From TN to Canada: Chasing Fall Colors (Pic Heavy)

[ljrunner05]

Well, I'm a bit late on this one. It seems we've already transitioned from fall to winter around here, but let's step back in time for a bit shall we?

September 20, 2019: Running Late...
Well, we got started a little late. I mean, really late. It was around 8:30pm before we finished packing and set out on this crazy adventure. What adventure you ask? Well last year we traveled from TN to Las Vegas before crossing the entire state of Utah offroad. That was my idea. This year the wife wanted to spend fall in the UP, and it just so happens we have some amazing friends from Michigan that could take the time to show us around. So at 8:30pm we set out from Chattanooga TN and headed towards Dayton OH, where her mom lives.

But, we didn't stop in Dayton. By the time we passed through Dayton it was too late to see family, and I couldn't sleep. I was too excited. So I kept driving until reaching a rest area around Convoy Ohio. That left us with about 3 hours until our first stop in Grand Rapids Michigan.



Not something you see in a rest area very often...

The next morning we met up with our friends and had a great time exploring Grand Rapids. What a cool city!











The next morning was a little rainy and overcast but we were still excited to make our way up to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. I've been told this area is almost always super crowded, but due to the rain there was almost no one here! It was so much fun. Both Sarah and I drove all over the dunes. We got stuck once, Matt got stuck ones... Good times were had by all.

Before entering the dunes, we found this little beast in the parking lot.

 

[ljrunner05]

That evening we made our way to Matt's family cabin and enjoyed a great evening out of the rain. From there we worked our way north to check our a few trails Matt uses for camping and hunting. These are trails and areas we never would have found without him, so we were happy to just tag along and see what Michigan had to offer!














Eventually we made it into camp at Leelanau State Park. And I mean, the view was ok. ;-)

Technically we made it into camp, then left our truck there and piled in with Matt to go back down to North Port for a great dinner. Sadly, Matt managed to pick up a screw in his tire during our little jaunt. Luckily his fancy 3rd gen has tire pressure readouts on the dash so it was easy to monitor. Once we got back, we quickly patched the tire. No problems after that.
We enjoyed a great fire while listening to the waves on the beach just feet from us. Oh, and I slept like a rock. Nothing like beach side camping to lull you to sleep.



Lots more to come! So stay tuned for part 2!

 

[ljrunner05]

The next morning, it wasn't easy getting up. With the waves crashing and the sun warming the GFC we were pretty content to just hang out. Eventually we dragged our lazy selves out of bed, packed up camp and made our way towards our big destination of the day, The Mackinaw Bridge!









Well, that's anticlimactic... I have no pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge. I mean, I had 3 camera's recording video while crossing the bridge, and not a single picture. :annoyed:

Speaking of video... You should go check out our YouTube channel! We have some incredible drone footage from our different campsites and adventures. CLICK HERE

ANYWHO, after a quite a few road miles we finished up our day nearly exactly across Lake Michigan from where we started that morning.





Our site was just a few hundred feet though the woods to the beach, so for the second night in a row we slept to the sound of the waves... On a lake. That's just weird to me.



After a great night's sleep we packed up early and took off for our first real taste of the Upper Peninsula's trails!





And the further north we went, the better the colors got!



We ended our day at the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. The only campsites we could find weren't exactly backcountry. There were generators and RVs... But we had a nice fire and went to bed early.

There was a nice little path from our site down to the water. This is oddly the only picture I got from the site.

 

[ljrunner05]

The next morning we made our way towards Marquette.





On our way we stumbled onto Lakenenland Sculpture Park. It was so cool! You need to add this to your list of places to go! We spent a good 30 minutes driving through and checking out all of the really cool sculptures and art.











Once getting to Marquette, we swung by Presque Isle Park to take a look at the light house and make a quick PB & J sandwich. Sarah and I rock hopped most of the way out to the lighthouse before we got to hungry and turned around. Still pretty neat to see!







From there we started working our way along Lake Superior, and up towards Copper Harbor.







The landscape changed once again into this beautiful marshland! There were creeks, rivers, and water everywhere. We crossed a ton of old wooden bridges, and generally took way too many pictures.

 

[ljrunner05]

After leaving the marshland we worked our way up towards Mount Arvon. ti's the highest point in Michigan. The trail got a little tight, and a couple washouts made it fun!











From there it wasn't far to our next site. Just before turning into the campground, we passed this really nice river! Our site was about 50 feet above the river and made for another great sleep soundtrack!








We lucked out with another great location and no people!





I even had time to set my hammock up for a bit.



When the fire finally died, we were all exhausted and knocked out pretty quick..



But this is just the beginning of the adventure, the next day we come across one of the best campsites I've ever stayed at, and by the end of the week we cross into Canada! Be sure to stick around to see more great pictures from the trip.

 

[ljrunner05]

The next morning was super windy! It woke me up early but it seems everyone else was able to sleep right through it. I used our HAM radio to check the weather. Looks like it was around 29mph gusts with 15-17mph winds. Not too bad, but enough to shake the trees.

Once we got going we worked our way up towards the most northern tip of the UP. We followed a lot of snowmobile trails. It was weird for me, a southern, to see but a lot of main roads had snowmobile trails just off to the side that ran parallel to the roads. It seems like you could get anywhere you wanted via snowmobile in the winter!













One of the trails we were traveling down suddenly ran out on the GPS but still continued on in front of us. We decided to give it a shot. We made one wrong turn and ended up at a house completely covered in solar panels. Even the windows were covered. I've heard it takes a lot of power to "grow" certain plants... We decided to quickly backtrack.



Once back on the main trail we ran across this super cute cabin! Part of me wants to live there, part of me thinks there maybe a witch already there offering free candy.



