Picturing the Pictured Rocks

Yesterday Ryan and I drove three hours to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which lines Lake Superior and learned of Lisa’s first goof in the planning process. We wanted to backpack for the night at the famous Chapel Beach loop, and I could have sworn backcountry permits were first come first served, but they weren’t. So of course all the spots at that area were full, and we had to choose a different backcountry spot a little ways away. We still wanted to see the Chapel Beach loop though, so we headed up a dirt road to the parking area, had lunch, then set out on trail through beautiful woods full of chipmunks. I’m used to chipmunks not being afraid of humans, but I’m not used to them minding their own business and not bugging you for food. They just went about their foraging business with Ryan and I inches away in some cases.

We stopped at Chapel Falls for a quick snapshot featuring our mascot Matt Adams, who was on the DL after his arm fell off. We found it though, and now good ole Matt is back! Check him out…

Amazingly, the mosquitoes weren’t too bad on our hike, and Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed the dappled light and cool temperature of the thick forest. Also amazingly, we didn’t see any poison ivy. Ryan brought sunflower seeds to munch on, and he taught me how to open them up to get the seed without totally destroying the shell. (Step one: put all seeds in the side of your cheek like our chipmunk friends. Step two: lightly bite down on one seed lengthwise so it splits open. Step three: move the seed to the front teeth to extract the seed. Step four: blow the seed shell out of your mouth, and don’t accidentally hit your hiking partner with them). 

Soon the trees broke, and we arrived at the beach with the colored cliffs the park is known for. Chapel rock stood sentinel over children and pontoon boats taking advantage of the sandy beach. Superior is even colder than Michigan, so Ryan and I only managed to dip our feet in, but in our defense, no one else was swimming either. After taking in the coast for a bit, Ryan and I decided to make an ambitious choice and take the longer route back to the trail head so we could see more of the cliffs, and oh did we. There were definitely some places where Ryan was pushed up against the foliage on his left so as to avoid the daunting 100+ foot drop to the water below via the cliff on his right. The hike was well worth it though, with viewpoints of some of the iconic cliffs of the park and heavy grown forest all to ourselves. 

Pictured above: Pictured Rocks

Well almost to ourselves. At one point in the trip, my sister texted me and my phone somehow managed to use some small strand of cell service to receive the text message. “Ootini!” Ryan jumped just about ten feet in the air before realizing it was my ring tone for my sister. We both died laughing. It was the perfect habitat for Jawas.

By the end of the hike, we had hiked eight some miles and were feeling pretty weary. My ankles were having some sort of reaction to my socks and were swelling with a bit of a rash. We had to get moving though, as the sun was sinking fast and we still had to hike to our backcountry site. So we drove the ten miles to the next trailhead, threw all our backcountry stuff in our packs, and then huffed it another 1.5 miles to camp where we caught this great sunset picture below from the Coves backcountry camp. We set up camp and cooked dinner just as darkness set in, like we were pros. Except I realized I forgot my sleeping pad, so that made for a pretty rocky night’s sleep. Oh well! Live and learn.

We got up early, packed out all our stuff and are now heading towards what might be the craziest mountain biking we’ve ever attempted at a little place called Copper Harbor. Stay tuned!

One more mascot shot.