Chuck and I asked for mountains of snow for Christmas, apparently St. Nick was a little late on delivering it. Today Winter Storm Linus is threatening to dump 12-18 inches of snow in South Eastern Michigan. And I couldn’t be happier! I can go Snowshoeing later, but Chuck won’t let me leave the house until I finish my Snowshoeing post from our Michigan Winter Vacation.
Munising and Marquette where we snowshoed during our Michigan Winter Vacation doesn’t have a shortage of snow. There was plenty of snow to Snowshoe along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, to the summit of Hog Back Mountain and Yellow Dog River Falls.
Our itinerary also included:
- Dog sledding with Triple Creek Kennels in Munising, Michigan
- Sleeping in the “Haunted” and historic Landmark Inn in Marquette, Michigan
- Touring Big Bay, Michigan, where “Anatomy of a Murder” was filmed
- Celebrating New Year’s Even in Marquette, Michigan by watching the ball drop
Need Snowshoes
Chuck and I have our own snowshoes, but our friends rented theirs from Northern Waters Adventures while we were in Munising, Michigan. Carl from Northern Waters delivered their snowshoes to our hotel and provided maps, and recommendations for snowshoeing. While we were in Marquette they rented snowshoes from Down Wind Sports.
Pictured Rock National Lake Shore
Our snowshoe trip to Miners Castle on the Picture Rock National Lake Shore was supposed to be 5 miles, but it was over 7 miles. I can’t tell you how many hiking trips have ended up being 5-10 miles longer than Chuck originally quoted. I truly didn’t mind that this trip was a tad bit longer as it was so beautiful! We were thankful for the parking instructions from Carl with Northern Waters Adventures. The road is not plowed after the intersection of Carmody Road and Miners Castle Road and he told us to park near that intersection.
We have more pictures in our gallery.
Hog Back Mountain
A few years ago we hiked to the top of Hog Back Mountain in the early Fall. Since then Chuck has wanted to snowshoe to the summit in the Winter. It is a beautiful hike and we felt like we’d travelled to the North Pole. It was below zero and it wasn’t surprising that there weren’t a lot of others hikers that day. We took 550 North from Marquette. It is about 6 miles. Look for the Wetmore Pond sign. Parking is a bit tricky in the winter. We parked on the road side. There is a parking lot, but it wasn’t plowed.
We have more pictures in our gallery.
Yellow Dog River Falls
Bill Thompson from Down Wind Sports recommended snowshoeing along the Yellow Dog River and then go to Big Bay, Michigan for lunch and the “Anatomy of a Murder” tour. Thank you! It was an incredible adventure. We were especially delighted with the detailed map Bill Thompson from Down Wind Sports drew for us. Chuck loves an adventure map!
We got up early on New Year’s Eve day and drove towards Big Bay.
How Much Longer?
Apparently Not Much Longer
We were just thinking “how much longer?” and then we saw this.
It wasn’t a long drive and it was a great snowshoing adventure.
We have more pictures in our gallery.
Stay In Touch
We love Michigan! Especially in the winter. We’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment or email us.
We have many more pictures in our gallery and our upcoming itinerary blog post condenses the vacation into a single post. As always, you can keep in touch with us by signing up for our newsletter or you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Cheers!
