1 August 2017, Tuesday
We wake refreshed! There were no raccoons to disturb our sleep last night. We bake some peach-oat bran muffins, our own homemade mix, which we eat with blueberry jam and yogurt. By 10:30 Vincent is repacked and we are on the road to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The day starts out fresh and clear.
After a few hours of driving we cross the Mackinac Bridge to the UP. We drive along the wind blown north shore of Lake Michigan and then turn north and west again towards Munising. We have been watching thunderheads build ahead of us all day. Three to four miles past Munising is the little town of Christmas, and here we finally reach Bay Furnace Campground on the southern shore of Lake Superior. We arrive shortly after 4 pm and inspect our campsite as thunder rumbles threateningly. We have the tent set up and the tarp hung within 30 minutes – just in time to duck beneath the tarp as the skies open. Supper is cooked under the tarp as we watch the storm blow through.
After eating, we wander down to Superior’s edge where we find the ruins of the blast furnace that gave this bay its name. The furnace produced iron from 1870 – 1877. Nowadays it serves as a well-populated pigeon roost.