Manistique, MI August 2025

Manistique, MI -- two weeks of volunteering for Habitat for Humanity

The local affiliate, HiawathaLand, had put out a call for 6 rigs (vans, travel trailers, etc.,)  for help-- and got only US!  So sorry, HiawathaLand! But Bill is a great volunteer builder.  Willing to work hard all day and to learn new things.  

Here's Bill with Rob, the construction supervisor and hard worker extraordinaire on the porch of one of the two houses that Bill worked on in Manistique. 

Bill affixing drywall -- his main job.

Shoulders are useful to hold dry wall in place on a slanted ceiling while Sam, a local employee, screws it down.

I had forewarned the local folks that I have no useful building skills and am not much of a worker of any sort, but I surely was willing to help with paperwork or in their Re-Store, or similar. Thus I inventoried 37 big boxes and tubs of unsorted items that were found in a house that had been willed to the HiawathaLand Affiliate.  I worked about 1/2 the time Bill did.

And what a chance to see the sweet community of Manistique.  This is an Army Corps of Engineers aerial picture... (I keep asking Santa for my own drone, but so far, no luck.).

The Manistique River divides the town pretty much in half, just as it flows into Lake Michigan.  There are two car bridges that cross the river. 

Sweet old buildings and friendly folks characterize the town.

An historical water tower is seen from almost anywhere in town.  I snapped this from one of the bridges.  I will leave the local nickname of this water tower to your imagination. 

 

The town has some talented mural makers.

Folks seem to enjoy the river for fishing

The ProAmpac Company recently purchased this paper mill that had dammed and channelled the water at the mouth of the Manistique River for their manufacturing process.  They make about 300 tons of kraft paper (like the paper of paper grocery bags) every day.  The river then comes back together for a smooth flow into the Lake.

Y'all know that Bill and I do our fair share of running (Bill) and walking (me).  We noted some lovely neighborhoods, but we were intrigued by what we dubbed "Michigan box houses."  Many houses were built in this basic design -- a box with a very steep roof (we assume for the snow load) and then modified, or not, with a storm porch or a bay window.  The town doesn't seem to have underground utilities yet. 

It does have a nice craft brewery that had a great atmosphere and vegan cheese to put on their pizza.

This is Detroit AKA Michigan style pizza.  We were expecting something different.  Round with the sauce on the crust.

The best walking/running was done here on the Manistique path and boardwalk along the North Shore of Lake Michigan.  Incredible views, lovely breezes, natural beaches, and the open water of the lake. 

And not too far out of town is Palm Book State Park, home to Kitch-iti-kipi, which depending on your source, translates as Mirror of Heaven (Ojibwe language), Big Springs, Bubbling water or the name of a Chippiwa chieftan.  It is the home of the largest springs in Michigan, and creates an incredibly clear  ~200' diameter pool of water with an emerald green bottom. It is full of fish, mainly trout. 

Here's an overview picture taken from Michigan's Upper Peninsula Travel Page:

(Seriously, Santa.  I'd love a drone for Christmas; I could stop using Internet pics!)  

To see the underwater springs and the fish, the park provides a raft-with-railings sort of boat.  It is not motorized, but  is  operated by the folks on the raft.  One turns a wheel and the raft is moved along a cable out into the pool.

These fellow raft-riders provided locomotion for our trip to see the springs.

Raft riders can look at the pool's bottom by leaning over any side of the boat or over any one of the four sides of a large center opening cut out of the raft's bottom.  The clearness of the water makes everything as emerald green as the bottom,  and incredibly easy to see.  Its hard to want to go back to the shore, a distance of about 150 feet.

The cloudy, fuzzy areas here are sand and dirt on the bottom being disturbed as the springs send ~ 10,000 gallons of water per MINUTE upward into the pool.   These trout are big! 

Water thus sent into the pool is eventually delivered to nearby Indian Lake through an aquifer.   And Indian Lake, a pretty large lake,  is where we camped for those two weeks.  It's quite a nice, if a bit old-fashioned, camping/cabin place called Geromatta's Fishing Resort.   We recommend it as a camping spot if you ever find yourself on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Sunrise on Indian Lake, MI

WOYAYA

  

For those of you old enough to remember: Bob's Big Boy is still alive and well in Manistique although the name has evolved into just "BigBoy".  It was one of the two places in town where we could get a veggie meal.  The other is called 'Upper Crust".  Go there first!