It is time to head back west towards Washington.
After our time in Traverse City – we set out for Munising, Michigan for two nights to spend some time at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This was a relatively short travel day of about 275 miles so we were able to take our time and do some short stops along the way.
We decided to stop by the Seney National Wildlife Refuge located in the middle of the Upper Peninsula to learn more about the refuge and to hopefully do some birding.
Noel thought it would be a good idea to do a short 7 mile driving tour through the refuge to see what it might be like.
It was amazing!
It took us about 1.5 hours with the stops that we made along the scenic drive. While we did not see a large variety of species of birds – we did see an amazing array of other animals.
We spotted some River Otters – and for both Noel and I it was the first time seeing River Otters in the wild.
I expected to see a lot of herons – and about midway through the drive – we saw our first Blue Heron – who was nice enough to sit on a log and let us take his picture.
While we were watching the River Otters – a squirrel entertained us on a tree for several minutes and was also kind enough to pose for a picture (or two).
We also saw several families of Canada Geese with goslings – some right beside the road that did not seem to really notice our presence.
We also saw a large number of Trumpeter Swans. They are abundant at Seney and we saw them frequently on our drive through the refuge.
We also saw a deer which was by the water and eating – although it was a long distance away.
We also saw a lot of nice wildflowers along side the road – and since they were not moving much it was easy to get some nice pictures!
After our 7 mile drive – we headed to our campsite at Munising Tourist Park Campground and snagged a spot right on Lake Superior.
More on the campground tomorrow.
The next time we are in this area of the U.P. – we would love to take a bike ride around the Seney Wildlife Refuge – I think we would see even more wildlife than we did on this first trip.
It was a fun day – and a reminder that stopping at interesting sites along the way is one of the pleasures of RV Travel.
Kirk’s Travelogue 