My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I was able to post a few pictures this afternoon but there's no luck transferring pictures from my iphone to the computer now so I'll have to wait until the satellites are repositioned once again.

Anyhow, I decided to hang out here for another day and do a little exploring. We slept in very late this morning but once we were up and got moving, we took the longest walk along the beach. It was a gorgeous day, the type of day you always hope for. Lake Superior was fairly calm today as the winds let up considerably. In the afternoon we took the doors off the Jeep and drove down one of the dirt roads into the forest. Apparently there's lots to chose from around here but unfortunately the Jeep's gas tank is on empty so we didn't venture too far. But that's OK. On the way back we stopped in at a town called Deer Park, which is the closet city to the campgrounds. Well, Deer Park consists of a cabin that sells food and drinks (I swear it's not really a store although we didn't go inside). And the remainder of the town consists of about (15) cabins. As a matter of fact, the first time I drove through Deer Park, I didn't realize that this was a town. The store was closed on Sundays so we were out of luck and continued on. The remainder of the day consisted of more walks along the beach, finally finishing my first book of the trip, and starting a new one. Really just a nice relaxing day for the three of us. Tomorrow we will continue west and visit Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Up way too early this morning and decided to try to upload a few pictures. It worked ! I think that we will be on the road shortly. All is well..........

The store ??



I thought this was kind of cool. Two trees just alike. One grew a little closer to the eroding shoreline. One struggles to survive while the other does just fine. Isn't this how life is for us as well ?



There was lots of time to reflect on life yesterday. I found myself enjoying the simple things in nature's beauty. I hope I'll spend more time doing this.......

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Mission accomplished for today. We made it to Picture Rocks National Lakeshore. I decided to stay on the dirt county roads once again today and the drive west was really nice. Much of the road between the state park and Grand Marais, Michigan literally runs right along the southern coast of Lake Superior. Of course we made a few stops along the way so we didn't make it into Grand Marais until after lunch. I had heard excellent things about this town but there isn't too much of anything there so after a brief stop for lunch at the small pier, we continued west into the National Park. The stops in the park were excellent and this place is dog friendly and user friendly. The dogs were allowed in many areas of the park and there are no user fees for this park either. Both are quite unusual for a National Park. So we had a great afternoon checking things out. Then we continued west and after a short drive we made it to Munising, Michigan. Once again we walked around town just checking things out. Our plan after Munising was to stay at a national forest camp ground but just as we were pulling in I noticed a casino across the street so I had to check it out. Well, the casino was free for the night and had RV hook ups and the camp ground was $16 for the night and no hook ups. So here we are at the casino. And I don't quite get it cause we walked into the camp grounds this evening and it's packed and there's nobody here. Go figure.............

Picture Rocks National Lakeshore...........







A few things that we don't see down south............





I saw this on the door of the casino. Maybe this why people stay at the campgrounds............

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Sitting at my kitchen this table morning looking at my atlas, staring out the window, and realizing that in a few more days I will have completed my trip into the Upper Peninsula. So..........where to next ? I had thoughts about ending the trip soon and returning to my friend's farm but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Now I need to decide on if I'm going west to Montana to see friends and hike in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, possibly go north to Manitoba and Saskatchewan to explore and see what I've never seen (these are 2 of the Canadian provinces that I have not yet visited), or possibly to the northeast of Canada, back to Labrador, a place I fell in love with several years ago. Once again, time will tell...............

A few pictures from our morning walk............

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

It was a cold and windy day in the Upper Peninsula. And the wind was pushing that cold air right into my camper since I'm still missing a window. Tried to minimize the pain by using the space heater and it worked out just fine. We never did get on the road today. I settle on my new house on Friday so I used today to finish the last details with the title company, get the cash wired for the place, get the house insured, and coordinated with the real estate agent since he'll be doing my walk through for me. The casino parking lot was the perfect place for all that, electricity, cell phone service, and internet........all available here. When I wasn't dealing with that stuff, I was researching mountain peaks to climb in the Huron Mountains, reading other travel blogs, or walking in the forest across the highway.

Since I spent such a large part of the day in the camper and I don't have any pictures to post today, I thought some people might be interested to see where we live when we aren't driving. So I took pictures of the inside of the camper. This is my house. It ain't much but it's actually perfect for me and the dogs. Tomorrow we are driving west to Marquette, Michigan. Excited to get into the mountains............

 

[rkj__]

It's actually pretty nice in there!

 

[deLabé]

Glad you made it to Michigan this year. If you're starting to understand the mitten, then maybe you could see more things from our point of http://downwithdetroit.spreadshirt.com/the-world-according-to-michigan-A8634427. Just found you tonight looking at recent forum posts and went back over last year's pages as well. Wow! Enjoy your travels!

 

[ClayH]

If your even in OK, you can park at my place and plug in to the power and water.
I enjoyed reading this past 20 pages, looking forward to more.
Happy trails.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Thanks for comments and the invite. Yea, it's a nice camper but it's way small with (2) large dogs.

Had a great day traveling in the Upper Peninsula.........sitting here now in the Walmart parking lot posting up for the day. We made it into Marquette just a little before lunch and the day's plans were to do some hiking in the Huron Mountains. So we made a quick stop at Walmart for groceries, then Burger King for lunch, then we left town to climb Mount Hogback. It was a short hike (1.8 miles to the top) but all the elevation gain is in the last quarter mile or so, so it was a good workout. We had some very nice views of Lake Superior for miles and miles, to the north and to the east, and the hiking in the forest was beautiful too. I met a nice bunch of local people at the summit and got a few tips on places to see around Marquette. We chatted for the longest time and then descended the mountain together. After a short drive of not more than a half mile we were at the trail head for Mount Sugarloaf. This small mountain juts almost straight up from the shoreline of Lake Superior and we had awesome views of the rocky shoreline and again, could see for miles and miles. It really is fantastic. I'm so accustomed to climbing to the top of a mountain and seeing more mountains. This is so different and so beautiful.......can't quite describe it, but I loved it. We finished our evening at the local YMCA to grab a shower. Life on the road is pretty good right now.............

