Exploring the Tip of the Mitt - Northern Michigan

You can always recognize the shape of the lower peninsula of Michigan--it's shaped like a mitten. We've talked to people from this part of the state, who use their hand to make the shape of the Michigan mitten and then point to the place on the mitten where they live. We have also heard the weatherman describe this northern section of the lower peninsula as "the tip of the mitt." So today that weatherman gave the tip of the mitt a blue sky forecast, so we are off in search of a nice river in northern Michigan. But before we get wet, we are stopping in the town of Indian River. We are at the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods, home of the world's largest crucifix.

The cross was made from a single 53-foot redwood tree from California. A few years later, the 28-foot-tall crucifix was added. To try to get some idea of the size, you can barely see Mark's head, peeking out from the bushes at the base of the cross.

The Catholic church holds mass in the courtyard. But that's a little nippy during some of the winter months here in Michigan. So they recently built this 1,000-seat sanctuary that enjoys the same view when the weather doesn't allow for outdoor worship.

We also found that the town of Indian River recently added a kayak launch right on the Inland Waterway. This is a watery route that runs east/west all the way across Michigan, connecting Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The fact that the young trees near the water are already turning to lovely shades of red was an extra bonus as we got the Sea Eagle inflated.

In a few minutes, we were on the water, making our way down through the canals that weave through town and then under the interstate highway. We had plenty of boat traffic, as this is the best way for pleasure boats to go from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan.

The 38-mile inland waterway goes through a chain of lakes and rivers like this. They are deep and wide enough for sizable boats, but this is a no-wake zone so they have to keep their speed down. That's why Denisa couldn't paddle her fastest--we can't make waves here.

Our main reason for this destination is to go through the section of the river noted by this sign. We had our eyes peeled for the river otters in this habitat. But we're guessing the dozens of boats we met today don't make this the best place for otters to hang out.

So instead of the cute little otter faces that Denisa was hoping for, we'll have to settle for the resident blue herons that were fishing in the shallows.

We also got close to several trumpeter swans today. This is the first time we've shared the water with these big birds.

They look a little sinister with their black masks hiding their eyes. In fact, we were warned not to get too close, because swans will bite boaters that are too curious.

The swans drifted on the water ahead of us, until this one finally decided to take off. It takes a lot of effort to get such a big body air-borne.

Just like the water of the Great Lakes, the water of Indian River is crystal clear.

We paddled all the way to Mullett Lake, and then back to Burt Lake--about 8 miles round trip. We've been spoiled to weather in the 70's, so we were sweating when the sunshine brought us all the way up into the 80's. A floating log in the river made a lovely natural floating garden.

Back on dry land again, we made the drive from Indian River back to Mackinaw City. After four days north and two days south of the Mackinac Bridge, we'll miss seeing its silhouette.

The days are long here in the north. With darkness coming so late, we had to make a special effort to get out to see the bridge lit up at night.

We were just admiring the bridge, when we heard explosions overhead, and remembered that it was fireworks night over Lake Huron. A couple months ago, our Fourth of July evening was rained out in Sioux City, South Dakota, so we finally got our fireworks.

It was a good ending to our time at the "tip of the mitt", and we'll be heading further south down the mitten tomorrow.