Day 4: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

 June 29, 2021

Vanlog, Hiawatha National Forest boondocking site

Today unfortunately was a rainy and overcast day for the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I started my journey from the east side at Grand Marais. First stop was at Sable Falls. Here, you can also look out onto the Grand Sable Dunes on the southern edge of Lake Superior. Not far down the road is the Log Slide, where in the olden days loggers used to slide the timber down a steep 500 ft embankment to the ships waiting on the Great Lakes. You can climb down if you want, but be warned that the ascent is no joke!

On the western side of the park near Munising, there is the famous Miner's Castle rock outcropping. Last Saturday, 200 ft of its cliffside fell into Lake Superior and it made the local news. You can see from this photo why it is called Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. A short way down the road lie Miner's Falls and Munising Falls, both of which are reached by a short muddy hike. 

At 5 PM, I took the two-hour scenic boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to Spray Falls. On the boat tour, I met someone I had talked to earlier on the trail so it was good to have someone to talk with. We passed features such as the Painted Caves, Miner's Castle, Chapel Cove, Chapel Rock, Lover's Leap, Grand Portal, and Spray Falls. If you have a Michigan quarter, the image ont he back is of the lone pine tree on top of Chapel Rock. It rained on the ride back and I parked up in the Hiawatha National Forest back some muddy forest road. Only two cars passed by all night. It rained on and off all night.