The Great Smaug

[Blue85]

Are you sure the gate was locked? There's a gate across the public road to my property, but it's never locked - just there to deter people. I've never even found it closed. Surely it wouldn't last a day if it was...

EDIT: BTW, I woulda drove through that water. Didn't Don?

 

[campfire]

We wandered around for a bit and wound up at Sawyer. Yep. We rolled back through the exact intersection we had used as a meeting point. Didn't bother me, but I did get a chuckle out of it.







This train line followed a gas pipeline heading North towards Marquette. The trail(s) following them would be fun to run someday.




Back on the road to Sawyer.



Sawyer from the highway. At the left you can see the Russian cargo plane that's stranded there. The story's a little vague on what it was running away from, but it landed in Sawyer for fuel and has been impounded there ever since. After several years of quarantine, I wonder about its airworthiness these days. You can also see the B52 tail in the middle of the frame.





Looking the other way, to the highest "mountain" in Michigan.

 

[campfire]

A note on pictures - I had only my 5yo traveling with me. The good news is she takes decent pictures. The bad news is she likes to mess with the camera settings, so some of them are all sorts of dark and/or blurry.

 

[campfire]

Are you sure the gate was locked? There's a gate across the public road to my property, but it's never locked - just there to deter people. I've never even found it closed. Surely it wouldn't last a day if it was...

Yes, it was locked. With a couple of cameras (perhaps fake?). I'm sure we could have gotten past it, but none of us liked that trail enough to tangle with a landowner over it.

 

[Alan2smiley]

With a little skinny peddle looks like you could get some air over that rail crossing.

 

[campfire]

EDIT: BTW, I woulda drove through that water. Didn't Don?

Yes, he drove through it (twice!) before pulling Ryan out, taking the line to the right side of the frame. You would have walked through it. But my rear boat anchor would probably have dragged again (at least, taking that deep line through the center). Ryan had water up to his driver's seat, and my seat isn't any higher than his. We didn't know where that trail lead, so we knew there'd be a high chance of crossing it twice.

Plus, Craig was...Craig. No water crossings for him!

 

[campfire]

With a little skinny peddle looks like you could get some air over that rail crossing.

Yeah. I hit the middle pedal because I wanted the picture. But it would have made a good ramp.

 

[Monty5150]

I'll have to 2nd driving through the puddle.. It would be one of those I can't resist moments.

 

[campfire]

I'll have to 2nd driving through the puddle.. It would be one of those I can't resist moments.

The voting tally would have looked different if you and Luke had actually showed up...

I was feeling alright about it after Don found the shallower path through. But I played conservative because I know my clearance limitations and I outweigh both old Toyotas combined. Would have felt better about getting stuck if the ambulance had been available to pull me through.

Ryan joined Craig in voting against a second attempt. But Don wasn't the slightest bit concerned. Another adventurous vote would have played tiebreaker.

 

[campfire]

If you guys come up for a color run, you can run it then. It's easily spotted from satellite imagery, and it's just a few feet off the highway. I'm sure you can find it. The map shows a second puddle route further left, but that approach was flooded on that day.

 

[Monty5150]

If you guys come up for a color run, you can run it then. It's easily spotted from satellite imagery, and it's just a few feet off the highway. I'm sure you can find it. The map shows a second puddle route further left, but that approach was flooded on that day.

Sounds like fun..and I wish i could have been there but my daughter only graduates once from H.S.

 

[campfire]

Sounds like fun..and I wish i could have been there but my daughter only graduates once from H.S.

No problem, I'm just saying that we could have dragged Craig through the puddle if we had a few more adventurous votes. I think the shallower route would have been fine.

We can still find out, whenever you get up here next.

Though your rig would probably have no problem going right through the middle...

 

[campfire]

We ran the highway back to our meeting point and headed West to find a trail that wasn't blocked. It started as a peaceful forest drive:





That turned back into dust:





The new route aimed to take us very close to the Republic ELF station, so I offered to lead the group up to the perimeter fence. None of the others had been here before, so the offer was accepted and we detoured our way up to the front gate:



The Navy originally gifted this parcel to Humboldt Township, and they held it for a few years before selling it off in 2017. So the friendly Humboldt ELF sign has been replaced with 3 new warning signs.



We decided to respect the signs. The trail into the backside of the compound is more fun, anyways. Eh?

I lead the group to the trailhead and found the trail was more overgrown than last time we were here:



The run is about a 1/3rd mile of overgrown grassy power-line trail. The "power lines" that ran here were part of the antenna network, and they have been removed. The trees have reclaimed much of the run, but a 2-track still leads through.

I did not get any pictures of the trail. But here is the station:



If you wanted 7 acres of fenced military compound with four industrial buildings, this was the place for you. It's sold cheaply, too.






