Boat trip to Rogers City, Alpena and Camping at Tahquamenon Falls – Aug. 2020

The plan was to leave Cheboygan on Friday, July 17. The weather gods said otherwise and we sat through the weekend waiting for storms to pass. We headed out on Monday and made a 37 mile run to Rogers City. We were happy to get snugged in on the dock because the forecasters were talking about some wicked weather again heading our way. Sure enough, in the early morning hours, the wind cranked up and we were rockin and rollin. Not much sleepin was going on and poor Maggie seemed to have lost her sea legs. She turned a bit green and was not a happy girl until the winds began to subside later that morning. Lucky for us she was able to hold in the nausea. Once the rain stopped, we were able to get off the still pitching boat for a walk along the sea wall. What a difference from the day before. Waves were now crashing over the rocks and we watched as a couple sailboats chose to tackle the 4-5’ rollers on Lake Huron.

While in Rogers City, we got the bikes down for a 7 mile ride to 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. It was a beautiful ride along the Lake, but unfortunately due to COVID, the lighthouse was closed. We did walk down to the beach to see the remains of the Joseph S Fay, a wooden steamer built in 1871. Loaded with iron ore, the Fay sunk in Oct. 1905 during a gale. Sections of the starboard side lie in the sand near the lighthouse.

After a couple nights in Rogers City, we headed down to Alpena. While Alpena is a bigger town than Rogers City, there’s still not a lot to see or do there. We checked out a couple museums and wandered the town. Tim and I found a little wine bar and chilled one afternoon. And then it was time to head back north.

With weather once again threatening to make Lake Huron do some hurling, we decide to scoot back north and head for home. We stopped over in Rogers City for a couple nights and then found a nice window for the jaunt back to Cheboygan. Tim and I then had a few days to settle the boat before our next trip out.

This time we were heading to Tahquamenon Falls for some camping with former DeFever owners, Jim and Belinda Wolfe. The Wolfes own an impressive 40’ Tiffen Class A motor coach. She’s a biggie and a beauty. The Wolfes are RVing for a few months and have been traveling from Florida up to Michigan and then over to Wisconsin. When we realized they would be in our neck of the woods, we decided to get together for 3 nights in the UP.

We’ve been told by so many people up here that we HAD to go to the Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Bay, just north of Tahquamenon. Even with many exhibits closed due to COVID, it was still a great stop. When you learn about the vast number of ships that have sunk in that area of Lake Superior, you gain a huge respect for the might of the big lake. Whitefish Point is called the Graveyard of the Great Lakes for a reason. If you look at the map above, you can see how the point juts out into Lake Superior, narrowing the passage as one nears Sault St. Marie. Rounding this point in gale winds proved very hazardous. It seems November is the worst month for storms and I’m glad we’ll be home well before then If you read the sign below, you learn that at shipping’s peak, 3100 commercial vessels plied the waters of the Great Lakes. Surprisingly to me, many of the sinkings were the result of crashes between vessels.

While there weren’t any good bike trails at Tahquamenon Falls, there were some wonderful hiking trails and beautiful falls. From our campground at Rivermouth, we had to drive to the Upper and Lower falls areas. Luckily the Wolfes have a TOAD. ( that’s a tow vehicle for those of you who don’t RV) and we easily joined the crowds to hike to the falls.

Of course, there had to be some beer …..