7/16/2013

July 15, 2013 Travel to Grand Marais, Dunes, Beach, and Sunset

We left our little spot in the forest and headed north east to Grand Marais on H58.  Most of this was a dirt and gravel road until 2010 when it was reopened as a paved road.  The trees were just beautiful:

07-15-13 A Travel H58 Munising to Grand Marais (3)

Some very curvy areas:

07-15-13 A Travel H58 Munising to Grand Marais (9)

We made it to Grand Marais and are staying at Woodland Park Campground.  After getting set up, we first did a little tour of the town:

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (25)

The break wall - we walked about halfway out on it:

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (11)

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (10)

How sad but a good warning to those who want to be here in a storm:

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (9)

The beach and Pictured Rocks National Seashore in the distance:

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (14)

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (20)

One of their city parks and marina:

07-15-13 B Grand Marais (26)

We made our way back on H58 to Pictured Rocks National Seashore Sable Falls Visitor Center.   This northern part of the National Seashore does not have the cliffs but it does have huge dunes and beautiful beaches.

Our next stop the log slide and the log slide overlook.  We were told that this was the best place to see the dunes and we were not disappointed.

Once we parked the car, we made our way to the interpretive trail and were immediately surrounded by black flies that were really biting - Yikees! 

This was the start of the interpretive trail:

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (6)

Grand Marais was once a bustling lumber town and had five sawmills. WOW!

These big wheels were invented in Michigan to help extend the logging season to year round.  However in this area, the logging was mostly done in the winter.

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (11)

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (26)

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (18)

And here are the dunes:

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (30)a

It must have been a sight to behold to see those logs sliding down the dunes.  There is an area where we could have gone down those dunes but there was the sign that stated it took about 20 seconds to slide down and about one hour to climb back.  In this heat and the bugs biting, I was not that energetic today - LOL!

From here we drove to twelve mile beach:

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (43)a

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (47)

Beautiful.  There are many trails, three small campgrounds, a few overlooks, and many picnic areas in this stretch and we checked most of them.

On the way back we stopped at Sable Lake:

07-15-13 D Pictured Rocks National Seashore (53)

Back home, Andy started a fire and we cooked supper.  As it started to cool down, we took a walk around the park:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais

There are three sets of stairs from the campground to the beach.  We took the middle stairs down:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (6)

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (7)

Notice the stones - lots and lots of stones:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (8)

And some great driftwood:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (16)

From the beach looking back - our home is behind those trees:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (10)

On the west side of the park is:

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (19)

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (20)

This is our site - it is huge!

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (24)

One of the things that I have not mentioned is how late the sun sets in the north country.  When we were in Montana, it did not get dark until 11:00 PM.  Smile.   Here, the sun sets about 9:30 PM and of course, does not really get dark until after 10 PM.

We were just hanging out after our walk when I noticed how the clouds were picking up the sunset so I grabbed my camera and headed to the beach.

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (34)

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (42)

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (48)

After the sun dipped behind the clouds, I just hung out for a while and was rewarded when the sun came out of those clouds.  It was a giant red ball - WOW!

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (72)a

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (82)

07-15-13 E Woodland Park Grand Marais (88)

What a wonderful day.

Stayed tuned for tomorrow’s adventures and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  55 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Michigan:  SR-28; H-58; Chilsom Avenue; Braziel Street

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