Michigan: Boyne City to Charlevoix

Day: 55

Travel Time: 1.5 hours

NM Today: 12

NM Total: 1187

Locks Total: 70

Before leaving Boyne City Clark took care of the details related to mailing his work computer back to Ikanos.  He first had to find a box, so he pedaled his bike over to the post office and bought one.  Then he needed packing material so he pedaled over to the marina office and got some.  Then he had to go to Ace Hardware as an official UPS dropoff.  Since he had a large box filled with laptop, case, and etc., he walked to the UPS drop site.  We pulled out of port around 11:00 or so.  

Rain Clouds over Boyne City

The trip to Charlevoix took a very short time as the two towns are on opposite ends of Charlevoix Lake.  The two towns are as different as can be for being so close to each other.  Boyne was a quiet, layback town.  Charlevoix is a bustling tourist town with a marina packed with boats.

Charlevoix, MI

We didn't waste any time getting out on our bikes to take a trip to the Irish Boat Shop to buy spare impellers for the Yanmar engines.  Only problem was that after we biked the mile or so to the store, we found out they didn't have them in stock.  After we left the boat store, we started our tour of the town with a trip up to see the Mushroom / Fairy Houses.  We only found 2 of the many that are located in town.

Fairy / Mushroom House in Charlevoix, MI

 The terrain in Charlevoix gave my calf muscles a good workout as it was all up and down.  We wove our way through some residential areas as well as through town.  By biking down some circuitous pathways and then along the edge of the canal, we got up close to the historic lighthouse at the entrance to the Pine River cut-through from Lake Michigan to Round Lake, 

Historic Lighthouse

We then biked the length of the walkway back to the drawbridge marking the entrance to Charlevoix. (The same bridge Clark almost tried to squeeze under the day before on route to Boyne City.)

Bridge announces "Welcome to Charlevoix The Beautiful"

We rode / walked our bikes up and around to the street and hemmed and hawed trying to decided if we wanted to cross the bridge to check out the other side of town.  The map Clark had in hand showed bike trails over there but nothing else noteworthy.  I asked Clark multiple times if he wanted to go because we had to make a decision quickly.  Finally he decided we should check it out.  I no sooner put my foot on the drawbridge than the clanking bells started going off for the 4:00 opening. Not wanting to take any chances on a free ride up in the air, I started to push my bike across the bridge at a "trot" / jog-type pace.  As I jogged across, I was thinking why did he have to wait until the very last minute to say yes?!

Once on the other side of the bridge, we found that to follow the bike trail we had to cross a 4-lane highway with no pedestrian crossings or traffic lights.  Ready, set, pedal your fastest!  I tell Clark that sometimes I think he is trying to do away with me as I follow him on his explorations.  We didn't know what we would find on the bike trail to Mount McSauba.  I had to laugh when Clark said with one of his grins, "We're here" and this is what I saw in front of me.

Is this pile of sand Mount McSauba

We trudged through the sand to climb the hill just to see more of the same on the other side.  Time to turn around and clean the sand out of my shoes!


Our next foray took us to an interesting site.  The old train station used in the 1800s to bring tourists from Southern Michigan up to Charlevoix for the cool northern air has been preserved.  A park nearby is called "Depot Beach" as the depot is right on the lake.  The grounds behind the depot contained a plentiful display of flowers and well-manicured lawns - all maintained by the Charlevoix Garden Club.

Charlevoix Train Depot

Grounds at the Depot

When all was said and done, I'm not sure how many miles we biked today but when we got back to the boat, we were both very hungry.  I made a quick meal on board so we could go out and explore the town, i.e. go find ice cream.  As we ate our rapidly melting ice cream (the waffle cone was still hot), Clark snapped some photos of this lovely multi-paneled mural on the side of the Rexall store.

Note drawbridge, lake, and mushroom house in mural