Aug 4th
After a quick stop for groceries in Escanaba, MI, we headed to Lake Superior. I found a National Forest campground in Christmas, MI, that had 1st-come 1st-serve sites, but when we arrived, they were already full. The only opening we could find in a 30-mile radius, was Munising City Tourist Campground, and even that was in their overflow lot. We shared a spot with Tim and Melinda, and it was a little cramped. As soon as we were set up, we gathered our laundry and drove to the nearest town, Munising, and got pasties again. Muldoon Pasties were even better than the ones we got previously, they even had apple pasties which were amazing. We found a laundromat after lunch and spent a few hours doing that. By this time, it was 84 degrees and extremely muggy. We were all hot and sticky. Back at our campsite, all of us headed to the beach, which was only about 40 yards from our spot. Lake Superior is magnificent. The water is crystal clear, and with the heat the cool water felt wonderful. We spent over three hours on the beach and in the water. The deeper you went into the lake, the colder the water got. We decided to stay in our cramped camping site because the lake was well worth it.
Aug 5th
We drove into Pictured Rocks National Forest today, for some hiking. Mia received another stamp in her National Parks passport. We hiked to two different waterfalls, Munising Falls, and Miners Falls, then we hiked a short trail to see the Pictured Rocks. The Pictured Rocks are sandstone cliffs on Lake Superior with beautiful shapes and colors. Again, it was a hot and muggy day, so it was a relief to get back to our campsite and get into the lake. We spent the rest of the day swimming and kayaking. Happy Birthday Dad!
Aug 6th
Today was overcast with chances for rain and thunder storms. We didn’t make any plans, and just hung out in the campgrounds and lake.
Aug 7th
We got up early to take another hike this morning. This one was over 3.5 miles, to Au Sable Lighthouse. We had to drive about an hour to the trail head, but we were told it was worth it. It was. We walked along the Pictured Rocks shoreline, which has some amazing beaches. The lake was a little angry this morning after the storms yesterday, and the waves were pretty big. Even with the lake riled up, the water is so clear. During the hike there are paths down to the beaches where old shipwrecks are, Mia was excited to find one. The lighthouse was impressive to. On our drive back we decided to try one of the other “pasty” places in Munising. This time we hit Miner’s Pasties. They were even better than all the previous ones, and they had different flavored ones like hamburger pasty and breakfast pasty. At 4pm Melinda had booked us spots on a glass bottom tour boat, to see shipwrecks. It was pretty cool. The cold fresh water of the lake had preserved all these shipwrecks for over a hundred years. The boat was floating about 20 feet over the wrecks, but we could see them perfectly. It was a lot cooler today, so we all had jackets on, and the water was a bit rough, but the boat trip was still really good. We all worn out tonight.
Looks beautiful!