09-20-04 @ 2:10 am EDT

All righty. This should be the third and final installment of my 2004 Mackinac Island trip. Here we go...

I at last made my way through the Croghan Water Area (note to newbie fudgies: Do NOT take the Croghan Water Trail for starters!) and rather than heading back to British Landing, I decided to continue through on British Landing Nature Trail, and make my way to the Friendship Altar and something called the "Viewing Platform." I had no clue about this "Viewing Platform," but I had heard vaguely of the Friendship Altar in an old Mackinac Island guidebook from the Fifties.

FRIENDSHIP ALTAR

This is an interesting natural formation northeast of and near British Landing which is sometimes called Pulpit Rock.

Natural formation! Chimney Rock and Lover's Leap had as always been busts, so since this was on the PDF map, I had to try to find it. Maybe THAT would make up for everything I'd failed to find, so far.

British Landing Nature Trail was damned confusing. I wandered way up into these deep woods, with no clue where I was going nor whether I was on the right path or not. It was completely isolated out here. At one point I spotted blue tarp through the trees and ended up passing what looked to be covered snowmobiles or jetskis or something, all in a jumble way out in the middle of nowhere; bleh, that was ugly. I hoped I was not wandering onto private property again! I looked at my map and saw that I should be safe; according to it, the trail went NEAR private land, but not through it. After a while the trail wound around again and I spotted a big wooden structure ahead. It looked like a watchtower. "The Viewing Platform, I assume," I murmured, and headed for it.

I reached the platform and clomped up the few little sets of steps to the top. Up here I had an odd but pretty good view way down into the woods and over the tops of the trees, with Lake Huron way in the distance. It was quite a steep drop down there and I felt a teeny bit nervous. It was okay, but I couldn't figure out why they'd choose here of all places to put a viewing platform of the lake. :/ Oh well. Only vaguely impressed, I made my way back down and continued along the trail. Where the heck was that Friendship Altar? Nearby I located another set of wooden stairs, this time leading downward. With a sigh I trudged down them. At the bottom I was curious to see a tree sitting atop a rock just to the side of them, like it had been stuck there. Interesting. I took pictures, then turned and halted when I spotted what looked to be even more rock through the trees. Lumpy holey rock. Breccia!

"Friendship Altar...?" I thought aloud. "That must be it!" I wove down around the trees, not knowing at all what to expect. When at last the Friendship Altar finally came into view I was not unimpressed. High Point Number Three! Wootness! I found a new landmark! :D

Friendship Altar...known on the PDF map and on the official sign as Friendship's Altar...was in fact a smallish breccia stack, not very big at all, looking very fat and wide when facing it but as soon as I walked around to the side I saw it was in fact almost flat, like a hand being held up with palm exposed. Smaller hunks of rock littered the ground around it and it was filled with tiny holes and even a little cavish-looking thing on the far side. I oohed and ahhed and snapped pictures. Why isn't this thing in the official tourbook?? Imagine how many people have no clue it's way out here--like me! If it hadn't been for that old guidebook, and then the PDF map, I'd have had no clue the thing even existed. It wasn't at all what I'd expected, but I didn't care. It could have been a piddling five feet tall and I wouldn't have cared. It was NEW, and that was what mattered!

It looked almost like a miniature Sugar Loaf Rock. I promptly imagined some tiny manitou or spirit similar to Marten in my story taking up residence in it. :D

The nearby sign showed that a tree apparently grew atop the thing long ago, though there was no tree there anymore--maybe it walked over and plopped itself upon that rock beside the stairs. ^_^

Friendship's Altar

Like Mackinac Island's more famous Sugar Loaf Rock, Friendship's Altar is an isolated geologic stack of brecciated (fractured and recemented) limestone. A close examination of this stack will reveal many singular fragments which have been cemented together with calcium carbonate. This reformed conglomerate is harder than the surrounding rock and soil. As a result, the waves of ancient Lake Nipissing (about 2000 B. C.) washed away the softer materials and separated Friendship's Altar from the ancient coastline or cliff which you see to your left.

Coolness! ^_^ I was so jazzed. I made sure to get a good shot of the little cave in the side before turning back to the stairway and heading back up toward the Viewing Platform. That had totally been worth it.

