Playing Catch Up: U.P. Camping Near Fiborn Quarry

Okay, before this season ends and the timing of this recap becomes wholly inappropriate, it’s high time I play catch up on our camping trip in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula earlier this Fall.

Camping was something I immensely enjoyed doing down in Georgia. My primitive North Georgia camping inclinations transitioned into more comfort-oriented outings once we had Jackson, but we still made it a point to go at least once a year. I cannot tell you how much I miss camping on Jekyll Island.

We had every intention of getting back on track with our camping excursions after moving to Michigan, but instead we found ourselves busy moving, settling in, adjusting to our new climate, then moving and settling in again.

Life finally regained it’s rhythm after we closed on our house this past Summer (did I forget to mention that here?) and we were stoked when our friends, Marty and Terri, invited us to join them for some camping in the UP the last weekend in September. Finally back on track!

Camping the UP
Our journey carried us to a remote spot near Trout Lake, just north of Epoufette Bay. It was there that we (us Cliftons, our hosts – the Rytkonens, and about 10 of their extended family members and friends) settled in for a few lazy days alone with nature (us) and some hunting (them). 😉

This was my first time over-nighting it in a pop-up camper rather than a little ole’ tent, and I have to say – after seeing the bear that some fellow woods-goers passed by with (shot, as I’m sure you can imagine) – I was happy to have the extra elevation. I know, I know. Those bears could care less about me, and I realize I was in 10-man-deep-and-well-ammuntioned good company, but still – a girl’s imagination can get a little carried away in the woods.

(I don’t have a photo of said bear, but Jax was awe-struck by it. Okay, I was, too.)

Most of our camping time was spent relaxing, taking in the scenery, and spending time with our elated little ones (Jackson and Parker, who towers over Jackson despite his being a year younger. It’s good to have friends, right?) 🙂

While the big guys enjoyed quad rides exploring the land, our little guys enjoyed cruising toy trucks down two-tracks, playing with the pups, blowing bubbles and catching falling leaves (Terri’s inventive distraction for kids who swear they couldn’t possibly finish a walk).

Fiborn Quarry
On day two of our three-day weekend, we trekked over to the near-by Fiborn Quarry ruins. The former limestone quarry, which supplied Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, from 1905 to 1936, is now part of the Fiborn Karst Preserve. Remnants of the railroad house and ore-care loader still linger on the expansive, dug-out landscape.

The Preserve also houses a series of caves, most notably the Hendrie River Water Cave, Michigan’s longest known cave (about 1,500 feet). We didn’t venture into any of these, on account of 1) having kids in tow, 2) my serious claustrophobia, and 3) the bats that reside within.

The quarry was genuinely unlike anything I’ve seen before and being there felt like stepping back in time. Terri’s mom and I (the resident photography-lovers) reveled in our photo opp and the streams that disappeared underground around it. I honestly can’t wait to go back for more photos.

(You can check out some great additional shots of the ruins that I found online here.)

The Little Things
The weekend’s weather was quintessential for camping. Our days were bright and sunny, and the nights were chilly, already living up to the new Autumn season in a way that Georgia ‘seasons’ never synced up.

We otherwise spent our evenings around a well-maintained campfire (thanks, guys!) sipping beers and swapping stories. While the UP may well be the South of the North in many ways, beer proclivities vary greatly between the regions. Some gentle ribbing from our cohorts for my campsite beer selection of PBR quickly reminded me that, even in the UP, Michigan is still the Midwestern craft beer mecca. Next time, I’ll bring the good stuff …along with my PBR. 😉

Scenic detours on the way home: the Mackinac Bridge & Deadmans Hill overlooks…

We can’t thank the Rytkonens and their people enough for helping us finally scratch our camping itch. We’ll definitely be back, provided they’ll have us. We also have our sights set on a few new campgrounds for 2014, including Twelvemile Beach along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Bay View near Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay.

Do you have any other must-see Michigan campground recommendations? I’d love to hear them!

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Over Labor Day weekend, when camping plans were thwarted, we found ourselves with a free three-day weekend on our hands. On a whim, we set our sites on Wilderness State Park and headed for the northwestern tip of the Lower Peninsula. From there, on an even bigger whim, we decided to keep pressing northward and finaly fulfill the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore excursion we’d been itching to take. No bags packed, no room booked – we were winging it.

We hopped over to Mackinac City along the way to stock up on bare essentials (a change of clothes, toiletries, and a few groceries), pinpointed a destination point for the night, and then we crossed the Mighty Mac and were on our way. We made it to Grand Marais, a city on the eastern-most edge of Pictured Rocks, by about 11pm.

