After a somewhat disappointing visit to Voyageurs National Park, Beth and I continued our easterly trek, stopping in Michigan to explore the highly anticipated Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Nestled along the stunning shores of Lake Superior, Pictured Rocks offers visitors a variety of ways to view this beautiful coastline. We chose several hikes to begin our day and topped it off with an evening sunset cruise on Lake Superior.
The hikes were very scenic and offered us the opportunity to view the rocky shores and deep blue waters of the lake. We really enjoyed the Chapel Beach Loop Trail, which took us to the sandy shore beach over which Chapel Rock stands. Chapel Rock is a unique rock formation from which a majestic tree grows, connected to the mainland by only a 20 foot root protruding from the base of the rock. It’s hard to describe it, you kind of have to see it to fully understand it.
After taking a number of pictures in this area, we headed back to our car and filled our afternoon with several more hikes. Since our campground was about 20 minutes away from our hiking and cruising location, we decided not to return to our site until after the cruise. It was a beautiful day, and we had no problem passing the hours away.
Our sunset cruise was scheduled to begin around 7:15. Around 5, we drove to the little town of Castle Rock, the departure point for the cruise, and home of Eh Burger, the self-proclaimed best burger joint in Michigan. Who could pass that up. We each ordered one of the house specialty burgers, and wasted no time in polishing them off. Since we have only eaten in one burger joint in Michigan, we couldn’t argue with their claim of being the best. We can report the burgers were very, very tasty. I was glad that Beth got to have someone else prepare her meal this night, she deserved a night off.
From Eh Burger, we strolled down to the Pictured Rocks cruise dock to take our place in the growing line getting queued up to board. The evening was beautiful, sunny and mild with a slight breeze. From the dock, we could see the rocky shoreline and the blue lake waters on which we would soon be riding, and this heightened the anticipation for what was to come.
The boat we were going to be riding on was a double decker. The bottom floor was enclosed, and the top floor was open to the air. We obviously opted for the top floor. Fortunately, we had arrived early enough so we were able to score two prime viewing seats exactly where we wanted to be. Armed with her Canon Rebel camera, Beth took the seat along the rail for a better view and I settled in next to her for the three hour tour, the three hour tour (you more mature folks may remember that famous Gilligan’s Island line)!
We had a wonderful evening on the water. While we had seen a good bit of the coastline on our hikes during the day, the boat view was so much more impressive. The famous rock formations and shoreline stretches of Pictured Rocks seemed to come alive before our eyes as the sun began to set on them and on the water. The captain expertly guided the boat closely along the coast, offering us endless views during the 22 mile round trip. It was worth every penny of the price of admission.
At one point, Beth commented that she wish she had brought her long distance lens to capture more closely some of the more distant views we were getting. The man seated if front of us turned around and asked her what kind of camera she had. Turns out he had the same camera as Beth and he was kind enough to loan her his long distance lens so she could get the shots she wanted.
We thanked him and then began talking with him and his partner. HIs name was Wes and his partner’s name was Tom. The pair reside in Philadelphia and like us, they happened to be on a cross country road trip in their 45 foot 5th wheel travel trailer. We spent the return boat ride talking with them about our experiences and had a great time getting to know them.
Tom asked us about how things were going for us in a tent. We told him that with the exception of a couple of cold nights, and the lack of showers, we were doing just fine. He then joked that if he wanted to, he could turn on the furnace in their 5th wheel remotely from the boat so it would be warm and cozy when they arrived back to it. His biggest complaint was the lack of reliable wifi. We laughed and laughed at that. We were often very cold, and very dirty, and Tom was complaining about a lack of wifi! Priorities, priorities. The good conversation and the great views made this one of our favorite nights of our escapade.
As the boat pulled back into the dock, we wished Tom and Wes safe travels, and they wished us well too, and we took off to our lowly, cool tent with no running water, and they headed back to a cozy, warm 5th wheel, with running water, a 65 inch tv, and a gas fireplace. I think they were both feeling a little guilty as we parted.
I was so glad that Pictured Rocks turned out to be such a great stop. It is a place that Beth has wanted to see for years, and our time there will long be remembered even after we regain our sea legs. Our next park is Indiana Dunes, as the escapade enters its final stretch.