I backtracked all the way to British Landing Road and headed back to British Landing itself. This was out of the way, as I had planned on continuing from the nature trail to Scott's Road, but there were no more bathroom stops that I knew of until I should reach Arch Rock, WAY on the other side of the island! So a little detour would not hurt much, especially considering I still had hours of daylight to go before the ferry arrived. My bladder had been doing pretty well so I figured one last stop and I would be fine.

The people at British Landing must have thought I was nuts with the way I kept heading up British Landing Road and then coming back and then heading off the same way again hours later. This was my second stop there that day. I again used their bathroom and took a drink of water before again heading up the road, then turning left onto Scott's Road. I wanted to try to find Scott's Cave, also listed in the old guidebook but no longer, and maybe another formation I'd heard of only on the PDF map, Eagle Point Cave. Scott's Road led between two plots of private land but I quickly passed beyond those and into pure wilderness again. Thank God.

Scott's Road wasn't what I expected, based on a website I'd come across in my fruitless searches for info on Scott's Cave. Some other guy who had visited the island had put together a photographic site of his time there and he was a real jerk about the whole thing, insulting the other tourists (well what was he but a tourist, himself??), making fun of the scenery, and all around just dissing the place. I had to wonder why he had even visited at all if he disliked it so much, the little twit. People like him give people like me a bad name. >:/ He even got several of his facts wrong, such as stating that it was a soldier who hid out in Skull Cave during Pontiac's uprising (it was actually Alexander Henry, and he was a fur trader), among other things. He didn't even spell the name of the island right! ("Makinack," I believe he spelled it. Moron!) If you're going to insult the island, at least get your facts and spelling right.

Well, I think he was also mistaken on what he labeled "Scott's Road." For his website showed it as this wide PAVED road, whereas THIS Scott's Road...was nowhere near paved. It was dirt through and through. Perhaps his more civilized road was in fact Scott's Shore Road, which I never visited? No clue, but we seemed to be talking about different roads here. I wouldn't doubt he got THAT wrong, too.

I took way too many photos of Scott's Road. ^_^ I couldn't help it! It was so nice and green. And I COMPLETELY forgot to seek for Scott's Cave!! >_< In my own defense, I did look at the trees a lot, and never saw anything resembling a cave. Perhaps it is not along the road (though in the old guidebook this same road is called Scott's Cave Road)...or maybe it's the same thing as Eagle Point Cave? I have no clue. In any case I totally forgot to look for it. I was fixated on finding Eagle Point Cave, and on not taking the wrong trail. It was easy to get confused out here.

Scott's Road is VERY long, and winds around from British Landing, inland from Point Aux Pins, and around the East Bluff to Leslie Avenue, where it turns into Scott's Trail and heads on further inland from there. According to my plan I had wanted to take Scott's Trail (hoping the cave might be there if not along the main road), then take Crooked Tree Road just because of its name (I'm stupid that way); then head to Four Corners, and Garrison Road (because I'd seen a pretty autumn picture of it online and wanted to see it myself--again, I'm stupid that way); THEN take Rifle Range Road back toward the bluff, pass Arch Rock, go down to the lakeshore briefly via Spring Trail and take a teeny look to see if I could spot the place where the apparently ruined Fairy Arch used to stand, then go back UP Spring Trail, and take Manitou Trail because of its even COOLER name (*cough*), and head on past Robinson's Folly since I've only seen it from below, and then head back into town for a quick peek at Anne's Tablet and the Cass Memorial before making my way down into Marquette Park and calling it a day. Well, along Scott's Road my resolve at last started to waver. I mean, I had been walking since ten AM now, and I think it was like five o'clock PM. -_- I was getting pretty tired! I decided I'd make up my mind what to do once I reached Eagle Point Cave, if I should find it.

Scott's Road runs parallel to the more rugged Tranquil Bluff Trail (I think I had taken part of that somewhere near the Friendship's Altar, and had passed two younger tourists sharing a smoke...*gag hack* >_< ), and according to the map, not far from Eagle Point Cave, there was a pass where one could go from one trail to the other. I decided that should I not see the cave on Scott's Road, I would double back and take this pass, then continue on Tranquil Bluff Trail to see it from that side. I was getting so tired by now, though, that I reconsidered this. Maybe if I didn't find the cave I'd just wait until next year. Well, as I went along, I paused when I thought I saw an opening on my right, around where the trail pass was supposed to be. I stopped when I saw nothing but a grassy opening and this really HIGH, HIGH rise with barely a footpath worn through it, WAY up the side of this hill. I frowned. Then I looked at my map.

