Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Today's travelogue is a bit different. There's a few reasons for that. One, it was raining all day and I figured it was easier to protect a cell phone than the big DSLR. I used to carry a pocket sized Canon Powershot for days like this. Two, the motel did have wifi. It just wasn't very strong. So, trying to write and drop in photos was a trial in patience. I let the photos go until later. Three, a few days up the road, my phone would die. I would have sworn to you my T-Mobile account had been set to back up using Google. It hadn't.
Not only did I lose all my contacts, I also lost all my photos. And since today was all on the phone, I've got nothing to show you. But, I'll do my best.
Off the coast of Munising is Grand Island. There's ferry service out there on a regular basis.
Everything this morning would be in what they call East Channel.
The weather forecast called for temperatures in the mid-40s and rain all the way into late afternoon. Not a great day for hiking. But, I had scheduled a boat tour. It wasn't your typical tour boat. Nor was it your typical tour.
Glass Bottom Shipwreck Tours is just that. They take you out into the East Channel and over two shipwrecks. From the outside, the boat looks fairly typical. Inside, there's plenty of seating. There are also four large, rectangular wells built into the center of the deck. Each has a railing around it to lean over. On the bottom of the well, a clear bottom allowing you to see what's underneath the boat's hull.
The youtube channel The Adventures of Mali did the tour as part of a day trip. You can see that video here: The channel Roadside230 also posted a video on youtube.
The morning fog certainly made for an interesting atmosphere as we pulled out into East Channel. Realizing that we couldn't exactly see some of the landmarks, the banter over the PA was kept to a minimum.
When we arrived at the first wreck site, the crew came into the main cabin and drew blackout curtains over the windows and closed all the doors. The boat then did a few slow passes over the remains of the schooner Bermuda. While the masts are long gone, the hull is in remarkably good shape.
The ship was carrying iron ore when it was lost in 1870. The captain sailed her into Munising Bay to wait out a storm. She was carrying a full load and taking on water. He decided to beach the ship and tie it down until the storm passed.
Heavy waves brought in more water, the ropes snapped and the ship slid off the beach, into the water and went down. Thirteen years later, the ship was raised. It was being towed when the chains snapped and it sunk once again. Since it only sits twelve feet below the surface, about a third of the ore was offloaded from the wreck.
Our next stop was a slow pass by the Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse. It was built in 1867 to warn ships of the narrow channel into Munising Bay. It remained in service until 1913 when the new range lights were built.
The lighthouse is now privately owned. The owner and a group of volunteers constructed a seawall to protect it in 2,000. You can see a picture of the lighthouse on the Violet Sky Blog.
The second wreck site was the steamer Herman H. Hettler. She was carrying 1,100 tons of table salt when she was caught in a storm. Just like with the Bermuda, her captain tried to seek shelter in Munising Bay. The ship hit the rocks and sank. Unlike the Bermuda, the Hettler broke up and there's debris all around the wreck site.
With some extra time, I decided to drive west a bit. The next town is called Christmas and yes, they do play it up. In 1938, a Munising man built a factory here to make Christmas gifts and decorations. I've found this story in numerous places. Oddly, they all refer to him as "a Munising Man." The town was named Onoda at the time, but the residents chose to rename it after the factory. If you drive through the older part of town, they even changed street names to reflect the holiday.
Matt Heffner, from the website AwesomeMitten.com wrote a blog about Christmas. You can read that here: I'd love to show you my own pictures, but...
In Bay Furnace Park, you'll find all that remains of the Schoolcraft Iron Company. This smelter was built in 1869. Iron ore was brought in from the western side of the Upper Peninsula, turned into iron and shipped out. The company only lasted a year under its original owners. New owners came in, but with the stock market panic of 1873, iron prices dropped. The furnace shut down for good in 1877. You can see pictures on Matt's blog post for this, too.
By the time I got back to Munising, the rain had finally stopped. Sure, I could have gone back to the room for my big camera, but I didn't. I posted this one on Facebook, thus it was all I could salvage.
Two nights ago, people kept walking into the ByGeorge Brewery with pizza from across the street. The smell stuck with me and I did stop into Pictured Rocks Pizza for a late lunch. I took it back to the brewery and wound up in a long conversation with a couple from Wisconsin.
They're from the town of Sparta. They seemed surprised I had actually been there. It's one of the first towns to convert an abandoned railroad into a walking trail. It's also the town with the world's biggest cyclist. Of course I went there.
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