Day 15- Lake Superior Circle Tour: Hiawatha National Forest to McMillan, MI

Bike Tour around Lake Superior Traveling Through the UP of Michigan

Day 15

I woke up grumpy on the morning of Day 15 of our Lake Superior Bike Tour. It was raining, and I was unsure of the legality of our campsite along the North Country Trail near a beach area called “The Shallows.” Ian just wanted to stay in the tent until it stopped raining, but I forced him to pack up in the rain. Well it didn’t stop raining until a couple hours after we started, so we were glad we didn’t just hang around in the tent all morning. Fortunately we had good lightweight rain gear and waterproof bike bags.

It was still raining when we hit M-123 and turned north to continue up the shore of Lake Superior along Tahquamenon Bay. We continued up M-123 for about 17 miles until we hit the adorable little town of Paradise.

Bike touring around Lake Superior takes you through some beautiful landscapes, especially in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

In town, we got some delicious little breakfast sandwiches at a café called Fresh Coast Café. Their coffee was excellent, and we sat on their front patio and ate a second breakfast sandwich. We might have gotten off to a rough start for the day, but it was a beautiful day from Paradise on out.

From Paradise, we headed east, inland on M-123 into Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We stopped at the Lower Tahquamenon Falls, which were not that amazing compared to the all the waterfalls we had seen on the North Shore of Minnesota. They are still pretty, but there was an unbelievable number of people in the park for the size of the waterfall.

Lower Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a very picturesque little waterfall.

Next we headed to the Upper Tahquamenon Falls. This spot was even busier. We went to the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery. This was one of the stops on our Lake Superior Ale Trail. Now I would love to say that this rustic brewery in a picturesque location within a state park also had delicious beer, but unfortunately that would be a fib. The peach beer that we ordered literally burned our throats.

Just as we were leaving, an obnoxious guided bike tour arrived at the brewery. They were riding several cyclists wide and seemed to be oblivious of other traffic on the road. It seemed like from that point onward in the day, motorists were quite inconsiderate and passing closely. We think that having this other goofy tour ride only a little ways behind us was creating a general animosity towards cyclists. It’s the unfortunate truth that drivers will equate one cyclist with all cyclists. While drivers always have the responsibility to be respectful around cyclists, us cyclists have to watch out for each other too!

We continued to bike on M-123 until we entered Newberry, Michigan. The road had changed from being cool and forested to hot and open. The population of the village of Newberry is about 1,500 unless you count the Newberry Correctional Facility, which nearly doubles the population of this little town.

In Newberry, we stopped at a Pickelman’s Petro—one of those places where locals hang out because there is nowhere else in town. We bought these big submarine sandwiches, called Sooper Yoopers, from a local deli, and a bunch of cold drinks to try to beat the heat. It turns out that a submarine sandwich fits perfectly into our insulated Stashers bike bags.

I literally felt the hottest that I have ever been while I was waiting outside the gas station while Ian was inside, and we spent three days in Death Valley! Plus there were no public parks in this tiny town so we were at a loss for where to sit and eat. Before heading out of town, we tried to use the bathroom at the public library, but they said they’d have to let us into the elementary school next door, which just felt weird.

We would highly recommend these delicious and meaty sandwiches that we bought at a gas station in Newberry, Michigan.

We ended up eating our Sooper Yoopers next to a fence by one of the school fields. It was pretty awkward, but it didn’t actually seem like anybody cared that there were two full-grown adults in spandex just chillin’ under a pine tree by the public school.

We took Dollarville Road out of town, and pretty soon after we had to get on M-28. We were probably only biking on M-28 for about five miles, but it was downright awful. Maybe not as bad as the Trans-Canada Highway, but Americans drive more dangerously. There was no shoulder, and nobody bothered to get over or slow down. In situations like this, it’s important to have bright flashing rear lights and rearview helmet mirrors.

Finally we reached a small convenience store where we were able to catch our breaths. There we made a plan to bike on Manistique Lakes Road and take a more southern route so that we could spend less time on M-28. Although there was a tract of state land up the road that we had planned to camp on, we wanted to go a county campground on Ten Curves Road instead to spend the night.

As long as we weren’t on M-28, biking through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was actually really relaxing and beautiful.

Once we got onto these roads, we really started to enjoy the ride again. It had gotten quite a bit cooler, and it was just one of those times when we felt that we were moving quickly and effortlessly. We had bought some beer, which were staying cold in our Stashers insulated bags. We were looking forward to a cold drink at the end of the day.

We arrived at Luce County Park and Campground around dinner time. There was no one at the front entrance station, and there weren’t even envelopes for self-registration. Another camper, apparently a seasonal resident, showed us a spot where we could set up. It was the only spot that was open. She told us we could pay when they reopened in the morning.

Well, the spot did seem kind of weird to us—like maybe it wasn’t an actual campsite. But we had ridden 75 miles that day, so we weren’t about to argue. I went to take a shower. Yes! This miraculous little campground had very clean and pretty hot shower with good pressure. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Ian was dealing with the wrath of the actual camp host. Apparently, while I was gone, a woman stormed over to the campsite and asked “what we thought we were doing?!” Ian explained the situation, and then she told us that we weren’t even in a campsite (which to be fair we kind of had suspected). But since we were on bikes, she said she would allow us to stay. Ian paid and things were smoothed over.

The campground is on North Manistique Lake, and the lake shimmered as the sun went down. We cooked dinner at our picnic table, and we enjoyed a evening of hanging out outside the tent, rather than cowering in fear inside our tent from the mosquitos. We drank our cold beers and dried out our gear that had gotten wet in the morning, while the sun set over the lake.