Oh...my...Gawd.

At last I understood what these odd brown slashmarks along certain parts of the island map REALLY meant. Before, I'd thought they represented some sort of alternate trail made up of stairs and/or boardwalk, though no such trail existed. So I had no clue what they were. All I knew is that they extended along both bluffs and along certain parts of the interior. Now it all made sense. Those things weren't trail at all! They were the BLUFFS! And this little sidetrail went straight up the side of one!!

My mouth fell open. I glanced up at the sidetrail I'd planned to take should I not spot the cave--and then said, "I don't THINK so!" Then I turned and promptly went on my way. If I didn't see the cave I could just wait until next year and start out on Tranquil Bluff Trail itself. Hell NO was I going to take that path!! FORGET about it!

Thoroughly chastened, I continued on Scott's Road. Around a slight bend I noticed a tangle of trees and rock up on the bluff to my right, and stopped again to peer up at it. Hm. It was rather too messy to tell...but it might have been the back of Eagle Point Cave. I stepped off the road and into the woods, picking my way up a few steps. It looked like more adventurous, less acrophobic people had worn a path here and might have found a way around to the other side, but not so with me. I was content to snap pictures of its hindquarters and leave it at that. Perhaps next year, or whenever, I can take Tranquil Bluff Trail and see if there is a cave mouth visible on the other side. For now, I'm happy to believe that that was the cave, and leave it at that. I was honestly too tired to really care!

Well, Scott's Road finally reached Leslie Avenue, and I had to make up my mind what to do now. I had decided earlier on that I would skip out the stupid detour along Scott's Trail to Crooked Tree Road etc. etc., and would just take Leslie Avenue onward to Arch Rock. I mean, how much different could Crooked Tree Road and Garrison Road look from all the other roads, right? Probably not that much different. Yet as I looked at the map I changed my mind yet again. Leslie Avenue was so long...and it was SO far to Arch Rock...I really, really just wanted to get back into town. I was so exhausted. -_- I doubted I'd find the old site of the Fairy Arch, and I could always save Manitou Trail and Robinson's Folly until next time. I even made up my mind that Anne's Tablet and the Cass Memorial could hold off, too. They'd still be there. With a heavy sigh I turned right, rather than left, and made my way up Leslie Avenue, in the direction of Garrison Road, as I'd originally planned.

I'd also seen old antique photos of Leslie Avenue, but this didn't look like those. It must be an important path with how many photos I saw of it, but I wasn't too impressed. It was rather narrow for an avenue--you think I'd know that by now! >_< Still, it was rather quaint and pretty, and besides, maybe the really scenic parts lay somewhere on the way to Arch Rock. *shrug* I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. I passed a ravine or drop of a sort on my left and paused to look at it, every time having to drag myself away. I was limping by now. I only had to walk a little stretch of Leslie Avenue but it went on for SO LONG! Would I NEVER reach British Landing Road?? I was again passing occasional tourists by now, hoping none of them cared for my rather pathetic state. I switched my pack to my other shoulder, my left one hurt so much. Then my right one started to hurt. I was taking far, far fewer photos by now--something I kind of regret, but pretty much all there were were trees and road. By the time I got to British Landing Road, and then to Garrison Road, I was relieved that I HADN'T turned left toward Arch Rock. I never would have made it! I had morbid thoughts of my mother waiting until eight o'clock, and of park officials afterward finding my lifeless body either collapsed on the road due to exhaustion, or fallen off some bluff somewhere and all twisted and broken at the bottom. Well, at least if I had to die, it would be on Mackinac Island. Yes, I do often think things like this. I used to be on medication but can't afford it anymore. o_o

