2004/04 Boston and South Carolina trip - Porcupine Mountains |
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Dear All,
We had returned from our Australian trip on the last day of March, and had only a few days of clearing up and cleaning up before we were off again. We had two appointments to keep, one in Boston for me to run the Marathon, and the other for us to pick up our new camper.
We’d originally ordered the camper in Denver, Colorado, but the Provan company had reorganized and relocated to South Carolina over the winter. This was worrying, as they had a large chunk of our cash as a deposit, but better from a driving point of view, as we could plan a loop trip rather than two 2000 mile trips in opposite directions. So we planned to take the Suburban down to South Carolina, collect the camper, and head up north to Boston. Then Provan told us they were running a couple of weeks behind schedule, so we realized that we’d have to run the loop in reverse.
When it came to do the detailed planning I wasn’t too enthused about heading directly to Boston, south of the Great Lakes, as this would take us through Chicago and Gary and past Toledo and Cleveland, and along the boring and irritating Indiana Tollway, throwing coins into the buckets every few miles. So I came up with the bright idea of taking the northerly route around the Great Lakes, crossing into Canada at Sault St Marie and going north of Lake Huron. This would allow us to stop off in Hamilton and see Ron and Junie and family, and cross back into the states at Niagara.
The next level of planning showed that there weren’t many campgrounds open this early in the year, so we’d have to work around the few that were. During the planning the weather had been gorgeous and spring-like, and the ice break-up on White Bear Lake had come a couple of days earlier than average.
Sunday April 11th
Just before we left, a reminder of winter swept through the mid-west, and we set off on a cold and gloomy Sunday morning. We had hopes of camping with the tent, but we had two sets of sleeping bags just in case it was cold and we had to stay in the truck. We also had lots of food, a stove, and extra layers of clothing. It was similar to the trip that Philip and I took in the Suburban back in 2000, but this time we were equipped for some seriously colder weather.
This was just as well, as we saw snow patches under the trees as we drove north across Wisconsin, and got to the Namekagon River. By the time we reached Ashland, on the south shore of Lake Superior, it was snowing hard. We were headed east of there to a state park and campground between the Porkies (the Porcupine Mountains) and Lake Superior. As we drove over the mountains we could see that the snow was waist deep under the trees, though luckily the road stayed reasonably clear.
As the snow had stopped for a while we took a walk to see the waterfalls on the Presque 
Isle River. The south shore of Lake Superior is much like Minnesota’s north shore, with a steep drop into the lake, and dozens of stream and rivers with waterfalls or cascades or both. With the spring snowmelt, the river was running high and fast, so the falls were at their best. We followed the river down to the lake where it split around the “nearby” island that gives the river its French name.
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Presqu'ile River (7.07) |
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The Presque Isle campground was closed with gates to keep us out, so we took the park road over to Silver City on the east side of the park. This turned out to be a mistake, as the road was snow covered and then it became snow on top of corrugated ice, and we had to back out along our tracks.
It was a 60 mile detour to go back to the highway and re-enter the park on its east side, 
so it was dark by the time we got to Silver City. The campground there was right on the shore of Lake Superior, and full of white tailed deer snacking on the grass, but it was closed too. We decided to give the campground its grand 2004 opening, drove around the barriers, quickly cooked dinner, and dived under all our layers to hide from the cold.
We slept well until we had a visit from the sheriff in the early hours “just to make sure we were OK”. This was understandable but we'd prefer not to be woken up by flashing lights and the sheriff banging on the window!.
I got up an hour or so later and found that the sky was ablaze with the Northern Lights. 
However, if I’d stayed out there any longer to take pictures I’d have lost some important pieces of my anatomy, so I have no photos. My guess is that we were down to the teens as the whole inside of the truck was covered in ice by morning. Anything damp promptly froze to the picnic table. A side benefit of this weather was that we were being reminded of why we were buying a camper with a bed and heater!
Some park workers showed up later, getting the park ready for its opening. They said there was no clear policy about what to do with people who camped at a closed campground, but I think they were relieved that we were moving on!