Saturday - July 23 2022 - Painted Rocks National Seashore

 

Today's task was to explore Painted Rocks National Seashore day. Nothing says UP (Upper Peninsula) better than this park.

Deb lined up a boat tour, which is the best way to see the park. It is 42 miles long and the main attraction is the beautiful rock formations all along the shore. The other way is kayaking which were everywhere, but you need to get a big boat to take you up the shore a ways. The other kayak trick would be to haul your kayaks to one of the beaches and launch it from there. But we only have today and we also wanted to drive up the coast and check out the beaches and campgrounds, so the 10:00 to 2:30 boat was the way to go.

Another great weather day with clouds holding off until late in the day. I think I even got a new sun burn.

After the boat got back we found a pastie place for lunch so we can check that box. We chatted up a couple from Tucson and also a nice lady from South Africa. We actually met a lot of nice folks here.

We then hiked to Munising Falls next to town and then drove up to Miner's Beach where we parked and walked the coast to Miner's Castle. Miners Castle is a rock formation that looks like, you guessed it, a castle. There used to be two but one fell over. Actually, the shore seems pretty dynamic with various rock formations falling into Lake Superior every now and then with all the huge waves during storms and ice freeze cycles pushing them around.

We then drove to the top of the park and poked around 12 Mile Beach, which is, you guessed it, 12 miles long and is a sandy white beach. The campgrounds at the south end are pretty crowded but the northern park seems not nearly as busy. We will be back.

Then back to Munising for dinner at the Pizza/ Beer places next door to each other. Order the pizza and they will walk it next door to the beer place when it is ready.

Another great day!