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So, in case you didn't know, our trip took us first to the UP of Michigan. I had never been there before - and it didn't dissapoint. We stopped at a place called Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, it runs along a stretch of Lake Superior, where dunes meet sheer rock cliffs, and natural arches carved by the pounding of an inland sea.

Go a few hundred yards inshore, you can find lush forest streams with beautiful waterfalls, still slightly obscured by the fog rolling in from Superior

By the way, it is extremely cold there in early June - the water does not warm up much, and the early summer fog stays with you throughout the day. You can camp right near the lake, or move down shore to camp around a bunch of inland glacial ponds. Au Sable light is also there, a graveyard to many 19th century ships that to this day still litter the lakeshore, testimony to a more dangerous time.

 

It was here we took our first 10+ mile hike, and we were so unprepared I thought I was going to die of starvation. Little did I know that by the end of the trip, 10-14 miles a day would become the norm. There is a beautiful loop trail by Au Sable that follows the lakeshore - highly recommended for anyone who makes a visit up there.

I'm writing about Michigan because I don't think many people are aware how beautiful the UP is. Driving away from the lake, you are free of Interstates and strip malls and you run through some of the most beautiful land I've ever seen in the populous east. Straight, flat roads that lead through deciduous forests and marsh, as you barrel off towards Wisconsin and the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota.

 

The trip began on the Interstate system because we had no other way to quickly leave New York and get through Canada to Michigan. But once we left that first stretch - we hardly returned. I would estimate 80% of our entire journey of 20,000 plus miles was spent on state and county road. As I have traveled across the country twice before soley on the Interstates, I can testify to what a difference it makes when you leave the 4 lane paved nightmares that have homogenized the country into a giant strip mall. Rural America, replete with locally owned stores and shops is still alive in the places the Interstate system has failed to touch.

 

We met a nice couple that had traveled to Alaska before, and had offered to take us Walleye fishing that night. Unfortunately, we were leaving for the warmer climates of Minnesota (yes, Minnesota was warmer by far) that night. As we talked to them, they told us about Alaska - places to stop - as well as filling our heads with fears about Grizzly bears (which, by the way, turned out to be no problem at all, even though they were everywhere. One only has to be mindful and careful about how you act in bear country and you should have no trouble at all).

 

After we left, we went to Voyageurs National Park, which is a unique water-based park straddling the Minnesota/Canada border - a place still full of wolves, bears, and beautifully lacking of people...