Grand Marais, MI
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Last night, we camped at Hovey Lake Campground near Munising, Michigan. Andi found us a great free spot next to the lake, and big enough for both his cousin Laura & Shaun’s camper to fit into as well as ours. It was a quiet night — quietest we’ve had all week — and we all slept soundly.
Around 10:00am, the six of us packed up our campers and drove to Earl E. Byrds Restaurant for brunch. There was a line out the door of people waiting, so we knew the food must be good. One lady told us on her way out the door that the pancakes were the best she’d ever had.
We waited 20 mins for a table, but it was worth it. The pancakes were the best we’d ever eaten (vanilla-y and crispy on the bottom), and the service was excellent. It was the perfect place to spend an hour or two this morning since it was rainy and windy outside.
By Noon, the sky began to clear and blue sky peeked out behind the clouds intermittently. Seeing Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was on my bucket list this trip, and it seemed like the weather might cooperate enough to do so. Unfortunately, all the boat cruises were canceled today due to the wind, but the friendlly park ranger at the Munising Falls Visitor Center told us we could still see the rocks from a distance by the Park Headquarters building.
Aden and I quickly completed the Pictured Rocks Junior Ranger booklets to earn our badges, then the six of us drove to Sand Point to see the colorful rock formations. The vibrant sandstone cliffs are stained orange, brown, black, white, and even green and blue from minerals like iron, copper, and manganese found in the water.
It was hard for us to see all those colors from such a distance, but the scenery itself was breathtaking. Sand Point had golden-colored sand and emerald-colored water — especially when the sun was shining. I can imagine being on the water in a pontoon or a kayak is pretty spectacular. Not today though; the wind was whipping fiercely.
Aden was the only one brave enough to get in the water. He ran back and forth on a sandbar that had formed from the blowing wind. Strong currents that flow between Munising Bay and Lake Superior continually re-shape the beaches of Sand Point.
Next, the six of us drove to our campsite at Twelvemile Beach Campground. Luckily, Andi and Laura were able to snag two campsites last-minute openings at this sought-after campground on the shores of Lake Superior. Maybe people canceled when they saw the rainy, cool weather forecast for this weekend? We weren’t able to get two sites right next to each other, but at least they were sort of close to each other in the campground.
Once we settled into our sites, the six of us set off for a walk. Several trails left right from our campground; we picked one section of the longer 42-mile North Country Trail which lead to another campground 7 miles away. The flat, wooded trail followed the shoreline of Lake Superior with sporadic glimpses of bright, blue water through the trees.
Eventually, we came to a hike-in cabin managed by the national park service. Here, a wooden set of stairs led down to the beach which we followed. It’d turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with sunny skies and temperatures closer to 60 degrees now. Laura, Shaun, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I walked along the beach together. We had the whole place to ourselves! It was heavenly.
Nature is just so beautiful. The powerful waves of Lake Superior crashed so loudly that it was difficult to have a conversation with each other. Instead, we mostly walked in silence, and marveled at pieces of driftwood on the shore, polished rocks, and streaks of black sand intermixed with the usual gold.
There was only one staircase, so eventually the six of us had to scale the side of the cliffside to get back up to the trail. Naturally, we broke off in pairs as we walked and talked with one another, and then we’d switch as someone moved forwards or backwards in the line.
“My legs are feeling it,” Aden said about 3 1/2 miles in. My muscles started to feel tired, too. Walking in sand is a workout!
Around 6:00pm, we arrived back to our campers and made a plan for dinner. Laura and Shaun had ground taco and burria meat ready to heat-and-eat, and we contributed green beans and watermelon. Without the wind, the weather felt like a comfortable, autumn evening.
After we ate, the six of us moved inside Laura and Shaun’s camper to play Dutch Blitz together. It’s a bit of a challenge to play the fast-paced card game on their small camping dinette, but we made due.
Tomorrow, we’re hoping to see more of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and then make our way east through the UP of Michigan.
