This rainy morning we headed over the Mackinaw Bridge to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Turns out the "Uppers" (say Yooper) have a different outlook than the lower portion of Michigan and have tried to secede multiple times. (Sounds familiar to our northern and southern California friends and family.)
Since the weather was hot, steamy, and occasionally rainy, we decided to forego bicycle riding. Instead we hiked this relatively short path to see the waterfalls along the Tahquamenon River. We were amazed to find out they used this river to 'float' the cut timber down to sawmills in the southern part of the state.
We camped for two nights at Rivermouth Campground, which is a Michigan state park campground at the mouth of the Tahquamenon river. Delightful campsites at the river's edge with excellent facilities and hot showers.
The next day we went out to the Shipwreck Museum and Lighthouse at Whitefish Point just north of Paradise. Whitefish Point has claimed more ships than any other stretch of Lake Superior. In addition to the lake's notorious storms, the Point is a narrow and treacherous channel.
The ore carrier, Edmund Fitzgerald, at the time the largest ship plying the Great Lakes, went down in a fierce storm with all hands lost. Gordon Lightfoot memorialized it in his ballad, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Actual cause of the disaster remains a mystery to this day.
The lighthouse was originally a stone tower, but could not withstand the violent storms and winds of Lake Superior winter, so was replaced with this wrought iron version. The mechanism that kept the light revolving was similar to that of a grandfather clock and required winding every 2.5 hours. The lightkeeper's cottage was attached by a bridge to the lighthouse stairs so that the lightkeeper was spared some of winter's harshness as he rewound the light multiple times per night.
Paula's not a fan of heights, but can you see her up on the catwalk?
This cart was used to haul down the large timbers before they were dropped into the water for travel to the mills. The cart wheels were huge, and the logs were lashed to the structure, but the cart itself appeared very small.
Here's one of the natural sand dunes which was used to push the logs down to the water.
The forest service sign was attention getting though.
Beautiful coastline, but respect the weather.
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