The next morning, we awoke to serene views of Lake Superior and immediately booked a sunset cruise to explore Pictured Rocks from the water later that day, thanks to a brilliant call by my better half. I can’t recommend this enough – particularly for others out there traveling with young ones not yet ready for long hikes touring the shoreline from above. I’d also suggest aiming a little ahead of the final sunset cruise. The alternating convex and concave cliffs looked stellar in the evening sun, but it sank quickly (assisted by some cloud cover) and it was dark for much of the ride back (roughly two hours round-trip).

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the cruise and the stops we made at the various waterfalls and overviews that dot the shoreline along the way.

I tried to pare my photo volume down a bit here, but if you’re interested in seeing them all, you can find the full arsenal of our trip’s photos in my Flickr feed here.

Early AM rain the following morning kept the Pictured Rocks portion of our adventure to one day, but all told we saw some truly stunning natural beauty, spotted at least three bald eagles, witnessed a deer rescue, and managed to squeeze in some beach time on the way back down to Traverse City.

We’ll definitely be back to experience more of the Upper Peninsula in it’s varing seasonal attire, and to eventually soak in the Pictured Rocks views from the shoreline cliffs. In the meantime, we can both borrow/enjoy my friend’s perspective of that here. 🙂

Upper Excursion

Last Saturday we made the last-minute decision to take a weekend trip into MI’s Upper Peninsula (UP) – a land rumored to be steeped in raw natural beauty and ‘Yoopers’ happy to be living in near-isolation.

We set our sights on Tahquamenon Falls (closest of the UP waterfalls), made sure there were room-rental options to speak of in the area, and hit the road, leaving the rest to be sorted out as we went.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Our decision to get our room reservation out of the way before heading up to the falls set quite the tone for the first leg of our UP adventure.

Paradise – the itty-bitty town just outside the State Park and where we’d be taking refuge for the evening – offered up overnight options that fell a wee-bit short of the town’s implied promise. Nevertheless, the humble cottage we secured – full of decades-old textiles and a vibe that conjured up the comforts of generations past for both Jim and me – immediately drew us all in.

Never mind that no one at Moore’s Modern Cabins (a definite misnomer) seemed interested in minor technicalities like guest names or room keys.

Tah-qua-me-non (do-doo-do-do-do)

Our arrival at Tahquamenon offered up mid-afternoon light reflecting beautifully along the falls, along with equally beautifully kempt grounds, thanks in part, I’m sure, to some well-worded reminders to visiting patrons.

Resting between falls (and the multiple 100+ step staircases) at the on-premise concession shop, we picked up ice cream, hot dogs and a new/throwback toy gun for Jackson (which we may still be withholding the rubber bands to).

Scouring the Lake Superior Shoreline

After the falls, we drove up to the North peak of Whitefish Bay, where Tahquamenon empties out into Lake Superior between Michigan’s UP & Canada. The sandy, rural back roads and driftwood-strewn beaches that we found there confirmed our suspicions that the UP might be a good replacement site for what used to be our annual camping trips to Jekyll Island.

The next morning we headed for the scenic drive that runs along the north-eastern UP coastline, all the way to Sault (pronounced ‘Sue’) Ste. Marie – (where, one day, we’ll actually venture across the border). Honestly – this was my favorite part of our trip. About 15-20 minutes eastbound on our shoreline drive, we came across what’s labeled as Houghts Landing in our MI atlas (though I don’t find reference to that anywhere else, so don’t quote me on it.) It’s one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve been to – the pictures below don’t do justice to the near-tropical landscape we stumbled upon.

Here, the aqua water’s edge pushes ashore, leaving a thin, scalloped rim of tiny black iron particles along the sand before receding back to swallow up more. That same iron (a byproduct of mining in the area) gives the boulders that dot the bay a rust-colored hue that stands in stark contrast to the teal and turquoise surrounding waters. The cold stream of a tiny, adjacent creek comes carving into the shoreline, as if to leave one last independent statement before assimilating into it’s Lake Superior counterpart – all the while affording Jackson the perfect path for running and splashing.

It was all absolute magic. (We were warned that might happen.)

The Not-So-Long Road Home

We finally tore ourselves away from the beach – our migration prompted by a slowly growing crowd (meaning maybe 10 other people) – to head on to the Point Iroquois Lighthouse – our last stop before a past-due lunch in Sault Ste. Marie, home of the famous Soo Locks. Seafood and (more) ice cream consumed, we lounged around in the grass, watching the massive ships rise and fall at the lock-master’s whim. (Are they really called that? I doubt it. But they should be.)

All told, our two days touring the UP felt much longer, in a really good way. The fact that we’ve still only just begun exploring it leaves me all the more optimistic that we’ll never run out of new adventures to pursue here in Northern Michigan and beyond.