Exploring the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, September 2020

COVID-19 made this year's Fall vacation a bit more spur-of-moment than usual. We decided not to travel far and just spend some time exploring our northern backyard. The first challenge we encountered was finding a place to camp. Apparently RV sales have been through the roof with everyone looking for ways to safely entertain themselves, and, as a result, reservations are suddenly very difficult to get in State Parks. We turned our attention to county parks and found some that had first-come first-serve sites. Craven Park Campground outside Belaire caught my eye, and a phone call verified they would have open sites if we arrived mid-week. Our plan was to arrive in good time Wednesday morning and find a site to keep through the weekend, then move on. Another contender was Barnes Park Campground outside Eastport. Being right on Traverse Bay made finding an open site there more unlikely, but when we placed a call on our way north, we discovered there was one site available, if we arrived before anyone else. We got lucky and scored campsite #60, a nice large site a short walk from the beach and the bath house. Scattered rains and cool temperatures encouraged us to relax indoors most of the afternoon, although we did explore the campground a bit.

Thursday was "explore our area" day. We hiked the trails around the campground after breakfast, then headed out by car to investigate Central Lake and Bellaire. Our first stop was Providence Organic Farm & Natural Food Market, just up the road from our campground, where we found organic greens for dinner and a multigrain sourdough bread that made a wonderful late lunch when dipped in olive oil with Italian seasonings. The Friends of the Library in Central Lake operate a nice little used bookstore that caught our attention on the way through town. In Belaire, we walked the streets, stopping for a coffee at Ruthann's Gourmet Bakery and picking up some unique teas at The Spice & Tea Exchange. Short's Brewing Company is there, and I think I'll return to give their one of their Stouts or Porter a try. We drove through Craven Park Campground and were glad we didn't stay there. The sites were much smaller and closer together than ours, and the park is not nearly as pretty.

Friday we hiked a portion of Glacial Hills Pathway, a very nice trail system used by mountain bikers and hikers. The trail system is very well marked (which is good, because it is rather intricate). We stopped back at Providence Natural Food Market to sample their tomato soup with some of the sourdough bread we purchased yesterday. Then it was time to shower and relax around the campsite, doing some reading. When the winds and waves subsided in the evening, we carried our kayaks down to the beach for a leisurely paddle.

The rain moved in Friday night and lasted the better part of Saturday. We slept late, then had a very leisurely breakfast before heading out on a driving tour. Our first stop was Charlevoix, which was very crowded. We didn't spend long there before heading on to Petoskey, well actually, the Petoskey Meijer, to pick up a replacement French Press and some more wine. From there we moved on to East Jordan to search for kayak launching sites, and Otis Pottery, where Kathy likes to visit and shop. Finally, we traveled back roads to the campground.

We revisited Glacial Hills Pathway on Saturday, taking the Rolling Hills from the Vandermark trailhead. Rain had threatened in the morning, but it broke up before reaching us. Once we were fairly certain it wasn't going to get us, we headed for the trail. It was a very nice walk on a breezy day. The recent rains made mushroom spotting quite interesting. The sandy nature of the trail system provided excellent drainage, so the trail was not muddy at all. After finishing the 5.3 mile loop, we headed back to the trailer to relax with wine and cheese before dinner.

The following day, light winds and sunshine with temperatures in the 60's made for an excellent chance to splash the kayaks again. This time we paddled south in Traverse Bay. The winds gradually increased from the north as we paddled, making the return trip a little more of a workout. The campground showers felt good after we hung all our gear out to dry.

A breezy day with temperatures climbing into the 70's made hiking and a trip to Short's Brewing Company a great combination. We started out at the Grass River Natural Area in the southern parking lot off Alden Highway and hiked the Algonquin, Nipising and Chippewa loops, then repositioned the truck at the northern parking lot and did the Woodland, Fern Boardwalk and Sedge Meadow Boardwalk loops. The trails were well marked and the scenery was much different from what we found in the higher lands of the Glacial Hills Pathway.

After hiking, we made our way to Short's Brewing Company in Bellaire, where I enjoyed a flight of five Stouts and Porters. I enjoyed the Chocolate Wheat Porter best of the ones I sampled. Their Cuban Black Bean soup was outstanding.

On Wednesday, Kathy wanted to do some shopping in Leland, which was about a 90 minute drive from our campsite. While she perused the town, I got some reading done. On the way back through Traverse City, we stopped at Spanglish for an early dinner, eating outside at a picnic table in the Commons. We had discovered the little Mexican restaurant during a previous weekend getaway to the area. On the way home, we checked out some fruit stands and a local natural area that might serve as a kayak launch site for later.

Thursday found us at the third Glacial Hills Pathway parking lot, the Orchard Hills Trailhead, from which we hiked the Crown trail. Just like our previous two hikes in this preserve, we were not disappointed. Back in Bellaire, we visited the Spice & Tea Exchange to pick up some more of the spiced chocolate mix which turns out to be an important ingredient in my "dessert coffee" consisting of decaf coffee, coconut milk, the spiced hot chocolate mix and Kahlua.

We visited a couple of local nature preserves on Friday, Antrim Creek and Maplehurst Natural Area. The former features several short hiking loops and a mile of Traverse Bay beach; the latter has a very nice hiking trail system with some beautiful lake views. One warning: do not attempt to take a RV to the Antrim Creek north entrance! There is a very narrow, curved road section that would be a disaster.

It was cold last night, reaching a low of 36° F. We declared Saturday a rest day, hoping to rest Kathy's hip after yesterday's hikes. After a leisurely breakfast, we took the chairs down to the beach for reading time. Then it was off to the showers. We enjoyed another campfire, had cocktails, then dinner, then more reading and computer work.