Day 29: Third Great Lake

I hit the shores of Lake Michigan today! This also means I completed one of my maps! One more lake to go (I know there are five - I’m skipping Lake Superior).

Quiet Forests

I ventured out from sunrise lake, which had surprisingly bad morning sun given the name, at about 8:30 this morning. The bagels are decent. They’re not as good with PB+honey+sriracha as naan or pita, but they’re pretty good plain, so they’ll definitely get eaten.

I stopped for morning coffee in Luther, but didn’t find coffee. I had chocolate milk and a cinnamon roll from the local grocer instead. There was a nice park in town where I relaxed for a bit and enjoyed my second breakfast.

Today, I entered the Manistee National Forest. This made for very peaceful and woodsy riding, though not too many towns/services. I did find a corner store to fill up my water and another park with picnic benches to lunch at.

I was sitting at yet another park in Freesoil having a snack and staring at maps when I realized the route was taking me south, just to head a bit west and then north again. I’m switching from the Lake Erie Connector route to the North Lakes route today and it seems that intersection better serves those headed north/east (which to be fair is the correct direction, I’m going backwards). Given this, I decided to just head west. This saved me about 8 miles of riding, which was appreciated after yesterday’s inadvertently long day.

I hit the shores of Lake Michigan in Manistee and ran into another touring cyclist! He was headed the other way, towards Detroit, but it was nice to chat for a few. I’ve seen surprisingly few other cyclists - I think I might be a bit early for this route.

I’m camping on the shores of Lake Michigan tonight and will stay along the shore as I bike tomorrow. I hear there are even real hills!