On The Road Again!: On the Hunt for Moose in the UP

Friday was quite a travel day. After sleeping in and getting a late start, we drove north toward to upper peninsula. The drive up Michigan Route 131, was a surprisingly pleasant drive. It was very scenic and we were able to make good time. We were surprised to see that we consistently remained above 1100 feet as we drove north. At one point we reached a "hill" over 1500 feet above sea level. It was cool, sunny, and pleasant for much of the drive, so we could leave the windows open and let in the breeze and the pleasant smells of northern Michigan.

We knew we were way north, when we passed the above statue in the middle of a town! Gotta love a fish fountain the size of Godzilla.

As promised in my original post we took a short detour to the largest crucifix in the world. It's an amazing site, nestled in a glen in the woods, the cross stands, 55 feet high and 22 feet wide. The body is 28 feet head to toe.

We picked up a newspaper and Daniel was happy to see that wolves have been reintroduced to northern Michigan.

We reached the Mackinac bridge by 3pm. This is an impressive site. You are driving through woods and fields, with no civilization around you, then suddenly this huge man made structure appears on the horizon. The bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the americas and around the 3rd or 4th longest in the world now. It is almost 4 miles across. From the top you can look down at the straight of Mackinac. To the left lake Michigan spreads out to the horizon and to the right we can look out toward lake Huron.

From the bridge, it was another hour and a half into the middle of nowhere to get to Tahquamenon Falls. I think both Missy and Sammi feel like, this is about as remote as it gets. When we say, nothing, we mean nothing! But it's a great campground, with nice sized sites and a very clean and modern bathhouse. Although it took me at least 6 attempts to get the motorhome into the site!

After a nice taco dinner we checked out the lower falls. You can rent a row boat to get out to the island and explore the falls close up. We took the boardwalk to an overlook. Daniel snapped this great picture of one of the

falls.

Then I suggested we load up the dog and drive into the back country to look for Moose! To get there we took a small, undeveloped 2 track dirt path about 2 miles into the wilderness. Let's just say, the small Saturn was dragging on the ground for some of the drive. Once the road ends, its a short hike through a bog to Clark lake. Along the walk we wandered out onto a wooden path and there in the bog where these really cool Pitcher Plants. The meat eating kind! You could hear the distant calls of sandhill cranes and loons, but otherwise there was not a single sound.