Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Big Cedar Campground, Germfask, MI: June 23-29
This campground used to be Passport America but is no longer, but it looked like a good base for sightseeing, so we decided to stay here anyway. We got an Escapees discount, but they charged $3/day for A/C, just for the days you use it, and that pretty much used up the discount. Fortunately we only had to run the A/C two days. This park has a friendlier feel without so many rules. The name "Germfask" may sound unfamiliar -- it was originally named "The Dump" since lumber was dumped into the river there, but no one wanted to live in a place named The Dump, so eight of the original owners decided to rename the town based on the first letters of their last names, and Germfask is what they came up with.The cg is only 3 miles from the entrance to Seney National Wildlife Refuge, a truly special place, even for a NWR. The land was originally sold to potential farmers "sight unseen", who found less than an inch of topsoil after clearing away the timber & swamps. The owners all abandoned the property, so it reverted back to the state, who offered it to the federal govt as a refuge. During the Depression the CCC set up camp here (our cg was the original CCC camp) & reworked the land into its present shape. All the lakes in the refuge are manmade, originally by the CCC. We have driven through or gone on a tour in a park vehicle at least a half-dozen times, seeing Trumpeter swans (lifer), common loons (with babies on their backs!), osprey, bald eagles, & numerous smaller birds as well as other wildlife, but the real draw is just the beauty & tranquility of it all.
We managed to tear ourselves away one day to drive up to the village of Grand Marais & the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. Part of the road in Pictured Rocks was closed, but we still got to see Sable Falls and the Log Slide Overlook, which offers a breathtaking view of the Grand Sable Dunes. We walked the 1.5 miles to the Au Sable Lighthouse, and on the way back walked along the shore past the remains of 3 shipwrecks: Gale Staples, Sitka, and Mary Jarecki. We will see more of Pictured Rocks from the west side when we stay in Munising in a couple of weeks.
We took another side trip down to the town of Manistique and found a lovely boardwalk, which led to the picturesque Manistique East Breaker Light, a charming red lighthouse at the end of a breakwater. Luckily, we are finding few problem bugs at these shoreline areas that we enjoy so much.
Another day we drove around Manistique Lakes and then south to Lake Michigan. From there we drove to the town of Gulliver to Suel Choix Point Lighthouse, which has been nicely restored by volunteers from the area.
The next day we drove west of Manistique to Palms Book State Park, home of Kitch-iti-kipi or Big Springs, the largest springs in Michigan. Seeing the 300x175 foot oval pool is fairly impressive, but there is a hand-operated raft attached to a cable that takes you across the pool, where you can see the sand at the bottom bubbling & rolling from the water rushing in at the rate of 10,000 gallons per minute -- well worth the time (and with no effort, since kids always seem to take over turning the wheel that propels the raft). From there we drove down to Fayette Historic State Park, home of the Fayette Historic Townsite. Fayette was a bustling industrial community built on a natural harbor between 1867 & 1891. 20 historic building still survive in excellent condition, and visitors may wander for as long as they like. The signs provide an excellent glimpse into a long-gone way of life.
More drives through Seney and a nice walk on their 1 1/2 mile nature trail finished off our time here. We now have nets that cover our heads for bug protection and have had to use them several times. They actually sell whole "bug suits" (think of harem-type pants made of netting and similar jackets) if you really get serious about being outside. Avoiding the areas for the most part, seems more desirable to us! We are also using a lot more insect repellent than we like to.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:24 PM 
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