• Tuesday-What'sUP April 6 - 07:02 am

Yesterday was the perfect day to travel the U.P. from East to West. We concluded the long weekend Monday with an in-depth tour of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in the morning, then took the carriage ride back to the airstrip, with a 5 minute flight to the mainland. On our way home we passed this interesting rock formation, which I meant to post on the Pasty Cam about 5 years ago (just never got around to it).

Speaking of rocks, in case you missed it on yesterday's Pasty Cam, Daryl Laitila had a couple of great slideshow's listed: one from Pictured Rocks and another of summertime on Mackinac Island with the lilacs in full bloom. I had seen Daryl's slideshow before, but now recognize the places we were able to visit. Although the Island will have much more color in a couple of months, it was fun to explore in this "off season" getaway, with few fellow travelers.

Good Morning from Brighton, Great pictures looks like you had a good time

Charlie....somewhere I do have some snapshots looking down and out from Castle Rock. My grandfather and I used to climb it every year...but that was back in the days of the old brownie cameras...black & white and very grainy. Wish I had better. My memory is great..just don't know how to send it to you all!

Good morning. Charlie, I'm glad that you and Edie had a great time on Mackinac Island. It's certainly a fun and unique place. I like the picture of Castle Rock. When my kids were little, they would always beg me to stop there to climb the rock on our way up north. One time I gave in and stopped. We were climbing and I was getting pretty tired about 3/4 of the way up. I stopped to rest for a minute and all of a sudden there were tons of little greenish snakes crawling all over the steps. Well, I never moved so fast in my life and ran the rest of the way. But the bad thing was that I had to go back down! I talked, hummed, and sung all the way down to try to scare the little creatures away. My kids thought it was pretty funny. I never EVER stopped there again.

Good morning. I have some pictures taken quite a few years ago from the top of Castle Rock, but they also were taken with an old camera, so no way to send them to you.

We, too, have pictures from the top but I'm not sure what album they're in and I have to go to work. Maybe this evening if no one else has shared by then. Its an awesome view over the island and I-75,gives you some perspective. Didn't know about the snakes though - eeooww! my feet are squirming. Reminds me about the story the owner of the Rainbow Motel in Mackinaw City told us about one of the houses at Headlands Park west of there (after we had visited the park). He said the woman who lived there had to put double stick tape all around her bedroom to keep the snakes out - ICK! Anyhow, love your views of Mackinac Island, wish I could be there. We will be in September if I can wait that long. Have a great day.

Love the pictures. If you can't get away for someplace fun, have friends who are willing to share their pictures.

It must be 7 or 8 years ago. We were coming home from a Copper Country color tour and we hit a MASSIVE traffic jam. It took us 10 hours , yes 10 hours to get through St. Ignace. We sat for hours on 75 looking at that rock. Total time from Calumet to Livonia 20 hours. I guess it was a combination of hunting traffic, color tour traffic, construction near the bridge and a huge storm that drop power lines over 75 just south of the bridge. Any body else get tied up in that mess?

Brad of Canton: I was in that traffic jam and it took 6 1/2 hours to go from downtown St. Ignace to Wilderness State Park (13 miles west of Mackinac). When we FINALLY got off the bridge going south there were trees all over the road leading to the park. Once we got to the park there were no lights, and debris all over. We had our fifth wheel parked there and had damage to the awning and the outside of the trailer. A tornado had gone thru the park and our dog was alone in the trailer. Thankfully the trailer was still standing, but our poor dog was terrified. She now goes everywhere with us, but is still afraid of thunder and lightning. I will never forget that trip.

I was traffic jamed in St Ignace for 11 hours back in the 50's

i can only imagine the wait for the ferry before the bridge was
built...

john--deer season was the longest wait

Cindy,

Eeeew about the green snakes. YUCK! That is the only creature that I cannot stand and will make me run the other way...eeeew...still stamping my feet.

