Pictured Rocks to Whitefish Point trip report

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
Trip Location: Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Lake Superior South shore from eastern edge of Pictured Rocks National Park to Whitefish Point.

Duration: 2 days.

Objective: To sightsee in the National Park via hiking, paddling, and vehicle as well as exploring the undeveloped coastline east of Grand Marais up to Whitefish Point.

After finalizing what we wanted to accomplish on this trip at the last minute, we loaded up the rig with the appropriate gear and hit the road. Marquette to Munising is 45 miles via pavement on highway 28 that winds along Lake Superior. Once in Munising we visited the National Park headquarters to get a map and also get a feel for where we wanted to camp that night. After loading up with groceries at the local market we headed off eastword out of town and crossed into the park.

Pictured Rocks stretches east from Munising to Grand Marais along Superior and contains some breathtaking sandstone cliffs that plunge into the lake with some spectacular colors streaking down them from mineral deposits left behind from water running down them. If the lake was calm, we were going to paddle along a section of the cliff's and check out some sea caves via canoe, but it was not to be. A breeze was causing enough of a ripple to be a bad idea to go out in a canoe. Instead we checked out the overlook at Miner's Castle, then did a 2 hour hike along the shore trail. The hike was great, taking us along the edge of the cliffs and through lush/deep forest. The forest floor was covered in thick ferns and other ground cover that made for a dramatic contrast whenever we'd walk out into an open stretch along the edge looking out at Superior to the horizon. After an hour of hiking we got to a point that had a great view of the rocks stretching east for 10 miles including a large arch called the Grand Portal.

Once back to the truck we headed down the road further. The next stop was to check out Beaver Lake. A small lake on the edge of Superior in a large basin. It was one of our potential camping areas but the sites were full there. There were some primitive camping areas open across the lake a short paddle away, but Dana wasn't excited about sleeping in the tent with all of the recent black bear encounters in the park and the Utah story looming in her mind. We continued on checking out a primitive two track that brought us to an overlook that had great views lookind down over Beaver Lake and the entire basin. At this point the light was starting to go so we decided we needed to find camp sometime soon

The nature of the park here is that it is a thin band that follows the lakeshore. A buffer zone is then created via state parkland and national forest. We targeted some potential camp areas in the state parkland and found a great site on the first lake we visited, Gemini Lake. We had a nice spot with a picnic table and fire ring with a perfect and private little canoe lauch site. Dana busied herself with collecting firewood while I cooked up some broughts on my portable gas grill and unpacked the canoe for the night's adventure. After a round of brats on the grill, we had the campfire roaring and did another round over the open flames. A nice bottle of pinot noir and we loaded up the canoe. The night was totally calm, a half moon cast just enough light to make visibility good, but not obsuring the stars too much. We paddled out into the middle of the lake with fireflies flashing around us and the reflection of the sky in the still water below us, giving us the sensation of canoeing across outerspace. It was the kind of experience that makes you really appreciate the right things in life and put perspective on all of the societal bs. I love those moments. A great horned owl hooted along the shore. After close to an hour of gliding around, we decided to call it good for the night and retire to the Land Cruiser

This was the first trip with my newly made and installed screen windows for the back. They worked AWESOME. I had a nice breeze blowing through and not a single bug bite with me sleeping half out of my bag.

Dawn found us soon and we started the morning off with some oatmeal heated up over the trusty Whisperlite stove. I was a bit anxious to get back out in the canoe and check out more of the lake in the day light. It was a cool little lake. Very typical for the region, sandy bottom, mostly undeveloped other then a few cabins and cottages on it, the rest of the shore being state land. After cruising around for a couple of hours we headed back and loaded up the truck.

Our next stop was to be 12 mile beach. The main road across the park is dirt and covers some remote stretches. Its been a dry year so far in the eastern upper peninsula and that made the road very dry and dusty. Bogs seemed dried up, and small lakes in some areas were really down. They say Lake Superior itself is 20 inches below average right now. That's scary, that's a lot of water.

Twelve mile beach is just that, twelve miles of perfect sugar sand beach with beautiful multicolored rocks and agates strewn about . We walked on the beach for awhile, Dana hunting rocks for jewelry, me swatting flies. Funny, as this would be the theme for the day. The biting flies were literally swarming me and hardly even landing on her. hmmmmmm Bug spray didn't help either, not even my strong stuff with deet. Anyway, we continued on, stopping to see Hurricane beach and the Grand Sable dunes. A stretch of 300 foot tall sand dunes that plummet down into Superior. This was our last stop in the park before exiting into the town of Grand Marais.

