“The biting flies were horrible. We couldn’t stop biking or they would swarm, and the backs of our t-shirts were covered with them.” This was my Dad’s description of an ill-fated mountain biking expedition to Grand Island that he had taken with my uncles when I was a kid. Over the years, I heard similar stories of the biting stable flies making life miserable for anyone who ventured out there. But, the formidable UP bugs usually become manageable by late summer, so I hoped for the best when I reserved a group campsite on the western side of the island for mid-September.
The ferry to Grand Island is a glorified pontoon that travels from a dock a bit north of Munising over to Williams Landings, about a five minute ride. It was a three mile hike to the Juniper Flats campground, on a relatively flat trail. On the way, we passed a sign for a campground near the ferry landing, and a rustic cabin, and there were more spread around the island. Reservations can be made at https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10288329. Whether you’re looking for a one mile hike in, or a ten mile hike in, or something in between, there are quite a few options.
In addition to the biting flies, Grand Island is notorious for its black bears with Yogi-like tendencies to make the most of unsecured food. Because of this, the campgrounds usually have a bear box and/or bear pole to assist in secure food storage. Some hikers we met had grooves scratched into the lid of their bear canister from a bear that had visited their campsite the night before.
The Juniper Flats group site is described as allowing up to 10 tents or hammocks and up to 25 people. I’m not quite sure how that would work, but for our group of 7, the group site was great. The only odd thing was that the privy was kind of centrally located amongst the tent areas and near the picnic table, so we opted to use the one up the hill along the trail in order to have some privacy. Because this site is up on a bluff, there is no water access, but there is a spigot up by the trail, and an accessible beach about half a mile further down the trail.
Our first night, after everyone had arrived, set up camp, and cooked dinner, we took a walk down to the beach near the Hemlock campground. The stairway down to the beach is quite an engineering marvel–it can be pulled back up during the winter months to prevent ice damage. The beach is sandy, with good rock hunting. We watched the sunset, then walked back to camp, admiring the variety of mushrooms sprouting along the trail. Upon returning back to camp, we had a fire using the wood that’s provided to the campsite each day (what a luxury!) and went to bed.
The following day we headed out on a day hike after breakfast, again marveling at the various mushrooms along the trail. After a few hours, we stopped for lunch at an overlook that provided views of the cliffs along the northwestern edge of the island. While not quite as impressive as Pictured Rocks, it was a truly beautiful view. While the trees were still mostly green, a few leaves had turned bright red and yellow, hinting that fall was on its way.
After lunch, a couple of us opted to take the shorter option and headed inland to make a loop back to camp, while some of our group headed further north. The trail was mainly a green tunnel, following old roads, and passed by Echo Lake, a small inland lake with a rustic boat launch and picnic table. By midafternoon, we arrived back at camp, and walked down to the beach for a swim and some rockhounding. It felt amazing to rinse off the sweat and grime of the day, and I treasured the time to splash and float around, knowing my lake swimming days are numbered as fall arrives.
After dinner, we had a fire again, although eventually the predicted rain arrived and we headed off to bed. By morning, the rain had passed, and we were able to set off on another day hike, this time heading over to the eastern side of the island, which provided some views of the Pictured Rocks shoreline, and Munising Bay. The mushrooms seemed to be sprouting as we walked down the trail!
We ate lunch at the Driftwood campground, which had a gorgeous sandy beach. Jim and Nikki attempted to have pizza delivered to the ferry dock, to be sent over on the next boat, but were disappointed in their attempts. (I guess they were not looking forward to day three of dehydrated dinner.) Again, our group split up and some of us headed back to camp, while others opted for a longer hike.
When we got back to camp, I was getting organized to go to the beach when I saw something small, brown, and fast-moving out of the corner of my eye. It was some kind of weasel, running around our campsite, probably scavenging for crumbs or niblets of dogfood. I took a few pictures before it ran away. I brought my good camera for my walk to the beach in case it appeared again, and to try to capture some images of the moss and mushrooms. As I reached the top of the stairs that connected our campsite to the main trail, the weasel made another appearance, and I was able to get a few more shots.
The beach was glorious, and I swam for about half an hour before laying out in the sun. The rocks I had forgotten to take with me yesterday were still on the boulder where I had left them for safe-keeping, so I showed them to everyone, and we determined that my “maybe a pudding stone” was just concrete with rocks mixed in–bummer! I shared pictures of the weasel, and we debated whether it was a fisher or a pine marten.
Back at camp, we started our fire early, and began to cook dinner. The weasel reappeared, joined by a friend, and as it began to get dark, they became more brazen about trying to get at our food, so we were careful not to leave anything sitting out, or drop crumbs. I assume that previous campers must have fed them for them to be so unafraid and aggressive. We continued to debate whether it was a pine marten or fisher, and Jim decided to name them Martin Fisher. When we went to bed, they continued to run around camp, bumping into tents, and even landing in Rebecca’s lap! Up in my hammock, I seemed to be out of their line of fire, and I fell asleep to the sounds of my companions scolding our rambunctious new friends.
In the morning, we began to pack up to catch the ferry. We left camp at varying times, but most of us caught the 10:00 a.m. ferry and headed to the Falling Rocks Cafe for second breakfast.
In hindsight, there is not much that I would change about this trip, although I might give the Driftwood campsite a try next time because its beach was so nice. The time of year seemed perfect for avoiding bugs–we didn’t even wear bug spray. The lake was warm (as warm as Lake Superior gets, anyway), there were not many people, and the weather was perfect. The hiking was very easy, and the trails were well marked with signs at intersections. The ferry ride is short enough that I doubt it gets canceled very often. Overall, this was a very easy trip–perfect for beginner backpackers or more experienced, alike.
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