Days 16 – 17, Lake Michigan

I’ve seen more people on bicycles in the last two days than the entire rest of the trip. Apparently the northwestern Lower Peninsula is where Michigan vacations. Overweight gray haired men with their over-tanned wives abound, and tired children can be found pleading for ice cream along every small town Main Street. Bicycles seem to be primarily for leisure, and can be found hanging off the back of most vacationer’s vehicles. It’s a neat area, but markedly different from the UP.

The changes started as soon as I rode into St. Ignace on Tuesday. Boats leave from there to Mackinac Island – a prime vacation destination – and the crowd seemed noticeably wealthier. I hung out in town for a bit and stopped by the Marina to fill up on water, where a friendly lady proceeded to tell me all about her friend’s ride across the U.S. It’s funny how you seem to get a few different kinds of people that will come up and talk to you about cycling. There are those who know very little about it and want to hear all about your trip and think it’s great, those who cycle a bit themselves and want to have a conversation about it, and those who just want to tell you all about the trip that they did or that their friend did. I’ve gotten a bit tired of the first and last type by now, but it’s nice when you can find the ones who can sustain a good conversation about it.

Sunrise over Lake Huron

I made my way to the headquarters of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, where they took my $5 and told me someone would be over shortly with a pickup to take me across. The bridge is interstate, and they don’t allow bicycles or pedestrians. It was nice to be able to get some free trivia about the bridge from the driver as we made the five mile drive across. The bridge opened in 1957, and was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. It’s now the seventh longest. The deck is about 300 feet above the water, and one of the reasons they don’t let pedestrians cross is that they don’t want to attract “jumpers”. He dropped me off on the other side, and even gave me some suggestions for things to check out on my route.

Mackinac Bridge

Getting a ride over the Mackinac Bridge

As I continued on there was still a good wind coming out of the South, and I wasn’t making very good time. I was ready for a rest, and came to an area with a number of vehicles parked along the sandy shoulder. It seemed like a good place to check out the Lake Michigan shoreline for the first time, and I trekked across the dunes to the beach. There were heavy clouds rolling in as the surf pounded into the sand, but it didn’t seem to discourage the many kids playing in the water. I’d sat for a few minutes snacking when a thick bolt of lightning cracked over the water in the distance. That sent the families packing. The rain looked inevitable, and I figured it was better to be on the bike for it than sitting on the beach.

Watching a storm roll in

The heavy drops started falling as soon as I got my rain jacket on, and by the time I was on the bike it was a full on downpour. The area was pretty remote, so I figured I’d just ride through it. As heavy as the rain was, it was actually pretty enjoyable riding. The wind had let up, and it was a warm rain unlike what I’d encountered along Lake Superior. By the time it stopped, I’d managed to get some mileage behind me. I was headed along M119, which contains an apparently famous stretch known as the “Tunnel of Trees”. I wasn’t sure where it started, but eventually a sign that let me know I was entering it.

The rain had mostly stopped at that point and, although pretty soaked, I was still warm and enjoying the ride. The road was barely wide enough for two cars as it meandered through the rolling forest. Overhanging trees let little light pass through on the dreary afternoon, and I made sure to keep my lights on. It’s a popular drive, and I passed many vehicles with out of state plates, quite a few motorcycle tourers, and a several other cyclists. I came to a small town – if you could even call it that – with a humble trailer that said Northern Crepes on the side perched next to a little shop. It sounded like a decent enough excuse to get off the bike, so I stopped and tried the “Biker’s Brunch”. It was more than I was hungry for, but quite tasty!

As I got back on the road, the sun was finally peeking through, and within a little bit, the dark day had turned into a sunny damp afternoon. A light fog maintained its position over the lake, and sunlight filtered through the trees to highlight the steam rising off the road. It was neat riding, and one of my favorite stretches so far.

Along the Tunnel of Trees

A sailboat motoring along through the fog

Eventually I made it to Harbor Springs, where I was again reminded that I was no longer in the UP. The little boutiques along the town’s main drag were plentiful, and I didn’t see a single unkempt building or yard. The marina had its fair share of half million dollar boats, and I noted a few high end cars in the parking lot. My phone was dead, so I inquired about camping in the area and was pleased to hear there was a place just down the road.

