09-03-2010 Duluth to Gogebic, Michigan

We left Jay Cooke State Park this morning in the rain, but not before taking some time to check out the swinging bridge over the St. Louis River.  The bridge was originally built in the early 1900’s, flooded and destroyed twice, and then the bridge you see here was completed in the 1960’s. It spans the St. Louis River, a wild cataract of brown tinged water cascading over sedimentary slates.  The brown color is disconcerting at first for westerners used to white water, but is caused by the diluted acids from the organic soils that these waters flow through.

The Bayfield marina is the jumping off spot for the Apostle Islands Bayfield neighborhoods have many restored Craftsman and Victorian homes converted to B&B’s

We traveled across Wisconsin on a northern route, and spontaneously went north to the small town of Bayfield.  Even in the dreary rain, Bayfield was a beautiful place.  There were flowers everywhere, amazing creative little shops, an excellent visitor center and a gorgeous bay.  Bayfield is the gateway to the Apostle Islands, full of sea caves and wild trails.  These islands are a well known destination for kayakers, and we fit right in with our kayaks and bikes on the baby car.  Well known to everyone but us, I guess, since I had never heard of them until we saw them on the maps of Lake Superior.

I have an old saying, “I could live here”.  Of course other criteria comes in when deciding where to live, and proximity to my family is a big one, so maybe I really couldn’t live here.  But if I could just plop this town down somewhere in Oregon, it would be perfect.  The Chamber of Commerce has a great brochure with photos and stories of people who came to Bayfield to visit, and stayed to open small businesses and thrive.

After Bayfield, we knew it was time to find a place to sleep, and with this being a few days before Labor Day knew that it could be problematic.  A quick phone search revealed a large lake in Michigan to the east, and we called and landed a electric site in the park.  Something we have found in most of the state parks in this part of the country is that they are expensive.  The initial camping fee is reasonable, but all the parks have a day pass that is required in addition, and extra charges for other little details as well.  Most of our park stays are running over $30.00 a day at least.  Since we are only traveling for six weeks, it’s not ideal, but manageable, but if we were full-timing these state parks might be a bit too pricey.  Especially since electricity is sketchy and WiFi non existent.

Gogebic was windy and wild as we settled in, and also very crowded.  The sites were grassy, with big ruts from the wet soils.  The electric cost extra, and with the weather we were glad to have it.  We set up, hooked up the power, and it worked for a few minutes before going completely dead.  Of course, instead of looking at the storm around us, we tried to figure out what was wrong with our power system, or what we had done wrong.  Later, I finally went to the camp office thinking perhaps the breaker was down.  What I hadn’t considered was the weather.  Duh.  The power was out all over the campground.