, named for
the man who built and operated the road from 1967 until his death in 1976.
Along the drive are a number of overlooks and points of interest. We
walked the 1½- mile Cottonwood Trail up, down, and through the dunes to
be rewarded with expansive views of Glen Lake, more dunes, and Lake
Michigan in the distance, as seen below.
Overlook at end of Cottonwood Trail
Look at this spot, 450 feet almost straight down a massive dune to the lake
below. The brave souls who clambered down to the water struggled on all
fours to make it back up.
Perched dunes
Besides the Great Lakes, Michigan is also known for being the largest
producer of tart cherries. As we drove through northern Michigan, we saw
numerous cherry tree orchards and cherry processing plants. A gift shop
that sold all things cherry – cherry salsa, cherry butter, cherry jam -
intrigued me, but I just had to try black cherry fudge. It was good, but as a
confirmed chocoholic I would have suggested they make chocolate-cherry
fudge! Bad news this year though – no cherries in northern Michigan.
Frost nipped all the flowers in the bud.
Cedarville RV Park & Campground is located in the Upper Peninsula of MI,
often abbreviated UP. The campground owner, John, told me that 9,000,000
people live in MI, but only 350,000 of them on the UP. He loves it here and
stays here year round, even though the campground is, as he put it, a 90-
day job. He and his wife, Sharrie, work 24/7 during that time though. A short
trip from the camp brought us back to the five-mile Mackinac Bridge that
connects the LP and the UP. From the south side of the bridge, we caught
a ferry to Mackinac Island. We had heard that the Island was nice but
touristy. Ed & I both agree with that assessment. Obviously, it became
touristy because it’s a nice island. One of the main reasons is that no
motor vehicles are allowed. The only way to reach the island is via ferry
and, once there, transportation is on foot, by bicycle, or by horse and
carriage. We were amused to see the UPS truck floated over on a small
barge, then off loaded onto a horse drawn cart. Later, we saw three brown
uniformed deliverymen walking through the streets – two riding and one
walking beside the cart to ensure that no packages fell off! Wonder if the
rates are higher to ship to and from the island?
Because Ed & I brought Duncan along, bicycling and carriage rides were
not options for touring the island. We were then limited as to what we
could see by the amount of walking we were willing to do.
Fort Mackinac
We started with Fort Mackinac, built high on a bluff. It was largely restored
during the Depression era “New Deal” work projects. On the day of our
visit, costumed interpreters performed music and dance numbers using
vintage instruments. "Soldiers" fired period rifles and other artillery,
setting off a "Duncan-barking frenzy", just like during a thunderstorm.
Admission to the fort also gained us entrance to several other historic
homes and buildings. Lunch at the Fort's tearoom was catered by the
Grand Hotel, site of the 1979 movie “Somewhere in Time” starring Jane
Seymour and Christopher Reeve. We sat outside overlooking the harbor
on a blue-sky, sunny day with a slight breeze. After lunch, we had to decide
whether to see the Grand Hotel itself or choose the shoreline tour, in the
opposite direction, to see the natural Arch Rock formation.
Arch Rock
Grand Hotel
As we had seen the Grand Hotel from the ferryboat, we opted for the
shoreline tour. Along the way, we passed the old Mission Church, where a
wedding was just about to begin. Later, we saw the bride and groom
leaving the church in a horse drawn carriage. I wondered if they were
having the reception at the Grand Hotel, and if so, what might that cost?
We took another day trip from Cedarville to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The town
is the site of the first canal with locks built anywhere in the Great Lakes.
Four locks dominate the town, two flowing into Lake Huron, two up into
Lake Superior. The two outside locks can accommodate ships up to 700 ft.
in length and 105 ft. wide. It was very impressive to watch a 450-ft. vessel
passing through. The lock drops the ship 28 ft. down to the same level as
the St. Mary River that connects the two lakes.
Leaving Cedarville, we had to decide whether to head west via Michigan’s
UP or take Rt.17, the north shore route of Lake Superior. We heard both
areas were beautiful, but we ultimately decided to head back into Canada,
partly because the exchange rate is so good (nearly 50%) that our dollars
go much further. Plus, we saw a brochure with a beautiful photo of rocky
cliffs covered with pine trees dropping vertically to meet Lake Superior,
so that settled it! The northern route runs from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder
Bay in Canada and then back into the US in Minnesota.
