Upper Midwest Tour, Day 21 - July 30th

We had a reverse multi-modal travel day, leaving from Mackinac Island by water taxi, then driving to Petoskey State Park for a bicycle ride on the Little Traverse Wheelway, and finally driving to Orchard Beach State Park, near Manistee, MI.

We were up early, after a restless night.  There was a group of women who partied well into the night.  They must have been about 8 of them and it seemed that at least 4 to 6 of them would talk at the same time.  It was quiet for a while after dark, but the noise started up again at 2:30 am.

We were at the water taxi dock by 8:30 am to catch the 9 am crossing.  While waiting and on the trip back to the mainland I had opportunity to photograph the harbor, the Grand Hotel, and the Mackinaw Suspension Bridge again on a very clear day,

After arriving at Mackinaw City, I rode my bicycle to retrieve our car, while Betsy claimed our luggage.  Overall, the system for luggage transfer to and from your island hotel works very effectively - it is delivered to your hotel room and on the return trip, bike valets pick it up from the hotel room and deliver it to the dock, where the ferry company crew transfers it to the boat and then to the luggage claim area.

We drove about an hour, along State Highway 31, going through farm land (lots of farm stands), a couple of resort communities, and fishing lakes.  We stopped at Petoskey State Park, just north of Petoskey, a fairly good sized city, where  we unloaded our bikes to try a rails-to-trails route called Little Traverse Wheelway (LTW).  From looking at the map and my guidebook, we concluded that the ride toward Petoskey would be the most interesting leg.  The ride started at the head of the Little Traverse Bay and went westerly through chic Bayview, with Victorian homes set along the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.  After Bayview, we crossed into the city limits of Petoskey, with its marina and the Bear River coming out perpendicular  to the lake front.  We rode part way up the scenic Bear River Valley and then retraced our route back to the city center.  

We found a neat little coffee shop a few blocks uphill from the lake front in what turned out to be a very prosperous and lively downtown - lots of nicely dressed people, particularly for a Sunday, many small shops open, and no vacant or boarded up store fronts.  We left our bikes at a convenient bike rack and wandered a few blocks.  We were drawn into a shop named "Dunworkin."  We bought a Christmas gift and I got a beer drinking tee shirt that was labeled "daily planner" and had 7 different shaped beer tap handles with the days of the week on the handles.

We rode back the way we came, covering about 12 miles in total.  I took photographs of the most decorative Victorian "cottage," with a dragon motif for its ridge line, and of the Petoskey Brewery, just before entering the State park.  We stopped in Traverse City (lots of lake front hotels) for groceries and gas, and then drove south.

The LTW is famous as an early rails-to-trails bike route.  It is 23 miles in length, we only saw a quarter of it.

In the distance is the State Park with its sandy beach.  The wind blew directly on to the beach and is probably why there are sand dunes.  The beach was busy with families enjoying the sand and the surf.

The bikeway follows the shoreline lined with limestone rocks.  The marina is in the distance.

Little  Traverse Bay had great wind and there were many boats out, probably some sort of regatta.

One of the major waterfalls in Michigan -- I am making this up, but the state is flat.  This is coming off the bluff that runs along the lake front.

Some of the Victorian homes on the bluff

The flashiest cottage...

with the dragon ridge line.

Our camp site in a crowded Orchard Beach State Park Campground.  The facilities are good, but without much  privacy.  I can't imagine how folks tow these behemoth trailers.  The people behind us have a RV, a second car, and a small flat bed trailer to carry all their stuff.

We walked the perimeter of the campground after setting up camp.  While the park overlooks the lake shore, there is no beach access, largely because it is a steep drop-off.  I was told at camp checkin that the beach is owned and managed by the city of Manistee and the State Park has no access to it.  But I think the geology is more the reason.  We prepared dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening, though the young kids were running around all over.  Quiet time kicked in at 10 pm.