May 2023
Western Michigan, the part I visited, is beautiful, well that is until you get into the very northern parts which felt a bit scary – machine gun signs advertising ammunition and the people I saw looked a bit off grid and not in a good way. I understand this is the land of far right militias. Before you get that far north, I found that the Jesus signs became more hopeful rather than the blood covered tears and hell and damnation found in Indiana. And of course some beautiful terrain. Two highlights on this trip, one being my walk at Pictured Rocks National Seashore and the other beginning at the Platte River Campground where I drove in relatively late and chose to set up camp across from a site with two tents and two bikes thinking it would be quiet or at least devoid of a generator. By the time I had finished booking the site, a white van appeared and soon there was an attractive man waving from the camp with the tents. Yes, I know, a stranger in a white van, but he offered firewood, and did I mention he was cute. I said no to the firewood as there was already a fire going at his site complete with company so why would I start my own (and I am too lazy to start a fire finding it easier to just sit in my car where it is warm and flying bug free). It did not take long for us to make a plan to spend the next day together which involved bike rides, a motored canoe ride along the Platte River, food, and of course coffee. And yes, there were those moments that next day as I sat in the passenger seat of this stranger’s van (okay, so it was grey but light grey so close to white) where I thought perhaps I should have at least made sure he was not just out of prison or something. But it all worked out. On the day following I joined him for coffee at his site where hot water was waiting for my pour over and instead of either of us suggesting what it turns out we were both thinking, namely that I book my site for one more night, we said our goodbyes and I went north toward Pictured Rocks and he went about his day. So refreshing to have two people who are so communicative. At least we got in touch later and had a great time traveling to Maine and Canada.
SLEEPING BEAR DUNES. The park and the Platte River campsite are both beautiful. I originally intended to spend one day and night here but met Jeff and booked a second night after he invited me to go for a bike ride and canoe ride the following day. The dunes are lovely as is Lake Michigan and the little towns scattered about are nice with some unique stops. LeeLanau in nearby Glen Arbor has really good coffee and Art’s Tavern is a fun spot to check out. There are bike paths through the woods and in addition to Lake Michigan and smaller lakes, there is the Platte River which is very shallow in parts but apparently good for fly fishing.
TRAVERSE CITY. I stopped here on my way north. I walked around a bit and grabbed an ice cream at a homemade ice cream place – was just okay. Lots of shops and places to eat as well as a path along the lake.
SAINT IGNACE. I stayed here as a stopover for dinner and to spend the night on my way to Pictured Rocks. Cute little town on the water. I ate at Buoys By the Bay and was going to avoid fried food until I saw a passing plate of the crab rangoons – they were really good! I stayed at Breakers Resort. Not really a resort, just a motel with a restaurant/bar, but there was music in the bar and the guy playing that night was entertaining as were the folks listening.
PICTURED ROCKS. At first I did not understand why people raved about this place. I hiked for three or so miles through the mud with a mosquito net around my head and covered head to toe to avoid the various biting insects and made my way to the cliffs and thought, is this it? The post I had just read compared the beauty of the hike to Half Dome and Zion and I was baffled. Then I saw a placard showing a trail along the cliffs of Lake Superior that meant turning my five or so mile hike into a ten mile hike and I had no water or food with me thinking I was going on a short flat hike covered by netting. Well, the cliff hike is truly beautiful (though arguably not as stunning as Zion) and reminded me of the rock formations I saw on boat tours in Thailand. Definitely worth the mud and the bit of bushwhacking needed to make it through the entire loop.