I arrived at Petoskey State Park, picked out a site, and went back to register. When I pulled up at the office, there was another loaded touring bike parked at the where I’d had mine sitting a few minutes earlier. I went in and met Dan, who was doing the Lake Michigan loop in the opposite direction. I offered to share my site, and he agreed. It was both of our first time camping with another cyclist, and it was nice to have a little more time to talk then when you stop to chat with someone on the road. Dan is taking three weeks off to do this trip, and he made the observation that this was the first time he’d had that much time off since when he’d finished grad school 25 years ago! Just more confirmation that you have to do this kind of thing while you can.

Camping with Dan from Chicago

We got an early start together in the morning since he was going the same direction as I was for a couple miles before picking up a trail. I stopped shortly thereafter in Petoskey at a nice little café – Roast & Toast. The food was excellent, and the coffee plentiful. A few hours later I continued, biking on a nice lakeside trail to the next little town. Charlevoix gave off a rather pretentious vibe, and the streets were packed with traffic and vacationers. I stopped briefly for another snack before deciding I’d better get out of there if I wanted to keep my sanity.

A few miles down the road, I stopped to check my tires since they felt a little low. As I topped them off, I noticed a loose spoke on my rear wheel. Everything seemed fine aside from it being loose, so I tightened it up and continued on, very thankful that I’d noticed it when I did! Dan had just been telling me how he’d broken a spoke the day before (luckily only a couple blocks from a bike shop), and I had to admit that I’d had relatively good fortune so far with mechanical problems. The bike felt better with fully inflated tires, but another mile or two down the road I hear the unmistakable hiss of the rear tire rapidly deflating. Maybe my good luck is running out, I though.

I quickly stripped the panniers off and got to work. As soon as I looked at the tire I knew what had happened. The tires were fairly worn when I started the trip, and 1100 miles later the rear one was worn through to the core in several spots and providing little protection to the tube. Luckily I’d anticipated this, and was riding with a foldable spare tire. I patched the tube, swapped on the new tire, and continued on my way. Being prepared always feels good.

Ready to be replaced

New tire ready to go

Fresh cherries!

Why don’t we have a sign for this in Wisconsin too?

I made it into Traverse City around 6, and stopped for ice cream and to decide whether to continue on to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore or camp there. I was feeling pretty good, and the city (the largest I’ve been to since Marquette) didn’t seem very appealing, so I decided to continue on. I’d talked with a lady in the ice cream from Milwaukee who was a biker, and asked about the hills. She said there were a few but they were pretty gentle.

As soon as I turned onto M72 out of town, I started up a steep, long incline. It was most definitely not my definition of gentle. The route over to the dunes contained numerous hills, and I was pretty convinced that she hadn’t understood my question. Eventually I reached the long steady descent out to the shore, and rolled into the sleepy town of Empire. I stopped at the gas station to ask about the campgrounds and figure out which one I should head to. Unsurprisingly, they fill up pretty regularly here as well since it’s a National Park, and when I called they confirmed that all of the park campgrounds were full.

The gas station attendant pointed me toward two other campgrounds that likely had availability, but they were both back up the long hill I’d just come down. At the end of a 100 mile day, it wasn’t what I was interested in doing. It was getting late though and I wasn’t really in the mood to go look for a stealth camping spot, so I bit the bullet and turned around. When I finally reached the closest one, there was a “full” sign sitting out front. Continuing on was about the last thing I wanted to do, so I stopped in anyway to see if they would let me stay. “Oh, we’re not full yet”, the lady behind the counter assured me, “I just know we’ll fill up so I leave the sign out there so I don’t have to keep putting it up and taking it down”. Um, ok. Seems like pretty strange logic to me, but I guess I won’t complain.

Not sure what’s growing here, but it looked neat

I made a quick dinner and drank a refreshing beer I’d grabbed at the gas station (before I knew I had to haul that extra weight back up the hill). Apparently after a full day of riding, one beer is enough for me to feel a little tipsy. It had gotten fairly dark at that point, and it was probably a funny sight to watch me attempting to throw my shoe with a cord tied to it over a high branch to hang my food for the night – it took me at least a half dozen attempts. Note, I developed the shoe method – which usually works surprisingly well – after getting frustrated with a little metal piece I’d been using that didn’t have nearly enough weight for its intended purpose.

I slept without the rain fly on again, partially because I knew it wasn’t supposed to rain, but largely out of laziness. It wasn’t quite the picturesque site among the dunes that I’d imagined, but I do have a fair amount of flexibility and figured I could spend the next day exploring the dunes and then stay in the area again an extra night. After the long day I was ready for a break, and it feels like I’ve started to get back into the swing of things. It’s a bit odd, but sort of nice not knowing much about the areas I’m going to. It makes every day a new adventure!

Day 16 Route

Day 17 Route