NORTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN LOOP, Part 4

Muskegon, MI to Sleeping Bear Dunes

August 5, 2018

This is the day we finally get this bicycle tour to actually be a bicycle tour. Following our simple breakfast at the hotel we got on our way back to Muskegon and the County airport where we were to drop off the rental car. First, we made a stop at Walmart to get some fuel for our one burner stove. We were not supposed to bring any flammable materials on the train, so we followed the regulations, left our fuel canister home, and planned to get some when we arrived in Michigan. Task completed, we headed to the airport. Once there, we parked the car and got the bike put together. We took a few laps around the parking lot to verify that everything was working correctly, and thankfully it was. We attached the trailer, loaded the panniers onto the bike and again took another couple of laps around the parking lot. While feeling heavy, which it was with 90 plus pounds of gear, everything felt stable and more importantly everything worked. Could it be that we begin biking today? It was just past 9:00 in the morning when we took the first pedal strokes of the bicycle tour.

Stop at Walmart to pick up some stove fuel.

A small friend stopped by to see what we were doing.

Ready to get this bicycle tour going.

Let the pedaling begin..

As we pedaled away from the airport, I took a look over at the pickup truck we had rented. I felt a little apprehensive to be leaving a mode of transportation that was reliable and would get us to where we needed quickly and easily. Given the rough start, my confidence in bicycle travel was a little shaken, but my thoughts quickly turned to the bicycle tour and all of the experiences we had to look forward to. Being on a bicycle as the primary means of transportation allows you to experience so much more than you can in a car. The smells, the sounds, the ability to quickly stop and see something you might otherwise have missed, the people that come up to you curious as to what you are doing. Most of the time things go well. You pedal along, looking at the world around you. Sometimes things become difficult with steep hills, heavy traffic, rain, flat tires, mechanical failures, etc. Fortunately those are rare and you can typically just focus on getting to where you want to be at the end of the day. We had finally reached the realm of things were going well, and we were enjoying ourselves.

It was only a couple of miles down the road from the airport to where we would pick up the bicycle route we would follow north to Mackinaw City. It was a slight down hill, and we cruised along nicely. So far everything was working and feeling great. We followed streets for a while and eventually ended up on the Muskegon Lakeshore Trail which takes you around the bay in Muskegon. Once on the other side of the bay, we were once again back on the streets and headed out of town.

Sites along the Muskegon Lakeshore Trail

More views...

...and more.

Around noon we took a break for lunch. We pulled off the road at the end of a driveway with a small garden with a few flowers and a bicycle re-purposed as a lawn ornament. While we were preparing to eat our peanut butter with Wasa crackers, we found we had lost our block of Wasa that was strapped to the back rack, on top of the tent, under our wide brim hats that we typically wear when off the bike at our campsite. Apparently the bouncing around had loosened the hats enough for the Wasa to fall out. Unfortunately the Wasa also took Laura's hat with it (and her hat had additional mosquito netting to go with it). We looked down the road with the thought of going back to look for it. But not knowing where it fell off, probably 15 miles back at the bumpy parts on the Lakeshore Trail, we decided to let it go, much to Laura's disappointment.

Road side garden.

Lunch break.

We continued northward along the road and very soon, like 500 feet down the road, we came upon a rail trail. Turns out we were at one end of the Hart-Montague Trail State Park which is essentially a rail trail that runs from Montague, MI to Hart, MI, approximately 25 miles, and paved. But it was up hill most of the way, although only about 200 ft of rise in about the first 15 miles probably doesn't really count as up hill. It does require constant pedaling. The last 10 miles were more down hill, but still required pedaling. Go figure. We arrived in Hart and found a nice little park to take a break. I stretched out on the ground and promptly dozed off, but I did awaken when the ice cream shop next door opened.

Along the Hart-Montague Trail.

Rarely will we pass up an opportunity for ice cream.

As we rode along, we really had no idea how many miles we had actually ridden, or how many we had to go. I was just following the red line on the map, keeping track of time, guesstimating distance, and looking ahead to where campgrounds were located. Our goal was to get to Ludington, MI and the Ludington State Park campground which I estimated would be about 60 miles total for the day. I was wrong, it was more like 80 miles, but again, at the time, I really did not do the full calculation in my head. After leaving Hart, Laura mentioned her knee was really beginning to hurt. We stopped and raised her seat a little. Continuing on, she was still feeling pain. The next town was only a few more miles down the road, so we pushed on, hoping that some rest and stretching might help. We arrived in Pentwater and Laura immediately went to work stretching her legs while I wandered around a bit. Pentwater was actually a very nice touristy town, unbeknownst to us before arriving (I was expecting a couple of marinas with nothing more). After consulting the map and determining we still had about 20 miles to reach Ludington State Park, we made the decision to stay in Pentwater at Mears State Park. It turned out to be a good decision. The State Park campground was right on the water, with a beautiful sandy beach, and sandy campsites. Although a bit tightly packed, it was comfortable.

Mamma duck with babies.

Shelter next to public docks along the main street of Pentwater.

After making the decision to stay and getting ready to head to Mears State Park.

Our campsite. A little tight, but all we needed.

Trying out the beach and taking a swim.

Dinner time.