Our next stop was the Jampot. The smells before you even made it into the store were incredible! It was full of freshly baked breads and jams of every flavor imaginable. I decided to get some poundcake. Well, when checking out the gentleman told me it was made recently, within the last two weeks. And because of that, it wouldn't be ready until probably Thanksgiving or Christmas. You see, they wrap their poundcake in brandy soaked cloth, then let it marinate for a few months. We decided to try it anyways and wow... it was powerful. :drunk:



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From the Jampot we worked our way to another lookout. Not sure what this one was called, but it was beautiful!

 

[ljrunner05]

From the lookout we made our way into Copper Harbor



We continued North until reaching one of the best campsites I've ever stayed at!











The evening we arrived at camp was super cold and windy. We made dinner in the GFC, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and didn't really emerge until morning. But the morning was incredible!











After leaving our incredible campsite, we made our way back towards the first campsite we stayed in after crossing the Mackinaw Bridge.



Other than seeing a couple bald eagles it wasn't super exciting. We camped for the evening and said our goodbyes early the next morning to Matt. He had to get back home for work on Monday morning.

Sarah and I still had another week of traveling to do, so stick around for part 3!

 

[ljrunner05]

I had never heard of Mackinaw Island, but my wife had. It's been on her todo list for years so that was the next stop for us. We left camp early and grabbed one of the first jet driven ferry's across to the island. Mackinaw Island is unique because of it's lack of vehicles. During the peak season there are over 750 horses on the island and more bicycles than people. You can rent a bike, a horse, a carriage or just take a tour. We decided to take a tour around the island. We took a lot more video than pictures, but here are a few of the interesting things we saw:





























After leaving Mackinaw we stayed one night in a hotel. It was nice to shower, shave, and cleanup a little. Early the next morning we made our way into Canada. The border crossing was really simple. 4 questions, a couple passports, and we were on our way. We made a quick stop at the welcome / tourism office. They were able to give us a some maps and ideas that changed our route. We left Sault Ste. Marie and worked our way north west along Lake Superior. The drive was beautiful despite the rain. Just after passing through Lake Superior Provincial Park we stopped by a local outfitters and grabbed our out of country camping permits. We then hopped on the 101, a beautiful two lane road across Ontario. We tried a number of trails we had marked on our maps, but many were either closed or too narrow for us to explore. We eventually found a campsite on a nice lake not far from the 101. Even with the misting rain we enjoyed the site.

 

[ljrunner05]

We setup our GFC, grabbed a couple books and relaxed. The evening a big storm rolled through. The lighting was flashing through the translucent panel of the GFC's roof. It was enough to wake me up. But I love storms so it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep.

The next morning we finished our trek down the 101 and transitioned to the main trail system I wanted to try. I'm not sure there is a name for it, but I found it while browsing for trails in Canada. It's around 130km of gravel roads and trails from where we were down towards Algonquin Provincial Park. Algonquin was my big ticket item this trip. I really wanted to see it in the fall, and trust me, so do you!















Up to this point the road had been really easy but a beautiful drive. This made my heart stop...



Luckily there was a little bypass while they worked on replacing the culvert.











Once arriving at Algonquin we were a little surprised at the price of camping in the park. So we found some dispersed camping just outside of the park. Getting a pass for that was a lot cheaper!







The next morning we entered the park. Without a doubt, this was the best fall color display I've ever seen! Be sure to catch those pictures on part 4!

 

[ljrunner05]

Algonquin in fall is stunning! We hiked all over the park, went to the really nice visitors center and art center and generally had an amazing time.































After day of hiking around we checked the weather and saw the temp was plummeting. We decided to stay in the park and buy a couple bags of firewood. The sites were huge and super nice. It was worth the money.

 

[ljrunner05]

The next morning we left the park and made our way towards Niagara Falls. We grabbed a hotel there and enjoyed a couple days around Niagara falls. We did the behind the falls tour, the boat ride into the falls and the rapids walk.



























From Niagara we made our way into New York, then down to Dayton Ohio to see my wife's mother. We promised to stop by since we missed her on the way up. All in all we did around 3400 miles. In truth this trip wasn't as "exciting" as the previous trips. Crossing Utah was epic, doing a whirlwind 4400 miles in 6 days was awesome, but this trip was more laid back. That doesn't mean it wasn't just as enjoyable.

The GFC Camper is awesome! We were able to make meals out of the weather, run our little buddy heater to pre-heat its, and set it up in seconds. Our storage box / bench worked great and did everything we needed it too. We were a lot lighter than our first trip, and still had everything we needed. We got to see some incredible fall colors and take my wife to Canada. We knocked off a few bucket list items so all in all a great trip.

This feels more like a photo dump than a trip report. I think that's because I spent so much of this trip recording video instead of pictures. We have a video series already on YouTube covering most of this trip. I guess after all the 100s of hours put into those videos I'm lacking the creativity to do this right. I'll try and go back into each section and add a little more story telling, but if you enjoy watching YouTube and want to see some incredible scenery and drone footage I'll link the videos below. I've been told they get better as the series progress, so give them a shot and tell me what you think!

 

[ljrunner05]

 

[Ace Brown]

Nice report. I’ve been to several of your stops over many years of travel.


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[ljrunner05]

Nice report. I’ve been to several of your stops over many years of travel.


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Thanks Ace! That was my first time to any of those areas other than Niagara falls. It was gorgeous and we can't wait for an opportunity to go back.

 

[Colin Hughes]

Nice trip report. We did the UP a few years back when we drove right around Superior. I recognized many of the Algonquin Park trail photos. I only live about 2 hours from the park and get up there a couple of times every year. I've likely hiked every trail at least 5 times, some even more, over the last 25 years! My friend has a small campground just outside the park I typically stay at for free but I do like to get a site in the park at Canisbay when I bring my canoe.