Great Pictures...I can't wait till July to see the pictured rocks, and the scenery in and around Copper Country...it can't come soon enough. The weather looks like it has been nice, I enjoy looking at the pictures from the bridge cam to see what the weather is like. My 14 year old and I are flying off to Florida later tonight to visit his Grandpa (my dad) who has been in the Pensacola area for a little over a year...and will be moving back to Michigan the end of April...he missed the change of seasons and the michigan weather and of course the family.

Green snakes - YIKES! Sure happy I didn't see anything like that when I was making the climb up the rock! The view was spectacular, so I'm glad I didn't see critters on the steps because I probably would've run back down and missed the beautiful scenery.

Brad & Carol:
We were on our way up to Manistique Lake and that storm hit the day before. On our way up I75 starting from Houghton Lake on up trees were all over the place along side the expressway. When we reached the private campground the host told us about one of the campers had ventured out on Manistique Lake when that storm hit.... lets just say, God and his angels were with him that day. The poor guy was terrified as he finally reached shore and he only had shorts and a life jacket, no shirt or socks and it was freezing, the temps had dropped tremendously and in such a short time.

Am I the only one that thinks the snake story is cool?

Love the Pictured Rocks slides -- I was there long, long ago! What is the structure in the last slide?

The slide show of Mackinac is great! The pictures are really candies for my eyes.

Thanks!

I remember that traffic jam. It took me 7 hours to cross the bridge. I spent much of it parked in St Ignace on the main street. We had a slowly-moving block party -- people sharing food, water, etc. Very friendly. There was a VW bug ahead of me and its battery went dead from the starting and stopping. We waited till there was a gap ahead of it and then pushed it and the driver popped the clutch and got it going again.

It was dark when I finally crossed the bridge around 11PM and I didnt encounter any downed trees in my way, but when I drove into work the next morning I was astounded at the damage everywhere. Glad to have missed it.

I like Daryl's picture's of the Pictured Rocks.
Remember going out there when I was Young, around 9 or 10 I would guess. At that time you could go out on Miners Castle and we were all over it. I don't know when they stopped the people from going out on it. Maybe soneone up there knows.
I also liked the pictures of Mackinaw Island, never got the chance to go there. Somehow missed that, Guess we were always in too much of a hurry to get further west.

Huff and Puff are two words that come to mind when I think of Castle Rock.

I have pictures of my parents, taken at Castle Rock in the late 1920's. They had traveled there from Flint in the rumble seat of their friend's car. Must have been quite a trip. No shots from the top of the rock, though.

Does anyone remember the rhyme at Castle Rock - something about the climb and still (or only) a dime?

ert, GA The structure in the last picture is the Grand Island East
Channel Lighthouse on Grand Island at the entrance to Munising
Bay.

I miss the ferry rides. Used to go from Jackson up to Munising and Lake Au Trin every summer with my folks. Got to watch them building the bridge. It was qiuite an impressive site seing the Mac go up.

It's 50 cents now to climb.......must have a new rhyme??

The building of the Mac was on the HISTORY Channel last night. Series called Modern Marvels. Did you get to see it?

50 cents?! Last time I climed it was 25 cents and that was only a year or two ago.

What year was the big storm/traffic jam? And what month?

Catherine-- Holland, MI:
If my memory serves me correctly, the storm had to have been in the mid-1990's because we had out SS Rockwood pop-up (the nightmare camper) and we bought that in '94 and hauled it with our '94 Ram.

A big "Thank-you" to Bob Jewell of Farmington Hills (MI) for providing these views from the top of Castle Rock:

At the top

Mackinac Island in the distance

the pictures make me long for the u.p. living just north of detiot is a lot less pretty. the pastys and weaties pasty sause are nice but not the same as being there.

bob the troll
married to troll diva

All good photos. I climbed the steps 2 the top of Castle Rock years ago, but it was foggy that day, so I'm glad 2 c photos from the top of it on a clear day. Thank you. I only wish "Old Glory" was flying on the flag pole when the top picture was taken.

I went 2 the top of Castle Rock yesterday to make up for the foggy weather the 1st time in the 1990's. Beautiful view! I was a little surprised how much it costs now 2 go up there. My 1st time it was 25 cents, and yesterday it was a whopping $1.00!