Not sure exactly what this is but it's huge like maybe 70' high ? I think it's for loading or unloading coal ?



Some views of Lake Superior from the mountain tops...........









That would be me and my two best friends.............

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

So I'm falling in love with Marquette, Michigan. This is one dynamite town. I haven't found a thing that I don't like about it. We were up too early this morning but on the bright side we had the trails to ourselves. After a short drive in the Jeep we were at the trail head for Dead River Falls. This is a hike that we found about yesterday from the locals on the mountain. And it turned it to be a great hike in the forest. The trail follows the river and a series of waterfalls for maybe a mile or so. No massive falls or anything extraordinary but tons of smaller falls and they were just beautiful with the mix of calm waters and rapids. At one point we came upon a beaver working on his dam. That was pretty cool until he spotted us and he certainly wasn't dog friendly. The dogs took over his pool so he quickly disappeared. Anyhow, after a morning of hiking we returned to the camper for lunch and a nap. Then we went into town to walk the streets and see what was up with Marquette. Small but awesome were my thoughts. We stopped in to see the world's largest wood dome arena at Northern Michigan University. It was OK. Then we took a drive to Presque Isle Park in pouring rain (not so nice since the Jeep has no top). But it was still a pretty drive and I may do it again tomorrow if time permits. Speaking of tomorrow, there's a blueberry festival that begins at 10:00 a.m. I'm thinking fresh blueberry pies tomorrow so I can't wait. And (2) more festivals this weekend so I'm not sure when we'll get out of here...............

Our early morning sky...........



The river............

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

And a few more pictures to share...........

The world's largest wood arena.........







Just missed the tall ships...........



Learned about a new sport...........

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Bad weather hit Marquette, Michigan today and really put a damper on the day's plans. It had rained all night (again) and we woke up to cloudy skies. For a bit it looked liked the skies would clear so we drove into town to check out the blueberry festival. It was small but still interesting to mingle with the crowd. Yukon and Montana had a blast since they got so much attention all morning. I had dreamed of fresh blueberry pies but not a one was to be seen. I stopped at a stand selling blueberries and asked about a pie and their response was "they're too much trouble to make". Exactly my sentiments and that's why I wanted to buy one. Oh well, we had fun. After a few hours the skies began to dump huge amounts of rain so we returned to the camper and have done nothing all day. Sitting in a Starbucks enjoying a cup of coffee and some good tunes. Planning to leave and head northwest in the morning.................

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Today was somewhat of a rough day for me and I had to make several decisions. I woke up feeling horrible..........I've caught a cold, my head and throat are killing me. Maybe riding around in the Jeep in pouring rain when it's 50 degrees wasn't such a good idea after all. But then who knows, maybe it came for someone else. Anyhow, it was cold and raining again this morning, and the weather outlook for today and tomorrow sucked. So I was thinking that I would bypass Copper Harbor and head west for Duluth, Minnesota. Their weather looked pretty good. But when I came to the fork in the road, I still hadn't decided. I pulled over and thought about it for a while and then I thought it doesn't matter. I need to go to Copper Harbor, no matter how I feel and no matter the weather. So that's what we did. We followed 41 north, made one stop in L'Anse for a Burger King lunch (I guess this has become my cheap lunch place of choice), and then continued north. Tried to get a site at a state campground but that place was a circus. They were actually having Christmas in July with a Santa Claus and it seriously was a circus. That can make you hate campgrounds for sure. I really wanted seclusion for tonight. So we continued north and I came across this place where I hope to stay tonight. It's remote enough (it's a parking lot in a marsh) and we are the only ones here. The only problem is that it's not made for camping. So my fingers are crossed. One cool thing happened here since we arrived. While I was sitting in the truck thinking about camping at this place, a black bear (maybe 150 pounds) walked / ran right in front of the truck, probably not more than 15' from us. That sure got the dogs going. I love bears ! And that's about it for today. Take care..............

L'Anse...........



Black Bear print...........



The campsite...........



The marsh...........

 

[VicHanson]

Hi Jerry,
I am near Moorhead, MN right now, plan on leaving here in the morning and going east, I think to the North Country Trail near Park Rapids for a day or two, then on to Paul Bunyan State Forest near Walker, both for hiking, then down to Crosby for some mtn. biking. (all in Minn.) That is quite a ways from Duluth, as I am supposed to be in Minneapolis by Friday evening. What are your plans after Duluth? The drive north along Lake Superior is really nice, a couple of years ago I hiked most of the Superior Hiking Trail, which is along there. I expect to be in SE Minn. until the end of August, maybe a little more. Sounds like you have been having too much rain, I'm trying to avoid that!

Vic

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We woke up this morning to the sound of more rain. And it was a hard rain that lasted until late afternoon. Combine that with not feeling well, I decided to stay put for another day and night in the marshland. Nobody bothered us last night and it was quite and dark........a perfect spot for another night. Therefore we did nothing all day. The weather forecast is good for tomorrow so we we will be up early and on the road for Copper Harbor.