Day 16- Lake Superior Circle Tour- McMillan to Au Train, Michigan
Day 16
Despite spending the night at a cozy developed campground at Luce County Park and not having to race out of our tent in the morning to avoid being consumed by mosquitos, we actually hit the road quite early on Day 16 of our Lake Superior Bike Tour. We ate a hot breakfast at our picnic table, before loading our bikes and leaving for the day.
Waking up on the morning of Day 15 of our Lake Superior Bike Tour.
Compressing the backpacking quilts in the compression sack.
From the campground, we headed west on the aptly named, 10 Curves Road. There was basically no traffic at this time of day, making it a pleasant start to the day. The road follows the dark and meandering Fox River. The river is lined with mysterious muskeg and scrappy Black Spruce and feathery Tamarack. Eventually the river joins with the Manistique River, which 10 Curves Road crosses. A section of this river was actually the inspiration for Hemingway’s “Big Two Hearted River.” The actual Two Hearted River, which Hemingway used for is symbolic resonance, is kind of a mediocre spot for fishing.
I came back from exploring a small trail by the Fox River and Ian was riding my bike around.
Ian rides my bike around near the Munising River on our Lake Superior Circle Tour.
We stopped at a small canoe launch to take a closer look at the river, before we got back onto highways. We arrived at Germfask, which is a whisp of a town. We turned north on M-77. This town was home to a labor camp for conscientious objectors during WWII. The weird name, Germfask, is actually an acronym of the last names of the eight original 19th century settlers. Personally I think they should have gone with Fergskam.
We biked through the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. This vast wetland is a waypoint for thousands of migratory birds each year. For us migratory cyclists, the gray-green marshland was honestly pretty boring, and there was a strong headwind. However, the road was low traffic, so we liked it.
In Seney, a place that isn’t really a town, we had to get back on the dreadful M-28. It was miserable. We met some motorcyclists at a gas station, and later we saw them again in Shingleton. They told us that H-58 through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was paved after all (even though someone in Sault Ste. Marie had told us it was gravel). Knowing that we could have been biking through a beautiful park instead of on a treacherous highway made biking on M-28 that much worse.
M-28 is a high speed, narrow road, and the traffic was bad. In places there was a lot of construction going on so the shoulder was ripped up or traffic was reduced to one lane. The cars didn’t slow down or move over at all. At least it seemed like on the Trans-Canada Highway, it seemed like drivers kind of tried to get over.
In Shingleton, we also got pasties. If you don’t know what a pasty is, they are a tasty traditional Cornish hand pie filled with meat, potatoes and vegetables, usually made with a short crust or hot water crust. The copper miners in this region introduced them, and they can be found throughout the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s pronounced like the word past with an ee on the end.
Pasties are the official food of the U.P. They were introduced by Cornish miners. This pasty was from the Tanglewood in in Shingleton, MI.
These particular pasties from the Tanglewood Inn in Shingleton were delicious, with a flaky short crust. The restaurant was just one of those cozy down-home restaurants that feels like you’ve been let in on a secret and where you know the cooking is bound to be good. I had a breakfast pasty that was filled with ham and sausage. It was a unique take on a yooper classic.
At least from Shingleton, we were able to take H-15 and H-58 into Munising. These roads were low speed and the traffic was courteous. There was a detour coming int Munising, and we had to go up and down a massive and very steep hill.
When we go to into Munising, we were finally back on the shore of Lake Superior after being away from it for almost two days. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get a stamp on our Lake Superior Circle Tour passport—the last one! We were amazed that we were actually able to get them all, since it’s hard to control when you will arrive at places while bike touring.
Munising Bay is a deep blue color. We spent some time relaxing on the shore.
Otherwise Munising is kind of bland town. We spent some time resting under a shady maple on the shore of Munising Bay before we headed out of town. To leave Munising we had to ride up a huge hill where there was very little shoulder and guardrail that forced us to ride in the lane. We just pedaled as fast as we could up that hill so that we could get through it.
Next we reached a stretch of M-28 where there was a thick layer of tar stretching along the shoulder. We have no idea why it was so bad, but this tar was so reflective in the afternoon sun that it was blinding us.
Sometimes taking a break under a shady tree is the best thing to do in the middle of hot afternoon while bike touring.
However, after that, the shoulder was nice and wide. We had planned to stop in Au Train to get beer before finding a spot to camp, but Au Train is not on the highway, and we accidentally biked two miles past the town. We spotted a place on national forest land where we thought we might be able to dispersed camp
We decided to bike back to Au Train anyway, because it was really flat on this stretch of road. When we got to the gas station a guy offered to let us camp in his backyard, but a few seconds later we found out that renting a room at the motel that is also a gas station, a grocery store, and a bakery was only $49. A shower and a real bed sounded more appealing than some rando’s lumpy old lawn, so we decided to stay in the motel.
At the hotel, we bought a ton of food from the gas station/bakery/deli combo place and drank beer. The motel was a little run down, but it was better than trying to find a place to dispersed camp in the Hiawatha National Forest. It was a very relaxing evening after riding on the stressful M-28.
See our full route on Strava!
POSTS ALSO TAGGED:
Au Train, BIKE ROUTES, BIKE SAFETY, BIKE TOUR PLANNING, BIKE TOURING, BIKING, CAMPING GEAR, CHEAP EATS, CYCLING GEAR, FOOD, FOREST SERVICE LAND, Fox River, FRUGAL TRAVEL, Germfask, GREAT LAKES, HIAWATHA NATIONAL FOREST, History, LAKE SUPERIOR, LAKE SUPERIOR CIRCLE TOUR, MANISTIQUE LAKE, Manistique River, MICHIGAN, Munising, NATIONAL FORESTS, National Wildlife Refuges, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, PUBLIC LAND, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, SHingleton, TENTS, TRAVEL, two Hearted River, UPPER PENINSULA
Have you tried a pasty before? or visited the U.P.? Tell us about it in the comments below.