CAMPING – (part 2) Cedar River in the Escanaba River State Forest

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(this post was made by a solar powered laptop)

 

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Here are the photos that went along with yesterday's blog post....   

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This first pic is taken through the windshield as we drove in.  See… it’s a single lane gravel road with many twists and turns.   But we have been here before and knew we would make it.  Even with about 40 foot of motorhome and scooter up on back.

 

 

Here is the house made of round river rocks that I talked about yesterday. It’s on the way into the campground, just out of the tiny town of Cedar River.  It’s for sale now, and quite the interesting looking house.  Quite a difference from the common newer log houses that line this road up and down the river. 

 

 

Here is the sign where you need to turn into the park, it’s so faded you almost miss it, and as you come up the road there are quite a few trees blocking the view of it coming ahead.   So unless you know where you are going, you might pass it up.  And it’s a  LONG LONG way up the road further to find a spot to turn around, I tell ya!

 

 

Here we are on our favorite site, number 10.  Steve had the ladder out here in the this pic,  He was putting my aircard antenna on the roof in case it would pull in a better signal.  Nope, it actually got a better signal from *inside* the motorhome.  Go figger?

 

Our site backs right up to the Cedar River.  What a lovely place!   The river is calm and dark brown, colored by the tannin the water and from the needles of the Tamarack trees and cedars that line it’s banks.   We could put in a kayak or canoe here and end up down in the waters of Green Bay.   There is a poster for kayak rentals where they will deliver them right here to the campground, and pick you up at the end.  Neato!  Maybe next time….

 

Our kids hated camping here when they were younger, because there wasn’t a beach or swimming area.   Nice for us older folks and peace and quiet!

 

I just love how the cedars hang over the banks, growing at a graceful curve upwards.

 

 

 

Got the nice clean motorhome a tad bit dirty coming in here, huh?

 

 

Here are a few pics from our cross-country scooter ride.  They were doing logging on parts of this  road, we had to pass a staging area where they load up the trucks. 

 

 

Then we went on further, looking to get through to the east to M-35.  The map showed the logging road went all the way, so we made it.  Had to cut around a few gates, but there was room to get through.    In this shot below, you can see one of the two deer we startled as we came down the path.  I sure don’t think they were going to see a scooter come through their woods!

Once we reached M-35, we turned south and drove along to check out some of the other campgrounds.  

Here was campsite number 1 in the Fox Park, along the shores of the Green Bay waters.   We like to camp here too, and it’s the only site we fit on in this park.  We pull right in and face nose first out to the water and sand dunes.   But today it was windy and cold coming in off the water, so I am glad we had chosen to go further into the woods where it was easily 10 degrees warmer.

 

 

Here is a little map of our ride yesterday.  The blue and grey lines are either pavement or gravel roads, but the yellow squiggly one cutting across was the 2 track logging road we took!   About 20 miles round trip I think….

 

And here is our faithful “cross-country dirt bike”  (a.k.a. our Honda Helix scooter)

 

After our ride, it was time to get supper going. We were planning to sit out around a campfire, so Steveio got that going too.  Little did we know, we would get rained out!

We grilled out boneless skinless chicken breasts with a bit of Sweet Baby Rays’ BBQ sauce on them.   A few cobs of sweet corn roasted on the upper rack, a pot of mashed taters and some green beans, we were set!   What a feast!

 

 

 

Here are some pics of the family camped down in the lower loop with the ATV’s  … The daddy had taken the two littlest ones out,  and they came back with a load of firewood in a small wagon behind the dad’s fourwheeler.   The kids followed along like little duckies behind their daddy.  

 

**side note**

We used to ride our ATV’s a lot too.   Especially when our kids were little.  We would head up north into Michigan as there were a lot more trails we could ride on.  Pack a picnic lunch  and a cooler of drinks and off we would go.  Sometimes we would have as many as 15-20 machines in a group for long trail rides.