I passed Lost Bear Trail and snapped a picture of the sign, thinking I had another one of it somewhere in an older photo, though apparently I don't; that's Manitou Trail I have photographed. So I have no clue why I remembered Lost Bear Trail from anywhere. :/ Hm. (Update--I have located the photo and it is from my 2001 set, NOT from my 1992 set. *duhhr*) Then I started passing more smaller trails off to the sides. I needed, needed, NEEDED to reach the cemeteries, and from there to turn on to Custer Road. Ohhhh those cemeteries took FOREVER to show up!! I passed a sign telling the distances to various spots and it said that Fort Mackinac was a mile away! "One mile!" I told myself. "I can make a mile! I CAN make a mile!...DAMN this is a frigging long mile!!" I stopped when I reached first the Mackinac Island Cemetery, then the St. Anne's Cemetery with its big arched gate. "Cemetery is closed from dusk till dawn," a sign said. At first I read it as "dawn till dusk," and wondered about that, because Ma and I had been in the cemeteries before; you mean to tell me they were closed all the time? Then I read the sign properly, and then I stopped caring, and located the Custer Road sign (clearly marked!--thank God!) and went that way.

I briefly considered taking a shot of the road sign and adding a caption that said, "How DARE they!", then reconsidered. But seriously. How DARE they name a path Custer Road on Mackinac Island?? What a horrid insult! As if that man needs to be remembered, especially here. BLECH!

*cough* Anyway...Custer Road was even bitchier than Leslie Avenue and went ON and ON. The woods got darker and darker; tourists were more frequent, but it was so shaded it was like going through tunnels. Even my photos turned out dark in this area. o_o I passed a woman chattering on a cell phone as she got on her bike. "Well, I love you!" she said, as if she had said it many times before. "I'll see you later!" I cannot understand why, when bicycling around Mackinac Island, somebody would want to talk on a cell phone, unless they live there and are used to everything. She struck me as a tourist, but I might be wrong. Weird tourist behavior, if she was. Perhaps she was just exercising. Custer Road would give you plenty of that!

I trudged and I trudged and I trudged. I almost wanted to cry. I nearly took the Fort Service Road, not knowing what it was. Eventually I turned left and here were two guys on bikes, and a sign ahead that said "Walk bikes down." My heart lifted. A dangerous trail! There's this frigging STEEP dangerous trail right to the side of the fort!! :D :D :D Happiness!! This HAD to be it! And right below Fort Mackinac is...MARQUETTE PARK! I was almost there! *would do dance of joy but is too damn exhausted*

I picked up my pace...such as it was...and limped down to the little gate cutting off the dangerous section of road from the rest. The two bicyclists finished talking and rode off. I took a picture of the view--both the Round Island Lighthouse, and that other one, were visible from here--then kept going. I came to familiar surroundings--the start of the steep little trail leading directly down beside the fort blockhouse. I have an old photo of this poor woman walking her bike UP the trail as Ma and I walk down. ^_^ I had to walk in a very jerky, awkward manner just to avoid tumbling head over heels to the bottom. Once I reached it, I took the obligatory photo of the fort (like I don't have enough of those anyway), and then stumbled down into the park. So so happy happy happy!! I planned to trudge over to Ma, and demand to be let home on the soonest possible ferry. I was DONE for this year. *faints*

Well...easier said than done! For Ma and I had not planned out WHERE in the park we would meet! I spotted a woman seated at the base of the Father Marquette statue and grinned widely, certain it was her; but as I got closer I realized it wasn't. :( I wandered around the park looking at all the people seated in various areas; a couple of them watched me. I hope I didn't look THAT atrocious. I was like a little kid lost in a shopping mall. WHERE IS MY MOMMY! I wandered back and forth through the park a few times. She wasn't here!

:*( I was so tired!

With a heavy sigh I turned and headed for the street. A girl standing near a display case watched me pass, as well as a man on a bench. Ma had said, when I asked what she would do if it rained, that she would hang out in the bathroom area between Fort Street and Astor Street. Maybe she'd had the urge to go...? I crossed the street and passed into town, dragging my feet up onto the sidewalk. I got to the bathroom area and paused to look around. Didn't see her. I sighed and considered turning back to the park. If she wasn't there, she'd show up eventually. I just hoped she'd think to look around for ME!

