By David Freeze

Day 4

    I had a nice evening at the rustic Gateway Motel in Newberry, Michigan. I spoke to both the husband wife owners and enjoyed the conversations. Without knowing that I needed to make a stop first on the way to the shipwreck museum, I booked the room while I was in Mackinac City. Upon checking in at the Gateway, I found out about a special treat that was close by, so I had two big things to do this morning.

    First up was a half hour drive to the Tahquamenon River State Park for the add-on unknown until yesterday. There are two sets of falls, the Upper and Lower Falls. The Upper Falls is the special one and gets the notoriety of being the second largest falls in the United States east of the Mississippi. Of course, Niagara is the first. I was there early and ready to pay for a state park day pass to get in, but nobody was around at the entry gate and the credit card machine was taped over. A sign alerted visitors to pay at the Lower Falls location.

   I walked a round trip of a mile to see the Upper Falls and found that the river level best viewing area was under construction and was blocked off. From a quarter mile away, I could hear the water pounding. The Upper Falls has a height of 50 feet, a length of 200 feet and a maximum recorded flow of 52,228 gallons per second. The water is shaded brown because of tannins. I left with the best shot I could get of the falls and then headed for the main entrance at the Lower Falls location. I did pay there and got my sticker. It was good for today only and I didn’t visit any other state parks. The Lower Falls were good too, but not spectacular.

    Next, I drove through the small community of Paradise and took a dead-end road north to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The museum at the end of the road is on Lake Superior, making it my second time on Lake Superior and third of the Great Lakes visited on this journey. I was there by 9:30am and already the parking lots were nearly full. It is a nine-mile drive from the Town of Paradise, and few houses are on the road, yet the traffic was steady all morning. I know because I rode my bike there for its first action on this fast-paced trip.

   Upwards of 100,000 visitors annually come to the museum and former Coast Guard Station. The Whitefish Point Light Station is the oldest one in Michigan but looks modern because it has what they called “stick built” construction.  It doesn’t have the saltshaker appearance that most lighthouses do. Built in 1849, the lighthouse is in a very active area for shipwrecks. The most famous of which is the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, made more famous by Gordon Lightfoot’s song of the same name.

    Most interesting was a movie shown on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and how divers salvaged the ship bell to later replace it with another showing the names of all 29 men who were lost with the ship. A marker to the ship rests near the beach.

    The Coast Guard lifesaving efforts were incredible in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The men lived a hard life, knowing that at any time they could be called on to row a wooden boat into a raging sea to save the victims of a ship disaster. They also walked the beach on “around the clock” patrols, meeting the person from the next lighthouse midway, exchanging tokens as proof, before walking back. Fall and winter nights were often unbearable with snow, wind and extreme cold. There are 13 buildings on site and most had at least one knowledgeable volunteer available for questions today.

     I then drove west in hopes of visiting Grand Marais, Michigan. There is also a Grand Marais in Minnesota. on the western side of Lake Superior. I didn’t realize that so many roads are gravel in northern Michigan and found myself on several of these washboard disasters. Finally, after backtracking, I did reach Grand Marais, Michigan. It was a small fishing town but now with less fishing and more touristy shops. Kayakers love the spacious harbor as do sailboats.  This Grand Marais is smaller even than the Minnesota one with less than 250 residents. But it was busy on Sunday afternoon.

   My goal for the afternoon was to try to drive the coast west, or as close as I could to it. After some trial and error, I found a small road called H58 that skirted the coast, then pulled away, before returning. The drawing card of the area was the Pictured Rocks National Seashore. The rocks and steep cliffs are best seen from the water, but I did get long range views of two of the best. More gravel roads and impatient people caused loads of dry dust. I am sure the rocks are most impressive from the water because I saw a group unloading canoes after paddling out to the biggest ones. They are less impressive from the viewing areas on land.

      I drove through Munising and saw another heavy tourist area along the shore. I kept driving to Marquette and Ishpeming, where I am spending the night. Another motel with a “We’re Full” sign on then door, but the owner had rooms after all. I have been fortunate to find good lodging and nice people at these motels so far and all have been very reasonable.

     I will visit Marquette for things to see in the morning and then turn south towards Wisconsin and more of Lake Michigan. Weather is perfect, gas is high, but this has been an exciting trip so far! Running each morning has been good, my cycling needs work and I love exploring. See you tomorrow for Day 5!