October 9 - Drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

In the morning we packed up to be on our way and sadly parted ways with my sister. Lois headed south to Burlington while Monika and I continued north from the lower tip of Green Bay to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stopped about noon at the town of Marinette, Wisconsin to have lunch and get some exercise by taking a Volksmarch. Marinette is just across a small river from Menominee, Michigan—the river forms the state boundary at this point and the Volksmarch route covers both towns. I was worried about finding a triple-long parking space for the truck-trailer combination, but I was lucky enough to find just what I needed on a side street beside the hotel that was our starting point.

The Volksmarch was roughly in the shape of a diamond with 4 legs. We started in Marinette but immediately crossed the Menominee river and entered the town of Menominee on the other side. We were looking for a Michigan Information Center and sure enough we found one right after the “Welcome to Michigan” sign, a very pretty log cabin affair. The folks there were very helpful and friendly, so we got an official state highway map, guide to state campgrounds, guide to private campgrounds, and a few other brochures for things to see. We looked this information over a bit while having lunch at a Subway across the street and then continued on the next leg of the walk into the central district of Menominee. There we found some very nice examples of turn-of-the-century commercial buildings that had interesting architectural features like turrets and fancy brickwork, and were quite well preserved.

The next leg of the walk was a gradual approach to a pretty little lighthouse that marks the end of the pier at the entrance to the harbor. The trees were turning gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, and occasionally red, so we tried to get a picture of the lighthouse framed by the beautiful fall colors. We could have walked out on the pier to get a closer view of the lighthouse, but we were so out of shape that we were already low on energy and decided not to extend the walk any more than we had to. Instead, we backtracked down the access road to the main street and turned left to re-cross the Menominee River via bridge at one end of the harbor.

On the Marinette side of the bridge we turned left and entered a nice waterfront walkway. The walkway overlooked a narrow strip of dunes with the water of Green Bay just beyond. It was particularly pretty at this time of year with the blue lake and golden sand contrasting with the yellow and red of the fall foliage. It was like a pleasant walk on the beach, but the footing on the walkway was far better! The walkway ended in Red Arrow Park, which has a concession stand that would be open for snacks during the summer months but was closed when we were there. This snack bar could be rather important for other folks doing the walk because we found almost no other place to eat after we left the area of the Michigan Welcome Center. We curled back on the last leg of the walk thru Marinette back to the finish point and our truck. At the time I thought that stretch was hot and boring, but in retrospect that may have been because I was totally out of shape, the weather was unseasonably hot for October (in the mid to high 70s!), and I had forgotten to wear shorts so I was overheating badly.

All in all I would say this was a very pleasant small-town walk with several interesting things to see along the way. The trail was perfectly flat and all sections were paved, so a rating of 1 is appropriate. This YRE is really open all year around, but if you take it in the dead of winter you should really dress for the cold and wind chill factor that usually plays a big role out here, particularly if a cold wind is blowing in off Green Bay. That said, I think it’s nice that the folks here keep this walk open all year for the diehards that might want to take it (or ski it?) in the winter.

From Menominee we trundled due north on U.S. 41 toward Iron Mountain, finding a private campground that was still open—many had already closed as of October 1st. We had a nice dinner of split pea soup and cheese sandwiches, and then I had a nice hot shower. That may not sound like much, but something like a hot shower with unlimited water can become a luxury if you are not hooked up to water and have to carefully ration it for a couple of weeks! Clean clear thru, I proceeded to get dirty again by building a fire for the evening’s entertainment and becoming thoroughly smoked when the wind shifted unpredictably, as it always seems to do the Moment I’m clean. Afterwards Monika did strategic planning for our next sequence of campgrounds while I worked on our journal before we finally turned in for the day.