Mill Bluff and Roche- a- Cri State Parks

Before driving to my son's house last Friday, I stopped back at Mill Bluff and explored the other half of the trails.

Last time I was there in the start of August, I walked the stairs to the top of the bluff and enjoyed the overlook. I noticed on the map of the area that I could hike around the bluffs that I saw in the distance. I decided to go back without the dogs and really check it out.

Here was that view:

In the upper right corner of the photo, there are more bluffs. They are part of the park also and have trails around them and apparently there is a faint trail one could use to climb to the top of the bluff.

I found the parking spot and started up the sandy trail when I saw this sign.

Timber rattle snakes

have been reported

on this trail

Be careful

I was happy that I chose this time not to bring my dogs. I did not hear or see any snakes but I did keep my eyes peeled.

The trail around the bluffs isn't difficult, part of it has been maintained in its natural state of grasslands and scrub oaks with prescribed burns. Other parts have grown in thick forests because of fire suppression that has been used over many years.

The goal for me was to find the 'faint' trail to the top of the bluff. 

....and I did. 

I spent a long time on top of this bluff. My mind was peaceful. That is what I wished to achieve. I'd done what I'd set out to do.

And...I saw no snakes.

I climbed 340 feet to the top of a bluff and just enjoyed the view. In case you haven't guessed. I like rocks and bluffs.

The next stop was Roche-A-Cri Mound. No dogs allowed. I can understand why because the are consists of 303 metal stairs to the top of the bluff.

I did explore the petroglyphs and hiked another one of the trails. I found an abundance of cool fungi and rocks.

But it was time to hit the road north to my son's place where we'd take naps and get up at 1am to drive to the UP and see the sunrise I just talked about in the last blog.

That...was the first part of the whirlwind trip.

I managed to knock off two more areas that I have wanted to see for a long time. I'll definitely go back to that Bluff I hope yet this fall to see what the change of seasons bring.

 

Returned.

 

I went on a whirlwind tour of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.  No tour bus. Just my youngest son, his wife, and my 5 yr old grand daughter. 

We arrived predawn at Brockway Mountain after driving through the night. We packed the 4 of us into my Cross trek Subaru. After all, the car is newer and a much safer vehicle than what my son owns. It also tends to sip gas.

I made rules of course. No eating in THE car. I'm a stickler for keeping the inside clean.

Gas prices? Anywhere from 3.98/gallon to 4.29/gallon. 

That aside....

We drove all night to get to Brockway mountain to see the sun come up. 

The wind on the 'mountain' was so wicked we retreated to the 'Nose' Lookout to watch the sunrise over Copper Harbor.

We found a couple from Colorado who were standing quietly waiting for the sunrise. The clouds moved in and the sun started to try to peak through.

The couple left, their opinion was that the sunrise would not be worth watcing.  We waited patiently and moved around as the sky began to change.

We kept moving, and I went back to the 'scenic' lookout overlook and took this shot of Copper Harbor.

And as things kept changing my son kept waving me below the overlook to check out different views of this point. 

The old adage. Patience. 

Things will keep things changing and sometimes a person will be surprised and sometimes they will be disappointed.

We were NOT disappointed.

We explored the trails under the look out point and found more exotic views of Copper Harbor.

First Mission Accomplished.

I wanted to go back to another spot. I don't recall what it it is called, but it was the first spot we looked at for my son's impromptu April wedding.

I wanted to go back to this spot --taken in April with a wicked wind at predawn. [Cell phone shot in April]

This spot had so much potential with a bit more light. The rocks, the waves, the winds, the harsh environment was absolutely perfect. The tree on the right in the photo above was uprooted and gone.

However the stormy looking clouds and wicked winds still made for a great shot in B&W Infrared.

 

I handed my IR camera to Em and she took a couple of shots. Below is my son Jeremie.

Here is Mari. How she was not cold, was a mystery to me. We spent quite a bit of time here in this spot.

We explored this area thanks to a 5:30AM breakfast and strong coffee. This particular spot has so many interesting facets to it. Lichen, rocks, waves, winds, trees, plants, and clean toilets!

Here is Mari trotting down a trail next Lake Superior.

Oh to be a child again!

We noticed an elderly fella out by the shore and I grabbed a shot of him...

He was as obviously as intrigued as we were by the variety of interesting rocks we found along the shore.

This little 'wayside' intrigued me the most in the morning. Well, that was before we explored further.

Jer later asked me which part of the whirlwind tour was the 'best'. I started by naming each place we visited.

I don't really know. I need a lifetime of exploration of these places.

This is a somewhat close shot of the same place with my cellphone in April.

 

It is a worthy spot to explore more.

I guess I'll be spending some time sorting through the shots I took and trying to make sense of all the beauty I've seen.

I should be a wander-er.

I hope I can be! Pic by Jeremie. He is pretty good at catching me off guard.

