By Ben |

I waited to leave Manistique until the rain stopped.  It didn't return all day, though there was drizzle on and off, and the wind was strong at times.

I met a cyclist coming the other way with hardly any gear.  He was coming from northern Wisconsin, going to someplace in northern Michigan -- but on the mainland; he pointed to his right hand like a true Michigander.  He hadn't yet figured out how he would get across the four-mile-long Mackinack Bridge... he might have to take two ferries instead.  I may have been a bit patronizing when I told him his week-long ride was "a good start," but he was disdainful of my trailerful of gear.  He says he sleeps in a couple of trash bags with a shirt over his head.  I think he's risking being mistaken for a corpse!

I rode through Hiawatha National Forest most of the day, and on the far side, at Rapid River, I stopped in at the ranger station and was glad I did.  Their map showed a municipal campground in Escanaba that wasn't on my maps but was exactly where I needed a campground to be!

52.9 mi