Trip report (biking the UP - long)

Trip report (or: What I did on my summer vacation) 5 days biking the Keweenaw Peninsula as part of Tour da U.P. (www.tourdaup.org)

Aug 4 (Day -1): Packed quite a bit the night before

Day 0: I planned on leaving at 10AM on the day before the trip. I actually left only a short time afterwards, with only one obligatory turn around and triple check I stopped (I forget where) for a bathroom break, a park near Eagle River. I also stopped at a wayside just after the state border and at the Ottawa state forest visitor center near Watersmeet. MI. I arrived about the time I expected. Picked up my registration packet and read the material. The registration motel was near the water – I couldn’t resist skipping some rocks into Lake Superior. I later met my Brother-In-Law Tom. We ate supper and headed towards the L’Anse Motel & Suites. This is a cheap motel, but it was more that adequate for our needs.

Day 1: Got up early. We were near the place that sells HUGE cinnamon rolls ( http://www.sweetroll.com/ ) but frankly that wasn’t very appealing to us (I think I would get sick if I ate one) so we ate at Burger King and headed to Baraga area schools.
We loaded our stuff onto the luggage truck and got prepared. There was a short blessing (3 goals: Have a safe and enjoyable ride, renew old friendships, and make new friends).
We then headed out on the road (about 9:15AM). At the start it was hard with all the bikes (about 95 riders) but we eventually spread out. We headed north to Houghton / Hancock. The trip into Houghton was interesting, the wind was VERY strong coming down the channel blowing us sideways. Lunch (sandwiches) was at the canal side park. We then headed along the canal (against the wind) to McClain State Park. (http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/ParksandTrailsInfo.aspx?id=423)
After picking a site (about 4 people per site – since a whole block was reserved we were kind of in two sites: 26 & 28 I think), Tom bought some wood for a fire and I got a map. Decided to go to the breakwater. The map had no scale and it was farther that we guessed. Supper was at the pavilion near the breakwater – we rode our bikes. We had pizza, salad and fruit. A short program on Teaching Family homes followed. Tom offered his wood for the planned s’more cookout. We were promptly volunteered to host said cookout. The organizers were quick to drop off the fixings at our campsite. We managed not to stay up too late. Total Miles: about 48.

Day 2: Packed up our stuff and headed towards breakfast at a closer pavilion. We had pancakes and sausage courtesy of a Lions club. We then headed out. There was a steady climb to Calumet. Not steep, but uphill all the way. We spent a short while on flat terrain before heading (mostly!) downhill towards the shore. We stopped at the bridge in Eagle River (MASSIVE timbers) and then went to lunch – arrived a bit early but decided to hang around. Ate lunch (sandwiches) and took a short trip to the Jampot http://www.societystjohn.com/jampot.jp – this is how a local monastery supports itself.
After reaching Silver River Falls we faced a choice. Head along the shore, or take the road less traveled. (I assume, perhaps it is more traveled) and head up Brockway Mountain (about a 700 foot climb). We rested a bit and decided to go for it. The climb started out not to bad (even some downhill) but got worse. We stopped 3 or 4 times on the way up and finally walked the last 100-200 feet. It was a spectacular view. The climb was on the “easy” side. We then went down (mostly) the steep side. This was an interesting ride. Hairpin turns after steep hills. We made it ok and arrived in Copper Harbor. I stopped by to book my kayak trip for day 3. Tom ran some errands. I also stopped by the community center where there was computer for internet use. We headed into the campground at Fort Wilkins state park (site 111) (http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/parksandtrails/ParksandTrailsInfo.aspx?id=419)
We went for a short swim in lake Fanny Hooe. Supper was Mexican buffet at the Copper Harbor township hall. After supper I decided to bike to the end of US 41. US 41 is the main highway near my birth city and I travel it regularly. It goes from outside Copper Harbor to Miami, FL. (1990 miles) I was near the old fort so I also toured that. (in the winter mail was delivered by dogsled from Fort Howard (Green Bay). Total Miles: about 50.

