No Safety Net, No Internet: M-22 Adventures
Teaching Yours Kids To Catch the Mystery, Catch the Myth In Northern Michigan
The Lighthouse at Frankfort Michigan. Video of this mystery trip and others with my family is below.
My youngest kid is 19 years old, and we have been fortunate to have had lots of skiing, hiking and camping adventures together as father and son, and as well many journeys of discovery with our entire family. On our last outing kayaking together he asked while we paddled down the river “Dad what is your greatest and best memory out of all the things we’ve done on our family adventures?”
We have been so blessed with camping in Roosevelt National Forest, hiking on Mount Desert Isle, Smokey Mountains in Tennessee, and countless outings in the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. But easily the first and best memory that springs to my mind is our very first time in the northern region of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula as a family.
On the week of July 4th we made our first excursion as a clan, we saw this sign everywhere. It is the equivalent to US Route 1 which runs down the coast of California. For many Michganders, M-22 is a symbol of summer. Looking at the map below, we can see how route M-22 traverses the Lake Michigan coast line around what we call the Mitten, or the Lower Michigan Peninsula. It’s a 116 miles total drive, and you can complete that trip in 3.5 hours. But you wouldn’t want to be so hasty once you experienced the beauty of our Lake Michigan waters and sandy beaches. Many of these stops indicated on the map are a treasure, they are restorative, they are timeless havens. What is equally amazing are the interior lakes that connect with Lake Michigan such as Glen Lake, Lake Leland and Bar Lake. Michigan has 62,798 inland lakes in total.
Even during Covid we could escape to many of these places where the world was still sane, not because these destinations were remote and out of touch, but because the regions and the people had not lost their connection to the strength that’s found in God’s bounty of the Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan in particular. That’s the Michigan spirit that gives me hope still to this day. It’s that spirit I have been blessed to pass on my children, who love the outdoors as much as I do. My wife and I raised dauntless individuals, and Lake Michigan with its coastline contributed to that upbringing.
When we took our first family trip, our kids were 4 and 6. My daughter wanted to bring her bike along because she insisted she could keep pace with my wife and me. It was the week of fourth of July, and we made the trek up I-75, across M-10 to M-55 to M-37. I am blessed that my family took to these adventures. Over the past 30 years I’ve driven this route up North so many times I can tell you that Exit 162 B to M-10 comes and goes quickly and you can easily keep heading too far north on I-75 before you notice. I can get to Hodenpyle Road in complete darkness - that’s because I’ve been lost up up there far more times than I’d like to recall. I have a thing about turning off Google maps and getting lost in order to get oriented. Makes you a better navigator. I’ve made the trek up north for skiing in January and February snowstorms where my knuckles were whiter than blinding snow, my hands were gripping the wheel as we made our way north of Flint in 15 MPH traffic due to ice storms we’d invariably get. At 10 PM. With 6 Boy Scouts. But Interlochen and Ellis Lake is where our family memories of camping started. It’s a magical region.
Our first outing was the week of the July 4th. We were not blessed by the weather that week, it rained nearly everyday except the remaining 2 of that week. Regardless, we wrapped up in our rain gear, jumped in the van, and still hit beaches, trails, and even made our way to Glen Arbor, a small harbor town up in Sleeping Bear Dunes. That’s where we learned about the beauty of M-22. It was raining, so we decided to try our luck at Glen Arbor, as my wife had heard about some place called The Cherry Republic. I had no clue what I was in for. There was supposedly a small book store and other shops, so not being a shopping guy, I figure I’d get a coffee and make the best of waiting while the kids and my wife explored.
During our driving that July week we had a book The Story of The World on CD that the kids listened to while we put on the miles. I remember the narrator’s opener for that day’s chapter as though it were yesterday. “Shamshi Adad RUUUULLLLLEEEED the ENTIRE WOOORRRRRRRLLLLLLD”. My kids howled and made my wife replay that introduction over and over. It was raining, yet the kids were captivated by the rolling hills as we wound our way to Glen Arbor while they listened to The Story Of the World. As we approached our destination, the roads started to remind me of my childhood growing up in the Catskill mountains, with dark patches of trees and sharp turns like the roads I learned to drive on. I felt nostalgic for a place that I had yet to visit and explore, and my kids were having a blast. Good sports for so young and the weather being so terrible.
Glen Arbor turned out to be another treasure, we have hiked Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pyramid Point and the perimeter of Lake Leland in that area for years. The town itself sits at Lake Michigan, and nearby Glen Lake is a crystal blue gem that greets you as you arrive on M-22. For us, the Cherry Republic became a must stop simply because of the shaded location and good food. Right across the street we discovered the cottage book shop, a tiny log cabin packed to brim with books, a perfect place to pick up local authors and other titles that you can sit at the beach with. Or for a quick read with a warm cup of coffee outside the tent as the family sleeps.
