We started the day at the aforementioned Falling Rocks Cafe, where I had a smoked whitefish sandwich for breakfast. It consisted of smoked whitefish, cream cheese and a slice of tomato served on a toasted bagel. On the one hand, makes total sense, right? We eat lox like that, and in fact whitefish, though probably not caught in Lake Superior, is an important part of New York Jewish cuisine. On the other hand, Munising, MI is about as far from New York, culturally and gastronomically, as possible, so it was a little shocking that someone up there came up with the whitefish sandwich. What was even more shocking was that it was absolutely delicious. Not just good, but really, really excellent. Even the bagel tasted like the real thing. No, not quite like what I used to get on Queens Blvd. in Rego Park back in the day, but it was a hell of a lot better than all but a handful of bagels I can get in DC. I asked the young woman at the counter whether they made them on site, she said they didn't but did not elaborate.
We hit the trail around 9:00. It was another beautiful day, a little too warm if anything. Unfortunately, the hike proved to be just a tad disappointing. Two years ago, I had hiked west from Twelve-Mile Beach, where I camped, and saw some of the most unbelievable cliffs, some of the same ones we saw from the kayak the previous day, but from the top. It was that hike, in fact, that made me resolve to kayak the Rocks before I died – I saw kayakers directly underneath me, paddling right up to the cliffs. I was hoping that we could reach the same area coming from Miner's Castle, but my estimates were off, and most of our hike actually took us through the woods with only occasional glimpses at the lake, much like the hike we did two days earlier. We hiked as far as Mosquito Beach, about five miles away. The name is well-deserved, I should point out – we were all but devoured on the last mile. I guess I should have expected this – they don't call mosquitoes “Michigan Air Force” for nothing – but two years ago I didn't get a single bite, and I was there a week earlier in the season, so I figured they'd be gone by now. Anyway, by the time we reached Mosquito Beach we were tired and sweaty. We went for a leisurely swim, and had a lunch of protein bars and trail mix. By then, it was getting close to 1:00 p.m., and J. pointed out that there is no way we would have time to get back to the car, make it back to Mackinaw Bridge, and drive half-way down the coast on winding lakeside roads. At best, we could go straight for the interstate and gun it to Grand Rapids, arriving close to midnight for a few inadequate hours of sleep. And, while the Art Museum was no doubt very nice for its host city, and its reputation for unique energy-efficient architecture well-deserved, it was probably not essential viewing for someone with easy access to DC and New York museums. I had to concede that she was absolutely right. Once the decision was made to remain in Munising for one more night, the sense of urgency disappeared, we hiked back to Miner's Castle at a sane pace and went for another swim before driving back into town and getting a room at the Munising Days Inn next door to Sydney's.
The upside of staying, besides not having to rush, was that we could now take a cruise of Pictured Rocks. They offered several sailings throughout the day, but the last voyage, which left at 6:15 p.m., was what they called their sunset cruise, with the boat still on the lake when the sun set. We booked two spots by telephone from the hotel, and went next door to Sydney's for a not-quite-lunch, not-quite-dinner, the trail mix having worn off long ago. While I could have probably happily eaten more whitefish, both J. and I opted for the other UP specialty – the pasty. Most people think of it as an English thing – in the UK, the full name is “cornish pasty” -- but up here for some reason it is associated with Finnish immigrants who came to log the place in the mid- to late-1800s. Anyway, it is an oblong pie stuffed with diced root vegetables -- traditionally, rutabaga, potatoes and carrots -- and shredded beef. I had had one on my first visit at a roadside joint on US-2 not far from the Mackinaw Bridge, and it was not good. But J. insisted on trying one, and Sydney's appeared to be rather proud of theirs, so I figured I'd give it another shot. I can report that while it was far better than the first version I had had, it was still not an experience I would be eager to repeat. Dry, heavy and starchy to the extreme, it was only partially redeemed by Sydney's delicious coleslaw and gobs of ketchup. It was very light on the meat – probably authentic, what with poor immigrants a century ago needing to stretch expensive ingredients as far as possible, but disappointing in modern times. A pint of Edmund Fitzgerald helped.
A few minutes before six we showed up at the dock, picked up our tickets and boarded the boat. The crowd was sizable – other than paddling, this is the way to see Pictured Rocks – but we managed to get seats on the upper, open, deck, and were off. The narrator made way too many really lame jokes, but we did learn a few interesting facts about Lake Superior (deepest and cleanest of the Great Lakes, in addition to largest, and the largest surface area in the world, plus kids' stuff like “if it were as deep as a swimming pool, it would cover all of South America, etc.”) It is here that we learned the alternative explanation for the Pictured Rocks name. Apparently, early explorers saw all kinds of images of actual things in the colors, hence the name. I doubt the Ojibwa smoked peyote, it being a cactus, but whatever they used to achieve the same effect they must have shared generously with these explorers. We saw no images. We did, however, see several amazing rock formations that we either didn't reach or were too close in to see in the kayak.
Indian Head is probably the one that looks the most like its namesake, but there were sterns of ships, birds, and all kinds of other things. Overall, seeing the Rocks from a larger boat was a nice foil to the experience of the previous day – you get a more holistic, though slightly less involved, feel for the cliffs. You see more at once, and get a panorama rather than a zoomed-in view we had when floating a few feet away from the towering sandstone.
We covered about twelve miles of coastline. On the way back, the sun was low enough that the cliffs achieved a beautiful, deep golden glow. The timing of the cruise was impeccable – the sun set right as we were leaving Lake Superior proper and entering Munising Bay. The noise of the motors and the commotion on deck didn't allow for a meditative experience, but it was gorgeous nonetheless, especially since we knew it was our last unobstructed sunset of the trip.
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