The Thunder Bowl

After dropping Monika on Sunday morning I leisurely headed up the West coast of MI. Spotting Fisherman's Island State Park I decided to camp. I unpacked my various toys and took the bike for a ride to see what the town had to offer. To my suprise, a very European looking village named Charlevoix appeared in my sights. Sidewalk cafes, yachts in the harbor, a band in the rotunda and people playing chess in the park. All that and a beautiful sunny day. I parked and explored a little before picking up some supplies from a store and heading back to camp. I set up my new screened porch for the first time and enjoyed a bug free meal looking out over Lake Michigan. With some dark clouds forming I took down the screenbefore bed and smiled to myself as I and the tent stayed dry in the back of the truck while it rained a little overnight.

Monday morning and time for the UP. Stopping at the National Forest Service just past Mackinaw I asked about the off-road trails I had seen on a map earlier. The very helpful woman gave me a County Forest Trail map and for the princely sum of $8 said I could have the entire camp to myself (if I could find it). A few hours and many turns later I eventually found Leg Lake. I had the entire lake to myself. I decided to cook up the meat I had into a wonderful Drew's special spaghetti resplendent with brocolli, mushrooms, onions and much tabasco and other spices. The night didn't fare well for my screen porch. It rained heavily and by morning it was a soggy mess. The day looked like it was trying to dry so I shook the porch out and put it in the open while I headed off to explore the trails on my motorcycle. After a few false starts I found the "Thunder Bowl" as the locals call it. Mostly for snowmobiles and ATV's it was a very large, very sandy bowl area with trails going off in all directions. Challenging for two wheels but helped by the previous nights' rain it was a blast. A few hours later I returned to more sun and a sufficiently dry screen to dust off the dried mud and pack it up. An enjoyable stay by all accounts.

Heading for Minnesota Tuesday morning I decided to stop off at Michigan's Porcupine Mountains State Park, my last view of Lake Superior and a must see for the coastline and lake of the clouds area. Arriving about 4pm after a fairly long drive the attendent said all the beach spots were taken. I suggested he just give me what he thought was a nice interior spot. As it turns out, Site 8 was probably the best, for although it wasn't directly on the water side, it had a higher, better view (see more pics left). I made a few friends of people walking into my area to see the view.
One couple suggested a few places in MN for my continuing trip. It was so nice I stayed two days so I could visit Lake of the Clouds, Ontonagon and the surrounding coasts. It was very relaxing and somewhat hard to leave as the weather was great and the people friendly but Grand Rapids beckoned so off I went.