We took the whirlwind tour, to see what I liked best. When asked...I said all of it.

We put 1,200 miles on the car from Saturday morning to Monday morning.

No regrets.

Just a feeling that I have to go back and explore more.

Carpe Diem.

My intentions with epic trips like this, is to take small portions of Rich's Ashes with me and let him explore amazing places that we had planned to see together. 

And maybe some not too epic spots! The town IS named Gay, and it is a tiny town worth exploring. --- It involves mining and not the what you might think. 

I think this is a very interesting part of the lake shore history. I will visit again.

So the name will throw you.

But it happens to be one of the best places I've visited in Michigan. 

Just not necessarily for the play on words.

But for the interesting history and scenery of Gay Michigan.

More to come.......

stay tuned.

My idea is to travel to places that Rich would have loved to explore and to drop a tiny amount of his ashes in each place we would have loved.

Yes.

I did that.

And it feels perfect.

 

 

Sunday morning coming down....

I checked the weather when I got up and stepped outside in the predawn. It was cool, but humid. A low fog drifted across the south pasture where Siera and Sundance were snoozing in the sandy area.

I checked my to do list for Sunday and decided to take my canine hiking as soon as chores and breakfast was done. 

We'd beat the midday heat and have the trails to ourselves if we went early.

It was August 30th. A year exactly to the date when Nurse Tim told me that Rich was going on the Actively Dying List.

We headed out and when we got to the trail head at the Visitor's Center, we were the only vehicle. I parked, attached the lines to the dogs [they don't need to be leashed but I keep lines on them in case I need to grab them].

We were going Fungi Hunting.

The recent rain and humidity was prime for mushrooms to start popping along the bluffs of the river.

Even though we'd had a dry week, the nights and mornings had been wet with heavy dew and fog.

A perfect climate for mushroom hunting.

We were not disappointed. We found huge mushrooms! 

We found such an amazing variety of mushrooms that I was just blown away.

I also found a flowering plant that I'd never seen before:

Great Plains Ladies' Tresses aka the scientific name: 

Spiranthes magnicamporum

I included a link because I felt they were so special and I've never run across them before. It is  MN wildflower link. I'm going to add it to my 'discovered' wildflowers!

I headed down the Wintergreen Trail because in years' past, I've found a single Indigo Ink Cap mushroom. Back then, someone had kicked it over instead of walking around it. 

Each August-September I retrace my steps to look for this beautiful mushroom.

This year I hit the motherlode.

I found at least a dozen or more of them. Below is a photo of Charlie standing in a spot where I counted 6 of them!

Ever see a 70 yr old lady doing the happy dance on a bluff in the forest? Yep, I was doing a jig and trying to avoid stepping on the pretty blue fungi.

So, just to let you know why my dogs wear beeper collars. I get so engrossed in looking at the little things that I ignore the puppers. They stay close, but I can push a button and call them in close.

Dogs here can be off leash. But I don't want to lose them in the 8,900 acres of forest that surrounds the Reserve.

I did some Toy Photography [of course!]

We'd gone so early that no one else would be around on this particular trail.

First shot with Hannah in the background.

Patience. Hannah moved on ...

...and then we hit the area where a little bit of water flows from the ice caves in the winter and some little dog had a total brain explosion of happiness with muddy zoomies... 6 seconds of unbridled puppy joy.

This is the ice caves in the winter. I can't wait to take Hannah here this winter!

I have so many items that we found. A two mile walk took us over 2 hours because I stopped and sat on the ground to explore and look at the mushrooms, fungi, and slime molds that presented themselves along the trail.

I'm that weird person who gets excited by the unusual slime mold, plants, or mushrooms. I stop, I look, and I explore.

My cohorts and I spent time sitting quietly at the end of the Wintergreen Trail. They had treats, I had a protein bar. 

Eventually we headed back. We could hear the traffic increase on Highway 131. The motorcycles were headed to LaFarge for the Chicken Q dinners at Rockton Bar.

It was time to evacuate the area and return home.

More fungi will come in the next posts. But I might be out exploring in the mornings this week. It is supposed to be unseasonably hot and humid. Perfect for fungi/mushroom hunting.

The dogs were silent on the way home and took long afternoon naps. I think they are ready for bed too.

It was a good Sunday morning. 

Went for a drive

 Oh that sounds so darned silly doesn't it? 

I went for a drive because. Well. Just because. I had a destination in mind and thought I'd take some back roads on the way just for something different to do.

My two trouble makers came along for the ride. My destination was a small State Park called Mill Bluff. Now I could have used my GPS in the vehicle to do the route but I decided to 'wing it'. 

Charlie is not a great dog to travel with. He is nervous all the time and loves to whine and whine and whine. He even gets a bit hysterical when I stop for a stop sign or he hears the turn signal going. Hannah on the other hand is mostly silent and listens if I tell her to be quiet.

