Lunch Break in the woods!

If you have been following my last few blogposts, you know that I have been telling you about a trip we took to see a fellow Blogger buddy, Cathy from Yooper Yarns. I have been showing you all the places we saw around the Newberry, Michigan area when we visited her and her husband, Dan.

After we left Crisp Point lighthouse (see the post below this one), we were getting kind of hungry.
On the way up County Road 500, we had noticed a sign that said Lake Culhane State Forest Campground and had driven in to take a look. We decided to return there and make a picnic lunch for ourselves.

This is the drive into Lake Culhane. It is amazing! Tall, beautiful pine trees everywhere:

We were amazed because there wasn't a single camper using the campground on this particular day.
It was chilly outside, but it was sunny and a beautiful spot!

Half of the campsites were on the water, like this one:

But empty!
Totally empty!
We had the lake all to ourselves.

And..
just LOOK at this gorgeous little lake!:

This neat tree root was right next to one of the campsites:

And here is one of the many trails you can take through the pines at the campground:

We wished we had time to hike a few of the trails, but we were there for one purpose:
to
EAT!!!

So, we pulled into one of the campsites, and got out our stuff and of course, lit a campfire.

Yummm...can you smell it???:

Oh, c'mon.

You KNOW you want to!:.......

Toasty warm, now???

Then get your ketchup and mustard and bun, because these are justttt righttttt......

You DID remember the marshmallows, didn't you????

Crisp Point Lighthouse !!

When we recently visited my Blogger buddy Cathy, from Yooper Yarns, who lives near Newberry, Michigan, she recommended that we go on a side trip to see something spectacular.

She was referring to Crisp Point lighthouse, located on the shores of Lake Superior. For a map, please go to THIS link.

She knew I loved lighthouses, and especially Lake Superior lighthouses, so I was happy to hear of this site and immediately planned to visit it.

Please go to the link highlighted above for the lighthouse, it is well worth your time to investigate where it is and to plan a trip there.

Just look at this wonderful little lighthouse!:

And the beautiful Lake Superior shore it overlooks:

When I was taking pictures of the shore it sits beside, I noticed the lighthouse's shadow in the water:

The most wonderful thing, is that you drive through the scenic woods to get there and then come upon a small parking lot and there it is!:

When we got there, we were thrilled to see the building was open and the sign said we could climb the stairs INSIDE of it to the top!

I had never been inside a lighthouse and allowed to climb to the top before, so I was so excited to do so!:

This is about half way up the lighthouse as you climb the stairs, looking out to the west:

And this is at the top, looking to the east, down the shores of beautiful Lake Superior!: (the subtle shadows at the top of the picture are a reflection of the windows going around the top on the other side):

Again, this is at the top, looking to the west of the lighthouse at the Lake Superior shore. Again, the subtle shadows in the picture are the windows of the lighthouse behind me as I snapped the photo. I liked the ghostly shadows being in the picture!):

Here is a shot of the lighthouse from the east beach. We were way up under the red roof when I took the previous pictures:

I will remember this little lighthouse for quite some time, as it my first climb in one:

Before we left, we had to take a long beach walk, hand in hand.

It was cold that day (only in the 40's F.) and very windy, as you can see by the white caps on the lake.

But we stayed warm from the wonderful experience and hike:

And, of course, I couldn' t leave without a closeup of the driftwood tree root, now could I?:

Thanks, Cathy and Dan

for telling us about this little lighthouse and recommending we visit it!

It was perfect.

B.B. & B......Blogger Buddies and Bears!!!

Hi everyone!



Sorry I haven' t blogged in a few days...we have been "on the road" again capturing U.P. photos of our wonderful color season here...and best of all....meeting another Blogger Buddy!!



Cathy Clementz, of Yooper Yarns graciously invited us over to her wonderful campground near Newberry, Michigan so that we could finally meet before she totally deserts us Yoopers leaves in a few weeks to go to North Carolina.

If you haven't been to her blog, make sure you click on both the campground link and her blog link above to check both out! Her blog always makes me smile with her stories of past and present adventures with her hubby, Dan...and she always comments on my blog and makes me laugh then too!



So, I packed my cooler of hotdogs, buns, hotdog sticks, pop, chips, coffee, towels, etc. etc. and off we went to go "camping" at her wonderful campground.



