Pictured Rocks 7/11/2016

We are staying in Newberry, MI, on the Upper Michigan Peninsula, about as far north as you can get without being in Canada. Yesterday we left Mackinaw City, and traversed the Mackinac Bridge, a technological marvel in itself. It is the 5th longest suspension bridge in the world, and the longest in the western hemisphere. The total length of the bridge is 5 miles, and the suspension part is 1 5/8 miles.

On the bridge

The bridge connects the lower Michigan peninsula with the Upper Peninsula, our destination. Since our campground was only 1 1/2 hours away, we arrived, set up and took off to check out Whitefish Point, the location of Whitefish Point Light, the oldest operating light on Lake Superior. All vessels entering and leaving Lake Superior must pass the light. It stands on the treacherous southern shoreline of Lake Superior known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" in an area with more shipwrecks than any other area of the lake. Our visit to the Point was a leisurely one, as we took time to walk the beach, take a short trail, and sit and check out the interesting rocks on the beach. I thought it very cool that when dry, the rocks looked unassuming, but when wet showed beautiful colors and patterns. I selected a few to bring home, and Ray kept comparing me to Lucy in the movie "The Long, Long Trailer". If you love Lucy, watch this--it's a hoot. Here's a map of where we went.

It's amazing how few people live up here. Newberry itself is a metropolis in these parts, with a population of not quite 1500 people. Mostly what you see when you drive these roads is trees. Every so often, you might see a small home set back off the road, but the trees rule here. And the lake. Superior is so big, it comprises 10% of the world's fresh water. Superior is the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Thanks to low amounts of nutrients, sediments, and organic material, you can see about eight feet under the water. The edges of the lake remind me of the Caribbean, green and clear. Standing on a beach, it truly looks like an ocean. 

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Today we set off the explore the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a natural area that hugs the Lake Superior southern coast for more than 40 miles. The park offers spectacular scenery of the hilly shoreline between Munising, Michigan and Grand Marais, Michigan, with various rock formations

Castle Rock

like natural archways, waterfalls, and sand dunes. The park gets its name from the 15 miles of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. Today we took many of the short hikes

to important locations in the park: a couple of the lovely waterfalls, and a place where loggers used to offload their logs and slide them down a huge

Log slide dunes

dune into Lake Superior. We did walk the beach, and experienced the blight of stable flies common in these parts. We were not heartened by the information that bug spray does not deter them, and that the only way to keep from being bitten is to cover up. 

We have been told that the best way to view the colorful beauty of Pictured Rocks is by boat, so tomorrow we will be taking a cruise along the coast to check that out.