When Charlie has a meltdown, she hops out of her car seat and tries to get in his. If she is not tethered she will actually get in with him. That makes for one very crowded spot. 

Charlie has been this way for 8 years. I have at times put a vibration collar on him and sometimes that helps keep him quieter. I think he actually calms down faster with Hannah as company. We are still working on that issue.

Any....way...

I got way off track while driving, but I got to see quite a bit of scenery on the narrow back roads. There were plenty of times I wanted to pull over and just take in the sights. But I was on twisted narrow roads so I just kept going.

We eventually made it to the park. 

I had intended on taking the dogs to the far side of the 'beach' for a dip, but it was crammed with people so we went straight to the Bluff Trail. [no dogs allowed anyway]

This trail of a stone stairway is steep and long. I don't know how many steps one has to take to get to the top of the bluff but it is not for the faint of heart.
One can rest along the way.

Charlie didn't find it that hard going up and we did stop a couple of times. I wanted to get some shots of the stone stairs. I stopped and tied the dogs to the railing so they wouldn't run up or down the stairs. I had to think about what might happen on that terrain if they got excited by seeing another hiker. 

We climbed 120 feet up to the top of the Bluff.

When I first read this sign I thought we were standing on the Long Bluff. What you can't tell is that the sign has been there for quite a few years. I'm supposed to be looking across the way at Long Bluff. It had been so many years since this sign was posted that the trees on this bluff have grown up hiding the view.

The sign says:
Long Bluff which is named for its shape, is one of the many bluffs found in this area. It is approximately 199 feet tall. You are standing on Mill Bluff which is approximately 120 feet tall.

A portion of land visible is an abandoned cranberry marsh. Cranberry farming is an important industry in the Warrens area.

The rest of the sign disappears into old age and water damage.

The state put up a chain link fence around the top of the bluff. I'm guessing to keep fools from trying to climb up or down its steep sides. However, you can see where those fools have gone over. 

I found the fence convenient to tie the dogs to while I took a few shots. We did meet another hiker who was from Pennsylvania. The dogs went nuts as he was a dog lover and cooed over the both of them. 

The second time we saw him, I was able to make both dogs sit in front of me while I used the magic of 'treats' to hold their attention.

At the south end of the bluff we found another old sign.

Sign: 
Volk Field Air Strip
The air filed lying east of Mill Bluff is part of the Volk Field National Guard Training Site located adjacent to the Village of Camp Douglas. 

The airplane runway you see is oriented due east to west.
It is 9000 feet long and 150 feet wide with a 1000 feet overrun on each end. It is capable of receiving and sized air craft presently made.

The farm field in the foreground has been partially drained and is used as pasture land. Most of the land in this immediate area is either very dry or wet and has marginal use for agriculture.

Once again. There is no view here but there it is. Trees grow even on the sides of bluffs.

We decided to go to the other end. 

There was a view! 

You can see for quite the distance from this spot. It is obvious that people have climbed over the viewing area fence to go out to the tip. Mill Bluff sits between WI Hwy 12 and interstate 90-94. As a kid we traveled Hwy 12 and then later the interstate to go to spend the whole summer where our grandparents lived.

We'd stopped at Castle Rock Wayside to have a lunch and a break from travelling. It isn't far from where Mill Bluff.

At the overlook there is a bench and ... this!!!

A selfie stand?

Of course, why not!

After the 'selfie', I set down the dogs on the bench so I could grab a shot at the sign behind me....but....

but...

an older lady was coming up to the overlook and she was tottering along with two walking sticks. She gave me a 'look' when I grabbed my dogs' leashes. They bounced up and down and of course wanted to go see her.

I didn't let them, but made sure we gave the woman space to enjoy what we had been looking at. I'm disappointed that I didn't get a photo of what the sign said.

However, we took the stairs down which were actually harder than going up. I used the handrail for one hand and the leashes in the other. My balance is pretty darned good, but it was a slight challenge. Charlie had a harder time going down than up. I even stepped on his tail one time.

When I got to the car I thought about the lady I'd met at top and wondered how she'd negotiate the stairs coming down.

I considered doing the interpretive trail around the bluff, but the skeeters convinced me to come back after a hard frost.

I grabbed a map/brochure and realized that the park was much bigger than I thought and had another whole section to explore. 

The Ice Age Reserve National Scientific Reserve. There is a trail that goes around 3 more formations.

Cleopatra's Needle
Devils Monument
Camels Bluff

It appears that we will have to go back this fall to check it out.

Rocks and bluffs fascinate me so I'll put this down for a return trip.

Perhaps I'll actually take a shorter way next time. The trip home was much much shorter. I let Google Maps help me.

My intentions this year were to explore more and check out many of our State Parks as day trips before I ever started any overnight trips.