July 1, 2022
Lake Michigan Tour Day 13: Traverse City to Manistee, MI
Today was far more pleasant than yesterday. The temperatures had moderated and stayed in the high 60s/low 70s all day, and the wind had also moderated and was now out of the north (although it shifted to the east as the day went on).
I’ll start off with a morning beach shot – the weather was cool and sunny and made for perfect riding. But I passed this beach on my way out of town, and couldn’t not take a picture – it just looked pretty perfect.
Getting out of Traverse City took WAY longer than I had planned. Trails stopped and started unexpectedly, and some were blocked for construction. Plus the route to get out of Traverse involved some fairly gnarly climbs. It seemed almost an hour before I was finally out of the area.
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This is from the first major climb out of Traverse City – it was on a very busy road with little shoulder, so wasn’t much fun to climb.
Most of the rest of the day was devoid of nice views, and meandered through woods and farmland.
This shot looks back at the first climb out of Traverse – the notch in the middle of the trees might be that same road, but I can’t be sure.
I did find a good lunch stop in Copemish – a tiny town, but it had a little eatery called the Bear Claw Cafe. Tammy, the owner took good care of me, and I enjoyed a BLT and some lemonade. She was tuned in to cyclists and offered to refill my water bottles, which I appreciated.
It was another 20+ miles before I saw Lake Michigan again. I stopped at a public beach a few miles north of Manistee. It’s amazing to me how close you can be to the lake and not know it’s there.
The road going east towards the lake had a headwind – the wind had changed and was now out of the east, but it wasn’t anything like as bad as yesterday.
Once I hit the lakeshore, the road going down towards Manistee was delightful. Cool, shady, and fairly flat. Unfortunately, once I got into town, the route had me turn back onto US-31, and with no sidewalks or shoulder, it was pretty dangerous.
I stopped in a parking lot to get out of traffic and get my bearings, and a local (who also cycled) came out and showed me an alternate route, which was much quieter – many thanks to him!
This is downtown Manistee on a Friday night – plenty of people around, and stores and restaurants open – seems like a fairly healthy downtown. I imagine January is a bit slower…
I have been to Manistee before! This is me in August of 1980 with my sisters and a friend of my father’s. We stopped here on the way back to Indiana from Canada and went salmon fishing in his boat. I vaguely remember it was fun!
Most relevant song for today: Touch of Grey by Grateful Dead. It came on a long hill, when I was questioning whether I’m too old for this stuff.
Stats: 66.7 miles, 1900 vertical feet, 13mph average speed.
Tomorrow takes me due south to Montague, which isn’t on Lake Michigan – it’s on White Lake, which is a bit inland. I will see my sister and brother-in-law, which will be nice. Last time I saw them was last year’s summer ride at their home in Dubuque, IA where I took a 2-night break.
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 788 miles (1,268 km)
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