September 25, 2016
Union Bay Campground in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is 15 miles west of Ontonagon in Michigan’s Upper Peninsular, right on Lake Superior. The Park’s 60,000 acres are one of the few remaining large wilderness areas in the Midwest. Towering virgin timber, secluded lakes, and miles of wild rivers and streams make a visit to the “Porkies” a trip to remember.
The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park was established in 1945 (2 years older than Patti and I). Since then, many changes have taken place in the way we live; however, the Porcupine Mountains are almost unchanged. The remote interior with its towering pine and hemlock seems to defy time. The solitude of the park is mysterious and exciting. As Michigan’s only state designated wilderness, the Porkies is partnered with ‘Leave No Trace’ ethics and has developed manuals for specific uses.
The Porcupine Mountains themselves rise abruptly from Lake Superior to form a 12-mile long escarpment, which parallels the lakeshore for a distance of 1.5 miles. At 1.1 billion years old, the mountains are a section of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world. On the landward side of the escarpment is Lake of the Clouds, which is one of the spectacular views to be found from high peaks in the area. On a clear day, one may see more than 25 miles to the west.
The Park is home to a number of endangered, threatened and special-concern species including small blue-eyed mary, ram’s head ladyslipper, Hooker’s fairy-bells, slender cliff brake, male fern, gray wolf, wooded turtle, peregrine falcon, merlin, and bald eagle.
Leaving Bayfield, WI we traveled east on US 2 and crossed into Michigan stopping at the MI Welcome Center to pick up roadmaps of the area and ‘points of interest’ brochures. At this point in the day we were dodging raindrops again and headed northeast on MI 28 and then north on 519 to Union Bay Campground in the Porkies. When we reached the first campground, Presque Isle, we turned with the ‘campground’ sign and realized this was not the one with electricity – it was ‘dry-camping’. So we headed out and came to an unmarked dead-end. Luckily I stopped before we had to back Rosalita up and could just make a U-turn in the parking lot. Sometimes the signage is not so great identifying which way to turn…
After getting on South Boundary Road and winding in and around the trees and dips in the road we arrived (25 miles and 1 hour later) at Union Bay Campground. What seems like a short distance on the map… turns out to be a l-o-n-g haul sometimes. So at 3pm we arrived at the kiosk, where Dan ‘the man’ guards the entrance. The sites are all grass and people were parked haphazardly on the grass, but the lake is just a few feet away. When we asked Dan what the forecast was for tomorrow, he said “gale-force winds” are expected (gale-force = 30 nautical knots which is 60-65 MPH) and 7’ waves on the lake. He said to set up on the inner circle because the lakeside sites would get a ringside seat for the gale-force winds. So luckily for us, the lakeside spots were taken. Oh, and heavy rain would also accompany the winds…
Hope against hope, the weather person was right! As I write this we see campers and ‘tenters’ leaving the park – wimps. They were probably all from the shoreline sites.
After setting up, Patti suggested I take my bike ride since it seems unlikely that Monday would be an outdoorsy day. I did heed her suggestion, and rode to the Visitor Center about 2 ½ miles down the road. It was so great to be ‘two-wheelin’ it again – I’ll have to get back in bike-shape… 5 miles was my limit today, wimp: I will add, it wasn’t all level! What looks level in a car is not always level on a bike!!!
While I was out tooling around on my bike, Patti, the information gatherer, was reading what to do in the area. There is a “Lake of the Clouds” that can be driven to, and since Monday would not be favorable for camera work, we drove to the lake this evening. It was a small hike to the overlook and the lake was marvelous. It is an oblong lake surrounded by millions of trees. The trees were just starting to turn, and it would be gorgeous in a week or two. Too bad… it would be spectacular with the reds and golds through the camera lens.
Patti and I drove to the Ranger/Visitor Center and the sign said they were open until “6pm Eastern Time”. I thought that was strange so I asked a Ranger inside and she said we had just entered the Eastern Time Zone (not to be confused with the Twilight Zone). When we went to Lake of the Clouds, (which was a mere 7 miles down the road) we checked our phones and we were still in the Central Time Zone. Who’d have thought?
On the evening of the 25th, Patti and I went to watch the debate (Hillary vs. Trump) at the AmericInn, a few miles down the road. The debate only deserves one sentence on the blog!!!
On Monday, the 26th, the gale-force winds DID roar in and brought driving rain with it, so we took a drive to catch a few wave pictures. We drove up and down the coast looking for the perfect crest of the waves: “surf’s up”. I would jump out, trying as best as I could to protect the camera, and taking some shots from inside the truck when possible: rain and cameras don’t mix well…
As the wind and rain continued we saw many, many campers heading out earlier than they had planned. Even our campsite started to become a small river. We can’t just drive home and unpack: we are more than one thousand miles from friends and family so we just stuck it out. Later in the day we drove up to Ontonagon to check out the River Road Campground, which is privately owned. We tried to extend one more night at the Union Bay, but our site was booked, so any way we looked at it, we would have to move, so why not try another campground…
As we were packing up to leave, I noticed there was a ‘camper-jam’ right around the bend and traffic was blocked. When I walked down further, I saw a 5th-wheel that had separated from the truck and they were busy trying to re-hook the two (looked like a BIG job!) We wondered if they got in a hurry because of the rain and wind and forgot a cotter pin, or something. It made us stop and think about never being in too much of a hurry, that we forget to hook something up. That was a well-placed lesson for us!!!
Ontonagon here we come…
gypsyroadgallery 