Is it too early to start planning next summer’s ride? I hope not.

As you can see from the helpful map on the main page here, I am only 8 counties away from my neurotic goal of visiting every county in Michigan. The 8 farthest counties, at the west end up the Upper Peninsula. Also some of the least populated ones.

I’ve tentatively mapped out an itinerary:

1. From Grand Rapids to Ludington State Park on Lake Michigan.
2. Take the S.S. Badger to Manitowoc WI, then ride to J.W. Wells SP near the southernmost tip of the UP.
3. Northwestward to Bewabic SP.
4. Northwestwarder to Porcupine Mountains SP, near the western tip of the UP.
5. Northeastward to Fort Wilkins SP (Copper Harbor) at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula sticking into Lake Superior.
6. Leave the scooter(!), take the Isle Royale Queen to the island, and hike to a camp site.
7. Hike on Isle Royale. Camp again.
8. Hike back to port, then ferry back to Copper Harbor/Fort Wilkins.
9. Ride to Van Riper State Park in Marquette County (mission accomplished).
10. South to Manitowoc, and onto the ferry overnight.
11. Ride home.

The riding days (except the next-to-last) are all about 100-140 miles, which is standard for these trips.

Days 6-8 are a “necessary” diversion from the scootering; I’m not going all the way to Copper Harbor but then skipping my favoritest national park. Isle Royale is wilderness, and I don’t plan to bring proper backpacking gear, but I think I can handle a couple days and nights by taking the tent and sleeping bag off the scooter rack and carrying them (somehow) along with a couple days’ food. Back in ’06 I spent a whole 10 days alone on the island; I think I’m qualified to “wing it” for 48 hours.

Even without the detour to Isle Royale, this would be my longest ride yet: 10 nights on the road. But just getting to the territory I haven’t been to yet (or back) is a 1.5-day journey by itself, so there’s no getting around that. And like I said: the side trip is something I’m just not going to skip. I could cut it short by a day, but… I don’t want to. My coworkers will just have to get by without me for 11 days.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.