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Monday, August 19, 2019

The Mackinac Bridge goes from St Ignace in the Upper Peninsula south to Mackinaw City in Lower Michigan.

Got it straight, Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island, and Mackinaw City.

At the end of the bridge in Mackinaw City is a state park.

There are many ferries running to and from Mackinac Island from several locations. I left from Mackinaw City.

Mackinac Island Harbor

Mackinac Island is beautiful with beautiful hotels, inns, large and small homes. No vehicles are allowed. There are thousands of bicycles and I don’t know how many carriages and horses.

It’s about a mile walk to The Grand Hotel.From this point on and to enter is a $10 fee

The town is a beautiful tourist trap kinda like a Key West or Charleston South Carolina of the north. Shop after shop, particularly fudge shops.

When my ferry was leaving I counted 6 ferries actively entering or leaving the small harbor.Three in one frame

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Sunday, August 18, 2019

Drove from Milwaukee to my campground, Lake Michigan Campground at St. Ignace, which is on the north shore of Lake Michigan about 10 miles northwest of St. Ignace, Michigan. St. Ignace is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Mackinaw City is Lower Michigan which I’ve seen referred to as The Mitt. The Mackinac Bridge connects the two.Lake Michigan at my campground. Very windy.

Drove north an hour and a half to Whitefish Point. To the west of Whitefish Point is 200 miles of the main body of Lake Superior.

To the southeast of Whitefish Point is Whitefish Bay. You can see a large freighter in the distance.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was hoping to get to and around Whitefish Point to get out of the storm and large waves of the main body of Lake Superior and make it to the relatively safe waters of Whitefish Bay.

There is a large Lighthouse, Coast Guard Station, Museum at the point. It doesn’t appear to be in use but is beautifully maintained.

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Monday, August 12, 2019

Pretty sure I’ll be taking a week long trip across The Michigan Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin starting this coming Sunday. Tentative plan is to spend a couple of days camped a little north of The Mackinaw Bridge, cross Mackinaw Bridge, and go to Mackinac Island. After a couple of days I’ll go west to hopefully see a very old friend in Cornucopia Wisconsin and a friend in Superior Wisconsin.

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Thursday, July 11, 2019

As strange as it sounds, the weather is too perfect for trout fishing. Middle of July, sun beating straight down, no clouds isn’t good for fishing. I know where the fish are but can’t get at them. One of the things done to improve a stream is to create undercut banks. That’s where the fish are on a sunny cloudless day.

I was standing in this spot tying a fly on, getting ready to fish the shady area when a branch about 10 feet long fell out of the tree on the right, exactly where I was going to fish. That’s a no-shitter.

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Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Caught two brown trout this morning while fishing Timber- Coulee. Maybe one 12″ and one 14″.

Then it got very windy.You have to be able to fly fish in the wind but when it’s so windy the trees are bending it’s difficult. That’s one of the best things about retirement. I can fish tomorrow.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Haven’t done any fishing so far on this trip. Yesterday when I setup my trailer I discovered a water leak. My site is a full hook up site. When I connected to “city water” is when water started dripping out of the bottom of my trailer. Unfortunately water lines are under my bed. There was a pinhole leak in a water tube. Took half the day but got it repaired.

I checked with a Vernon County Park employee. He said you can leave a trailer at a full hookup site from May through October for $1500.

Something to think about.

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Sunday, July 7th, 2019

Heading back to the Driftless Area tomorrow for a four-day fishing/relaxing trip. Weather forecast is perfect, 80 during the day, 65 at night with not much chance of rain. Intend to spend two full days fishing Timber-Coulee creek and then explore some other streams.  Had to look up Coulee. A coulee is a drainage area, a valley, I think. Below is a link to a YouTube video on the Timber-Coulee.

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Thursday, June 20, 2019

Today was a day for looking around, scouting for Wolf River access points, looking at other Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest campgrounds, and sightseeing. There is a spot just north of my campground called the Cathedral of Pines. All of northern Wisconsin was thoroughly logged in the 1800s. The Cathedral of Pines was never logged. Have to admit it was pretty but not impressive.The maps say Cathedral of Pines. This sign says something else.

There are four other National Forest Campgrounds nearby. I checked three of them out. The fourth one is popular with ATVers which I want nothing to do with.

Bear Lake Campground was the most appealing because more sunlight gets through than the other NP campgrounds in the area.

I found several good access points to the Wolf River but probably won’t fish the Wolf this trip. The Wolf is considered a little dangerous and it looks high and fast. It doesn’t have anywhere near to a smooth bottom. There are rocks and boulders of different sizes and there are holes. Not worth it.

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Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Camping at Bagley Rapids Campground near Mountain, Wisconsin. It’s one of several campgrounds in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. There aren’t any hookups but it’s $7.50 a night and very pretty. The forest is thick and campsites are far enough apart so that I can’t hear or see anyone. The trailer’s battery needs a little charge so I’m running the generator for a little while. But there are these nasty bastards called mosquitos and there are a lot of them. Had to put some bug juice on. Can’t remember the last time I used it.