Hours of Daylight – 12:38
Another successful trip in the Vanagon. Pictured Rocks is a very beautiful place, but beware it is HUGE. The best way to see the cliffs is indeed from the water, but if you’re going to do it in a kayak plan it well in advance and be prepared to alter your plans based on the always changing conditions on the Big Lake.

Pictures can be seen here.

A cold front passed over on our way back home. On the leading side of the front we had record warmth and clear sunshine. On the back side of the front we have fall… again, it’s like a switch has be thrown somewhere and the air feels like its coming from a giant HVAC unit.

The trip was good, but far too short. The U.P. of Michigan might as well be a foreign country, and if you’re going plan to spend a great deal of time driving. And keep in mind that some of that driving will be on dirt roads of widely varying quality. For example the last 6 or 8 miles of road approacing 12 Mile Beach campground was the very worst i’ve ever subjected a vehicle to. Parts were horrible washboard, but the worse stretch was rocky gravel. The road claimed at least one tire on a fellow camper’s jeep cherokee sport.

As i did a year ago i managed to spend the anniversary of 9/11 off the shore in a kayak. So, as in the definition of a line, two occurances define a tradition.