Grand Marais is a very small town, untouched by modern development, fast food or any of that other bs that plagues the majority of the country. We grabbed a tasty meal at the Lake Superior Brewing Company. After eating we grabbed some fuel and calculated our mileage thus far. 9mpg. Ouch! I was taking it easy too not even exceeding 55 on the first portion's paved roads. Oh well. We checked the maps and headed out of town east along the coast. The pavement ended soon and were were back on dirt roads. The road meanders near the coast and there are virtually no homes or developments at all along the coast. Just tons of sandy two tracks that head over a dune towards the beach. We came across a Honda Civic with Ohio plates that was buried on one of these such trails. The driver was trying to dig out futily in the loose beach sand while his gf sat inside. We pulled off and offered some assistance. It became my first real use of my winch. Sure I could have tugged him out with the tow strap... but.. haha

Eventually the road turned to pavement and turned south, away from the lake. The map showed some sort of trail continuing across the shoreline eastward and we wanted to follow this. We ended up trekking down some trails that were nothing but deep sand and whoop de doos. Imagine the softest beach sand you have seen, that was the consitency of this stuff. All of this consideration I've been having lately of doing away with my 33x12.50 MT's for something narrower, like a 10.50 in an AT was washed away. I was glad to have the extra flotation no doubt. At points the trails were so tight and narrow that my limb risers were getting a real work out, I even stretched the eyelights of one of my tensioners from the heavy branches. We were crossing these occasional open areas that were clear cuts from around 1920 that never grew back due to the sandy nature of the soil. Just big open wastelands. We dropped down over a steep sandy hill and decided to take a break from driving and hang out for a bit on the beach. Once again, a totally virgin, perfect white sand beach with no other human for as far as the eye could see. Good stuff. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the damn flies that seemed to only attack me. We started to think that they were actually attracted to the bug spray, as Dana wasn't wearing any and had NO problems. Weird. I felt very figidity to put it lightly. haha

Once back underway, we soon found the trail decreasing in width and it was obvious that the only thing that travelled beyond this point were ATV's or snowmobiles in the winter. We had to back track about 10 miles. The tires proved their worth as we had a long steep climb back out of one area that had the tires clawing all the way up. They paddle right up, though we were probably moving at less then a mile per hour. We eventually found a trail that ran south and took that till we hit a good, maintained dirt road.

Next stop was the mouth of the Two Hearted River. This is a popular river to paddle. It is very remote with only a small general/supply store and lodge at the mouth of the river and at the end of the dirt road. We took a walk along the beach after crossing a suspended foot bridge across the river. The beach had a nice campground that I'll have to keep in mind for a future adventure.

Again we backtracked down to another east-running dirt road and decided to drop inland and south a bit to get to Taquemonon Falls. Ah, getting back on pavement felt nice on the 'ol back side after many miles of washboards and rough trail. We stopped in to check out the upper falls. I hadn't been here since I was a child and was blown away by how many people were here, even at this late hour of the evening. Its become a pretty major tourist destination. Despite that, the upper falls were impressive.

At this point, the shadows were getting long and we kept pushing east to the town of Paradise on the Whitefish Bay. From there we headed north to Whitefish Point. This is the site of the Great Lakes Shipwreck museum and the point that the Edmund Fitzgerald was desperately trying to make that November day in '75 when it sank it 30foot + waves. After having a quick meal and taking in the views across to Canada we began the trip back. Since it was already 10pm we took paved roads back. Still though we got to see a lot of wildlife including a sand hill crane walking along the edge of the road and deer pretty much the whole way back seemed to really be on the move that evening. No issues though and overall, a great weekend. Total mileage around 375 miles.

Photos:
1. Pictured Rocks National Park, Miner's Castle view
2. Hiking along the lakeshore/North Country trail
3. Taking in the view
4. glam self portrait
5. Dana
6. more view
7. ""
8. Paddling Gemini Lake
9. ""
10. ""
 
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upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
pictures continued:

1. Camp packed up and ready to go.
2. Grand Sable Dunes
3. Sable Falls
4. On one of the numerous beach spots east of Grand Marais. Note the sand, pretty much all of the trails we were on had the same surface consistency. It was soft and deep!
5. Dana on 12 mile beach
6. Upper Taquemonon Falls
7. Old Coast Guard station on the tip of Whitefish point
8. Beach ""
9. Self portrait at journey's end
10. Map of our trip. Our route is highlighted in green.
 

fisher205

Explorer
I did the trip from Whitefish point to Grand Marias two years ago pulling a 16 foot Lund Tyee and two canoes with my Silverado. That was one of those "wonder where this road goes" trips. The trip had been sucking up to that point because of rain, but it helped firm up the sand so that we could pull through, I thought we were going to have to leave the boat a couple of times. Glad to see Grand Marias and the Brewing Company.

It is a beautiful area and beaches. Will probably go back but w/o the boat.
-Brad
 

KMR

Adventurer
Hey stop telling people about my favorite places:REExeSquatsHL1:

Good stuff, I love exploring DaUP, there is some great stuff between the park and Whitefish that totally gets ignored (thats why it is so great though) We were lucky enough to find a camp right on a hill overlooking the lake, stuff like that is so rewarding. Way to get out and explore.
 
Great write up

My wife and I went to Tehquamenon falls last year. I had been there when I was a kid but I couldn't remember to much of it. Every Yooper should see this area.
 

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