Out of Our Rut: Shorter Day Trips Out of Brimley

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Sault Ste. Marie State Forest Area is just to the west of Brimley. It is a huge area to explore. So large that I doubt many locals even have experienced much of it. Our main destination within the forest is to hike more of the North Country Trail again. Where the NCT crosses Michigan Route 28, a local cacher has placed caches about every 1/2 mile for well over 50 miles of the trail! We don't expect to get many of them but it was a reasonable afternoon so off we went.

Not too far off the state route on a paved road you arrive at Soldier Lake Campground. It is a primitive campgrounds, but does have pit toilets, dumpsters, picnic tables and fire rings. We paid our $4 day use fee to park near the NCT trail head and check out the sites. There were plenty of sites that we could easily get our big rig into and some can even be reserved online. The sites are only $16 a night. We will remember this place if we ever happen back to the area.

The first thing we were greeted with at a trail head was a laminated flier from mid July mentioning a fire that had happened and closed some of the trail south of us which is the direction we are heading. From the map, we suspect that the area is well beyond where we could even imagine getting to in an afternoon day hike, so we head off.

The trail starts out in an area that only has some big trees here and there. I suspect there was a timber harvest here in the past 3 years. The soil is very sandy and with the heat and humidity, it doesn't seem to be anything like I was expecting for the UP. Glad we both had long pants on since the ground is nearly all covered in ferns and other low shrubs. This section of the NCT doesn't seem to get much foot traffic so you need to pay attention or you will easily get off the trail.

We find the geocaches without much difficulty as we wind our way along the trail. Being mostly flat or just gentle rolling hills, the walking is easy. The further we go, the more pockets of tall mature pines we run into. About 2 miles or so into the hike, we here a thunder clap from behind us! Sure enough, the white puffy clouds had changed to a more dark and threatening ones. If we still had our dog Shelby, I am sure she would have given us "that look" - the one that says, "We shouldn't be out here!"

We decide to go the additional 0.2 miles to the next cache and then the rain starts. Not heavy at first but big drops. After signing the log, we weigh our options. Since it's not clear that this is going to be just a brief passing shower, we do the only thing we can, head back north into it. Fortunately the lightning was very infrequent, but the rain drenched us and now those ferns all along the trail were wet which in turn soaked the pants, and the water ran down my legs and was wicked into my hiking boots by my socks. It was a long walk back to the car and it was just starting to let up when we got there. I guess the upside is that there will be lots of geocaches for us to find if we ever come back this way.

If you ever make it to Brimley, we can recommend Round Island Point Nature Preserve just to the east of the state park. It was about a 3 to 4 mile bike ride from the state park to the preserve's parking area. There is a very nice 1.6 mile hike thru the woods. There are no stunning views on the hike but it was just pleasant and peaceful there.

View from Trail in Round Island Point

Another afternoon trip was along the coast of Whitefish Bay. A short trip but a very scenic one. Here is another example of a place we would have not discovered had it not been for geocaching. There were a few highly favorited caches at a place called Mission Hill. There is a sign on the main road, but I doubt we would have ended up here. The drive off the main road was up a narrow, steep (but paved) road. Besides a cemetery being up there, a small parking area with an overlook of the bay and a small pond.

View from Mission Hill Overlook

There are small trails off each side of the overlook right along the top of the steep dropoff. One cache being hidden in each direction. The one was found without issue but as we headed to the second one, we could smell a skunk near by. At first I assumed it was just the residual smell from a prior skunk visit, but as Chris searched for the cache, she tells me she sees a skunk! I come over and agree there was a skunk laying next to the tree. I grabbed a chunk of wood and toss it at the thing. I did not hit the skunk but got it close enough to realize it was dead. Then I noticed that it appeared to be caught in a trap. We ended up finding the cache hidden only 10 feet away. I suspect the smell will get worse before it gets better.

A Skunk Near Ground Zero of Cache

We got back down to the main road and continued along the way until we got to the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. It is a very pretty setting with a stone wall around the lighthouse and residence. We even found that it was possible climb the circular stairs up to the top and look out the windows where the light would have been. The door to the little platform on the outside of the light was closed but it was still a very nice view from up here. Chris only had marginal problems with the climb up and a few more on the way down.

Beautiful Point Iroquois Lighthouse

Stone Wall and Flowers Around Lighthouse

View From Up Top

A few days later, we retraced our drive and continued up along Whitefish Bay. Our destination was the Wild Blueberry Festival in Paradise - Paradise Michigan that is. We arrived at a reasonably early time on Friday only to be greeted with cars parking along both sides of the road through town about 1/3 mile from the event. Maybe everybody else was thinking like us and decided to come early since thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day. In the center of the event was a long line of people snaking out of a building waiting for something, but what? The sign said bake sale, but we were not ready to wait 30+ minutes for a bake sale.

Getting in on the Fun

Long Line for Bakery Items!

The event is basically just your small town craft fair with many booths setup selling all sorts of things we neither needed nor had room for. We did end up buying some horseradish from one booth. We then continued down the street and found a cache next to a church. As luck would have it, the church was having a bake sale as well and no waiting. We picked up some blueberry muffins for there and a small blueberry pie to bring home with us.

We continued our drive along the bay up to Whitefish Point. Here is a truly functioning lighthouse. It is also the home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. This place was very busy so we decided to get tickets so we could fully enjoy the museum. We thought it was okay, but our advice would be to skip this one and do the Valley Camp Museum Ship in Soo. Even without tickets for this place, you are permitted to walk around outside and see the place. It does have loads of info on many of the shipwrecks that have occurred over the years and even has the original bell salvaged from the Edmund Fitzgerald, so if that is your thing, then maybe this would be good.