Michigan's Up And Wisconsin Dells, Photos

As part of our 12-day trek out to CICO last month we took the long way 'round through Northern Ontario and spent a week in the UP before heading down to Central Wisconsin. Thought I'd share a couple of my photos and some 'must-dos' if you're in either area. (Even though this should probably be spread over 3 different forums.)

The trip ran from Sept 18th to the 1st, and we were a little early for fall color wherever we went.

1) Tahquamenon Falls State Park and Lower Falls campground. Nice campground, close to the falls and walks, but very open and non-private. I wasn't able to cross the river on watercraft at the right time of day for shooting, so no shots of the 4 adjacent cascades. Another time.
2) Nearby Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise: Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum | Edmund Fitzgerald | Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society is a very well done museum that puts a human face on historical and more recent maritime disasters in the area.
3) Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I pride myself on knowing a lot about U.S. National Parks and a few of the wilderness Monuments. But this slice of heaven (that is not a National Park) but is operated by the NPS really caught me by surprise. Day use is free, though over-nights in the back-country aren't. There's a 50-mile coastal backpacking trail, portions of which can be accessed by day-hikes. Close-up pictures of the iconic sandstone faces (and 'desert varnish' streaking, reminiscent of Utah) can really only be obtained by boat/kayak, and will require a return visit by myself and a photo-buddy. Karen and I did a relatively flat 10-mile hiking loop that encompassed Chapel Falls, a 4-mile section of the North Country National Scenic Trail along the coastline and return by way of Mosquito Falls. Budgeting multiple days in the area is highly recommended.

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Upper section of Chapel Falls...

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We stayed 3 nights in a Widewaters Campground Hiawatha National Forest - Widewaters Campground about 15 minutes south of Munising. Its a Basic campground with only drinking water. However, the sites are very private, campground was immaculate, and the hosts wonderful. Run by the National Forest Service and the USDA.

Lots of waterfalls in the area, including Munising Falls, just outside of town at the Visitor's Center:

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Munising also has the best Pasties we have ever tasted at Miner's Pasties on the main drag.

We continued west to Marquette and picked up some outstanding fresh whitefish fillets and fish sausage at Thills' Fish House Thill's Fish House on the waterfront and had it on the fire that night. at Baraga State Park in L'Anse. Nice clean park but a little too close to a busy highway. A stay of convenience only.

Just south of Baraga is Canyon Falls Roadside Park. A short walk to an impressive gorge.

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The L'Anse area is literally polluted with waterfalls (is that the right word?) and you could spend weeks in the area just searching them all out. We ran out of time and headed south for the CICO.

Once we got to CICO in Mauston WI our plans for attending Cranfest were discouraged by way too many fellow campers and Cary suggested a boat trip on the upper section of the Wisconsin Dells, about 20 minutes away from the campground. I'm glad he did. I'm not much of a guided tour guy, but this was the only way to see this stuff. The boat makes a couple landings on their private property and I was able to grab these abstracts that were not unlike some formations and slots in the Southwest.

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The next day we had a bit of time and went to the other side of Castle Rock Lake to Roche-A-Cri State Park to climb the staircase to an overlook of the entire area. There are some ancient and not-so-ancient rock carvings on the sandstone face, though those were in direct sunlight and not a good shot. Some other sandstone abstracts on the same cliff face...

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We were also able to get to the Carr Valley Cheese Factory just south of Mauston Carr Valley Cheese | Carr Valley Cheese Company and loaded up on way too many types. Very hard to decide.

We had a wonderful (first) time CICO. The pot luck was amazing, and we've been inspired to try our hand at making Dutch Oven bread . Serendipitously, we stayed in the Sault with some friends on our way back home, who are back-to-the-landers and they had a copy of Mother Earth News magazine on the table. It just happened to be open to the article on the National Dutch Oven Gathering https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/dutch-oven-delights-zm0z1908zsta with none other than our CICO bread-making demonstrator smiling in the background. (Sorry... forget his name). Small world.

Can't put the trailer away just yet. Chasing the changing leaves and caving in Kentucky in a few weeks. I'll hopefully have a similar photo and travel log.

Steve and Karen

 

Great pics!
Like how you slowed the shutter speed to give the flowing water that mystical look.

 

Thanks. Lots of variability in water speeds and air content between these various subjects, so you have to play with the shutter speeds and experiment, depending upon the effect you want to achieve. Anywhere from 1/2 second to 15 seconds. Tripod is a must, though. And the longer the shutter is open, the greater the chance that foliage will move and will be un-aesthetically blurry. So sometimes it's a trade-off. Can't be done in daylight without a 7-stop Neutral Density filter either. (For all the tech-heads out there.)

 

Thanks for tying off that bit of info, Jim. And for helping provide the bread at dinner for so many.

Up to obtaining the 560, I had always been a bit of a lightweight/ minimalist camper. But the CICO Dutch Oveners demonstrated just how versatile and enjoyable heavy cast iron cooking can be. The Camp Cooking forum section will get some extra attention from me.

 

Thanks for the great post with pictures!

 

Nice pics and we love the UP of Michigan. Probably going back there in the next couple of summers, but not in June like last time.