The state land behind the compound has been clear-cut. This was thick forest last time:

 

[campfire]

Since I took no trail pictures, I'll throw in a few from last time, when the trail was easier to spot.




This is the same clearing shown above. The red jeep is sitting in the same spot as the red Toyota. If I recall, we had to share that one turn-around spot last time. This time we had lots of room, though 2 of us managed to hit stumps.



The climb up the hill.







This section is practically a road.



@Monty5150, the trail was completely different this time. The 2-track was overgrown enough that some sections were read by braille. The visual indicators are faint, and trees are growing. This trail might disappear if it doesn't get some more traffic. Maybe we should go back there more often?

After reaching the clearing, I asked about running the other trail branch up to the compound gate and got outvoted. I guess driving blindly into bumper-high grass was not the sort of trail riding they had in mind. Oh well. Next time, eh?

 

[campfire]

We left the station and headed towards our evening campsite.







Here we encountered my weirdest vehicle carnage yet. We're crawling along and I hear a THUNK. I look over any my young copilot is wide eyed and ready to burst into tears. But nothing seems out of place. I stop the truck, dispense an appropriate amount of comfort, and then start piecing together what happened. A few feet away from the truck is this freshly broken stick:



The best I can figure is that the front right wheel picked up the 2" diameter stick and somehow managed to throw it through the open window into the cab (flying over her head). It then smashed into the B-pillar, breaking the stick and causing the portion inside the truck to reverse direction and brush the back of her head before vacating the vehicle. Her head was fine (thankfully), but I had a hard time figuring exactly what path the stick could have taken. It hit an odd set of things. Mirror:



And the window frame by the pillar. The window still closes, but it snags where the track has been crimped shut:



And that was all I found, aside from the startled copilot. Later on I discovered pieces of wood embedded into the headliner. The biggest one was half the size of my fist and tore a hand-sized hole through the new headliner before wedging into one of the roof beams. At the opposite corner of the cabin, behind the driver-middle passenger seat. Very glad that one didn't hit one of us, it would have left a mark. And I usually have passengers back there, too.

Anyways, the event was bizarre, as the stick made it into and back out of the truck without breaking any windows. And miraculously managed to miss her head. The mirror is serviceable, though I now have a good excuse to ditch the straight mirror for a convex one. I've decided to leave the hole in the headliner as a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong.

Back on the road, we rolled through Republic. Not because we wanted to be in Republic, just because crossing points on the Michigamme river are annoyingly scarce.






Having crossed the river, we headed to camp and swapped our 4-wheeled vehicle for a 3-wheeled vehicle.


We rode the trails a bit before settling in for the evening. It was a welcome addition to our normal camping routine.


As the sun set we gathered around the fire to plot the next day's route.

 

[78K30]

Thank you for the continued Updates! The burb looks good in its natural habitat

 

[ZooMad75]

Looks like a fun trip with the kiddo for sure.

 

[campfire]

Thank you for the continued Updates! The burb looks good in its natural habitat

Thanks...yours does too!

Looks like a fun trip with the kiddo for sure.

It was!

 

[campfire]

The next morning we headed out with a couple more vehicles in the convoy. Another Toyota and a stock-looking Avalanche.




Ready for adventure!



We passed this sign, and I found it odd that they're thanking Enron. A relic of days gone by, I suppose.



I love how quickly the landscape changes. Gravel road:



Open marsh:



Winding trees:



Swampy lake:





Back to gravel:



The bridge overlooks a stream:



Back to open marsh:



And puddles!




A little bit of everything.

 

[campfire]

We continued alongside power lines:




And back through woods:




Until we came to a cool cast-concrete bridge:



The Sturgeon River flows peacefully underneath:



This bridge was formerly part of the U.S. Highway system, but it has a much more peaceful life now. Hard to imagine this as a major thoroughfare a few years ago.






A short jaunt further down the old highway brought us to the modern highway and the historic Alberta Village:



Alberta, as you may remember, was a model town built from scratch by Henry Ford as a social experiment. It's no longer a town, but a few buildings are now used for MTU forest research. Which leads to the question...was the cool concrete bridge built by Henry Ford as part of the experiment? I may have to do some more research on that point. I *think* the road was built for the village, but I'm not completely sure.



We can't seem to stay on pavement very long, so within a mile we were looking at this sign again:



We made camp a bit early and had time for some more bike riding. Some gentle trails, a hill climb, and a little cross-country riding.




My copilot found a playmate and they spent at least an hour getting this truck stuck and unstuck. Good practice, eh?



The sunset was pretty over the lake. A couple guys pulled out paddleboards while we built a campfire.




The sleepy lake has a wonderful stillness about it. Calm. Quiet.





Camp was cozy.




We fell asleep in a peaceful mindset, with no idea that Lake Superior had other plans for us.

Tune in next time...