We were going to cheat, however, and not tent it or use a camper.



You see, she has a couple of comfy cabins and we opted to stay in there instead of "roughing" it.

(With age, comes wisdom).



I could hardly wait to get there...we knew we would love her and her husband Dan because her personality shines through all of her blogposts...along with her humor.



We weren't disappointed!!

Just LOOK at her cute face:
(She is on the left, and yours truly is on the right):

I took a wonderful photo of her and her husband Dan, too...but Dan is being shy and doesn't want me to post his picture here on the blog.

He probably didn't want to dazzle the ladies.

Whatever, DAN!!!

I will get you next time, my pretty...

Anyway, I digress...

We talked a bit and then toured her wonderful campground.

The color there is just beginning, but look what a nice place it is!:

We settled in the cutest cabin, and unpacked and then, upon her recommendation, we decided to go directly to nearby Oswald's Bear Ranch, because it was the last day it was going to be open for the season, and I wanted to get my camera on some bears!!

We recently saw a bear in the wild woods, but he ran away so quick, I didn't get a shot of him with my camera....so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get some shots of bear again!!

But before I end this post with the shots of the trip to Oswald's Bear Ranch, I wanted to show you the morning after we stayed the night.

We had some COLD weather during the night...it got down in the 20 degree range!!!

I am NOT KIDDING.

Here is a shot of our adorable cabin when we woke up and saw that Mr. Frost had visited during the night:

The frost was so thick on our Blazer that I had to use a spoon to write this on the windshield:

We had plans to roast hotdogs and sit at the picnic table the night before, but by the time we got back from the Bear Ranch and had a yummy pizza with Cathy and Dan, it was TOO COLD!!

Just look at the frost on this picnic table!!:

But, despite the cold, we had a GREAT time staying in the cabin at her wonderful campground and chatting together. Isn't this world of blogging wonderful, when you get to meet folks who are genuine, caring and warm and you feel like instant friends when you get to meet in person?

Now, on to the Oswald Bear Ranch experience!:

When you get there, and pay at the office, they tell you there are several areas of fenced in parcels of bears, and you can walk the perimeters and see the bears in their natural habitat.

We liked that they were not stuck in tiny little cages and looked like they were well taken care of.

Only the baby bear cubs are kept in cages until they are big enough to "graduate" into the larger parcels of land where they can roam freely.

So, off we went around the first large fenced area..hiking and chatting in the beautiful autumn day.

Until my hubby grabs my arm and says.."Umm..don't get scared but look down!:

There on the path right in front of my right foot was THIS:

Oh, you say you want a CLOSE UP?

Well, alrighty then:

So of course I took his picture...because dang it...I was at the Bear Ranch to take pictures, after all!

We went all the way around the first enclosure without seeing a single bear.

I think they were in the middle of the woods having a kegger or something.

So off we went to hike around the second large enclosure.

Bingo! We saw our first lovely bear.

Wow!!!:

She was pretty big!

I saw more, but I couldn't get shots of them through the chain link fence..there are only a few spots where they cut out the links so you can put your camera in the holes and get clear photos.

But, I loved this Bear who was obviously into licking its own Icey:

For $5.00, you could get your picture with a bear cub.

I didn't want to make the little cub do stupid things for my benefit.

But another couple decided to go ahead and get their photo with the cub.

When they were done posing, they put Fruit Loops on the cub's belly and left it on the chair and it just sat there and ate off its stomach. (That will be what I look like in another five or ten years in my recliner, just sayin')....

Just look at this large bear just hangin' out over the culvert pipe:

And just look at this FACE!!!:

(I don't think I want to get that close in the woods to one, though.)

This guy is yawning and saying: "Geez, already, are you done yet with the dang photos? It is almost my dinner time, you know....!

So, we said goodbye to the bears and headed back over to Cathy's and Dan's again for the before-mentioned yummy pizza and an equally wonderful visit.

Thanks again, you guys for hosting us at your awesome campground...

it was so nice of you.

Now, when is it that you said you would come and visit us at Lake Michigamme??

As soon as you return from your North Carolina adventure, we hope....

