COVID-19 has messed up so many plans for this spring and summer. I’m not sure it will be safe for those of us over age 60 to venture out on group activities anytime this summer or even this year. I’ve already cancelled spring and summer camping here in Michigan as well as my planned trip out to Colorado in July to the 200 series LC gathering. It’s hard to believe that from where we all are now, group activities will be ok in just 3 months. So, at this point, I can’t make any commitments for 2020 and realistically I’m probably looking at 2021. Others in lower risk groups will feel differently, of course.
Having said that, I do have an idea for a potential overland type adventure of sorts in the eastern U.P. There 5 former (1800s) Coast Guard life-saving stations with varying degrees of remains in mostly remote locations on the Lake Superior shore ("Shipwreck Coast") between Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Grand Marais) and Whitefish Point. Some are accessible only by rough logging roads/forest roads that sometimes washout and have some challenges. In the general area of the eastern U.P., there are miles and miles of interesting “roads” to check out along the Big Two-Hearted River and the Tahquamenon River and Lake Superior.
It would be interesting for me to spend some time going to each of the life-saving stations (Grand Marais, Deer Park, Two-Heart, Crisp Point, Vermilion Point, and Whitefish Point) to see what’s left and take some drone photos. The only one I’m familiar with is Crisp Point and it is definitely remote. There are many state forest campgrounds and 2 state parks in the general area offering varying degrees of amenties. One possibility is to set up base camp at Tahquamenon River State Park (good brewery) or Muskellunge Lake State Park (good fishing) and head out exploring from there, checking out back roads along the way. The other possibility is to remote camp in route, either in the national forest or state forest campgrounds. Either way, I would tow my camper along for overnights and park it for explorations. For reasons of insects, the later in the year the better. There wouldn’t be any technical off-roading or any challenges for a Land Cruiser, but back roads and historical sites can be worthwhile too.
So, this may be an overlander for 2021, given the situation we are all in. Too early to tell. Maybe revisit the idea in 3-4 months and see how things are going.
Roger
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