Day 3: This was a day off from biking. After breakfast (cereal, bagels, and instant oatmeal) there were many activities people could do. Although there was kayaking offered (2.5 hours), I wanted something more substantial (half day) so I arranged a longer kayak trip. There was a minimum of two people to do this (they don’t normally do the half day trip on Tuesdays) – luckily another couple was interested in the trip. The kayak place was reluctant to transport people for insurance reasons so we found some kind TdUP folks to transport us. After a long while, the guide showed up. The wind was calm early in the morning but was getting stronger. So the decision was to go to an alternate site. About this time there was news that one of the bikes had an aneurysm. With all the extra strain on the organizers we convinced the kayak place to transport us (after signing a 4th release form). We followed the eastern shore of the peninsula starting from Bete Gris. It was wavier than I’m used to, but no too bad. There was lots of interesting shoreline and lake bottom. After passing between the shore and a sea stack, we headed to a small rock beach. We ate lunch and rested. I took my camera out of the waterproof bag to take some pictures. Got back in our boats, where I discovered I did not close the bag so my camera got soaked. It was off at the time. (As of this writing there is still some water behind the lens, but the other water appears to be gone) The trip back was quite wavy. The harder part was the wind was off our sides so we had to continuously adjust our track. After reaching the relatively protected beach the guide showed us many fancy Greenland rolls. I was glad to be on shore, and not a Gordon Lightfoot song.We had supper at the Harbor Haus (http://www.harborhaus.com/) were we had a wonderful meal.
Total Miles: about 5 (54.8 total miles day 2+3)

Day 4: loaded out luggage onto the truck and then biked to breakfast (same as day 3). Another day of slow climbing going inland and then a steep hill towards shore (I had been on this road for my kayak trip). Had to bike through about 4 miles of road construction. The gravel wasn’t so awful with my relatively wide tires (35mm), it was the dust from passing dump trucks that was the worst part. We had lunch (sandwiches) at a shore park. We then headed into Gay which at one time had a metal stamping plant (still has the big smokestack), but now the chief (only?) business is “The Gay Bar”. Got souvenir bottled water. We biked to Lake Linden where we stayed near the school. Not a lot of shady spots – we camped in the shade of the luggage truck. This also made carrying our stuff easier. After a nice shower to wash off the dust I explored the town a bit. We went for a swim in Lake Linden and explored the town some more. There looks to be an interesting museum nearby. Supper was lasagna, garlic bread, salad and ice cream in the school gym. Total Miles: 53.5

Day 5: Breakfast was at a nearby restaurant (eggs, bacon, hash browns). There was a rest stop in Houghton / Hancock (the only bridge to the upper Keweenaw Peninsula).
Then we biked on a bike trail along highway 41. Turned gravel at some point, but we deemed it better than biking the shoulder. There was an angry homeowner who had fenced off his yard. We biked on the road for a bit and then back on the trail. By doing this we missed a rest stop which was on the road. The trail ended near Chassell so it was on the road for the last ~20 miles. We arrived back in Baraga with time to spare. So we took a shower and put our stuff in our cars. Then lunch (traditional pasties) and award ceremony (youngest rider, oldest rider, most improved, etc). Culminating with “the Golden Butt” for the most miles biked which was won with 330 miles (I biked about 196.9).

Headed home and missed a turn making a 30 mile detour. When I arrived home I heard a weird sound. I looked and saw 2-3”” of water in my basement. The water softener had broke and there was water spewing out of a pipe nearby. Shut off the main water valve, called the insurance company (from a payphone – no phone service). I spent the night shoveling water from other low spts towards my floor drain. I’m getting a new basement (carpeting, paneling, etc). The carpet is out, paneling will be removed Monday.
I was planning on taking Friday off anyway – just didn’t expect to spend it working.
Also spent quite bit of the weekend with various related tasks.

Brian

That sounds like a nice time, well except for the basement.

Was it hard-core riding? Or were there different levels of riders? Would you go again?

I’m going to at least it out for next year. I do some of the local 30-40 mi rides, but have wanted to go on longer trips. I didn’t realize there was one this close (well if you call northern Indiana close).

There were many levels or riders – out of the 95 maybe a dozen were hard core.

I’m seriously considering doing it again. The ride was well organized, the route well marked (the daily maps weren’t so hot though), the food was good and plentiful. And 95 is nice number - not like those 1000+ person rides.

Northern Indian is close compared to North Carolina or Colorado. There were two people from Ohio as well.

Brian