Our kids and the little cousins used to run on three little orange Suzuki’s behind all our big grown up ATV’s too.  They all learned the rules of the trail, wore helmets and behaved themselves.  Or else they didn’t get to go the next time! Or they had to ride in the little cart I pulled behind my fourwheeler with the coolers!

Here in this old pic below, we were teaching my MOM how to ride on one of the the little Suzukis  … heh heh … a lot of kids learned on those little machines.  They had automatic clutches and were easy to shift for the kids to learn on.  Moms too!

 

But we don’t go so much anymore.  We have sold our biggest one and gave mine to my folks.  I think we are enjoying the softer ride of the scooter and aren’t up to such rugged trail rides any more.  It’s hard on my stomach, all the bouncing and jouncing around.  I think we are getting old?

 

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Well, that was the rest of the photos I was going to post on yesterday’s blog….

here is today’s post:

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Saturday night it rained and rained and rained....   it put out our campfire, so we had to head in the motorhome.  We got out the cribbage board and played four games, of which I won 3.  Had to let Steveio win at least one game so he would not pout.  Tee heee

Had a better internet signal during the rain, go figger?   We were able to chat with my sister and her husband, who are still holed up in a hotel over in Ann Arbor Michigan while he undergoes treatment for stage four bone cancer.   They had the computer on there, so we bantered back and forth in chat --- some about our card game, some about camping stuff, and mainly just keeping in touch and keeping the spirits up.  

Our nephew Mikey is due for surgery first thing Monday on his stomach up in Marquette, Michigan.  He is my older brother's son, who is developmentally disabled and having a really rough time with stomach issues and Crone's Disease and who knows what else.   My folks are going up there to be with him during the surgery too.  Not sure what is all going on, but expect to hear more soon about that.

With the rain pounding on the roof, we took showers and headed to bed, high and dry.  Our Wave 8 catalytic heater was just about cooking us out of here, even set on low.   About half way through the night, Steveio got up and turned it off.  Even on low in a 40 ft motorhome, it sure puts out a lot of heat.  (we keep a window cracked too)  The temps only got down to 55 overnight, so I guess it really wasn't needed all that much.

Sunday morning dawned overcast and windy.  With no TV stations able to be picked up, we turned on the weather radio to check the local stuff.  I keep a printout of the NOAA codes so we can set it to the county we are in.  Things are looking pretty grim over Wisconsin today, and even further south and west are thunderstorms and higher winds than we are experiencing now.   I am thinking it is not a good day to take another scooter ride, huh?

I was able to get a semi useful connection on the air card to check emails.  My sister said they had tornados over by Ann Arbor!   She said one touched down in Dundee, about 20 miles away from them.  They heard sirens but didn't know what they were supposed to do, and the hotel never told them to leave their rooms.  ACK!   I woulda been in the basement before you could blink an eye!     But all was good and they were around this morning to send an email.  LOL

We got the coffee perking and I whipped up a batch of muffins from a mix.  We ate them so fast I didn't get a chance to take a pic!   Imagine that!   The doggers got out and sniffed a bit and did their business, but came back in for their muffin too. 

Sipping coffee and and the sun is poking it's light through the bright green fresh spring leaves... remember... this area just leafed out not too long ago and had snow as recently as 1 month ago.  It's still *Spring* here.

Ahhhhh I am now working on making some french toast… yummmmmmm and the sun is getting brighter and the winds are dying down.  Might be a nice camping day afterall?

 

After breakfast, we took a nice long walk along the river, found a trail for the doggers to sniff on, and made our way back about noon. 

 

 

Got ourselves road worthy and headed on home.  Stopping at Kmart in Menominee Michigan to pick up more AC freon for Steve to put in Heather’s car.  You can buy it over the counter in Michigan, but not Wisconsin. 

