For five days I’ll be camped at Colwell Lake Campground in the Hiawatha National Forest in-between Munising and Manistique in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Another very nice national forest campground. My campsite is right on the lake. Wish I had a kayak but if I put a rack on the top of my truck I won’t be able to get into my underground parking. Munising is like Bayfield was, packed with tourists on a weekday.
Still have reservations at Navajo Dam State Park on the San Juan River from September 13 through September 23. I think I’ll still go. It’s a 4 day drive each way at about 7 hours per day. Also, pretty sure I’ll be going back to the Driftless Area the first week of September.
Change of plans. Canceled my reservation at Two Lakes Campground. It’s such a long drive. Instead on Sunday the 15th I’ll be heading to Hiawatha National Forest up between Munising, MI and Escanaba, MI, and stay at either Bay Furnace Campground near Munising or Colwell Lake Campground near Mainistique MI. Each has many first come first serve campsites. I hope to take a boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Shoreline.
The plan was to head back home on Friday. The forecast for Thursday was rain. When I woke up today and looked up at the gray sky I decided to clean up, pack up, hook up, dump the tanks, and head out. Why sit in my trailer and read a book? When I was opening my truck door just after dumping the tanks it started misting. Lucky call.
Anyway I’m home.
Today I took the 20 minute ferry ride from the pretty little town of Bayfield, Wisconsin to Madeline Island.
Madeline Island is 14 miles long and 3 miles wide. The southwest part of the island where the ferry docks is flat and wooded. The town of La Pointe is on the southwest tip of the island. La Pointe is very small, just a hand full of buildings, but is a little bit of a tourist trap. Bicycles, e-bikes, and motor scooters can be rented. There are quite a few homes and there is Madeline Island School of the Arts. The population is 267 in the winter and 2500 in the summer. The ferry runs as long as there isn’t ice. If the ice is thick enough there is an ice road. The northeast part of the island has a rocky shoreline with some cliffs. Big Bay State Park is on the northeast part of the island.
Taking it easy today. Might take a ride to check out a couple of other National Forest Campgrounds although I’m happy with this one.
Yesterday around 6 pm I set my trailer up at Two Lakes Campground in the Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest. It’s a few miles from Drummond, Wisconsin. This is “Up North” . There are a couple of solar powered electric water spigots in the campground and a dump station. Not sure if I’ll go fishing. A fish dinner would be nice. If you aren’t wealthy and even if you are wealthy National Forest Campgrounds are great. This site costs me $12 a night. If you camp for a month at private campgrounds with full hookups at $40 to $60 a night it comes to $1200 to $1800 a month. Full time RVing can get pretty expensive.
The campground is between Owen Lake which has some motorized boat traffic and Bass Lake which is a small no wake lake. It’s difficult to get a photo of more of the lake because the forest is so thick.
I took a drive north through Ashland, Washburn, and Bayfield to Cornucopia. An old friend lives in Cornucopia. Ashland and Washburn are small cities on Lake Superior and sit in low, not beautiful spots. Bayfield is hilly and beautiful. A ferry runs from Bayfield to Madeline Island. Because of the beauty and ferry it’s very touristy and it’s hard to find a parking spot in a town of 497 people.
Much of the shoreline north of Bayfield and west to Cornucopia is part of the Apostle Islands National Shoreline. Madeline Island is not part of the National Shoreline because it was too expensive for the Fed. to purchase.
In the distance of the above photo is a spot people hike to in the winter to view “ice caves”.
Today I went to “Beyond Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience” which has been showing in cities across the country. These days I try to avoid recommending anything to anyone but I do recommend seeing this show, There are three rooms. The first room contains many large lighted “signs”, for lack of a better word, which are pieces of paintings with words on top. The “signs” are either quotes or dated and describe something going on in Van Gogh’s life.
The second room is colorful movement on one wall.
The Third Room. The walls and floor have almost constant movement as paintings are “painted”
Only my second game of the year. A rare Wednesday 1:10 pm game. Half-price for seniors and kids. This seat was $9.
I’ve been thinking about spending all of November and December and a couple of weeks in January camped at La Posa LTVA on BLM land just outside of Quartzite, Arizona. I guess in the winter up to 750,000 campers, people not vehicles, can be in the area. The area was featured in the movie Nomadland. It would be an experience.
