Door County and Vilas County. Pictures here for pictures, which will open in a separate tab.
Category: Camping
Kickapoo River Float – June 2017
Tim and Eileen float the Kickapoo on a hazy, high water day between LaFarge and bridge #5. About 7 miles a paddling, with only 3.2 miles for the bicycle shuttle. We weren’t the only people on the river, but close to it.
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Florida, Ft. Desoto, Oscar Scherer, Cape San Blas 2017
Fifth time to Ft. Desoto. Same as it ever was – smooth. Newcomers Tom and Sharon (“Five Events Today!!) from Madison made it, along with over twenty folks from Cadillac. Honorable mention to Mark Linder, first timer, from Colorado.
Didn’t take too many pics of the Ft. Been there, taken that. Pictures seen here from Tim’s Sony a7 and Olympus Pen PL/5, and Eileen’s phone, all mixed together.
We drifted south to Oscar Scherer State Campground when Ft. Desoto tossed us out after our two weeks were up. Three nights in Oscar, then north towards Cape San Blas. We camped at a private campground, Indian Pass (aka, the Confederacy of Big Rigs on Small Sites) for two nights.
Made it home in two days of driving, with a lovely overnight at the Walmart in Salem, IL.
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Waupaca July 2016 – biking and boating
Day 1, Monday July 25 – Checked into Hartman Creek State Campground for a 3 night stay. Did a 21 mile bike ride, east on Stratton Lake Rd., Hwy K, Dayton Rd, Jenson Rd., East Road north to Rural Rd., then home on Rural Rd. Very nice.
Tom and Sharon D showed up in the evening with their bikes and boats. They are newbies to the charms of the area. First thing, we pitched their massive “B” line tent. Who knew a tent could provide so much merriment? After camp was set – Marl Lake for our first swim. Warm, clean, green water, great scenery. The best swimming hole ever.
Day 2, Tuesday. Tom and Cathy W. rolled in from Madison with their bikes. We all pedaled out together on a very sweet 38 mile jaunt that took us East, then south to Wild Rose, then pretty much straight north back to Hartman Creek. After the requisite social hour in camp, we decamped for T-Dubs in Waupaca. Excellent courses all around. Tom/Cathy then took off for home.
Day 3, Wednesday. Dropped yaks into Marl, ready to paddle the lower rustic parts of the chain. The weather looked really dicey, but we hung out and it mostly blew over. We made our way through Marl Lake, Pope & Manomin Lake (really one lake), Knight Lake and Lake Orlando (one lake), through a long, very shallow feeder to Long Lake, and finally, Columbia Lake. It started to rain, we headed back.
The Waupaca Chamber of Commerce makes claim to 22 lakes in this chain. This is very creative counting. Using this same methodology, I have 16 fingers and 13 toes. Even being charitable, I see 12-13 lakes, tops
Tom and Sharon then bailed for home. Something about their cat. Eileen and I were left to stare at each other. We ran out of beer and white wine. My stereo ran out of power and I forgot the charging cable. It rained. Luckily we were in a waterproof box with lights, power, running water, a refrigerator, dry beds, and plenty of reading. That flask of gin chilling in the freezer helped too. We just made it. It did rain all night.
It also rained all morning. This was enough reason for us to pack it in, and that’s what we did.
A few pictures can be seen here. (Click image for a photo gallery.)
Michigan Vacation 2015
Michigan 2015 started with our second Door County Century ride. We again pulled our camper up there, camped in Potowatomi State campground, across the Bay from the main part of town. The ride went well, we did our 100 miles in about the same fashion as last year. Sharon and Ann rode with us the whole way. That may have been their first full century (?).
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Looking NW from Sturgeon Bay towards Green Bay.
Inside the main county fair building, where vendors set up.
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One of several draw bridges that go over Sturgeon Bay, in action. The town is cut in half by the bay. These bridges get a lot of action.
A lot of Madison riders rented a nice beachfront house in Door County. We had an apre’ ride party there.
Beautiful beach, strong wind, big waves.
More Sturgeon Bay pics are here:
We got up early the next morning and burned over to the Petosky State Campground, near it’s namesake in upper Michigan. It’s about 340 miles, and we didn’t want to pull in at night. The camp is right on the water, on the beautiful Little Traverse Bay. Harbor Springs is nearby to the north, Charlevoix 20 miles or so to the south. An off road bike path goes from Harbor Springs, through our camp, to Charlevoix.
The campground was lightly attended and partially closed off. Our site was very near the beach. Between that, and the bike path, we extended our stay from 3 to 4 days.
Charlevoix on bikes
Famous coffee joint in Petosky
Sunset on Little Traverse Bay
More pictures from the Petosky area are here:
One day we pedaled to Harbor Springs, on the bike path for the most part. Small, cute town. Reeks of money. Old money. Big money. The lineup on Mansion Row is how the Rockefellers and Fords lived, back in the day. It hasn’t changed.
Leland was the next stop. We crashed at Jim and Leslie’s for a few days. Parked our camper out on the road by the golf course. Strolled around town. Played some tennis on the clay. Got in a sweet group bike ride on the Heritage Trail.
Leslie, hanging at the clay courts
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Group bike ride. A rest stop in Empire. It’s worth noting that upper Michigan had recently suffered a straight line wind of hurricane force, 100mph or more. These intense winds came without warning, didn’t blow for all that long, and knocked down a million trees. The devestation was contained, and a bit random, but but where it was bad, it looked like an atom bomb had gone off. We pedaled through some of the worse areas in the Heritage Trail.
Another rest stop at Glen Lake
More pictures from Leland are here:
While we were there, the annual antique sports car show came to town. The lineup was fantastic, if you’re into that kind of thing. Here’s the entire shoot of this event, no editing. Don’t click this if old sports cars and wooden boats bore you.
Stayed in Traverse City with the Stubers. Mark Linder was there, having come out to fish with Bob, in Canada. They brought back a lot of fish. We ate a lot of fish. One sunny day Bob, Mark, Eileen and me (and Bela, the dog) walked downtown and hung out on a pier. Four miles round trip, which just about finished me and my still delicate hip. I could not keep up with the torrid pace set by Bob. Bela showed advanced heeling skills. Bob kept her on a short leash and she never left his hip, even when unruly dogs lunged and snarled at her. She made up for that later by rolling is something dead and disgusting, so she’s not completely perfect.
More photos here:
Our last Michigan State Park before heading home was in Grand Haven. Unusual setting, just a huge beach, a swath of sand that pushes hundreds of yards in. The park consists of paved roads and paved camping spots in a virtual desert of sand.
A very long, very old pier runs way out there. It’s comprised mostly of huge rocks, piled in the water, with a concrete layer over the top.
We figured this arial tram to be a man mover of sorts, to gain access to the lighthouse with water washing over the pier.
More pics of this campsite are here: (click)
Picture taking stopped right about here, when I slipped on a slimy spot wearing worn out crocs, fell backwards, cracked my head wide open, bled all over the pier and myself, and spent the rest of the day in the ER. I won a prize for taking the hardest head blow they’d ever seen without being knocked out cold.
We stuck around for another day or two, then that was all she wrote, we headed back to Madison.