Tuesday September 5, 2023 - It was a 3 hour drive from Union Bay to our next campground right outside of Munising. We are staying at Bay Furnace Campground which is a National Forest. With our America the Beautiful Senior Pass we get half price campgrounds in the National Parks, so Bay Furnace was only $15/night! It was a beautiful campground (no electric or bath houses) with private sites and some sites with great views of Lake Superior. Rain was forecast for the next two days, so we opted for the sunset cruise this evening so we could see Pictured Rocks while we had good weather.
We stopped for a quick break at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap
It was a crazy place and quite an extensive tourist trap
A beautiful beach at Bay Furnace
One turned leaf among an entire green branch
Home for the next 2 days
a slight view of the lake through the trees
The first site on our boat ride was an old lighthouse on Grand Island. Grand Island sits directly in front of Munising and provides protection to the Munising harbor. It's owned by the state and has great camping and hiking.
Pictured Rocks stretches 42 miles from Grand Marais to Munising, along the southern coastline of Lake Superior
The streaks on the sandstone are from minerals seeping out with the ground water and trickling down the face of the rocks. Red and orange are iron, black and brown are manganese, and blue and green are copper.
The cliffs are 200 feet tall
so stripey up close
The water has eroded the sandstone and made great arches and caverns
This one is called lover's leap
up close to lover's leap
Rainbow Cave
Indian Head formation (looks like the profile of a face)
Battleship rocks looks like battleships lined up
Indian Drum
Our boat pulled right into this cove
Chapel Rock - Look at how the tree on the top of the rock has roots that cross over to land
Spray Falls
We moved downstairs to warm up on the ride back
Flower Vase
Grand Portal at sunset!
Last view of Indian head
more stripes
Sunset on the cliffs
Lighthouse bench
Wednesday September 6, 2023 - The weather forecast for Wednesday said rain and they were right...we woke up to rain this morning. It's the first rain of our trip, so we can't complain! We will head into Munising to find some pasties (pronounced PASS-tee) for lunch. Pasties are popular UP meals which are potpies without the pot. They are handheld pastries stuffed with meat and veggies (authentic ones have rutabaga). The pasty came to the Upper Peninsula in the 1840's when the Cornish immigrants brought the pasty into the iron ore mines. The pasty dates back to 1150 in England. We found a brew pub that said we could bring in food and we settled in for some beers and lunch. By the afternoon the rain was gone (although it was still pretty overcast) and we drove to Miner's Castle to get a look at Pictured Rocks from the top and walk out to Miner's falls.
we woke up to rain
A pasty from Miner's Pasty Kitchen
Drink U.P.
We loved the hobo beer at East Channel Brewing
Uncle Gene carved a beautiful walking stick for Kev
Mirabelle finally is able to get comfortable in our van
Miner's Falls from the bottom
climbing to the top
Top of MIner's Falls
Miner's Castle from above
Miner's Castle a little closer
Grand Island in the distance
Tacos at our "house" (if we can't eat outside we usually eat in Aunt Gerry & Uncle Gene's more spacious RV, but thought we'd try our van tonight)
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