Think back on your most memorable road trip.
You remember some trips for laughs and snacks, others leave a quiet ripple in your bones. June of 2024 was the latter. A week I spent in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my fiancé. Camping at Munising campgrounds, wandering Lake Superior’s massive shore, hunting stones, honoring memory by scattering my mom’s ashes into the cool blue water. We enjoyed many local coffee beverages while watching waves roll in like heartbeat rhythms.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore sits on the southern edge of Lake Superior. The largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. Its cold deep water a clear, glassy mirror to the changing Michigan sky.
The cliffs of Pictured Rocks rise 50 to nearly 200 feet above the water. They are streaked in minerals that paint reds, oranges, greens, blacks and whites into sculpted sandstone faces. These formations stretch for about 15 miles along the 42-mile lakeshore.
Camping & Nights Under the Sky
We stayed five nights at the Munising area campgrounds. Pulling our tent up near the lake edge. We listened to waves crash into dusk and we were woke by bird calls before sunrise. Campgrounds on the lakeshore are primitive but magical. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table. Of course you are also under a vast sky with little to no cell service. Every moment felt rich and unfiltered.
Rock Hounding & Lakeside Wandering
Picking stones isn’t allowed directly inside Pictured Rocks due to protection rules. So we headed a bit farther east near Grand Marais and along Twelvemile Beach. We found uv reactive slag, agates, jasper, granite, and more!
Beaches, Waterfalls & Cliffs
The lakeshore has beaches from sandy Miners Beach to the long empty waves at Twelvemile Beach. They are all mostly framed by deep green forests and airy sky. Waterfalls drop in emerald forests, the region offers dozens of cascades, from Mosquito Falls to Chapel Falls. Each a place you can pause, breathe, and listen.
When you finish reading this, comment and tell me about a trip you took and why it stayed with you.
Views From Water & Trails
From boats that cruise past sea caves, Miners Castle, and the East Channel Lighthouse, to paddling into hidden coves near Lovers Leap and Grand Portal Point, Lake Superior’s moods shift from glass calm to wind-ruffled waves. Trails thread through forests and above shorelines, revealing endless angles on water and stone.
Local Flavor & Small Town Finds
Days of sun and trail work were punctuated by coffee stops and local eats in the Munising area. Pasties, fresh fish plates, pizza, and icy cups of coffee that hit great after sandy hikes. It’s small town food with big soul, the kind you taste better after a day of wind and sun.
Why It’s Unforgettable
We went to roam… to wander… to remember and to love… and every vista answered with something new. Lake Superior’s hush gives you room to think, Pictured Rocks’ colors make your eyes linger, and the Upper Peninsula’s quiet kindness reminds you that the best journeys aren’t just about the places you go. The ones that stay with you matter most.
Kitch-Iti-Kippi
On the way home we stopped at Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan’s largest natural freshwater spring tucked into Palms Book State Park near Manistique. It felt like the perfect last chapter to a week of wide water and wilderness. The spring’s enormous crystal-clear pool, roughly 200 feet across and about 40 feet deep, pumps out over 10,000 gallons of emerald-green water every minute from limestone fissures below. This keeps the water near a steady 45° Fahrenheit year-round and so clear you can see deep into the bowl’s shifting sands. Of course there were many trout beneath the surface. Visitors glide on a manually operated raft over the quiet, mirror-like water, passing ancient tree trunks and limestone-encrusted rock as if suspended in time itself. Seeing that “Big Spring” under the vast Upper Peninsula sky reminded us that some places stay with you long after the road bends away.
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