Now I am sure you are familiar with MapQuest and how easy it is to plug in a starting point and a destination. You punch print and out pops a nice map with all the directions you need to reach that destination. But the thing that MapQuest doesn’t know is that the state of Michigan doesn’t put much work into marking or maintaining many of the back roads in the UP. A back road in the UP is nearly every road except the main highways. Not only are they poorly marked, they are not paved either. They are sand, some hard and some soft. I think you probably know where this is going but let me help you out just a little. One other thing I need to let you know, we are also using a GPS system to help us find Crisp Point.
As we drive down the main highway looking for our first turn, we have a problem… MapQuest says turn right and the GPS says we have ten more miles to go. Since the road that MapQuest has picked is not marked, we decide to stick with the GPS. After an extra 10 miles we turn right on MI500 and we have hard packed sand. This is the washboard sand road that will jar your teeth and every bone in your body. But the good thing is that it is marked.
There is another thing that you learn very quickly in Michigan, do as the locals do. After all, they have a reason for their methods. We are trying to navigate down a washboard road and our teeth are chattering from the bumps when out of the blue a truck goes flying by at a much higher speed. It’s not long before this happens several more times. That’s when we decide that there has to be something to the speed they are driving. We increase our speed to 40mph and the bumps smooth out to where you can barely feel them. The trick to this kind of driving is spacing yourself far enough behind the vehicle in front of you so you can see through the very thick dust (photo one) everyone is creating. One other thing I almost forgot, you have to deal with the curves. Ever watch a race on a dirt track?OK, now we are on the right road, maybe. We travel about 12 miles, driving like two crazy people, hoping that we make all the right turns. The GPS and MapQuest indicated several times that we were in a field between two roads before we came to a three- way intersection and a sliding stop. It was marked with a sign but it didn’t match any directions that we had. As luck would have it, a man was near the road talking with another man who was sitting on a mountain bike. They told us that we needed to take the next right and it was only seven more miles. SEVEN MORE MILES, only SEVEN MORE MILES.!!
Recall earlier I said we were 13 miles from where we were going. By this time we had already driven about 35 miles and we still had SEVEN MORE MILES to go!! I really don’t want to bore you with the fact the last seven miles was on a road that was generally only wide enough for one car; or that the sand was so soft that you could slide around the turns. These are all just minor details. The last thing that you have to remember…to get back, we must retrace our steps!!
There were several times that we were not sure if we would ever get to the lighthouse. But we finally arrived, and were in for a real treat. The area was just as everyone had said it would be: beautiful and well worth the trip.
There were several times that we were not sure if we would ever get to the lighthouse. But we finally arrived, and were in for a real treat. The area was just as everyone had said it would be: beautiful and well worth the trip.
The second photo is of Crisp Point lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1904 and also had a large keeper’s house. The lighthouse was abandoned in 1947 and Lake Superior began its destruction of Crisp Point. Storms damaged the keeper’s house so badly that it was necessary to demolish the buildings in 1965. The only building left was the light tower. The Crisp Point Historical Society was established in 1991 and the lighthouse was restored to its current condition. An exhibit center and restrooms were added this past July. 
The third photo is of Lake Superior, and was taken from the walkway in front of the lighthouse. Although the road to the lighthouse is very difficult to navigate, there were 15-20 additional people visiting while we were there.
Our fourth photo is of a loaded freighter headed east to Sault Ste Marie. The feighter was passing Whitefish Point when photographed.
Our last photo is another sunset at Whitefish Point. Note the two crossed jet streams. We don’t have a sign for today…we were just lucky to find the road signs we needed in the “wilderness”! Our hats are off to Daniel Boone…where was he when we needed him!!??
Tomorrow we will be in Munising.
T&C
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