August 20, 2000
Camping at High Rock Bay
My wife Patty and I camped at High Rock Bay, at the tip of the Keweenaw Penisula. A gale commenced on Sunday evening, and seven foot waves slammed the rock cliffs. Cold camping, but splendidly scenic. Here is a view of the Manitou Island Lighthouse at Gull Rock, and the waves crashing against the conglomerate cliffs of the Bay.
May 25, 2000
Summit Peak Overlooks
Most folks are content (or challeged) enough to walk the trail to the top of Summit Peak, but our Explorer's Club had to find more overlooks than those provided by the State Park. Sara, Jim and I got off trail and skirted the base of the cliffs on the west side of the hill to find our own special vistas. Below Sara ascends a leafy draw in the cliff, and Jim and Cosmo investigate strange fissures in the rhyolite outcrops.
We found two obscure overlooks that were indeed better than the State Park's observation deck, providing a less obstructed view of the Little Carp River Valley. A wonderful and fulfilling evening's walk in the Porcupine Mountains
April 15, 2000
Adventure right in my neighborhood
This evening I drove to Lake Of The Clouds to see if there was ice on the trees from the sleet that fallen the previous evening. Not much ice on the trees, but the overlook, the Carp River Valley and the parking lot and road were icy. I found out just how icy when I drove back down the steep curves. My car wanted to go nowhere but the ditch! I managed to stop before that happened, left the vehicle where it rested, and called my wife Patty to come and pick me up at the bottom of the hill. Thank God for cell phones - it would have been a long, cold walk back home.
I really couldn't figure out how I managed to drive up there in the first place. Perhaps a slight drop in temperature changed the character of the ice for the worse. After a bit of thawing, I was able to rescue my car the next day.
