Miners Castle on Lake Superior

As we near 75% completion of our running the states goal, we are somewhat guilty of sprinting to the finish line.   We scheduled 6 races for 2019, the most we’ve done in a year, and wondered if we might grow travel weary.   However, as we started packing and weather watching for Michigan – State #36, our 4th race this year, our anticipation was running as high as ever.

We selected the Grand Island Trail Run in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula based on a recommendation from my daughter, Tricia.   As the veteran long-distance trail runner among us, she had put this trail run on her list several years back as one that would meet her high expectations.    Getting there would not be easy, but from the pictures, Grand Island looked pristine and spectacularly beautiful and promised to provide a running experience worth traveling for.   In addition, Great Endurance Lakes was a trail organization with high marks for taking care of its runners which we’ve learned the hard way is a very important thing to consider when selecting races.    So, we bit the bullet and put this unique race on our calendar.

The crew on board for this race was Melodie, Janille, Tricia and yours truly.   Tricia and I were flying from Seattle, Janille from Salt Lake, and Melodie from San Francisco.   The plan was to meet in Minneapolis late in the day, board a 50-seat puddle jumper for Sawyer International, and then pick up a rental car for the 48 mile drive into Munising, MI, population 2,205.   We arrived at Sawyer International Airport at 11:00 pm that night to discover that it was a small, very humble facility with absolutely no amenities, including food or cell service.  It was located on the edge of an old, dilapidated military base and there wasn’t a restaurant or gas station in sight.   As we wended our way down the dark, isolated country roads, we realized that eating a nice meal that night was not going to happen.   Thank goodness that everyone (except me) had snacks in their bags or otherwise it would have been a very hangry evening.

We arrived in Munising around midnight.   As warned by the locals at the airport, there was nothing open, not even a lowly gas station.  On the upside, the vacation home we had rented was sparkling clean, very well appointed with everything but food.   We retired to our beds and promised ourselves an early breakfast.

Despite the late night, we were up early the next morning, ready to find some food and plot out our sight-seeing agenda, in that order.   Even in the light of day, Munising was not flooded with eating choices, but we did find a little café that offered coffee and a decent breakfast.

Our hosts had provided a list of things to do in Munising so we reviewed it and picked a couple for the day.   First was a 28 mile drive to Laughing Whitefish Falls.   It included a short hike through a lush green forest, a long staircase and a waterfall.

The waterfall was very picturesque and best viewed at the bottom of the staircase.

We drove back to town, grabbed lunch at Main Street Pizza, then headed to the Holiday Inn to pick up our packets.   Trail runs tend to be low on fluff and high on organization, so the stop was short and sweet and we were able to confirm shuttle and ferry schedules for the next morning.

Next stop was Miners Castle, a lovely spot along the shores of Lake Superior and part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.    This U.S. National Lakeshore extends for 42 miles between Munising and Grand Marais and is famous for its picturesque rock formations, waterfalls, and sand dunes.   Nowadays no one is allowed to go beyond the lookouts and climb the rock formations, but a local man told us he climbed to the top of Miners Castle as a child.    

As the late-blooming geography buffs that we’ve become, we read everything available on Lake Superior.   Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and the 5 Great Lakes combined account for one-fifth of the freshwater in the world.  Lake Superior has a perimeter of 2800 miles and the water is crystal clear with beautiful shades of green and blue.   

We found the locals so welcoming and friendly.   They seemed to genuinely enjoy visitors and were very eager to share their life stories.   Summer is a beautiful time in the Upper Peninsula, but their winters are harsh and isolating as they often get up to 300 inches of snow a year.   Every home seemed to have a snowmobile or a truck with a front hitch for a plow.   The handful of people who live in this remote location year around are a hardy bunch.

For dinner that night, we picked a popular local restaurant called Foggy’s that showcased steak and fresh whitefish from the lake.    The parking lot was packed when we pulled up, and sound was emanating from the building.   It was a rowdy spot but clearly a place where people came to eat, drink and enjoy themselves.   The food was delicious and as long as you didn’t need to converse much, it was an enjoyable experience.

Not quite ready to call it a day, we decided to follow up on another travel tip and visit Sand Beach.   What a treat!   We got there just before sunset and were treated to some idyllic views.   The pictures say it all, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We took off our shoes, wandered down the beach, and soaked in the moment.

We returned to our Fort Knox vacation home and went through our pre-race routines to make sure we were ready for race day.    Every runner was required to carry their own water bottle or hydration system (refillable at aid stations) and dropping garbage on the trail was an offense that would get you disqualified, so you had to be prepared to haul out anything you brought in.   Michigan is serious about preserving its natural resources which is why Grand Island remains the beautiful spot that it is.  Trish was running the 50K and had to be at the shuttle pickup spot at 5:10 am for a 6:00 race start.   The rest of us were running the half marathon which meant a later shuttle and a 8:00 am race start, but it still meant an early morning for all of us.   We had stopped at the local grocery store earlier in the day and stocked up on our favorite breakfast foods, so that box was checked.    All that was required now was to go to bed and get some decent sleep.

Tricia got up bright and early and headed to her shuttle stop at the scheduled time.   For some unfathomable reason the shuttle decided to leave 5 minutes early and she was told there wouldn’t be another shuttle for an hour.  Clearly that wasn’t going to work.   Janille and I jumped in the car and drove her down to the landing where she was able to catch the first ferry over.   She even managed to capture a couple of early morning pictures of the water taxi and the lake.   

Melodie, Janille and I had a more leisurely morning and followed about an hour later.   Based on Tricia’s experience, we decided to drive rather than shuttle. We managed to snag the last parking spot at Holiday Inn and made it to the landing with time to spare.   Doused liberally with mosquito repellant and loaded up with the required gear, we boarded the water taxi for Grand Island.  