As I turned around I spotted somebody waving wildly and turned to look twice. THERE SHE WAS! Up near Market Street, on one of the benches near the restrooms. YES! My face lit up again and I managed to make it up to her. She started picking up her beading things just as I clambered up the rest of the rise and I exclaimed, "You've never known foot pain until you've known MY foot pain!" Seriously...aaaghgh, UUGHGHH! I felt like I needed to have needles jammed into my soles and have them reinflated! >_<

It was around seven thirty. "I was starting to think you wouldn't make it!" Ma exclaimed.

"Yeah," I said, "somewhere on Scott's Road I was wondering if you'd think I'd fallen off the bluff or something like a half hour ago."

"I started thinking that around six o'clock!"

Ma proclaimed that she had finished her beading project, and had even bought a couple of gifts for her granddaughter, Rayne--a funky light-up jester cap and a Slinky shaped like a butterfly, from the Butterfly House. She asked if I wanted to visit the Island Bookstore but I murmured something incoherent...I did want to go, but I was tired, and should be saving my money, so we didn't go. We crossed the street and some little drab brown birds hopped away from a pile of horse dung as we passed them. I had been calling these things "crap birds" and "poop birds" all day because seriously, that seemed to be all they were interested in; before leaving town a little flock of them had kept hopping toward a pile of horse dung, pecking at it, then hopping back when people passed, and then a...um...road sweeper, for want of a better term, came along right as they were ready to hop back, and halted his wheelbarrow and set to work. Poor crap birds. I think Ma was getting irritated with how I kept seeing them and yelling, "CRAP BIRDS!" Honestly, though, it's not like crap is a taboo subject on Mackinac Island. We did visit a few of the tackier shops so she could pick up a pig clock for a friend (the friend likes pigs o_o ), and some fudge for Dad and us. A pecan log she'd seen in the morning had caught her eye and we had to locate the exact fudge shop, since there are like a billion of them on Main Street alone. Okay, more like six or so. But it feels like a billion. (Ahhh, the island...land of endless horse crap and fudge!) Then we headed back toward the Shepler's dock, in time to catch the eight o'clock ferry. A half hour early! *would woot but is too damn tired*

On the way back, a group of tourists chattered about the construction of the Mackinac Bridge and why it would not sway so much--it was built with holes in it so the wind can pass through. Remember the old footage of that bridge SWAAAAYING like CRAZY in the wind? The guys who planned out the Mackinac Bridge took that into consideration when they designed it, so it would not go all weird in a windstorm. The bridge DOES sway...you just don't notice it very much when you're on it, foolish mortals. :P These people seemed to be oddly intent on the subject so I take it they weren't locals, because locals know all this already. I tried to shoot a few pics of said bridge through the ferry window and was about as successful as always...which is very little... ^_^; ...because the spray kept shooting up and I could not stop the camera from shaking, which was even worse with the flash off (longer exposure time). There was a gorgeous sunset just beyond it but it kept glaring right into the lens so that interfered too. Oh well, the bridge is the bridge is the bridge. It was getting dark by the time we got back to Shepler's. (I never did describe our lovely experience figuring out where to park when we first drove in--Shepler's employee says, "Park next to the blue Ford Focus," and we'll be damned if we know what a blue Ford Focus looks like!--we ended up just parking in the nearest available spot, as confused as anything. Shepler's Employee Girl probably thought we were remarkably stupid. At least we have a Michigan license plate. Though that probably made us seem even more stupid. o_o; ) We found the car without any drama, at least, and at LONG LAST made our way home.

(Along the way: Ma: "Wanna go to the casino--?"

Me: "NO!!")

And henceforth the rest is a blur, as well it should be, considering I had not slept in over 24 hours. o_o I immediately washed my hair when we got home, which was around eight-thirty or nine. Aaaahhhhhh clean hair!! Clean and MOISTURIZED! And I did doze for perhaps an hour or so on the couch, but I never did get regular sleep. I still am not sure how I did not pass out because of that. Oh, and I also ate my poor sandwich which I had neglected on the island. Ugh. Head. Hurt. Starving. Dying. Feet. O_o

And I nervously checked the camera card to see that...EVERY photo had made it safely...and there were 216 OF THEM!! :O Holy YIKES but I took a lot of pictures of trees!! Oh well. You can never have too many pictures of trees. :)

And I realize that this is a rather lame ending...but there it is! The big 2004 Mackinac Island trip. May next year's be just as eventful, but not so damned long. And a pox on the Grand Hotel. And tar...