On the Road with Maya: Lake Superior and Pictured Rocks

Miners Castle on Lake Superior
Pictured Rock National Lakeshore

Leaving Tahquamenon Falls and clouds of mosquitoes in our rear view mirrors, we traveled north and west for the shores of Lake Superior. The city campground in the town of Munising had been recommended to us by many of the campers we met at the RV park in East Tawas that we visited a few weeks ago. Since Munising is located at the western entrance to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we decided to give the campground there a try while we explored the Pictured Rocks.

Sunset on Lake Superior from our campground
So nice to be out at sunset without the mosquitoes!

Things were a bit crowded at the city campground but otherwise the place was nice. We didn’t get a campsite right on the beach but we had a good view of Lake Superior and it was less than a hundred yard walk to the beach. And the best thing was – hardly any mosquitoes! Those famous lake breezes kept them away. Thank you, big lake Kitchi Gummi!

Believe it or not, that is tree pollen in the lake!
Many of the trees in the U.P. are just now leafed out and finishing with pollination

Lake Superior is our last Great Lake to visit and after our first sightings a few days ago at Tahquamenon Falls State Park we were glad for the chance to camp near her shores and spend more time enjoying and getting to know this legendary lake. Called Kitchi Gummi by the Chippewa (and “Gitche Gumee” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in “The Song of Hiawatha” and Gordon Lightfoot in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”), Superior is the largest Great Lake by surface area and the second largest lake on Earth by volume, containing about 10 percent of the Earth’s fresh water. Another way to picture that is to think about a four-foot deep swimming pool the size of the continental U.S. – that is how much water is contained in all of Lake Superior! The distance around the whole lakeshore is 2,726 miles, close to the distance between Montana and Florida. Being from a water-deprived state with only one natural lake, we were more than impressed with the size and grandeur of Lake Superior and all the Great Lakes for that matter.

Grand Sable Banks and Dunes from Log Slide Overlook
People were running down this 500-foot dune and spending hours climbing back up

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore preserves a spectacular stretch of colorful sandstone cliffs and sand and cobblestone beaches along Lake Superior’s southern shoreline. The park also contains numerous waterfalls, streams, northern forests and wildlife plus the historic Au Sable Light Station and other cultural resources. There is as much to see inland as near the lakeshore, but the ‘Pictured Rocks’ cliffs that give the park its name are best viewed from the water.

Miners Falls

We spent one day driving from the Munising entrance of the park to the small town of Grand Marais, the entire length of the park and over 60 miles. Stopping at numerous pullouts and overlooks along the way, the drive took us nearly all day including our stop for lunch in Grand Marais. Miners Castle, Miners Falls, Miners Beach, Sable Falls, the Log Slide Overlook and Twelvemile Beach were among our stops. We would have liked to do more hiking but unlike Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore which we recently visited in lower Michigan, Pictured Rocks does not allow pets on most trails. Still, we got a good feel for the park and were able to do a couple of shorter trails to the waterfalls with Maya.

An Upper Peninsula tradition, Pasties are meat and vegetable "pies"
We bought these from Muldoon's in Munising, supposedly voted
the best in the U.P. and they were good!

The highlight of our time was the late afternoon cruise we took along the Pictured Rocks Cliffs. Yes, it was a three-hour cruise but all went well and we returned safely after a wonderful afternoon on the water. The sandstone cliffs almost glowed in the dramatic lighting and we saw the moon rise over some of the cliffs. The park definitely deserves its name and I very happily ‘pictured rocks.’ (See below...)