The first place we camped was in a town called Wawa, an Ojibwa (a.k.a.
Chippewa) Indian word meaning “wild goose”. Scraggly pines and cedar
trees, mountains and wild life dominate the region along with the lake, of
course. We were excited to see our first moose about 40-50 yards from the
road! Unfortunately, there was nowhere to turn off to get a closer look or a
photograph. We hiked down to the Magpie River, which flows through the
campground and then drove downriver to view two waterfalls called High
Falls & Silver Falls. Not exactly Niagara, but very pretty. After Silver Falls,
the Magpie River joins with another river called the Michipicoten, then
immediately dumps into Lake Superior.
We broke camp and moved on to Neyes Provincial Park, said to have
bears, moose and caribou. As morning broke on the 4th of July, I couldn’t
shake the feeling that the beach that we camped on in Neys Provincial
Park was the most beautiful that I had ever seen. Strictly speaking, I have
seen tropical beaches, in Hawaii for example, that might be considered
more beautiful. So why did I feel so drawn to this place that we decided to
stay three days instead of the two we originally planned? I considered that
maybe it’s because this beach is so natural and unspoiled. “Natural” doesn’
t always translate to “beautiful”, but it IS part of it in this case. The
campsites framed horseshoe-shaped Ashburton Bay, with Pic Island in the
distance, and only a strip of meadow grass between the sand and us. The
hills of the two curving peninsulas on either side of the bay were green
with fir trees, while the water in the bay reflected a brilliant, cloudless blue
sky. The strip of sand was laden with driftwood at the high water mark –
not tiny branches, but smooth logs from entire tree trunks bleached silver.
And best of all, there was almost no one else around. There were several
other campers and motorhomes, but at any given time there might be from
zero to a half dozen other people on the half-mile beach. The temperature
was in the 70’s with a breeze – just perfect for July!
At 10:45 PM the sky is still not completely dark. Neyes Provincial Park is so
far west and north in the Eastern Time zone that official sunset takes place
at 10:00 PM. Who wouldn’t love all this daylight! The only down side is that
by the time it’s dark enough to light a campfire, it’s time for bed.
En route to Thunder Bay via Rt.17, we visited Ouimet Provincial Park to see
Ouimet Canyon. It was particularly interesting in two respects. One, there
is no river flowing through it; the canyon was formed by some type of
geological shift, not by a river. Geologists have a couple of different
theories as to how it happened but are not sure. The other interesting
thing is the bottom of this canyon is so cold that Arctic tundra plants live
there. Other plants that normally bloom in summertime, bloom there in the
fall instead. (Same reason why here on the north shore of Lake Superior,
lilacs still bloom in July!)
The two main attractions of Thunder Bay are the Kakabeka Falls and Fort
William. It was hard to muster up enthusiasm for either. Were we getting
jaded already after only six weeks of traveling? We had seen so many
waterfalls and besides, how many reconstructed forts do we need in our
lives? We had been working hard at sightseeing and were obviously in
need of a bit of down time. We compromised – spent an hour at Kakabeka
Falls Provincial Park and skipped Fort William. We do love waterfalls and
so Ed took some video of Kakabeka. It was a very hot day, so we drove to
Hillcrest Park overlooking the city of Thunder Bay (pop.112, 000), the
marina and grain elevators on Lake Superior, and Sleeping Giant
Provincial Park, where the silhouette really does look like a man lying
down! There was a comfortable breeze blowing from our high vantage
point but it was too hazy in the distance for decent photographs. Hillcrest
Park had several lovely flower gardens, including a sunken garden with
paved pathways and beds splashed with bright colors of a wide variety of
annuals.
