upcruiser
Perpetual Transient
What is it that drives us to do the things we love? The anticipation of looking forward to something in the future? The cumulation of past experiences that cloud the moment? What is now? Seriously, I needed to get out of town and bug out for a few days.
My summer has been busy in a bunch of ways and I was quickly realizing that I needed to get some time to do some self reflection before it was gone. Most of the activities so far have been directed to UP Overland scouting, which I do in fact enjoy but I needed something for me. The fact that there is just a huge list of places I want to explore and check out in the UP just proved to me it was time to load up the Rover and set out. Time to enjoy the moment, to live in the now.
I had a rough plan of where I wanted to go, but not a rigid plan of how to get there specifically or what I wanted to do when there. The Garden Peninsula extends south off of the UP into the northern portion of Lake Michigan 22 miles. From the tip there is an archipelago of islands that extend to the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. It is rich in history with old historic townsites and old farmsteads still sitting as they have been for over a century. It is a place I have heard great things about but just had never gotten down to it.
As I packed up, I listened to the weather band. The forecast sounded interesting. Strong thunderstorm cells were forming across Wisconsin and the western UP. Tornado watches were posted, small craft advisories up for the open waters, mother nature was definately aggravated. With the strong south and southwest winds forecasted I decided to throw my playboat on the back of the truck to hopefully sample some good waves and get my surf fix on. Truck gassed up, loaded, I threw in some good books and hit the pavement.
I headed dead east on pavement from Marquette to the mouth of the Rock River on Lake Superior and the first coast of my adventure. This is the point where I said goodbye to the tarmac. Heading in a southern direction using state forest roads, national forest roads, and other random trails I got out into the woods. There definately was a distinct energy in the air. The skies to the west were steadily darkening. The weather band was blowing up with storm updates and warnings. It was getting exciting.
I crossed through the small town of Chatham. Chatham captures the feel of the classic UP town off the beaten path. It is basically just a couple of buildings and despite highway 94 running through town, is virtually always quiet and still. Something about the town though, and others like it that are scattered accross the UP that I love. The last holdouts perhaps of America's continuous homegenization, transforming every comunity into a mirror-like copy of the next.
Managing to negotiate the bustling streets of Chatham.... not quite.
Something peaceful about travelling through the endless tunnel of forrest in the central UP.
Using the Rapid River Truck trail along with some forest service roads branching off I saw few people, many rivers, lakes, marshes.
The wind was starting to pick up and thunder could be heard in the distance. Some rain started to come down, not too hard but as I worked myself south it seems I avoided the brunt of the first storm. Eventually I hit US 2 which cuts across the top of the Garden Peninsula. I drove pavement on the primary road that feeds down the coast. After grabbing a couple of last minute items at the tiny store in the town of Garden, I reviewed the topo and GPS and made a plan for making camp. My goal was to reach the very tip of the peninsula which is remote state forest land with no visible road on the maps. Using some local knowledge I did learn that there were indeed trails that crisscrossed the land out to the point. Game on.
The remnants of the ghost town of Sac Bay
The next wave of storms was approaching.
Working my way across to the east coast of the southern end of the peninsula out into the state forest land.
Cool skies!
My summer has been busy in a bunch of ways and I was quickly realizing that I needed to get some time to do some self reflection before it was gone. Most of the activities so far have been directed to UP Overland scouting, which I do in fact enjoy but I needed something for me. The fact that there is just a huge list of places I want to explore and check out in the UP just proved to me it was time to load up the Rover and set out. Time to enjoy the moment, to live in the now.
I had a rough plan of where I wanted to go, but not a rigid plan of how to get there specifically or what I wanted to do when there. The Garden Peninsula extends south off of the UP into the northern portion of Lake Michigan 22 miles. From the tip there is an archipelago of islands that extend to the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. It is rich in history with old historic townsites and old farmsteads still sitting as they have been for over a century. It is a place I have heard great things about but just had never gotten down to it.
As I packed up, I listened to the weather band. The forecast sounded interesting. Strong thunderstorm cells were forming across Wisconsin and the western UP. Tornado watches were posted, small craft advisories up for the open waters, mother nature was definately aggravated. With the strong south and southwest winds forecasted I decided to throw my playboat on the back of the truck to hopefully sample some good waves and get my surf fix on. Truck gassed up, loaded, I threw in some good books and hit the pavement.
I headed dead east on pavement from Marquette to the mouth of the Rock River on Lake Superior and the first coast of my adventure. This is the point where I said goodbye to the tarmac. Heading in a southern direction using state forest roads, national forest roads, and other random trails I got out into the woods. There definately was a distinct energy in the air. The skies to the west were steadily darkening. The weather band was blowing up with storm updates and warnings. It was getting exciting.
I crossed through the small town of Chatham. Chatham captures the feel of the classic UP town off the beaten path. It is basically just a couple of buildings and despite highway 94 running through town, is virtually always quiet and still. Something about the town though, and others like it that are scattered accross the UP that I love. The last holdouts perhaps of America's continuous homegenization, transforming every comunity into a mirror-like copy of the next.
Managing to negotiate the bustling streets of Chatham.... not quite.
Something peaceful about travelling through the endless tunnel of forrest in the central UP.
Using the Rapid River Truck trail along with some forest service roads branching off I saw few people, many rivers, lakes, marshes.
The wind was starting to pick up and thunder could be heard in the distance. Some rain started to come down, not too hard but as I worked myself south it seems I avoided the brunt of the first storm. Eventually I hit US 2 which cuts across the top of the Garden Peninsula. I drove pavement on the primary road that feeds down the coast. After grabbing a couple of last minute items at the tiny store in the town of Garden, I reviewed the topo and GPS and made a plan for making camp. My goal was to reach the very tip of the peninsula which is remote state forest land with no visible road on the maps. Using some local knowledge I did learn that there were indeed trails that crisscrossed the land out to the point. Game on.
The remnants of the ghost town of Sac Bay
The next wave of storms was approaching.
Working my way across to the east coast of the southern end of the peninsula out into the state forest land.
Cool skies!
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