Day 7 - Hancock, MI

The word of the day was hills and lots of them. I took the scenic route from Copper Harbor this morning and was treated to a really scenic ride. The highway was really narrow but traffic was incredibly light and the views were incredible. Quite the rolling hills though and some steep grades which was probably done to keep the speeds low on the road. Once I got off Michigan Hwy 26 I then made the turn on a two mile spur to hit US-41. The next five miles were a huge struggle with 600 feet of climb and a headwind. Each time I thought I had hit the crest of the hill another popped up. And another. I finally stopped in Mohawk, MI for lunch at Slim's Cafe (that sentence sounds made up but I swear it is true) for some baked cod I went on from there. Another big vertical climb over the next five miles before things started to smooth out into Hancock and had a massive drop in elevation to get down here. Which can only mean a fun climb in the morning.

Hancock...well, it's an interesting town. It is right by Houghton and the latter looks to be much nicer. I don't have many other glowing things to say about the town so I'll just leave it at that! Probably going to be putting all my things in the tent tonight though!

Ok, pictures from the day.

View from my motel room window. The next several are from Michigan Hwy 26.

 

 

 

 

Saw that sign a lot the entire day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think someone messed up the naming here...

 

That was in Calumet. Really nice town. And finally, home for tonight.

 

Tomorrow is a big day. 61 miles (rode about 53 today) with a lot more hills. Plus it is supposed to get up to 90 so I am going to try and start early tomorrow and be out by 6 am. Tomorrow's stop is Ontonagon, MI. In other news I haven't had to shave in a week. I could get used to that.

Have a great weekend!

 

Day 6 - Copper Harbor, MI

Well, after a good morning in Isle Royale and another ferry ride I am here in Copper Harbor, MI. A couple things to note about the day. First of all, if you ever decide to go to a national park for a week to camp or backpack go to Isle Royale. It's wilderness on most of the island. It's not as traveled but that is what makes it pretty incredible. I mentioned in my post yesterday how few people go to Isle Royale compared to Yellowstone but I found out today Isle Royale has the highest return rate of any national park. Pretty cool.

The ferry was a lot more modern and took a lot less time. Whereas the boat yesterday took four hours to go 20 miles this one took three and a half to go nearly sixty miles. It rained a good part of the way but I still sat outside on the boat where it is covered.

In the morning I slept in a bit and took a short hike. Pictures are below. I would love to go back and backpack for a week and plan on it someday. I wish I could have hiked more but just didn't have the time or the proper equipment. Most of the hiking trails aren't like the trails we see. You're climbing rocks in parts.

Copper Harbor is a neat little town but primitive in some ways. No cell phone service. I called home to check in on a pay phone (cue crappy Maroon 5 song) and that was even spotty at best. I upgraded to a motel room instead of tenting because of a storm rolling in. There is rain, thunder and lightning outside right now. The wifi is terrible though. Taking forever to get things uploaded!

Excited to ride again tomorrow. Pics from the day...

 

 

 

Those are all from a hike in Isle Royale.

 

 

Little bigger boat than last time and more crowded!

Off to Hancock, MI...

 

Day 5 - Isle Royale National Park

After a long day on the ferry I am sitting in Isle Royale National Park. I can't even describe how beautiful this park is. Also, to say that it is remote would be considered an understatement. The logistics of getting here are challenging and it isn't like Yellowstone where you can just drive here. Your options are to take a ferry from Grand Portage (like I did), ferry from Copper Harbor or Houghton, MI, take a seaplane or your own boat. I was talking with someone on the ferry and he told me more people visit Yellowstone in a day than Isle Royale (pronounced Royal instead of Roy-AL) in an entire season. Because of that, it is absolutely pristine and a hidden gem of the national park system. Basically, it is more wilderness preserve than national park. But before I get into more details, here is a timeline of the day.

Wake up call was around 5:15 am because I wanted to eat breakfast and get going off to the boat. Now, they had sent me my confirmation email a while back and it had some boarding passes and things like that. So you would assume this was a pretty formalized process of getting on the boat, right? Wrong. The captain and first mate looked like two guys that would rather go on a fishing trip in the woods rather than operate a ferry. A couple of rough-ish looking guys but unbelievably nice. They loaded up my bike, asked me about my trip, and told me a bit about the island. Nothing fancy about the boat. Didn't even have to show the boarding pass. Just gave them my name.

