May 25, 2021- Mackinaw City to Petoskey
At one time, we had considered staying overnight at Wilderness State Park, but it seems like that would be a better place to go with a kayak or boat of some sort, a camper, and some waders. It is one of the best places to fish for smallmouth bass in all of Michigan. But, it doesn't seem great for biking. Take a look at the website and you can see that this is a remote location. https://www.michigan.org/property/wilderness-state-park Maybe we will go back one day when we are not bike touring. We do get to ride through the edge of the park and it is really beautiful and very wild. It is an official dark sky preserve and I bet it is super dark.
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| One of our first views of Lake Michigan is at Wilderness State Park |
Harbor Springs has the deepest natural protected harbor in all the Great Lakes. It is a lovely little town to look around.
It is also an area with many natural artesian springs. You can take a drink from one of these springs by using one of the many drinking fountains located in the downtown area. It is a touristy town with lots of fancy shops and a cool outing store with lots of expensive gear and clothing. There are lots of fudge shops and ice cream places too. I didn't drink from the fountain - but maybe I would have before Covid.
Tom's bike has been making a weird clicking noise for the past 100+ miles. He stops at the local bike shop and replaces his pedals which fixes the issue.
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| Julia leads us down through the Tunnel of Trees. It is a sunny warm day for this ride. |
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| The route is ablaze with trilium, forget-me-nots and yellow lady's slipper |
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| yellow lady's slipper |
The M-119 is a national scenic highway known as the "tunnel of trees." It is a very narrow 20 mile stretch of roadway with a 35 mph speed limit. There is no center line. Mixed Hardwoods and evergreen trees form a canopy over the roadway and much of the route follows a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The woods are a carpet of trillium with lady slipper and forget-me-nots to complement the thousands of white and pink trillium.
We see only about ten cars on the entire 20 mile stretch. We have been told that the road is unsafe for cycling on a weekend or during the fall leaf-peeping season and sometimes on weekends. The sun is out and the temperature is in the 70's. I am glad we came this way. We could have taken a bike trail directly to Petoskey and cut off 15 miles but we would have missed the tunnel-of-trees.
Riding a loaded bike for fifty miles is ok as long as you have all day to do it.
May 26, 2021- exploring Petoskey
The main pastime at Petoskey State Park is searching for Petoskey stones on the beach. Spring is a good time to find the stones - especially if it is windy and the lake is churned up. We find quite a few. The stone is actually fossilized rugose coral and the design is striking. They are like a secret treasure because when the stone is dry it looks like an ordinary grey stone. But, when it is wet the coral pattern appears. I try to find small ones so my bike doesn't get much heavier. Petoskey Stones
The town of Petoskey has Victorian Era buildings and is nicely restored. The Catholic Church has a big presence and it looks like at one time they held a lot of real estate.
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| St. Francis Xavier Church |
The temperature is dropping all day and rather then walk the windy beach or hang out in the campground we decide it's a good day for poking around in town. All the businesses are still requiring universal masking even though the CDC has changed that requirement. I don't mind at all - it makes inside feel safer. We have some lunch at an old tavern where Hemingway used to hang out. This was when he was young and not yet famous. He grew up nearby.
May 27, 2021- Petoskey to Charlevoix
It is 37 degrees when we climb out of the tent at 8:00 am. I was toasty warm last night in my sleeping bag! Tom says he was fine too. We are getting used to the weather.
We ride a mile into town and have coffee just so we can be inside with heat instead of standing around the picnic table. By the time we are back at the campground the sun is higher and it is warming up some. We pack up and head out on a very nice paved bike trail which we will take all the way to our destination.
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| View of the beach at Petoskey State Park |
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| The flowers were even blooming in the dunes |
It is 23 miles to Charlevoix where we will catch the ferry to Beaver Island. There was ONE ferry today and it left a 8:30 am so we plan to stay with a warm showers host and take the ferry tomorrow. We will be on the island Friday and Saturday and I have reserved a room at the Beaver Island Lodge. Beaver Island is reportedly another bass fishing hotspot. I think I will be getting a lot of reading done and possibly knitting a second sock. Cultural opportunites are somewhat limited on Beaver Island.
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| rolling along with ease |
The Tunnel of Trees video was stunning. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely place. I would love to come back in the fall.
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