Day20 Saturday, August 18 - Marquette, MI to Sault

  Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, United States
Sunday, August 19, 2007

Day20 Saturday, August 18 - Marquette, MI to Sault Ste Marie, MI
Miles: 239


SUMMARY
-Lake Superior - Clear Water and Chilly!
--Where'd Everyone Go?

-Michigan - Lakes and Waterfalls
-Are Those Trees Really Turning Color?
-The Shores of Lake Michigan

-The Loooong Mackinac Bridge
-St. Ignace Busy with Ferry Boaters and Tourists


DETAILS
Lake Superior - Clear Water and Chilly!
The day started out bright, cool and breezy.
We were on the road bright and early by 11:15 AM. (ha!)
 
MI-28 was plenty scenic but was not giving us the views of Lake Superior that we'd anticipated. 
We were mostly seeing forests and fields. 
A sharp turn to the north and we were driving along the lake shore with a seemingly endless blue lake.
 
We pulled off at one of the many roadside stops and took a short walk down to the beach. 
A summer weekend, one of the last before school starts, and a deserted beach; this seemed odd to us. 

Chere testing the cold waters of Lake Superio

Chere reported that the water was plenty cold when she waded in. 

We've seen other cold water beaches with plenty of wet suit clad board sailors or surfers or kayakers so this was not really a reason. 
 



Besides being cold, the waters were wonderfully clear. 
The sandy beaches were clean with small dunes and grasses growing down to the surf line. 
Low forested cliffs set off the coves.
 

Where'd Everyone Go?

Huge Santa in Christmas, MI

We began to notice that the lakeside towns and villages did not seem very active either. 
Many had empty stores; closed up with for sale signs.
 







We made it to Munising by 1pm and found a nice café with a view of the water and the tour boats heading to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
 
The café was busy enough but there were not all that many people walking on the streets.

Lunch? Killer Fish and Babe

 





We collected some maps of the National Seashore from the tourist office and went to find a couple of their easy walk waterfalls and overlooks. 


Michigan - Tons of Lakes and Waterfalls
There were some folks on these trails and the triple parkings at one of the beachside overlooks was big enough to make us think that it must get pretty busy once in a while.
 
The forest we walked through was made up of American Beech, Yellow Birch and Sugar Maple with an understory of yew. 

There was a pleasant spicy scent to the place that we could not identify. 
The hilly ridge we walked along had been deposited by a glacial river.

Munising Falls, Munising MI

Miner's Falls in Munising MI

Miner's Castle, Munising MI

 
We spent only an hour or two in the park checking out the waterfalls and overlooks. 



The National Lakeshores of Superior seem like they would be most fun to explore by boat in summer or cross country skiing in winter. 








We are under the impression that Superior freezes solid in winter. If so, this would be something to see. 

Would kayakers and canoers would be bothered by too many motor boats and would the XC skiers have to look out for snow mobiles?


Back in Munising we fortified ourselves with double cappuccinos togo and headed south for Hwy2 along the shore of Lake Michigan. 

Plenty of open country with facilities for the outdoors enthusiasts but not too much going on. 
More closed signs in the restaurant/gift shop windows than open signs.


Are Those Trees Really Turning Color?
We began to notice that some of the trees were showing a hint and sometimes more than a hint of fall color. 

Is it really so late? 
Some of this early (if it is early up here) color could be coming from other stresses such as a lack of rainfall.


The Shores of Lake Michigan
The views of Lake Michigan from US-2 were even better than those of Lake Superior. 

Lighthouse waaay out in Lake Michigan

The water was even a little warmer. 

We spoke to a fellow from Ohio who has been coming up here for years as a child and now was coming with his children. 
He said the beach was comfortably warm until a couple days ago when a cool front moved in.
 

It was fun to look at the lake shore vegetation and near shore vegetation and compare it to what we've seen back in Florida and on our Pacific Coast trip. 
The vegetation looks mostly the same but lacks the salt shear of the marine environment.


The Loooong Mackinac Bridge
One of our objectives was to get a photo of the Mackinac Bridge, one of the world's longest. 

Half of the Mackinac Bridge

The state provided overlook allowed a photo of only half the bridge.
Trees had grown up and in the way of a picture. 



Fortunately we had found a spot on a side road with a view of the whole bridge. 

Mackinac Bridge to Mackinac Island

This bridge connects the lower peninsula with the upper and carries I-75 to its terminus in Sault Ste Marie.
 
We'd been watching the sky all day.  Started out clear. 
By 1pm we had high cirrus clouds turning the sky gray with larger cumulus floating under them. 
This was over us. 
Over Superior the sky had been noticeably clearer. 

As we moved south across the peninsula, so did the edge of the cloud cover. 
One reason Michigan looked better was that the skies were clearing. 

Now they were decorated with high wispy horsetails. 
The temperature had never risen above the mid sixties and now it was growing noticeably cooler. 
Chere was glad to pull on her trusty wool shirt.

No hint of Fall color on the Lake Michigan (south) side of the UP (Upper Peninsula) but Fall is definitely in the air.


St. Ignace Busy with Ferry Boaters and Tourists
The town of St. Ignace sits at the UP (upper peninsula) end of the bridge and is the ferry landing for the very touristy Mackinac Island
. 
We had continued to see closed restaurants and other businesses on US-2 as we approached St. Ignace. 
It was getting on to 7pm and we wondered if we'd find a place to dine before heading to our hotel. 

Dang good Oatmeal Maple Pie

Downtown St Ignace was busy enough and we found another friendly café. 

Dessert was something new, oatmeal pie. 
Flavored with coconut and maple syrup, one piece warmed up and a la mode was plenty of surgary goodness to split for the two of us.
 




We were on I-75 by a little after 8pm and in our hotel at Sault Ste Marie by 9:30pm. 
We'd traveled 239 miles zig sagging across the eastern end of the UP. 
 
Now we have to figure out our plans for Canada.