The Journey Home - UP in Michigan

After Lake Gogebic, we travelled to Munising where we stayed at the Pictured Rocks KOA.  We treated Michigan like a destination for our trip so we were in Munising for three nights and would camp at three other locations before crossing the border back into Canada.

The Pictured Rocks National Seashore have been on my Bucket List and I was happy that some parts of it were dog friendly; not as much as I would have liked but certainly enough to fill our time there.  We had sites up near the camp store and which backed onto the playing field. The first night a whole bunch of kids were playing with a volleyball that kept rolling into our campsites. That, of course, got the dogs barking a lot! I took care of that ball after the kids left and there was no more volleyball or soccer while we were there. Don't worry, I just hid the ball behind the fence at the back of the camp store.

Pictured Rocks KOA

Rockett at the KOA

The first night there it looked like it was going to rain so we had dinner at the Dogpatch restaurant and did a little wandering around town. 

The next day I headed off on my own, you need a vehicle pass for the National Seashore so I stopped at the local tourist bureau on my way into town. While there are many places that you can take your dogs there are quite a few trails and beaches where dogs are not allowed. I chose a couple places that weren't too far and we headed off, first to Miners Castle and then to Miners Falls where I lost my car keys on the trail, luckily someone found them. Disaster averted!

Miners Castle

Tour Boat

Miners Falls

Rockett on the trail to Miners Falls

Next it was off to Miners Beach, a dog friendly beach. I expected a rocky beach but no, it was miles of sandy beach. If I hadn't lost so much time with the lost car keys and if I had been better prepared, I might have stayed here longer as both Teddy and Liam loved chasing waves. I tried to go down the beach where it wasn't so packed but you had to cross a channel and Liam was having none of that. He slipped his collar twice when I tried getting him to cross the channel so I didn't push things. I didn't need a lost dog.

Miners Beach

Kayak tour coming into the beach

Next up was Munising Falls, this was an easy trail if you just wanted to see the falls from the base with two overlooks that required you to do stairs which were a bit more challenging especially with two dogs.

Munising Falls

Liam on the trail to the overlook

The walls near the falls trail, all carved by water.

The next day we spent exploring Munising, some art displays, the harbour, a brewery and, on the way back to the KOA, Wagners Falls.

Veterans Memorial

Big Foot

The next time I go to the "U" "P", I'd like to have more time so I can see more of the waterfalls and lighthouses as well as have a day on the beach. I'd also to take a boat tour as many of the rock formations are really only visible from Lake Superior; one of the tour boat companies has kennels where you can leave your dogs. 

Next it was off to Cheboygan State Park, so it was a day of three Great Lakes, we left Lake Superior, drove by Lake Michigan and ended up on Lake Huron. We also crossed the Mackinaw Bridge, I was a bit worried about this but it actually was a pretty easy crossing.

Lake Michigan shores

Mackinaw Bridge from Lake Michigan

We stopped after crossing the bridge and walked around for a little while before heading to the state park.

Mackinaw Bridge from Lake Huron

Cheboygan State Park

Cheboygan State Park is on Duncan Bay on Lake Huron. My camp site backed onto the bay, there wasn't much of a beach there but just down the way was a path to a small beach. Dogs aren't allowed on the actual beach but I took them over there one evening anyway but not into the swimming area.

Cheboygan was a nice little town. We went in to see the lighthouse. It had been moved from it's original location and refurbished. The volunteer lighthouse keepers were from Ohio, they were pretty impressed we were veterans and insisted on taking our picture. We also went to a small park near by because it was named Ottawa Park, to the city beach and range light, toured the county jail, to the Cheboygan Brewing Company and to Hive North, a mead and cider hall. The dogs loved the brewery, not because the patio was fenced and back off of the sidewalk but because there was free popcorn.

Cheboygan Crib Light

Sculpture in Ottawa Park

Ottawa Park bench

Glass mosaic on pavilion pillars

County Jail

Hive North Mead Hall

Next it was on to Hartwick Pines State Park. This was a really nice campground, had we known, we would have stayed  here more than one night and used it as base to see other things in the area. However rather than just heading straight down the highway through central Michigan, we took a longer coastal route, heading inland just at Alpena. This way we were able to stop at another lighthouse and see more of the Lake Huron shoreline. The volunteer lighthouse keepers at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse were also from Ohio. The folks in Ohio must love lighthouses.

Lake Huron

Forty Mile Point Lighthouse

Joseph S Fay shipwreck

Hartwick Pines State Park has a logging museum and wooden chapel so after checking in we headed there before going to our campsites for the evening.

Hartwick Pines State Park, site 41

The last stop in Michigan was Metamora-Hadley State Recreation Area. We were disappointed with our campsites, sloped, all dirt and really no privacy but we did have a good view. We had three nights here and were able to meet up with a fellow blogger from Change Is Hard. Meeting up was so cool as we had been nearby to each other a couple times before and hadn't been able to get together, but you know what we didn't even take our picture together. 

Dawn's cookies

That ends the international portion of the journey. This post has been a long one. I'll finish up with a post of our crossing back into Canada and the return through Ontario.