August 6, 2018

Hitting the road the next day, we worked our way through forested dunes to Ludington, and further on through agricultural fields to Manistee. Fortunately Laura's knee was nearly back to normal and did not cause any more issues. After Manistee we arrived at Orchard Beach State Park. A bit of a misnomer as, we later determined, there was no beach, at least any that we could see. Lake Michigan was at an extreme level of high water which resulted in the beach being nearly inundated. In addition, the wave action was working to erode the bluff over the beach. As such, the stairs down to the beach were all blocked off, and we had to enjoy the water from afar.

Breakfast in Pentwater.

The Spartan in Ludington. Sister ferry to the Badger that we will be taking later in the trip.

Campsite at Orchard Beach State Park.

Enjoying another dinner at camp.

Stairs to the beach which we were not allowed down.

Waiting for sunset.

The sunset at Orchard Beach State Park.

It was during our stay at Orchard Beach State Park that we witnessed an example of the less desirable side of human nature. We had just returned to our campsite after taking a walk around the campground when, a few campsites away, we noticed a young woman walking down to the campsite of an older gentleman. All seemed amicable as we watched the woman asking something of the man. To set the scene, the older gentleman was flying three flags outside of his RV. The American flag, the Dutch flag, and the Confederate flag. In overhearing the verbal exchange, the woman asked the man to remove the Confederate flag as she found it offensive. I suppose at this point the man could have taken the high road and either agreed to take down the flag, or politely refuse. But no, he had to call out loudly to his wife who was in the RV to come out and see this person who wanted the Confederate flag taken down. A shouting match ensued as the wife, in raised voice, exclaimed how they had family from both the north and the south and were proud of their heritage, and they were of Dutch decent. Additionally the two flags were both American flags and should be displayed, etc. In a moment that I would consider poor judgement, the young woman took out her phone and started recording the exchange. Well, this enraged the man who started going after the young woman. She starts yelling help, at which point I decided I had better intervene, but fortunately the young woman's husband comes over to break things up. After some more yelling from both sides, the young couple returns to their campsite, eventually packs up and drives away. After they left, the older man struts around his RV exclaiming how they had won. Another example of having the choice to take the high road and deciding not to.

Needless to say, the episode left us feeling a little disenchanted, but we find these events to be so extremely rare compared to the nice, kind, inquisitive people we find out there. Case in point, elsewhere in the campground, we came across  an older couple with a teardrop camper trailer. These campers are small, and generally shaped like a teardrop. We have become increasingly more interested in these little campers (we saw one on our trip to Canada last year), so decided to go talk to the couple. They were from Maryland and were traveling around the northeast. They bought the camper used (in Connecticut of all places) and had been modifying it over the past couple of years to suit their needs and taste. The man was quite proud of his work and upgrades (which was very nice and of quality work), and enjoyed showing us the trailer inside and out. They were a lovely couple and we really enjoyed talking with them.

August 7, 2018

Starting out the next day we set our goal for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which would be a 60 plus mile day (I actually did accurate calculations this time). We made a stop for breakfast in the town of Onekama. This town is where we joined the M22 scenic highway. Apparently the people of Michigan take their highways seriously and we started seeing t-shirts, stickers, and signs all emblazoned with M22. The diner we ate breakfast was even named M22-Grill! Admittedly, it is a beautiful scenic drive and warrants the attention.

Outside the M-22 Grill.

After breakfast we came to our first big hill of the day. Really the first big hill of the day on the only day we really had any big hills. This hill was about 1.5 miles of climbing at about 4% average slope. Doable, but was a slog. We made it to the top without walking. Success! Further on, just north of Arcadia we met or second big hill of the day (after a stop for a malted milkshake in Arcadia). This hill, while shorter in length (just under a mile), was steeper at about 7% average slope. Needless to say, we only made it half way up before we started walking the bike. I find when climbing hills on the tandem I start having an internal debate about expenditure of energy. Do I expend the energy trying to ride the bike, or do I expend the energy walking the bike? Usually walking wins out if I am having this internal debate, and Laura generally agrees. At the top of this hill was a lookout over Lake Michigan, so we stopped to take in the view and rest a bit. Lots of people were coming and going to also take in the view, and several showed interest in our bike and what we were doing. Pictures were taken, comments made, advice given, words of wisdom and concern for our safety shared. It is a nice feeling that people take such interest in a couple of people riding a bike.

The Arcadia Ice House

Laura ordering our malted milkshake (which was awesome)

Lookout over Lake Michigan

Continuing on we had one more sizable hill to get up and over, but this was a manageable one at just over 1 mile and about 4% slope. We took a break in the quaint town of Frankfort before moving on to the half of the day. We were expecting more hills, based on comments from a local, but other than a slight rise none appeared. We rode along some nice lake shores and came to a crossing of the Platte River. At the river crossing was a water sports shop with canoes and kayaks and other boats for rent. We stopped for a bit and watched the comings and goings of people and wondered about the ability of some people to get themselves safely down the meandering river.

Taking a break in Frankfort.

Photo-op with bear at Riverside Canoe Trips.

Watching the comings and goings of people in boats.

We still had 15 miles to go, and it was late afternoon so we moved on. Fortunately it was fairly flat the rest of the way. Starting up a small incline, however, we noticed a farm stand to the right. We promptly stopped. When we ride our tours we always plan at stopping at farm stands along the way, but either we don't find any, or they appear only in the morning and we don't want to carry fruit around all day. We lucked out with this one as the timing was perfect, and were able to pick up some fresh cherries. Quite delicious. Eventually we arrived at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Purchasing some fresh cherries.

Arriving at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.