Camp Hosting @ Colwell Lake

Our campsite

     Late in June we received a call asking if we would be interested in taking on a paid camp host position at Colwell Lake in the Hiawatha NF on Hwy 94. We are located about halfway between Manistique and Munising in the central UP.

The previous couple had to give up the position due to illness (stage 4 cancer). We showed up on Sunday July 7th to take over our position. Colwell Lake is a nice clean, clear lake that is around 150 acres in size. It has a nice 2 mile walking/hiking trail that completely circles the lake. We have 35 sites, including one group site and 2 walk-ins. The majority of the sites are waterfront, including ours. In addition to a boat launch there is a nice fishing dock out in front of site #7. We are also responsible for Indian River campground which is a 5 site canoe/kayak launching area located about 5 miles south of us. We are enjoying hosting and have fun talking with many people that visit us.

     

     Due to not having internet at the campground my blog entries have been far apart. When I have opportunity to post I will.

 Fishing dock

 Lots of shade thru out our campground

Hiking trail that follows the lakeshore

Celebrating Father's Day and Joyce's Birthday with a Mini Camping Trip

Another crowded beach in the UP...not!

     Last week I got in the mood to take short camping trip that would give us a chance to enjoy some of the beauty nearby. The thought of relaxing up on Lake Superior over Father's Day and having Joyce be able to enjoy her birthday on Tuesday was too hard to pass up. We checked the weather forecast for the next few days, loaded the trailer and decided upon a location. We left Sunday late in the morning. We decided to see if we could find a nice site up on Lake Superior at Bayview NF campground, with Monocle Lake as a back up. We arrived at Bayview around an hour after we left home. The campground has around 25 sites, with about half being right on Lake Superior's lake front overlooking Whitefish Bay. It was raining and very dark when we arrived. We found a nice lakefront campsite and were set up within a few minutes. By the time we finished lunch the the sun came out. We enjoyed the rest of the day enjoying the beach, sunshine, waves crashing and reading books. By evening we were ready to enjoy a campfire followed by a nice sunset.

Our campsite...looking from the beach bluff 

    Monday morning we we for a long walk along the beach and enjoyed most of the day reading and relaxing out on the shore. An evening campfire topped it all off, with a nice game or Phase 10 before turning in. Tuesday morning we headed down to lighthouse at Point Iroquois about 8 miles to the east. We ran into Ron Gilmore there and chatted briefly. Ron and his wife Karen go to our church and are working and living at the lighthouse as caretakers this summer. You'd be be hard pressed to find a much nicer place to spend your summer!

After enjoying the lighthouse and watching a freighter going by down bound for the Soo Locks we drove up to the overlook at Mission Hill a couple of miles away. Once again we enjoyed a nice relaxing day for Joyce's birthday on the beach followed by a nice campfire. This beautiful campground never had more than 6 or 7 sites occupied the whole time we were there. We got up this morning and decided we had relaxed enough and it was time to head for home.

 Freighter headed to the Soo Locks...126 windmills on Canadian side

 View from Mission Hill overlook

 Thimbleberry putting the fire out!

A heart around the sunset!

Sunsets just keep on glowing after the sun's down

     

Big Meadows

     We left Cave Mountain Lake Campground after breakfast and showers Thursday morning heading north up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Shenandoah National Park. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed the nice mountain scenery. We stopped at several overlooks to enjoy the views. We entered the park after an hour or so and were lucky enough to see a bear just off the side of the road after a few miles. Olivia had recently fallen asleep and missed the chance to see the bear. Around noon we arrived at Big Meadows campground and found a nice campsite back in the same area we camped at with Zig Zag last spring.

     After we set up camp and had lunch we decided to go down to meadow that Big Meadows is named for and take a hike. It was looking like it might rain so we took our umbrella along. 

     After we took a nice long walk I promised Olivia that we would stop at the Wayside and get her a treat. So she decided a chocolate ice cream cone would do the job. When we purchased the cone we were surprised at how large it was. Olivia did a good job of eating most of it with a little bit of help from Grandpa towards the end. After that we went over to find the Appalachian Trail so that Olivia could walk a little bit of the 1140 some miles that we have hiked during the past couple of years.

 Olivia and Adalena enjoy the AT

    After a nice nights sleep we got up early and after breakfast quickly packed up and headed towards home. After a long day on the road we found a nice campsite at Delaware State Park in Ohio. We had Olivia home by 10:30 the next morning which allowed her to attend her cousin Taylor's birthday party.