June 27 - July 7, 2002
Our love affair with the water continues! For four days we camped right on
Lake Huron overlooking Les Chenaux Islands. After spending just two days
in Michigan, Ed & I learned a lot about a state that neither of us had
previously visited. For example, Michigan borders four of the five Great
Lakes. We explored Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore on Lake
Michigan where I was expecting to see beach dunes, like those at Cape
Cod. But these dunes are called “perched” dunes because they sit atop
plateaus. We drove the 7.4 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, named for
the man who built and operated the road from 1967 until his death in 1976.
Along the drive are a number of overlooks and points of interest. We
walked the 1½- mile Cottonwood Trail up, down, and through the dunes to
be rewarded with expansive views of Glen Lake, more dunes, and Lake
Michigan in the distance, as seen below.
Overlook at end of Cottonwood Trail
Look at this spot, 450 feet almost straight down a massive dune to the lake
below. The brave souls who clambered down to the water struggled on all
fours to make it back up.
Perched dunes
Besides the Great Lakes, Michigan is also known for being the largest
producer of tart cherries. As we drove through northern Michigan, we saw
numerous cherry tree orchards and cherry processing plants. A gift shop
that sold all things cherry – cherry salsa, cherry butter, cherry jam -
intrigued me, but I just had to try black cherry fudge. It was good, but as a
confirmed chocoholic I would have suggested they make chocolate-cherry
fudge! Bad news this year though – no cherries in northern Michigan.
Frost nipped all the flowers in the bud.
Cedarville RV Park & Campground is located in the Upper Peninsula of MI,
often abbreviated UP. The campground owner, John, told me that 9,000,000
people live in MI, but only 350,000 of them on the UP. He loves it here and
stays here year round, even though the campground is, as he put it, a 90-
day job. He and his wife, Sharrie, work 24/7 during that time though. A short
trip from the camp brought us back to the five-mile Mackinac Bridge that
connects the LP and the UP. From the south side of the bridge, we caught
a ferry to Mackinac Island. We had heard that the Island was nice but
touristy. Ed & I both agree with that assessment. Obviously, it became
touristy because it’s a nice island. One of the main reasons is that no
motor vehicles are allowed. The only way to reach the island is via ferry
and, once there, transportation is on foot, by bicycle, or by horse and
carriage. We were amused to see the UPS truck floated over on a small
barge, then off loaded onto a horse drawn cart. Later, we saw three brown
uniformed deliverymen walking through the streets – two riding and one
walking beside the cart to ensure that no packages fell off! Wonder if the
rates are higher to ship to and from the island?
Because Ed & I brought Duncan along, bicycling and carriage rides were
not options for touring the island. We were then limited as to what we
could see by the amount of walking we were willing to do.
Fort Mackinac
We started with Fort Mackinac, built high on a bluff. It was largely restored
during the Depression era “New Deal” work projects. On the day of our
visit, costumed interpreters performed music and dance numbers using
vintage instruments. "Soldiers" fired period rifles and other artillery,
setting off a "Duncan-barking frenzy", just like during a thunderstorm.
Admission to the fort also gained us entrance to several other historic
homes and buildings. Lunch at the Fort's tearoom was catered by the
Grand Hotel, site of the 1979 movie “Somewhere in Time” starring Jane
Seymour and Christopher Reeve. We sat outside overlooking the harbor
on a blue-sky, sunny day with a slight breeze. After lunch, we had to decide
whether to see the Grand Hotel itself or choose the shoreline tour, in the
opposite direction, to see the natural Arch Rock formation.
Arch Rock
Grand Hotel
As we had seen the Grand Hotel from the ferryboat, we opted for the
shoreline tour. Along the way, we passed the old Mission Church, where a
wedding was just about to begin. Later, we saw the bride and groom
leaving the church in a horse drawn carriage. I wondered if they were
having the reception at the Grand Hotel, and if so, what might that cost?
We took another day trip from Cedarville to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The town
is the site of the first canal with locks built anywhere in the Great Lakes.
Four locks dominate the town, two flowing into Lake Huron, two up into
Lake Superior. The two outside locks can accommodate ships up to 700 ft.
in length and 105 ft. wide. It was very impressive to watch a 450-ft. vessel
passing through. The lock drops the ship 28 ft. down to the same level as
the St. Mary River that connects the two lakes.
