Grand Marais, Part 3

After our long hike to Chapel Falls/Beach and Mosquito Beach/Falls, we drove to Munising, parked near the harbor, and toured downtown Munising on foot.  Similar to many other Upper Peninsula towns, it seemed to be struggling.  We saw many empty commercial buildings, many recently closed. 

We ordered beers (UPA’s) at the Barge Inn and hung out in their beer garden for the latter part of the afternoon.  No food was served in the bar, so they directed us to a stand behind the bar that sold food.  I had a burger.  Julia had a taco assortment, and we topped it off with onion rings.  Our appetites were on overdrive so we walked over to Dairy Queen and had some ice cream later.

Around 8 pm., we boarded the boat for a two-hour cruise.  The views were amazing.

Unfortunately, there was no sunset to see on this cruise.  First, the sun disappeared behind a cloud bank. Then Grand Island blocked whatever sunset would have happened if there hadn’t been clouds.  Nevertheless, we loved the cruise and felt it was very worthwhile.  While we saw some of the same scenery while hiking, it provided a totally different perspective.

At this point, it was getting dark, and it was time to head home.  The drive should have taken about an hour.  Shortly after leaving Munising, we began to see deer cross in front of the car that was ahead of us.  We slowed down accordingly and our eyes peeled for deer ahead so that we didn’t hit any deer.
Unfortunately, thirty minutes after leaving Munising, a deer hit us.  I saw it out of my peripheral vision on the driver’s side of the road.  The deer must have figured that it was safe to cross after our headlights passed.  I thought we had safely passed it by also. 

But we didn’t.  A horrible clunk sounded toward the rear of the Toyota Sienna.  With my breath held, I pulled over and hoped that it had bounced off without causing any damage.  Wrong.

The deer hit the plastic bumper cover just past the rear tire well on the driver’s side, partially ripping off the plastic tabs attaching that piece to the vehicle and to the rear bumper.  It also bent a custom metal plate next to the rear wheelchair ramp, making it difficult but not impossible to lower the ramp when I checked to see if the ramp had been damaged.  When I tried to raise the ramp back up, I realized that the bent metal plate was now preventing me from doing so.  So I grabbed Justin’s metal tie down and used it as a hammer to unbend the plate so that we could get the ramp back in.

The bumper cover itself was flopping to the side of the vehicle, making it impossible to drive without doing something to prevent the wind from catching it and causing the whole thing to flop across the center line.  We ended up using an assortment of bungee cords to hold it temporarily in place, attaching one end inside the hatchback and the other end on an undamaged plastic piece under the tire well.  We could only drive about 30 to 35 mph without having the bumper cover flopping badly in the wind.  We limped home this way and turned an hour trip into a more than two-hour drive.

In the morning, I made a trip to the hardware store, purchasing tools and gorilla tape that enabled me to remove the damaged piece altogether, and to tape closed some delicate pieces normally covered up by the bumper cover.  We made it back to south central Wisconsin without incident.  It wasn’t the way we wanted to finish the vacation, but it could have been much worse if we had hit the deer head-on.

Parts have been ordered, and the Toyota Sienna is scheduled for a body shop repair next week.

Grand Marais, Part 2

Day Three:  We had big plans for day three, but rain and muddy road/trail conditions made us reassess.   The main road through Pictured Rocks is paved (H58), but some of the roads to trailheads are not.  The Visitors Center warned us not to try the unpaved road to Little Beaver Lake trailhead.  It was not in great condition, and she did not recommend it for our low clearance wheelchair van.   She thought we could make the Chapel Falls trailhead if it wasn’t actively raining.  As we started out, drizzle and fog greeted us.


We decided to drive the length of H58 and check out some of the roadside scenery, along with the City of Munising, Michigan.  There were many waterfalls:


In Munising we stopped at a craft beer bar that called itself a brewpub. Lunch was pasties, an Upper Peninsula local food once served to miners.  It’s a semi-circle pastry filled with meat and vegetables.  I washed mine down with an “I’d Cry Over Spilt Milk Stout”, brewed by Pictured Rocks Brewing Company.  Julia had an Northeast-inspired IPA called “The Fallen” by the same brewer.  The beers were worthy.