Desolate Hike along Lake Superior shoreline and Montreal River: Part One

*Note: I was gone for two days and blogger was SUPPOSED to publish THIS post before the next one on my blog. I just got home and wanted to publish this now, due to their error. Please read this first and then the blogpost under this one next. Sorry for the inconvenience!

About a month ago, we went on a beautiful hike to explore a desolate part of the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P. of Michigan with my brother and his wife and two dear friends.

It was a tough hike for me, as it was about 5 miles, but it was worth every sore muscle.

We actually took a short stop first to walk out the the very most northernmost point of Michigan, at the tip of the Keweenaw peninsula. Please take a minute to click on this link
to see where this is on the U.S.A. map, because it really is an incredible geographical site.

Across from the tip of this peninsula is Canada (on the other side of Lake Superior).

The second hike we took is not developed yet. It has been purchased by the State of Michigan to be preserved, but the state has not put in a good path yet.

The hike goes through desolate forest with roots and hills and rock cliffs and ends where the Montreal River dumps into Lake Superior in a beautiful waterfall.

On our hike, we actually went above that set of falls to another set of falls on the same river.

I thought I was taking FAR too many pictures during the hike, but now that I am back and have recouperated, I wish I would have taken even more photos.

So, with no further delays, here is Part One of my two part series on this wonderful hike:

This was taken during our first "short" hike at the very tip of the peninsula. Across and a little to the left of the look out point at the tip is a lighthouse wayyyy in the distance. I had to beg my zoom to capture it, and it did...hazy of course, because of the distance, but still pretty:

Then, we were off to our second, longest hike after a bumpy ride in my brother's truck to the start of the hike.

This is a shot of the shoreline as we began the hike:

A shot of the many points where we hiked through "the enchanted forests" of cedar trees along the Lake Superior shoreline during the hike:

We hiked along the shore where there were cliffs at many points, with wonderful, knotty trees and great shorelines:

You know my love for tree mushrooms!

Well, imagine my delight when we saw THIS tree with MANY mushrooms on it!:

One of the highlights of the hike...this wonderful rock where the Lake Superior waters ate away all around it and left it orphaned in the water:

More of the wonderful shoreline views of Lake Superior during the hike:

As we hiked away from the mainland, you had wonderful views in back of you too;

When I didn't know if I could hike any more, we reached the falls!

This is the Montreal River dumping its waters into Lake Superior:

Stay tuned for PART TWO tomorrow, as there are plenty more pictures of the beautiful hike that we took...where we climbed up higher to the 2nd set of falls and then came back down to hike home.

Oh, and yes,.....I did need a whole bunch of Aleve after that day...but like I said, it was SO worth it!!

Desolate Hike along Lake Superior shoreline and the Montreal River: Part Two

If you haven't read yesterday's post before this one, it would be great if you would go down and read that post first....
This is Part Two of a set of photographs from my hike on the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan of the U.P. of Michigan, along the desolate shores of Lake Superior.

Here is another awesome tree mushroom we saw along the hike:

And, the top shelf of the Montreal River waterfall, that pours into Lake Superior:

This shot is how beautiful it was the day we hiked there...this is the mouth of the river, pouring itself into Lake Superior:

Another view of looking back at the peninsula we had just hiked along:

Boy, was I pooped!

But we rested and sat along the mouth of the river, just admiring its glory.

Then, after getting a second wind, we decided to hike up even farther to see the set of the upper falls of the river.

This is a shot of the river flowing along on our hike up to the second set of falls:

We had some steep hills to climb and I was wondering if it would be worth it.

But then, finally...

through the trees, we spotted the upper falls!:

Yes, ...I hear you telling me it WAS worth it.

And, you are right.

Here is another picture out in the open of this beautiful set of falls:

Here is a close up of the falls:

Gorgeous!

So, now, we had to hike back.

But, not to worry...because look at the view as we hiked back to our car!:

We made it back late in the afternoon.

Thirsty, hungry and happy.

We decided to all drive back to my brother's camp on Lake Medora, which was about 10 miles away. I just happened to have baked a homemade apple pie (ahead of time) for that exact moment....


Let's just say, an apple pie never tasted SO GOOD!!

Then, we waited for the perfect end

to

the perfect day.

The sunset over his lake:

It will be a memory we will all remember for a long while.

(Especially my muscles and back).

But, did I tell you yet that it was totally worth it???