August Catch Up

Hello all,
We are currently in an RV park near the Pymatuning State Park (H) in Ohio and for a nice change we have good WiFi and so I am catching up on our last few weeks - finally!

Last time we talked we had really enjoyed biking around Mackinac Island (B).

A quick aside here as you may be wondering the same thing we did - for weeks.

What is the proper way to pronounce the word "Mackinac"?

The French Pronounced it "aw" but spelled it "ac". The British heard it pronounced "aw" so they spelled it that way. Whichever way it is spelled, it is always pronounced "aw".

So you have Mackinac Island and the Big Mac (Mackinac Bridge (I don't think McDonalds got in on that one) - which claims to be a longer suspension bridge than the Golden Gate in San Francisco - a debate for another day) and Mackinaw City. So you can talk like a local now.

We went up to the UP (Upper Peninsula)(A on the map) for a week or so staying in a Hiawatha National Forest campsite. The national sites (Park, Forest, Lakeshore etc) have been great. They usually don't have hookups (water, electric or sewer) but have water fill up spots and dump stations. They average about $20/night and with the greatest deal out there - The Senior Pass sold by the National Parks - we get free entrance to all National Parks and 50% off camping fees.
The must see up there are the Pictured Rocks.

 

This last picture shows a rock column that erosion isolated from the shore and if you look closely you can see the root system draping to the left back to the shore that keeps the tree alive.

 

We really liked the UP, except for the mosquitos, and could have stayed longer.

 

From there, back to Mackinac continuing down through Michigan to Ohio and Kelley Island (E) where the big draw there are the Glacial Grooves.

"The Glacial Grooves on the north side of Kelleys Island are the largest easily accessible such grooves in the world. They were scoured into solid limestone bedrock about 18,000 years ago by the great ice sheet which covered part of North America. A trough 400-feet long, 35-feet wide, and up to 10-feet deep remains today. The ice, probably hundreds of feet thick, flowed from the north in what is now the Lake Erie basin. The Devonian limestone containing the grooves contains marine fossils that are 350 to 400 million years old. Many other grooves were quarried away during the last century."

Imagine rocks and boulders compressed beneath the glacier inexorably carving into the softer limestone creating these grooves and swirls.

 

From there we continued to Cuyahoga Valley National Park where a canal from the mid 1800's ran through the valley. The old original towpath is a popular hiking and biking path.

 

For the Labor Day weekend we parked our home on the Pennsylvania side of Pymatuning State Park/Reservoir.

 Very pleasant.

 

Well that brings us up to September. We anticipate much quieter campgrounds and parks now that summer is officially over.

More to follow. Happy Trails.