Venturing East
This adventure was the first time we had really ever ventured EAST with Ruby. She’s LOVING it.
Really, neither Jake or myself had done much exploring east of Wisconsin - especially in the NE. I have been to the big cities - NYC, Boston, Philly, and spent a summer at an internship in Maryland, but not REALLY exploring (except that time we tubed down the Hudson - S/O to my girl Jackie), the Ruby kind of exploring anyways. So we thought what the heck - let's give the east a try.
Maine was our initial destination, but once we really dug into the mileage against our time frame, it started to look less and less likely we would make it there. From Minneapolis, Acadia NP is 1,700 miles away! With a diesel pig maxing at 56 mph, we estimate it would take Ruby 34 hrs of road time, one-way. And the more we started researching, the more cool stuff we found along the way, that brought us to the conclusion that even if we didn’t make it all the way to Maine, we were still IN.
So here’s what we’ve hit up so far -
U.P. of. M.I.C.H.I
Really our first destination of the trip, which we absolutely loved. Michigan isn't often associated with "east", but for us, this is where our “East” journey started. We spent about a week bumping around the UP before heading into Canada.
Some fav spots:
Munising - camping at our own private beach with a fire W.O.W.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - would love to go back in the summer and rent some kayaks! The waters were pretty sketch when we were there & it was SUPER windy, so we stuck with a boat cruise to see the cliffs.
Tahquamenon Falls (upper and lower falls) - okay, so very unexpected but there is a BREWERY near the entrance of the upper falls. So cool since it’s a state park & super fun environment.
Hogsback mountain (~3m hike with lake views) - our first real top view glimpse of the fall colors :D Michi was not quite in peak when we went through early-Oct.
Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie - unexpected & cool; we happened to walk up as a HUGE cargo ship was coming through.
Things to go back for:
Porcupine mountains - so many people recommended!
Isle Royal NP - need lots of ahead of time planning
Brown Fish restaurant in Paradise - was closed for the season when we went through, welcome to our lives.
Other notes:
The cities are SMALL. Stock up on groceries BEFORE arriving or in Sault Ste Marie.
Things close for the season around early October - shorter hours, closed restaurants, campgrounds winding down.
Most cities seemed to be street parking friendly which was convenient!
What surprised me about the UP is how remote it is. Once we got past Marquette, there wasn't really a town larger than Pierz, MN (at least that's how it felt) until you hit Sault Ste Marie which is the crossing town into Canada. It was beautiful though, more than I expected it to be. But we were ready to move on after the week spent around the UP!
C A N A D A .
I would first like to say Canada is HUGE and this experience BARELY counts as heading into Canada. But we DID make it through & YES, the Canadian border is open to vaccinated Americans who also take a negative COVID test within 72 hrs of arrival. We were also "randomly" selected to take an on-arrival COVID test - a lot of proof that we did NOT carry COVID into the country.
Anyways, once we were in, we really were set out to zipline over to the Ottawa area to cross back into the Eastern states - more of a pass through than anything. The reason we wanted to take this route was so we didn't have to travel the same roads to get east and to get back. Which ended up working out, but did not give us a full Canadian experience! We ended up being in Canada only for a weekend before dipping into upstate NY. Not even enough time to know if our entrance COVID tests passed. :0
Some fav spots:
Hwy 17 - gorgeous drive & peak colors (heard it’s even better if you head west at Sault Ste Marie!!)
Twiggs Café in Sturgeon Falls - breakfast with a view
Tim Hortons…says Jake + free wifi (Dunkin’ is WAYYYYYY better, no questions)
Things to go back for:
Algonquin Prov. Park -didn’t attempt as all day permits and camp permits were not available.
BANFF obvi (wrong direction)
Thunder Bay / full loop around L.Superior
Everything else in Canada we haven't research and don't know anything about :D
Other notes / travel tips:
Diesel is expensive (~$4.50 / gallon but they report it as Canadian dollars / liter)
Dollars (USD) and Canadian dollars are not the same. $1 USD = $1.20 Canadian dollar #confusing
If you have Verizon, you will be in roaming the entire time. We also only have 0.5gB data allowance on our phones which turned out to be quite annoying!
