Sunrise and coffee in our backyard and on the shores of Lake Superior! The land mass across the way is part of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Neatly tucked away on the shores of Lake Superior's South Bay is the small township of Munising, our home for about the next four weeks. Munising is surrounded on the other three sides by the Hiawatha National Forest. North of Munising, sitting in the bay is Grand Island, which lists it's population as 47. You can catch a ferry from Munising to Grand Island for a day of hiking and biking fun.
Around 3,000 people are fortunate enough to call the picturesque township of Munising their permanent home. Our "home" for our time in Munising is a beautiful and spacious Airbnb with the chilly waters of Lake Superior about twenty steps out the back door.
Munising is a four season destination for outdoor enthusiasts. It's popular for camping, hiking, biking and fishing during the warmer months. When the temperature drops, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, ice climbing and snowmobiling become the activities of choice. I read that the average high in January hovers around 25 degrees. I'm sure the snow and ice are beautiful but I imagine we'll limit our visits to when it's a little warmer.
A year round attraction to the area is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a geological masterpiece of color along the steep cliffs between Munising and Grand Marais. The park has 42 miles of shoreline and covers over 73,000 acres (114 sq. miles). Over 500 million years of weathered erosion to the sandstone rock, and seepage from the minerals stored within the rocks, the steep, sometimes 200 foot high cliffs are as colorful as a large box of crayons. We've enjoyed some views of the rocks along the coastline as we've hiked some of the trails in the National Lakeshore Park. The consensus is that the best way to view the Pictured Rocks in all their glory is from a boat. We'll be doing that next week when a couple of special friends from back in our Texas days are going to join us. There will be more on Pictured Rocks in future blogs.
Miners Castle
A seasonal attraction of the Munising area is happening right now. Summer is giving way to fall and in this part of the country, the temperatures drop fast. Along with the changing temperature comes the changing leaves. We really enjoy the fall foliage and the Upper Peninsula is a great place to take in the change of seasons. A recent article in USA Today listed the Upper Peninsula at the top of their list of the top ten places to enjoy the fall foliage in 2020. Thankfully the Upper Peninsula is a little difficult to access so the crowds are much smaller here than they are in some of the other locations listed in the top ten.
USA Today 10 Beautiful Places To See Fall Foliage
The leaves were already changing when we arrived three days ago. In getting familiar with the area, we've already enjoyed several hikes including ones to Munising Falls, Miners Falls, Miners Castle, Miners Beach and Sand Point. As we've been out and about we see more evidence every day that green is giving way to shades of red, orange and yellow and the peak is only a week or so away. Thankfully we'll still be around to take it in!