(we do have to go home later… sigh)

CAMPING - Cedar River campground in the Escanaba State Forest

(THIS POST MADE BY A SOLAR POWERED LAPTOP) 

(because of limited connection on air card signal here - I can't post the pics to go with this blog.  Will post them tomorrow when I get a better connection) 

Ahhhh  on Friday, after Steveio got home from work, he hopped in the rig where I was waiting and we took off north.  Though it was raining, we kept on trekking north, over the border into Michigan and to the five campgrounds we know of up in that area.  Four are along the bay waters of Green Bay where it meets Lake Michigan.   But we opted to go inland once we reached the tiny harbor of Cedar River.  Taking a side road from there, back about 6 or 7 miles into the Escanaba State Forest.  There is the Cedar River Campground back there, rustic 18 sites in the boonies.   Only a pitcher pump and some outhouses.  And a narrow gravel road to get there.

On the road going out there is a house made of stones that I always thought was cool  It's across the road from the river, and now vacant and for sale.  Anyone wanna buy a cool house?  (will show photo tomorrow)

We turned off that dirt/gravel road to enter the park, to travel slowly on another mile on even narrower dirt/gravel.... only one lane wide.  You hope you don't meet anyone, because one of you gotta back up.  Cuz we iz bigger, dey gots ta do da backin' I tell ya!  LOL

A couple turns are really tight, and we barely make it clearing the nose of the 40ft long motorhome around one tree and the back end swinging around to just clear another tree on the other side.  But we have been in here before and know we will make it.

As we drove into the campground.. wheee heeee we see that our favorite site number 10 is vacant!   Actually, there are two other campsites that are occupied, by some tents and a popup in the lower loop.   So nice to have our site we like the best.  We back into our site, and it's raining a bit again, so we cuddle up inside and make some supper.   Spaghetti and garlic bread and we are all set for the night.   No tv stations and very limited internet connection, and not even a cell phone signal.   We popped in a DVD for a while and then headed to bed.  YAWN.....it was a long day when it starts at 5am for us.

We woke to cloudy skies, but not too cold out.  We didn't even fire up the heater overnight, and it was still 57 out there in the morning.  Got the coffee perking and Steveio made us his special breakfast of thin sliced potato american fries, (in olive and canola oil)   some scrambled egg substitute and a slab of turkey ham... hey.. trying to watch his cholesterol, so we have to behave ourselves.

After breakfast, we took the doggies for a nice walk around the campground.. we walked down on the peninsula to check out the other campsites...

On one site is a family with about 5 or 6 fourwheelers (ATVs  a.k.a. all terrain vehicles)   They even had a cute little pink one for the girl and she had her own helmet and she had matching clothes to wear that were all pink too.  I would guess her about 8 or 9 years old... then a bigger boy about 10-12 ish with a bit bigger orange one.  Then the parents and another couple all with big ones. They were just getting all bundled up and ready to head out for a long ride.  There are groomed ATV trails near here and they are allowed to ride out of the park to get to them.   How nice eh?

So then we walked past the last site down at the end of that loop and there were three rambunctious little boys!  They were goofing off in a tent and being just silly.  I would guess them ages 4-6ish. And outside standing there were two dads .... and no women along!    The one dad said that they do this every year, just them and the boys....  I bet those moms LOVE that !   They had a big tent and a popup trailer too.  The dads were fixing up camp stuff and the boys were rolling in and out of the tent, being goofoffs.  Two came out to pet the dogs, while the last one stayed inside, howling in glee that he had the tent to himself.   I bet the dads fed them sugar cereal for breakfast!  hahahah  It sure brings back memories of our kids, and our nephews Mikey, Matt, Darren and Christopher--  all full of the dickens! What fun!

We noticed when we walked by the single garbage can down there, it was piled all around with a bunch of big bags of trash. Way too much to be from just these two sites.  Some of it laying around was camping trash as we could see boxes from new air mattresses and new tents etc.  But about 5 or 6 bags were all matching dark garbage bags we think could have been from area cottage folks dumping them into the park instead of paying a dump fee for the township.  Why do people do that?  Now the park guys have to come and haul it all away before the bears get into it.