We ended up having lots of time to stretch and stand in the porta potty lines, almost too much as we ended up waiting about an hour.   We all loaded Life360 on our phones so we could keep track of each other as we had no idea how long this particular course would take any of us.   And at 8:00 am sharp, we were off.

The first 5 miles were dirt fire roads, mostly flat and sandy through a heavily forested section of the island.   After that, the course took us along the shores of Lake Superior for a mile and a half.   There was no way to run in the deep sand, so we just splashed through the water, walked a lot, and laughed more.   It was good to be alive.

After we left the lake, we began the steep two mile climb that everyone had warned us about.   We went at it easy, walked when we needed to, and overall felt it could have been much worse.   Next was a relatively fast downhill section followed by the second aid station, and then the last 4 miles which was mostly rocky single track and offered occasional views of the lake.   Yow.  

The 50K (31 miles) circled the entire island.   It followed some of the same course as the half marathon, but added many more hills and some spectacular scenery.   Trish managed to grab a few pics along the way to her amazing finish.

And it was over.   What a race!   Despite mosquitos, biting flies, and some rough, hilly spots, it was one of the most beautiful and fun courses we have ever run.  Melodie and I both managed to place in our age group – the senior citizen crowd on this one was small.  Janille, despite some nagging injuries, came in a bit later with a very respectable time.    Trish managed to outdo every expectation that she had set for herself and came in 2nd in her age group, and 4th woman overall with an incredible time of 4:49 and a blistering pace of 9:13!  And this despite a last minute fail with her shoes that required duct tape! We were all so proud of her!

We hung out at the lake for a while enjoying the icy cold water on our muscles and joints.  After a bit, we boarded the water taxi and headed back to Munising to clean up and find some food.   We had lunch at a very unremarkable spot called Eh Burger, but at that point, we weren’t being particularly choosy.    We headed back to our rental home for a few hours of rest and relaxation, taking full advantage of the marvelous massage chair that was in the house.   Although rather skeptical at first, all four of us made full use of this amenity and remain convinced it was the reason we didn’t get sore.

Earlier in the trip, we had decided to treat ourselves to a sunset cruise on the Pictured Rocks Spray Falls Cruise on Saturday night.   We headed down to the dock around 6:30 for a 7:30 pm departure as we had been informed that it was a sold-out cruise and seating was on a “first come, first served” basis.    We found a spot on the second level toward the back and settled in for the two hour tour.

It was a bit challenging to take pictures because passengers were not allowed to stand up and obscure the view of others, but we still managed to get quite a few.   The captain pointed out landmarks of interest as we wended our way up 32 miles of shoreline and were treated to views of brilliantly colored cliffs, sea caves, and pristine beaches.   

The sunset cruise allowed passengers to enjoy the rays of the setting sun on the Pictured Rocks cliffs, a beautiful Lake Superior twilight, and an altogether unforgettable evening.

Because our flight out of Sawyer International didn’t leave until 6:00 pm the next day, we had an extra day for sight-seeing on Sunday.   We decided to make the 58 mile drive up H58 to Grand Marais, the northernmost spot on the Pictured Lakes National Lakeshore.   The road was windy and long but the viewpoints along the way made the drive worthwhile.

We stopped at Sable Falls, just outside of Grand Marais, and made the trek down the staircase to see the falls.

Grand Marais made Munising seem like a booming metropolis.   The city was composed of one main street with a café, a restaurant, a small gift shop, a museum, a post office and a gas station.  At last census, the population was 479 and the median age was 63.  We chatted with a friendly local who told us there was only one highway out of town in the winter and everything else required a snowmobile.   It was a charming spot to visit, but none of us were ready to move there anytime soon.

After a leisurely stroll on their pristine section of lakeshore, it was time to start the trek back home.   We had a 100 mile drive ahead of us, a 90 minute ride on a puddle jumper, and a 5 hr flight home.  We made it to Sawyer International in plenty of time, but ended up driving 11 miles out of our way to find a gas station.   We boarded the small 50-seater without incident, but once we were in the air, the pilot, in heavily accented English, told us air traffic control was requiring him to fly an hour out of the way to avoid a thunderstorm.   We heard this with sinking hearts as 3 of us had a very tight connection in Detroit.  However, half an hour later the pilot came back on and said he was being allowed to land.   We ended up landing with 15 minutes to get to our next flight which was at the opposite end of the airport.   In addition, this small plane couldn’t accommodate overhead luggage so we had to wait until an agent was able to retrieve our bags.   Melodie, Tricia and I sprinted full tilt through the Detroit airport – sandals, roller bags, computer bags and all, and pulled up breathing heavily just as our flights were boarding.  The irony of it all was that Melodie’s flight ended up being delayed for an hour so the heart-attack sprint was not necessary.   Janille’s flight was delayed due to an auxiliary power outage so she didn’t get into SLC until 1:00 am.   Our flight to Seattle took an additional hour because of strong head winds, but we did manage to get on the ground by 10:30 pm.  Melodie’s flight arrived in San Francisco at 11:00 pm but was held on the tarmac for an additional 90 minutes because another plane was occupying their gate.   By the time she was shuttled to her car and made the drive home, it was 2:00 am.  

We have learned that the actual act of travel is seldom the best part of traveling.  We put up with long delays, no food, and heart-attack sprints for the delight of sharing new adventures, exploring our amazing country,  and just being together.  We are blessed to have the opportunity and health to travel and run together.   We treasure the moments.

Next up, Tenants Harbor, Maine.