Leaving Cedarville, we had to decide whether to head west via Michigan’s
UP or take Rt.17, the north shore route of Lake Superior. We heard both
areas were beautiful, but we ultimately decided to head back into Canada,
partly because the exchange rate is so good (nearly 50%) that our dollars
go much further. Plus, we saw a brochure with a beautiful photo of rocky
cliffs covered with pine trees dropping vertically to meet Lake Superior,
so that settled it! The northern route runs from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder
Bay in Canada and then back into the US in Minnesota.
The first place we camped was in a town called Wawa, an Ojibwa (a.k.a.
Chippewa) Indian word meaning “wild goose”. Scraggly pines and cedar
trees, mountains and wild life dominate the region along with the lake, of
course. We were excited to see our first moose about 40-50 yards from the
road! Unfortunately, there was nowhere to turn off to get a closer look or a
photograph. We hiked down to the Magpie River, which flows through the
campground and then drove downriver to view two waterfalls called High
Falls & Silver Falls. Not exactly Niagara, but very pretty. After Silver Falls,
the Magpie River joins with another river called the Michipicoten, then
immediately dumps into Lake Superior.
We broke camp and moved on to Neyes Provincial Park, said to have
bears, moose and caribou. As morning broke on the 4th of July, I couldn’t
shake the feeling that the beach that we camped on in Neys Provincial
Park was the most beautiful that I had ever seen. Strictly speaking, I have
seen tropical beaches, in Hawaii for example, that might be considered
more beautiful. So why did I feel so drawn to this place that we decided to
stay three days instead of the two we originally planned? I considered that
maybe it’s because this beach is so natural and unspoiled. “Natural” doesn’
t always translate to “beautiful”, but it IS part of it in this case. The
campsites framed horseshoe-shaped Ashburton Bay, with Pic Island in the
distance, and only a strip of meadow grass between the sand and us. The
hills of the two curving peninsulas on either side of the bay were green
with fir trees, while the water in the bay reflected a brilliant, cloudless blue
sky. The strip of sand was laden with driftwood at the high water mark –
not tiny branches, but smooth logs from entire tree trunks bleached silver.
And best of all, there was almost no one else around. There were several
other campers and motorhomes, but at any given time there might be from
zero to a half dozen other people on the half-mile beach. The temperature
was in the 70’s with a breeze – just perfect for July!
At 10:45 PM the sky is still not completely dark. Neyes Provincial Park is so
far west and north in the Eastern Time zone that official sunset takes place
at 10:00 PM. Who wouldn’t love all this daylight! The only down side is that
by the time it’s dark enough to light a campfire, it’s time for bed.
En route to Thunder Bay via Rt.17, we visited Ouimet Provincial Park to see
Ouimet Canyon. It was particularly interesting in two respects. One, there
is no river flowing through it; the canyon was formed by some type of
geological shift, not by a river. Geologists have a couple of different
theories as to how it happened but are not sure. The other interesting
thing is the bottom of this canyon is so cold that Arctic tundra plants live
there. Other plants that normally bloom in summertime, bloom there in the
fall instead. (Same reason why here on the north shore of Lake Superior,
lilacs still bloom in July!)
The two main attractions of Thunder Bay are the Kakabeka Falls and Fort
William. It was hard to muster up enthusiasm for either. Were we getting
jaded already after only six weeks of traveling? We had seen so many
waterfalls and besides, how many reconstructed forts do we need in our
lives? We had been working hard at sightseeing and were obviously in
need of a bit of down time. We compromised – spent an hour at Kakabeka
Falls Provincial Park and skipped Fort William. We do love waterfalls and
so Ed took some video of Kakabeka. It was a very hot day, so we drove to
Hillcrest Park overlooking the city of Thunder Bay (pop.112, 000), the
marina and grain elevators on Lake Superior, and Sleeping Giant
Provincial Park, where the silhouette really does look like a man lying
down! There was a comfortable breeze blowing from our high vantage
point but it was too hazy in the distance for decent photographs. Hillcrest
Park had several lovely flower gardens, including a sunken garden with
paved pathways and beds splashed with bright colors of a wide variety of
annuals.
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