We left the lower loop and came back up to our quiet site and am thankful they are camping way down there where we cant hear them!   But we are glad they are having fun though, that is what memories are made of.

About 11 am a car pulled into the very next site to us, 10 other empty sites and they need to take the one right next to us?   They opened their car doors and out jumps two huge dogs!  A Great Pyrenese herding dog, and then a big Burmese Mountain Dog!   They sniffed around and did their thing, both off leash.  The dogs even came into our site and marked territory, both being males.   The two people kinda ignored their dogs, and walked up and down looking at that site, and into the next one up river.  Whew, we were glad to have them turn back to their car.  Guess they didn't want to camp here after all.

Then the fun began, they were trying to get these two huge dogs back INTO the car.  And the dogs had different ideas, they wanted to be camping, not riding anymore.  We watched from the privacy of our rig,  It was hilarious!  The dogs went on a Sit Down Strike... well really a Lay Down Strike.   Right on the ground next to the car.   The guy finally had to lift up the front of the first dog... then hoist the back end in.  Then turned to the next dog, and had to do the same to him!  These are BIG dogs, I bet over 100 pounds each.  LOL   It was so funny, but we were glad to see them head on down to the penninsula to where the other camp sites were, with the other people.  Ahhh we still have the upper loop all to ourselves!

After lunch, we looked at the map and decided to take a scooter ride.  Well well well, the South Fox "road"  really was a logging trail... we went past a logger who was doing some what is called "selective cutting"  where some trees are left standing.  Other areas had been what is called "clear cutting" where everything is ripped out.   We continued on and the logging road then became a Two Track (two paths with grass in the middle).   We continued on even further east and met up with some gates across the road, but room to get around the side.  Big "No Trespassing" signs were posted, but facing out from the direction we had already come.   After 2 sets of gates, we finally managed to reach the sought after main road M-35.   It was about 10 miles cross country on the scooter.   What a fun ride!

At M-35 we turned south and drove along the lakeshore a bit.  We turned in to see Fox Park, which was one of the places we had been thinking of camping.  Our favorite site there too was vacant, and only one site occupied in the whole park  It had 5 tents on it with a bunch of young adults.  So I am thinking we made a wise choice by coming to Cedar River instead of Fox Park.

On our way back into Cedar River, we met with the DNR truck heading out, with all the bags of garbage piled up in the truck.  Nice to see they were here and took care of it.

Time to start up some supper, so Steveio got the grill out..... but he also started a nice campfire.   I made the mashed potatoes and green beans, he took care of the chicken breasts and sweet corn.   We sipped some wine and I did a little knitting while supper cooked.  It was a relaxing evening ... good food... soft music... good wine....   ahhhhh

But then.... rain drops!   Oh oh.. time to get inside (where I am now typing this)  while the rain is getting louder and louder, coming down harder and harder.  Those poor folks in the tents.  Oh my!


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Campground Review - Cedar River North State Forest Campground, in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula – June 2008

We camped here in June of 2008

(this is one of series of posts of various campgrounds we have been to over the years... I am going through my files in alphabetical order and posting past camping trips in my blog.... something to do over this long long upcoming winter---- sigh)

This is one of our favorite get-a-way campgrounds within 50 miles of our home.  It’s called the Cedar River campground in the Escanaba State Forest, between Menominee and Escanaba  Michigan. Here is the link for the website:
Cedar River North State Forest Campground
It’s all rustic camping, about 5-6 miles in on dirt roads from off M-35 near Twin Bridge. 
There are outhouses, a well pump, and 18 rustic sites.  We like site number 10 the best, backing right up to the river.  It’s a nice park with remote terrain and well-spaced sites.  Nearby is an ATV trail, sometimes the ATVers camp right in the park, and other times ride up to use the outhouses and the well pump.   $15 a night.
The river is quiet, deep, and dark brown from the tamerack needles.  There is no swimming or any activities for children (playground, beach, picnic area etc)  so it’s a very quiet park with few families.  Mostly fishermen and retired quiet folks.   Peaceful!