August 31, 2001 to September 15, 2001
Western Great Lakes 2001
Duluth, Minnesota to Ludington, Michigan
This was a fun tour through the sparsely populated western Great Lakes. The North Woods, with many spectacular parks.
15 days, 1060 miles (1696 km). Duluth airport to the Ludington ferry.
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This tour was ambitious as can be for a 2-week vacation. Average daily distance was a high 71 miles per day. I wish I had more time to pedal the Keweenaw peninsula to Copper Harbor and pedal to Sault St. Marie.
From the town of Bayfield, Wisconsin I took a 3 hour boat tour to see the Apostle Islands. There were some scenic highlights but it was mostly quite boring.
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In Porcupine Mountains State Park I detoured up two big hills to see Lake of the Clouds. Closest thing to a mountain view in the upper Midwest.
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In Munising, Michigan I took the 2.5 hour boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Much more interesting than the previous boat tour. The only way to see the cliffs is by boat.
In Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore I hiked 1.5 miles to the remote Au Sable lighthouse. Best back country experience of the tour.
I enjoyed the long unpaved back road through the forest in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Loose sand made it very challenging. That road is paved now.
I crossed from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula by taking a ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island, then a ferry to Mackinaw City.
I pedaled the 8 mile loop around Mackinac Island. Visited Fort Mackinac and pedaled all around the developed area. All car-free. Many bikes and horses. I took shelter during a heavy downpour. Afterwards the streets were horse manure soup. I was really glad to have fenders, saw many cyclists with nasty stains on their clothes.
I was just leaving Wilderness State Park when a fellow camper told me a plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. A couple hours later I stopped at a store and the proprietor breathlessly told me that 2 planes hit the World Trade Center buildings and another plane crashed into the Pentagon. 9/11 consumed the news but had no effect on the tour.
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7 months ago
The pedaling ended in Ludington, Michigan where I boarded the SS Badger car ferry for the 4 hour crossing to Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
My wife met me at the dock and drove me 2.5 hours home to north suburban Chicago.
It was a good trip. My only bike tour in the Upper Midwest region where I lived from 1991 to 2005.
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