Shipwreck Coast

On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

According to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, at least 200 shipwrecks lie along Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast, a treacherous 80-Mile stretch of shoreline with no safe harbor, between Munising (where we camped) and Whitefish Point (where we visited the Shipwreck Museum). It is known as the Graveyard of the Great Lakes. Near Whitefish Point lies the Edmund Fitzgerald. Its bell was raised in 1995, restored, and placed in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It was replaced on the wreck, by a bell with the names of the lost sailors, as a memorial.

The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her

Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

We camped near Munising, close to the west end of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which we visited 3 of 4 days. The other day, we drove 2 hours to Whitefish Point to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and Whitefish Point Lighthouse. On our 2 hour return, we drove through Tahquamenon Falls State Park, where we had lunch and visited Tahquamenon Lower Falls and Upper Falls.

Three days visiting 1 new National Park Site, 1 Revisit

• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (#255), America’s first National Lakeshore, is 42-miles along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula (on the Shipwreck Coast). It has some 15 miles of Sandstone cliffs (which give it its name), beaches, waterfalls, sand dunes, 10 inland lakes, deep forest, wild shoreline, and nearly 100 miles of trails, including 42 miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail. Over 3 days we got our first view of Lake Superior and:
  • Visited Munising Falls Visitor Center and Munising Falls at the west end
  • Visited Grand Sable Visitor Center, Sable Falls (168 steps down & up), Grand Sable Dunes, and Au Sable Lighthouse (walking a mile+ on North Country Trail to get there) at the east end
  • Did a 10 mile loop hike in Chapel Basin, almost 5 of which were on the North Country Trail along the cliffs above Lake Superior. We got to Chapel Falls, and at overlooks on the cliffs, we saw several cliff formations, like Chapel Rock and Grand Portal Arch, from above.
  • Took a 2-hour, 34 miles RT, Sunset Cruise along many of the cliffs, getting our first really good idea of how Painted Rocks got its name, seeing both Bridalveil Falls and Spray Falls, only visible from the water, and viewing several cliff formations, like Chapel Rock, Grand Portal Arch, and Miners Castle from the water.
  • Visited Sand Point, where we saw the beach and the Coast Guard Boathouse, and walked the Sand Point Marsh Trail, and Miners Castle, where we did a Geology Walk with a Ranger, and then hiked to Miners Falls.
• North Country National Scenic Trail (#252-Revisit), stretching from North Dakota to Vermont, this was our 3rd “semi-official” visit, but the first where we actually hiked on the trail. In addition to our several miles where it runs through Pictured Rocks NL, we also walked on it a bit at Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

Made it to the Keweenaw Peninsula!

Second time in-a-row, Gail didn’t get the post done before we moved on from a campground. We were busy! But, means we can add a bit about a short stop we made for lunch at the Canyon Falls & Gorge Rest Stop on our way here. We hiked to another waterfall and put in just a bit more hiking (.3 miles) on the North Country Trail.

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Great Lakes Superior

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