 

 

There was an observation deck on the front and back of the boat. We left at 7:30 am and there were maybe 15 people on board. There are two main harbors at Isle Royale. Windigo and Rock Harbor. At these places there are ranger stations, trading posts/stores (you'd be surprised what you can buy there...a lot of food, ice cream, beer and wine, etc) and places to get your permit for the island. Let's back up a bit first...as a kid from Elgin I can't say I had a lot of opportunities to be on a large boat. My aquatic credentials involve either a pontoon or a regular speedboat in a Nebraska lake. Not the best sample size. So with that I took a sea sickness pill before I left this morning just in case. I am not sure how bad I would have gotten but I had no issues. The stretch from Grand Portage to Windigo was about two and a half hours and it was choppy. There were times where it felt like the boat was going to tip over the side but nothing happened. I thought back to flying on a plane with a former co-worker whose brother was a pilot. He said, "You should only get worried if the flight attendants get scared." The guy steering the boat was casually eating a Snickers bar. Ok, then.

Nothing fancy inside the boat.

 

So like I said, the boat makes a few stops. In Windigo we docked for 30 minutes while some passengers left and others got on. There are other small docks where people can get on hiking trails or canoe routes that we stopped at along the way. We also had to listen to Ranger Katie tell us about the Leave No Trace aspect of the park. Most of the campsites are backcountry (there are 30-40 campsites in the park and all but two are primitive...catching your own fish is encouraged!) and she demonstrated the animals we need to worry about by using stuffed animals. Not making that up. The island is 45 miles long and there are only seven wolves, 750 moose (the most dangerous animal here) and a ton of foxes.

We made several stops to either pick people up or drop them off in the small bayside docks. I ended up getting to Rock Harbor at 2:45 pm. Long day on a boat! I locked my bike up on a rail near the ranger station and went to my campsite. Pictures from the trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boat stopped here to deliver mail for the island. There are numerous people that live here and it is mostly park service employees.

 

 

Here is my campsite for the night. In this particular campsite there are 20 "normal" sites that are similar to where I have been staying. There are also nine shelters like this one that are first come, first served. There was one left so I took it! It allows me to store my gear a little easier and keep it away from the foxes and squirrels. Plus I don't have to put up my tent this way!

Some photos from the hike to here. Not very long of a hike.

 

 

 

And my camp stove hard at work cooking up a late lunch...

 

Reading a book on the iPad. Really roughing it.

 

And finally a couple visitors near my campsite.

 

 

Time to cook dinner! I don't leave until 2:45 pm tomorrow so looks like I am sleeping in. Outside of that I plan on going on a hike or two to explore some things near here. There is a three mile hike that is a loop near here that they were showing on the ranger station as an idea to do do I think I will do that in the morning. Until tomorrow...

 

Day 4 - Grand Portage

So after a sleepless night I am up here in Grand Portage only a few miles from the Canadian border. Last night there was a restaurant/bar near the campground and it got a little rowdy. People were being pretty loud until about 2 am so only about four hours of sleep last night. Luckily, the ride today was pretty light. After 67 miles on day one, 57 on day two it was only 36 today. There were wide shoulders the entire way and the first half of the ride was flat but fairly hilly the second part.

I am actually sitting in a hotel room right now. Why a hotel instead of camping? Well initially I had thought this town was in the eastern time zone according to my map but it is still in central. My cell phone doesn't work up here but it does connect to the closest tower which is in Canada (doesn't make calls or texts though) and the time goes ahead an hour. The ferry leaves at 7:30 am to Isle Royale National Park and I have to be there by 6:45. It is three miles away so I will give myself 45 minutes to get there in case I get lost but it looks easy enough to find it. I have found that it takes me an hour and a half once I wake up to get going, take down my gear, repack my sleeping stuff and all my bags, cook breakfast, etc. I didn't feel like getting up at 4:30!! So staying here (Grand Portage Lodge & Casino) allows me to not have to unpack/re-pack everything and get going faster tomorrow. As I was waiting for a table at the restaurant (I doubt they would appreciate me cooking on my camp stove in my room) an elderly lady walked up wearing a Nebraska Huskers shirt and I had one on as well. She was with her daughter and niece. Her daughter asked me where I was from and it turns out she was from Omaha. Small world. Then a guy that was standing by from this area said he used go pheasant hunting near Norfolk. Crazy, small world. I am not exactly close to home right now!

Photos from the day:

 

 

Those are all from inside Grand Marais. Really cool town.

 

 

 

 

 

It's amazing how clear the water is in the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for today! The wifi at the hotel isn't working so this will probably get posted in a few days. Off to Isle Royale tomorrow!