August 22, Friday – Waterworld

It was one of the few times during the Circle Tour that I wanted out of a place so at first light I was hitched up and gone before the people stirred. I plowed northward for the Upper Peninsula and reached it after paying $10 to cross the Straits of Mackinac on the mile and a half bridge. The last time I was on that bridge was in 1960 when I took a break from being a dishwasher at the nearby University of Michigan Biological Station and went to Mackinac Island. 48 years is a long time between trips.
It was my first time in the Upper Peninsula and it wasn’t what I expected. A body of land between to bodies of water usually has a ridge or a mountain range that divides them. This land was flat. The land was farmland. No ridge, no mountain range. Disappointment. About twelve miles from where Interstate 75 ends its north/south run across the United States at Sault Ste Marie, I turned off on Michigan Road #28. After 45 minutes running due west, I turned north on Ranger Road. I had to hit a lake soon. Bayview Campground in the Hiawatha National Forest was my goal and there it was. It was primitive, isolated and had only 24 sites on the shores of the mighty Lake Superior. Here I stopped for four days. Here was my source of relaxation.