There were many firsts that week. My son, 4, refused to go in the water with a life preserver by himself, but my wife solved that on our last night at Ellis Lake. We paddled out to the float in the center of the lake, and after the three of us taunted my son for staying on the float and being “fraidy-cat”, he announced he had to pee in a pure panic. But he wanted us to take him back ashore. He refused to just whip it out and go off to one side while we promised not to look. Normally my wife is more patient than I, but before I could climb up to help him, she clambered up the ladder, grabbed him by the life jacket and dropped him off the side. The look of shock on his face was priceless. And he learned to pee in the water that day too.
That’s how our exploration of Northern Michigan began with our kids, and we made it our mission to work our way up and down that M-22 route as well as Grand Traverse Bay. Inner tubing on the Lower Platte River, delivered us at the southern tip of Sleeping Bear dunes and … M-22 got us back to Glen Arbor after laying out in the sun all day. Head north on M-22 and you reach Pyramid Point, with its 260 foot dune climb. Most take the easy route, and a shorter climb to the summit, but not our clan. We hit that dune climb each summer. It’s a real bitch at noon, super hot. It tells you if you’re in good or terrible shape instantly. The first few years the kids would lag, but as with the true nature of things and age, your kids will someday surpass your physical capabilities, and it wasn’t long before they were leaving us in the dust. That climb is a series of one step forward and two steps back with the heat of the sun radiating off the sand beneath you. At the summit are a series of gullies that you can pick your way through. One summer my son decided to forgo drinking water, and decided roll and climb and roll to the point he overheated, and I had to carry him part of the way back up the dune to get him shade and water.
That very first trip we were sad to leave on the Fourth itself, but we decided to visit the Cherry Festival before heading back south. If you are brave enough to face the traffic these days you can make your way to Traverse City for the Fourth of July, they have had an air show in the afternoon over the bay. Every other year the Blue Angels have been the main attraction. On our first outing we lucked out and my son was enthralled by the aeronautical stunts on display that day. The A-10 was also on display that day, with some amazing aerobatics demonstrated by that vehicle as well. Every young man is inspired by planes, and in later years my son and I would catch the Air Show at Selfridge Air Force Base on our side of the state. As I recollect these different memories, I am just now connecting the dots of my son’s experience and how he was so eager to camp out at Wright-Patterson Air Force Based in Ohio with his Boy Scout troop on Veterans Day. It got down to 17 degrees that night, but I’m proud to say that my son was well prepped from all the time he and I had camped together.
Suffice to say the first week got us addicted. And boy were we ever addicted.
While we still homeschooled our kids, we made an excursion up to Suttons Bay and sailed with the Inland Seas Tour. They run a schooner where the passengers have to haul sails, take water samples, steer the vessel, and learn to read the sonar equipment. It was so much fun that our kids didn’t think it was educational.
In subsequent years we expanded eastward as well to Wilderness State Park, Charlevoix and to Roscommon and kayaking on the Au Sable River. And of course we set our sights on the Upper Peninsula and the haunting eerie beauty of Lake Superior.
The life you share with loved ones is the life that you take, no matter where you go. Those moments are like a backpack that holds all the important and vital things for the hike that we all embark in this life.
My profession for thirty years has been fairly time consuming, which made the time was so precious when I could break away and take my family out. Just out and away from this metro life style we had settle into in Detroit. I grew up in a region similar to the Empire and Cadillac areas, so my instincts always drew me back to these locales in our state. Those moments have been too few. I can testify to that as my first born approaches being ready to leave the nest and strike out on her own life’s adventure, and my youngest just a few years behind her. Each time I see these photos, they send me back deep into those memories, and conjures the lessons I learned as a dad, as well as the things I was able to teach my children.
Such as preparation. As a kid, sometimes if your parents are the hyper organized individuals you can cruise easily along and get by without a plan. Sure, there have been teachable moments out on the trail where I had to lay down the law, but I see that those times haven’t been lost, and my son and daughter have their favorite trips that they relive with us. Between the four of us we have more memories than photos, and while memories may fade like a summer fades into fall, those recollections don’t dim fully. They remain. The life you share with loved ones is the life that you take with you, no matter where you go. Those experiences are like a backpack that holds all the important and vital things for the hike that we all embark in this life. As I write this article, my oldest is prepping for work tomorrow just like we prepped to jump in the van and head out onto the road. My job as a father has been a challenge for many reasons, none insurmountable, but what is gratifying is knowing that I could guide my kids through moments that outdoor adventure would thrust upon us and now they just navigate around their own challenges themselves. My wife and I pushing them to keep up on a hike perhaps has been the factor that has made them so perseverant.
As I promised at the beginning, here is the video of a night’s trek out across the breakers to the lighthouse in Frankfort. Plus other adventures we’ve had over the years. And while this a summer edition of Cultural Courage, this video is the whole gambit of summers in the Rockies, winters in the Catskills, my broken ankle from skiing with son, and good times with my beloved clan. I can’t stop thinking big, I can’t stop thinking big. While I get older and face “retiring” from some of these outings at some point, I can see their sense of adventures growing larger than mine. I can’t stop thinking big. Neither can they.