August 30th 2022

Here is Cherry this morning. In her new favorite spot. She loves to be rocked a little. She is so gorgeous. I can't stand it lol.

We left for Kitch-iti-kipi around 10 o'clock. This is one of the parks you have to pay the fee for if you're not a resident. We ended up buying the annual pass and this has already paid for itself.

It was pretty windy out, about 20mph the whole way. A two hour drive but we got there around 1 o'clock because we lose one hour going from central to eastern time. There were a lot more people than we thought. For a Tuesday. Nothing crazy. The place is beautiful, so I can see why. This is a self guided/hand whee- propelled ferry attached to cables to take yourself across the water. Kitch-iti-kipi is a natural spring with many small bubbling spots at the bottom. The water is practically turquoise and you can see every single thing. All the way to the bottom. There are so many fish here. There is an opening in the middle of the ferry that you can also look into to see the water. 

At one point the reflection of the sun and the clouds on the surface of the water was at a perfect spot to look like a rainbow. The pictures do no justice. But I've never seen anything like it. So gorgeous. 

Joe took the wheel to guide us back to the dock. 

I read online that the best time to go is in the winter. Nobody is there and the spring can't freeze. I can't imagine the turquoise with the white snow and trees. I'd love to see that. 

Look up some images on Google! It's unreal. 

I packed us a lunch so we ate there before leaving. 

I found a small trail at Rainey Wildlife Area in Manistique. First thing I see when I get out of the truck is half a rotted deer leg hanging from a tree. Which is pretty appropriate for the scenery here 😂 This is a very short walk but has to be one of my favorites!

You go through a dense pine forest. There's a boardwalk for half of the walk. The pines look crazy because no sunlight gets to where we were. So the tops are green and beautiful and the bottoms look dead. So much moss, ferns, mushrooms. I've never seen so many different mushrooms in my life. Every 2-3 feet there was another one. 

So here are mushie pics;

At the end of the trail is a wooden lookout tower where you can see into the forest and some of the lakes. 

Afterwards we went to the Manistique Lighthouse. This is an old early 20th century riveted steel lighthouse about 40 feet tall on Lake Michigan. There's a decently sized boardwalk going out to the lighthouse. 

On the walk back from the lighthouse we walked towards the harbor where they were dredging. Or emptying muck from wherever they dredged. Obviously Joe had to see this. I thought it was pretty neat lol. 

A two hour trip and we are back at home base.