Kitch-iti-kipi - Michigan's Big Spring

I've decided I need to get serious about sightseeing on my days off, because the number of weekends I have left are becoming limited! I've been looking through a guidebook we have at the visitor center to see what points of interest besides Pictured Rocks are in the area. On my list are Tahquamenon Falls, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, and Van Riper State Park, but today my destination was a site that a number of visitors had recommended:  Big Spring.

Kitch-iti-kipi, as it was named by the Ojibwa people, is Michigan's largest spring, with a flow of about 10,000 gallons a minute. It's part of Palms Book State Park near Manistique, south of Munising. (Interestingly, that is only about 5% of the flow that comes from Big Spring at Ozark National Scenic Riverway in Missouri...)

I planned out my route using the maps and guidebooks at the visitor center, during slow periods at the desk. If I was going to drive out there, I wanted to see what else was along the way! I drove south on H-13, which goes right through Hiawatha National Forest for most of the way. It was a beautiful drive - in fact, I'd say it was the highlight of the whole day. The light was golden and gorgeous - even without the occasional red-leaved tree, the light just looked like fall. The woods were still very green - some because they were pine trees! - but that golden light really made the green leaves glow.

My first stop was to be the Nahma Marsh Trail, just south of Highway 2. I had directions from the guidebook but had not been able to confirm online that there was anything there! Even the road names hadn't quite matched - but I followed what appeared to be the right way, and sure enough there was a sign for it! I had to turn around and go back to a tiny gravel road that almost looked like a trail by itself.

The actual trail was quite nice - hard-packed gravel and boardwalk leading through open forest, then along the edge of the marsh, and ending after about a third of a mile at a platform with a panoramic view. There were a few red trees off in the distance, and goldenrod lined the boardwalk - one of summer's final flowers. The platform was surrounded by low willow bushes growing in water, with patches of open water further out. Twice, ducks flew up, spooked out of hiding and making panicked cries as they flew. That was the only wildlife I saw, except for the grasshoppers that were everywhere - I heard them rustling and clicking around me, and I could see them flying up off the boardwalk ahead of me as I walked.

And then there were the mosquitoes.

I guess there's a variation of Murphy's Law that says you will forget to bring something with you on a trip. Well, I made detailed plans to go walking in a marsh, and completely forgot to bring bug spray! I was wearing jeans and had a long-sleeved shirt, though - and luckily my bug hat was in the car. When I first got there I had stopped to take pictures of some flowers at the edge of the parking area, and almost immediately there were a few mosquitoes around me, so I went back to the car and got the hat. A good thing, too, because as I went further along the trail there were more and more of them - so many that it was all one loud collective hum. That sound really pushes on your instinct to run - get away! But all they could reach was my hands.

The Nahma Marsh trail was short but very scenic - and just three miles from the highway!

"I'm sorry, this seat is taken."

My next stop was Big Spring, and I only missed one turn on the way there! I took some of the back roads to get there, county roads, and I saw some very strange animals that took me by surprise... cows! It was strange to be driving through fields and pastures, instead of forest. A nice change of scene.

Big Spring was very pretty, but was another stop that didn't take very long to see. It's a big pool, deceptively deep - it's 45 feet deep at the center, but the water is so clear that it doesn't look it. There is a raft on a cable so that visitors can go out to the middle of the spring and look down. I got on with a couple of families and a dog, and the kids took control of the wheel that turns the cable. Not a difficult pull at all, apparently!

The spring is at the bottom of the pool, bubbling up through some crevice in the limestone bedrock underneath. But above the bedrock, the material is all glacial till - fine sand and gravel. The white sand really makes the clear green of the water stand out. The spring itself is barely evident - as you look down through the hole in the center of the raft, you can see a few flurries of sand where the water is boiling up from underneath. Since it's so far down, the surface is not disturbed at all.

You also have a very clear view of the fish! The pool is full of huge trout, passing in and out of view. The flurry of sand where the water is flowing out takes second place to watching the fish!

My main reason for the drive down turned out to be a fairly quick stop, but it really was beautiful. And it was great fun watching the kids watching the fish!

Fish everywhere! 

 There's the spring bubbling up...

 Fish along the shore...

Look! There are fish in the sky! 

By this time it was getting a little late - I hadn't left as early in the morning as I wanted to - but the next stop was Manistique, and lunch. I ate at Arbys, then went to go walk on the boardwalk along Lake Michigan. It had some neat views, but it wasn't what I had expected - I thought it would be a more central part of the town, busy, with a lot more people out. The map had showed a park about halfway along, and I was thinking it might even be a place to get an ice cream - but it was just a little roadside turnout with a few picnic tables. Which would still be a great spot for a picnic! I just somehow had gotten a different picture in my head. I did walk out a little ways onto the breakwater to the lighthouse where the Manistique River flows into the lake. And I saw some nice flowers, too. But it was starting to get hot out - and a lot of the boardwalk was actually asphalt path. So by the time I got back to the car, I was ready to go get that ice cream!

 Manistique River flowing into Lake Michigan

 There were a LOT of mussel shells along the shore. I don't know if these are the invasive types or not.

I had better luck once I crossed the highway and ended up in the main part of town. I took a little while to sit and read as I ate my ice cream cone (a task which required some napkin-juggling...) By the time I was leaving town, the farmers market was just opening, so I stopped to see what was there. I ended up buying a small box of blueberries, because I had only just finished up the container of blueberries I picked last week! (The big, domestic berries tasted strange after eating so many of the wild ones.)

I was driving up highway 94 to get back to Munising, but there was one more stop along the way - another quick walk to a raised platform, at the Rainey Wildlife Viewing Area near the eastern shore of Indian Lake. This one went through dense forest right up until the platform, and then it was a beautiful open view of a meandering stream in a marshy valley. The late-afternoon sun had even more of a golden glow to it. It was a lovely little detour.

The rest of the drive was nice, but it got a little long by the end. My final mileage for the day was about 150 miles. That wouldn't be too bad, but I think I got a little too overheated out on the boardwalk - once I got home I was really wiped out. I heated some leftovers, crashed in front of the TV, and went to bed early.