Twelvemile Beach Campground

We left Marquette for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a vast wilderness area in the northeastern part of the UP with sandstone cliffs, dunes, lakes, forests and more than 40 miles of Lake Superior Beach. The park roads are dirt two tracks that were muddy and rutted from the recent weather and fun as heck! We were hauling ass with no one else around on the roads, happy to be far from any traffic. We decided to stay in an area with several campgrounds to choose from on a point overlooking Lake Superior. Along the way we found a small village called Grand Marais at the northern most point of the park that wasn't much more than a street but happened to contain Lake Superior Brewing Co. so we had to stop in and sample the local flavor of course. Jessica was able to get a couple tasty brown ales and I had a couple hearty stouts. The ambiance and scene wasn’t exactly charming but it was memorable. Old folks with bad teeth and at least one cigarette hanging from their mouth dotted the bar. Camouflage was the color of choice, and elk and moose heads stared at us from all sides. All and all, good brew and good times. We left there for Hurricane River just west of Au Sable Light Station on the point.

The campground we found 7 miles down this little dirt road was great but we decided that it was worth driving on to see Twelvemile Beach Campground. We ended up finding the most unbelievable beach camping ever! The lake looked more like the Pacific Ocean and the beach was sandy and deserted. It felt more like Baja than Northern Michigan and we knew we wandered upon something special! We spent a great night around the campfire and planned to stay for a few more days or perhaps the rest of our life. The next morning we woke to a strong northern wind blowing across the lake and a wind chill factor of "cold as shit" We decided that we'd leave paradise for another time and head for Harbor Springs. Here's the photos and all I can say is if you get the chance go!