We had a wonderful time traveling with Olivia. 

Natural Bridge VA...Olivia's First Tent Camping Night

Olivia set up the bedding inside the tent. This is her first night tent camping.

      We arrived at the Natural Bridge in Virginia shortly after 2 and the afternoon temps were in the low 90's. We were able to get a tour of the caverns about 20 minutes after we arrived. This felt good as the temps in the caves remain 54 degrees year around. The tour of the caverns was fun for Olivia's first time, lasting 45 minutes. We descended 350' below the surface all together.

     After the cavern tour we went over to the butterfly gardens over by the Natural Bridge visitor center. By that time it was after 4 so we headed to find campsite at Cave Mountain Lake a NF campground about 10 miles away. We found a nice wooded site, made supper (hot dogs and macaroni & cheese) and played in the stream behind our site. Around 8 we headed back to tour the Natural Bridge itself and enjoy the night show where they light up the bridge.

We returned to camp before 10, when they lock the gates, and enjoyed a nice night of sleep. It was so warm we kept the rain fly off the tent and could see the stars and moonlight. In the morning we ate breakfast, showered and packed up. We were headed to Shenandoah NP about 2 or 3 hours north up the Blue Ridge Parkway. More about this next time.

 Olivia enjoying the butterfly house @ Natural Bridge

Olivia enjoying the stream behind our campsite

A pretty girl enjoys some pretty pink flowers

 Cave Mountain Lake

Olivia and Grandma @ the Natural Bridge in the evening 

waiting for the light show to start.

Visiting Friends from the AT

Olivia & Grandma enjoying the beach with Nate & Sandy

     Monday morning we got up and headed down to have the free continental breakfast with our family members at the motel lobby. It was hard to believe the wedding was over and done. We said our good-byes and were on the road by 8 or so. We were headed to Ocean Isle Beach to visit our friends Mark (Skidmark) & Pat that we met on the Appalachian Trail back in 2011.

"Skid" enjoying the Appalachian Trail

     Olivia was excited to be headed for the beach. We told Olivia she would have a good time visiting Pat & Mark and that Mark would tease her for sure. When we arrived at their beach house around 1:30 or so, Mark and his son Nate met us. Pat is teaching Math at a local high school and wouldn't be home until later on. We decided to head down to the beach to give us a chance to stretch our legs after a 5 plus hour drive. Sandy, their yellow Lab, came along with us. Olivia raced up and down the beach looking for sea shells and splashing thru the waves.

Mark helps Olivia wash sand off her feet

     Olivia and Mark bonded almost immediately. He took her down to their dock and showed her his crab trap. Shortly after that he had her fishing from the dock. We enjoyed catching up with Mark and meeting Nate as well. Pat arrived home sometime after 3 and we enjoyed getting to see her again too. For dinner we headed down to Calabash, a famous seafood town, to eat out at Ella's. All five of us enjoyed shrimp dinners that were the best I can ever remember. Thank you Pat & Mark for the great meal. We headed home and enjoyed talking trail and just catching up in general until it was time to head to bed.

Olivia helping Mark with the crab trap

Fishing time!!

Great shrimp dinner @ Ella's

Olivia and her buddy

Pat & Joyce outside of Ella's

     Tuesday morning Pat headed to school and Mark and us went up to Wilmington to the North Carolina Aquarium. With is being May, it seemed 

every school in the area decided it was a great day to do a field trip. We had

a nice time and Olivia was especially pleased when we discovered a nice playground outside of the aquarium.

 After we left the aquarium we made a brief stop by Cape Fear Military Historic Park before stopping for lunch at Mickey D's. We then drove back to Pat & Mark's, Sarah, Nate's daughter was waiting to play with Olivia. The girls are only a month apart in age and they had a great time together. We took them to a nice playground nearby to play for awhile. They really played hard, but we think Mark played even harder. After a wonderful supper that Pat prepared we all just enjoyed our time together. Sarah was picked up around 8 and she and Olivia hugged good-bye and said they would be friends forever. Everyone was tired and after Olivia enjoyed a bubble bath she once again chose to sleep in the loft on the love seat. We had a wonderful time visiting Pat and Mark and as such the time went far too fast. Thank you Mark & Pat for being such wonderful hosts. We will miss you a lot. We got up early Wednesday and after breakfast we said good-byes and headed towards Natural Bridge, VA. I'll continue with the rest of the trip next posting.

 Olivia & Sarah @ Barbie's Beach (at one of the neighbors)

 The girls enjoying the playground

The girls having fun with Mark