And the Circle is Complete

12 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment

by Becca in Road Trips Tags: camping, canada, friends, michigan, minnesota, music, road trips, trips, wisconsin

Well hello!

These past few weeks I’ve been on what could be called the best route ever: the Circle Loop around Lake Superior. The greatest feature of Michigan’s environment, Lake Superior (or Gitchi-Gamee, Lac Superieur, the Inland Ocean, whichever name you want) is the largest hunk of freshwater in the world by surface area, the third largest by volume, and the most amazing landform I have ever seen.

It is so cold and enormous it creates its own climate, one in which arctic ecosystems thrive along its northern side, which was really amazing and beautiful. I’d never gone to the Canadian side, which is generally very rocky, exposed, rugged, and stunning. Jesse, my travel companion, and I camped in Pancake Bay Provincial Park, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Pukaskwa National Park, and Thunder Bay. I highly recommend Lake Superior and Pukaskwa as vacation destinations, and not so much the other two. Then again, Thunder Bay was the only stop on our entire tour in which I was not barraged by mosquitoes, so I suppose there’s a silver lining everywhere.

It was in Thunder Bay that Jesse and I began navigating Lake Superior in the most incredible way possible. We had no maps and had basically been following road signs to that point. However, in Thunder Bay we found a postcard with the Lake Superior Circle Tour on it, setting off approximately fifteen hours of the following conversation:

“Jesse, which highway am I supposed to be taking to get to [x place]?”
“Uhhh, I’m not sure. Let me check the postcard!”

We spent a night in Lake Superior National Forest, which had amazing black sand beaches and a lot of wild raspberries and strawberries. And mosquitoes. Then we drove through Duluth, which seems like a beautiful city – I’m now disappointed we didn’t get to spend any time there! But the Apostle Islands were calling our name. I’m crossing my fingers to go back there as well – we didn’t have any kayaks and they were absurdly expensive to rent, so we mostly laid on the beaches, walked around the city on the accessible island and its mainland sister city, and wrote postcards.

Onward to Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park and back to Michigan! One night there gave us great hiking, excellent rocky outcrops, and a fantastic sunset. The only cloud in the sky was a giant horde of mosquitoes. They were worse here than anywhere else, which I’ve heard is generally the case. Jesse appropriately referred to them as “an ordeal. That was an ordeal we went through.”

After a stop at the Chassell Strawberry Festival in the Keweenaw Peninsula – at which we were the only people from out of town and ate many delicious strawberries – we arrived in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to a perfect late afternoon temperature. Swimming in the lake, reading on the sand, picking wild blueberries… it really felt like I’d arrived. The next day we went on a five hour hike with more blueberries, sand dunes, lighthouses, and swimming. The biting flies came out to play in the afternoon, which was kind of a bummer, but it just felt right being at

Last night was Blissfest, a music festival in Bliss, Michigan, which is a lot like homecoming for a lot of people I know. I saw 40-50 people who I love so much, as well as some of my favorite Michigan musicians, and as I left the festival last night I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky I am. We’re in Petoskey now, visiting a good friend in Alpena tonight, and back to Kalamazoo tomorrow! Spending a night in a bed after a hot shower was really really great yesterday, and it’s just kind of hit me that after our two very excellent weeks traveling, I will be staying in one place for at least five nights, and that is awesome. Hooray.

I’ve been gone for a long time – you may have noticed – but it’s back to the land of internet for a while now. To sum up the trip:

Wildlife sightings: golden eagles, bears, bald eagles, seagulls, cormorants, grouse, a Cooper’s Hawk (and of course, chipmunks, deer, squirrels, etc. We also stopped at a goat farm. They might not be wild but they’re so cute I felt I should include them)

Invertebrates that bit me: tick (1), ant (1), stable flies (several), mosquitoes (infinite)

Invertebrates that could have just as easily bitten me but didn’t: many horseflies and deer flies, spiders

All my love, and photos soon!