Grand Island

Day 3 of our trip was filled with more adventures. In Lake Superior, 1/2 mile from the shore of Munising, is Grand Island, a 13,500 acre island which is part of the National Park Service. It's a rustic and remote area with no permanent residents, it has no modern amenities and can only be reached by ferry service. It has 41 miles of trails, is home to deer and black bears and so much natural beauty.

We heard about a bus tour that the Park service runs on the island and decided to take advantage of it.

We took the ferry to the island and then got on a small bus with 8 other people. The tour driver was a lady in her 70's who used to be a school bus driver. She was full of fun and information!

The view on arriving on the island.

This is the parks building on the island, a fitting style for this rustic area.

In the 1800's the island was owned by a corporation, and they had a few homes and cottages on it. The cottages are no longer in use.

The bus stopped numerous times, allowing us to explore and hik on the island. This is near an abandoned home.

The roads are dirt and only wide enough for one vehicle.

At one of our stops we hiked to this small waterfall.

This was one of my favorite spots; this old cemetery where there are 57 graves. Most of from the early 1900's from a family that settled there in the late 1800's. There are a few descendants of that family that were buried there up to 2020.  As you can see, it's left natural, and they still come to decorate the graves of veterans.

There are 4 spots on the island that you can pump water from artesian wells.  It was cold and good for drinking.

We stopped and had a picnic lunch at this site.

Another stop had us hiking to a small lake on the island.

We were able to tour this lodge. It was built when Teddy Roosevelt was president.  The owner was a wealthy man who started a wild animal preserve on the island. He had a lot of exotic animals there and people would come and stay at this lodge.

William Mather, the lodge owner and his wife.  A pretty dapper fellow, don't you think?

Some of the rooms in the lodge and the back deck.

The view from the back deck.

Our next stop was at this beach for a little rock hunting.

This is under water. I can't get over how clear the water was.

This was the last little hike we took, walking through the woods to a high cliff.

A cute little mushroom seen along the way.

This is where we ended up, such a beautiful view from up high.

Then it was time to get back on the bus and go to the ferry to be taken back to the mainland. We totally enjoyed ourselves on this island.

When we got back, we wandered around town for a bit.

They have these arty bikes scattered through town.  The DDA stands for Downtown Development Authority.

Here's a few of the fun murals we saw as we walked around.

What a fun day!