Tim Horton's has free wifi (& they are EVERYWHERE)
Hwy 17 sort of feels like the north shore driving
Some prov parks seasons end mid-October - unsure about free camping options in Canada. The apps I used didn’t have much on Canada!
Our short stay was partially due to Verizon being in roaming the entire time and needing to work (we depend on hotspot!), partially because the weather was poopy, partially because diesel was HELLA expensive, & partially because there really wasn't that much we were interested in seeing on the route we took. There are LOTS of provincial parks (similar to state parks) that we passed through & did some hiking in, but honestly it all kind of blended. Similar vibes, similar hillsides, similar forests. Again, we saw a very small chunk of Canada and didn't really go off trail at all, so I know for a fact there is more to see. Still fun to see and talk to the native folks to a country I pretend I'm from when traveling internationally ;)
E. N.Y. State
We crossed out of Canada at Johnstown, which is southwest of Ottawa essentially, back into US territory. The cross back into the state was easy-peasy - I think being American citizens probably helps with that ;) We needed to work the next couple days, so we ended up finding a lovely Hipcamp stay just out of Potsdam. Hipcamp is a site where people can post their private property for campers to come stay - this specific site was ~60 acres in the middle of a hidden meadow. It was absolutely wonderful - great hosts, great views, and GREAT Verizon service which allowed us to hunker down for a couple days.
Potsdam is just outside of the Adirondacks, so we were eager to head into the mountains. We started at the north end coming through Saranac Lk and Lk Placid - the "High Peaks Wilderness Area". Of course the hiking opportunities in this area are PLENTIFUL & we were stoked to get some proper mountain hiking in. With 46 peaks in the area, we just needed to say the word & lace up! We ended up doing a couple peaks over the next few days - Mount Colden / Avalanche Lk (~15 miles) and Cascade Mountain (~6 miles).
We definitely had our share of dreary days (mostly overcast) which was no bueno for our solar panels. We did some extra coffee shop charging and a campground stay to fill our electric needs! AND after 2 wks of being on the road, it was also time to do laundry. We found a campground that had the whole package!
Some fav spots:
Anything in the Adirondacks!!
Smoke Signals restaurant on L.Placid - smokes all of their own meat & has great lakeside views
Champlain Orchards (actually in VT, but right across the border) - SO many orchards on the east side of L.Champlain & SO many apples left on the trees!!
L.George Wild Forest area (+ Sleeping Beauty mountain) - the colors = GORG.
Things to come back for:
Backpacking through the 'Dacks!
The other 44/46 high peaks ;)
Other notes / travel tips:
Although only 1 national forest in NY state, there are TONS of state parks & state forests. However, MANY of the state parks close for camping by early Sept or Oct. BOO!
October appears to be “after season” in most places - although gorgeous still and mild temps, many campgrounds, shops, etc. were closed.
State forests still have free campsites - we used FreeCampsites.net WAY more than we typically do in Upstate NY. Free Roam was our main app out west, but does not appear to be as widely used in this area.
It was QUIET nearly all of the time. Aside from the horrible construction on main street in Lake Placid, I don’t think we ran into traffic or parking issues once. In the west, we were used to having 3 backup plans if the first was full & that never appeared to be an issue. It was glorious! And made me question my research. :P
Be prepared for dreary days and rain. We had a lot of these days, though I’m unsure how normal it is for this time of year.
Overall, the Adirondacks are just lovely. Neither of us have really spent any time in these mountains & although they are only ~5,000 ft high, they definitely still feel like mountains. Many hikes start around 2,000 ft, so you're differential is still a hefty 3,000 or so of gain. What's also interesting is all of the hikes we did around here felt like you were boldering up a water stream, but not always filled with water. Some of the hikes were muddy & rocks were wet & the hiking was pretty intense. Hiking boots definitely necessary to save the ankles!
We are now heading over to the Eastern side of NY - planning to meet some friends for the next weekend. & then we are sadly on our journey home already. #tears It is starting to get cold though & the rainy days are starting to make me just a little insane, one day at a time.
Peace, love, and send some sunshine,
yo’ girl Jen
