Along the shoreline to Munising

26th July: Champion to Munising

Odometer: 115 km, Start: 8.45am, Finish: 4.15pm, Avg: 23.1 km/h,
Weather: Sunny, Temp: 18-32°C
Mosquito Bites: 79, Hills walked: 0, Dead wolves: 1
Road Conditions: #28/US#41, 2m shoulder, good surface, moderate traffic, becomes fast 4 lane at Ishpeming. #28 Business / CR480, 1-2m shoulder, good surface, light traffic. #28 to Munising, 2m shoulder, good surface, moderate traffic (mostly other direction). Regular gas stations until #28 to Munising (48km) then nothing. Ascent: 325m/625m.

After a rough day yesterday, I wasn’t expecting to feel much like riding today. I think this low expectation level actually helps, because most days the riding is good once you get going. It’s just the “getting going” that takes some effort. After a very slow start, once I was on the road I felt much better. Technically, it was hotter today, but I coped well. The anticipated nice scenery in the afternoon also helped with motivation!

Marquette Bay, Lake Superior

The #28 had merged with the US #41 and soon became a four lane highway full of big-rigs. I had to find a different route: “GPS, I’m a cyclist. Get me out of here”!

Nice river view

I went into Ishpeming and picked up the County Road 480. I think this was the original highway #28 by it’s direction and endpoint. It kindly took me south of Marquette and joined up with the #28 going to Munising. I avoided having to go into and out of Marquette (a large town) entirely! Useful and I also saved about 10km.

Deer Lake

From then onwards, the #28 mostly ran alongside Lake Superior. Unfortunately, a lot of the time trees obscured the view and there was also a lot of private lakeside property between the road and the water. Several times, though, there wasn’t and that left stunning panoramas of the lake and it’s golden beaches. It was really beautiful in the sunshine. I sat on a couple of beaches during the afternoon and rested, watching and listening to the very gentle waves lapping ashore. It was just like being at the seaside, except the water here is fresh not salty if you cared to taste it!

Au Train Bay (looking west)

Au Train Bay (looking east)

Photographing shadows