That afternoon, the weather still wasn’t cooperating, so we headed back to Grand Marais and spent the afternoon reading our books.  We made a repeat visit to the Grand Marais Tavern for dinner and turned in early.  The weather forecast was for better weather on the next day.

Day Four:  This turned out to be a huge day in some good ways and bad ways.
We got up early, ate breakfast and drove to the Chapel Falls Trailhead.  The five mile unpaved road was wet and rutted.  Potholes were many. I wished for my Nissan pickup with 4 wheel drive, but the Sienna made it slowly through.
The trail started off dry, and Chapel Falls was beautiful.  The trail soon became more difficult.

The closer we hiked to Lake Superior, the wetter the trail became.  It seemed like we were hiking in a creek at times.    Eventually, we prevailed and came out at Chapel Beach.  Here, there is an amazing tree that was still growing after the arch supporting its root structure fell away.  Notice the roots stretching from left to right to the soil on the other side of the fallen arch, still nourishing the tree.

Between Chapel Beach and Mosquito Beach, we hiked high above the shoreline on bluffs eroding into the lake.  Mosquito Beach was more rock than beach, and there were few mosquitoes (a pleasant surprise).

The day became warmer as we hiked from Mosquito Beach to Mosquito Falls, and the mosquitoes did begin to arrive.  A short hike up to the parking lot, and our ten-mile circle route was completed. 

The day was not over.  For the evening, we scheduled a sunset boat ride on Pictured Rocks Cruises.  That post, which includes an unexpected adventure home, will be detailed in Part 3.

Grand Marais, Michigan

Last week, after dropping Justin off at Easter Seals camp, Julia and I drove the Toyota Sienna wheelchair van  to Grand Marais, Michigan, where Julia had booked a small cottage for us to stay. We elected to take the van because to save time and for its better gas mileage.  In retrospect, because of its low ground clearance and importance to my son for transportation, we should have chosen more wisely (more on that later).

Grand Marais is a small town (population 200) on the Upper Peninsula that is the eastern gateway to the Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  The town is compact enough to walk everywhere.  Services are limited, but we found nearly everything needed:  local brewpub, grocery store, restaurants, and hardware store (more on that later).

Sunday night, we were exhausted after a long day of driving and preparation for Justin’s week and our own.  Summers are definitely cooler here than in south central Wisconsin; our first task was to turn on the heat.  Temperatures were bottomed out in the low 40’s.

Our goal for the week was to hike as many trails as we could, meander up and down the long beaches to pick up interesting rocks (agates are common here), and spend the evenings enjoying some good local food and drink.

Day Two: After a good night’s sleep, we walked over to the local brewpub where breakfast was served.  Julia had some pancakes.  I ordered Eggs Benedict  (oops, they were out of muffins, so substituted a bagel).  I was skeptical, and the Hollandaise sauce almost certainly came from a jar.  When you are hungry, it’s easy to overlook imperfection.  We looked over the beers on the list but did not order one for breakfast!

After breakfast, we picked up some groceries so we could prepare future breakfasts in the cottage.  The grocery store in town has limited offerings.  We did find some really good thick sliced bacon, along with eggs, butter, veggies, and hearty whole wheat bread for toast.
Then we headed for the beach.

After walking about three miles on Grand Marais’  beaches and fishing pier, we drove to Sable Falls and then to Visitors Center.  Sable Falls was amazing, but the photos that I took do not capture the tremendous surging power of the current.

We received some good advice and suggestions for day hikes from the Parks Service employee at the Visitors Center.  That afternoon, we hiked  Miner’s Beach and Miner’s Castle, the Log Slide Trail, and the trail from Hurricane River to Au Sable Light Station. The trails were wet from earlier rains, and the last hike to the Light Station brought out the stable flies (which are present on warm, humid days (for the U.P, 70 degrees).  Yes, stable flies bite, although not through fleece.

Tired and a bit grossed out by the cloud of flies following us, we jumped in the car and drove back to town.  We enjoyed a dinner of whitefish and local beers at the Grand Marais Tavern and caught up with the news on the free wifi.  I had a Widowmaker Black Ale from Keweenaw Brewing Company.  Julia had a UPA from Upper Hand Brewery–which turned out to be one of our favorites.    UPA is an American Pale Ale with a nice golden color and well-balanced malt to Mosaic hops.

After a short walk to the beach after dinner, we called an end to Day Two.