Tuesday, 7/27/21: Island Hopping | |
The sun’s reflection, sparkling like diamonds off Lake Michigan’s calm waters as we rode the ferry to Washington Island. | |
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For once, last night all my weather apps were in agreement. It was going to rain through the night and morning until noon. That called for a lazy morning, a cafe breakfast, and some driving around until things cleared. Then find a trail or two to hike, or maybe find a beach and hang out.
Of course, the apps were all wrong. We woke up to a crystal clear picture-perfect morning. Now, all the apps changed their tune and called for full sun all day long. The lazy morning was out the window. It was time to high-tail it to the Washington Island Ferry.
When we arrived at Gill’s Rock, where we catch the ferry, the line of cars waiting to make the trip was at least an hour long. We cut right through, parked in the parking lot, got the ebikes out, and got right on the ferry. It’s a 30 minute ride to Washington Island. The water was calm and the visibility was forever. It’s a great boat ride. (I mentioned the ferry rates yesterday for passengers, $14 per person; and bikes, $5 per bike. I failed to mention that cars were $27 per car. It cost us a total of $38 for the two of us plus our two bikes. Had we taken our vehicle it would have totaled $57.)
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Highway 42 as you approach the ferry at Gill’s Rock on the northern tip of the Door County peninsula. I guess that instead of using speed-bumps to slow you down as you approach Gill’s Rock, they used these snaking curves. | |
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Washington Island has two small business districts: 1) The ferry Landing. At the ferry landing there are a couple of shops. You can pick up a souvenir, get a snack, and rent a bike or scooter right at the landing. 2) Main Street. This is the main road that runs right up the gut of the island on a north-south axis. The 2 or 3 mile long road has a couple of restaurants, a tavern or two, a gift shop, and a small grocery store.
Our goal was to ride from the Washington Island Ferry landing to the Jackson Ferry landing on the other side of the island. This is about a 9 mile ride - a piece of cake on ebikes. The Jackson Ferry is a 15 minute, $11 per person ride to Rock Island, a primitive island with a circumference of 6 miles. The entire island is a state park with a campground, a lighthouse, and lots of wilderness. No vehicles are allowed.
On our way to the Jackson Ferry, we stopped off at a restaurant on Main Street for dinner. We sprung for a pizza burger. I remember, as a kid, getting pizza burgers. They were two thin paddies pressed together with a coating of cheese and pizza sauce in the middle - funky, but a fun blast from the past. Instead of the nostalgic processed burger, we were surprised with a homemade version sporting a delicious marinara sauce and white melted cheese on top of a thick tasty burger. However, the long wait, due to the same lack of hired help currently plaguing many service-sector businesses, put us behind schedule.
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Main Street has a handful of tavern-restaurants. | |
Washington Island restaurant humor - serving “Fresh Lawyers”. | |
Typical Door County shops on the island. | |
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We didn’t get to the Jackson Ferry until 2 pm which put us out on the island at 2:15 pm. The last return ferry was 4:15 pm giving us only 2 hours on the island. The 6-mile circumference trail was out. We’d never complete it on time. Instead we did 2 miles of the circumference trail and then took the cut-off shortcut trail back to the ferry landing. This ended up to be a total of 3.5 miles. That route could be easily completed in the allotted two hours. However, at the lighthouse, a mile up the trail, a very friendly volunteer tour-guide lassoed us and ushered us into the lighthouse for an extensive tour. The time ticked away, but we just didn’t have the heart to break away. The lady was so into her spiel and so excited to have an audience.
When we finally broke free, we had lost 30 precious minutes. OK, not exactly lost. The tour was interesting and the lady was so very nice, but we were set back for time nonetheless. We got back to the ferry landing with only a minute or two to spare - good thing because when the ferry arrived, it quickly gobbled up the passengers and immediately took off without looking back.
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The small passenger-only Jackson Ferry to Rock Island. | |
The Norse-style boathouse that greets us at the Rock Island dock. | |
Inside the boathouse is a beautiful open hall. | |
Looking out from a hill on Rock Island towards Washington Island. | |
Most of Rock Island is a dense forest accessed via hiking trails. | |
Although life on the island must have been terribly lonely, the quarters seemed pretty comfortable. Most lighthouse keepers only stayed for a year, however four keepers stayed for very long stretches. | |
We found this huge snake sunning itself on the path. It started to take off as soon as we came upon him and I couldn’t get a good photo. He (or she, I didn’t check) was 5’ long and 3” in diameter at its widest spot. Most Wisconsin snakes are harmless and I have no phobias regarding snakes, however when I approached it, he gave off a distinct rattle. That sound, I admit, rattled me. I immediately looked at his tail. I didn’t discern a rattler on his tail, but with the speed of his slithering I didn’t get a good look. Later, I looked up big Wisconsin snakes and found two that looked like my guy - Bull Snake and Timber Rattler. My guess? It was probably a Bull Snake, but there was that rattling sound. | |
Fernwood Trail was the cut-off trail that we took to shorten our hike to 3.5 miles. The name was appropriate as the trail was lined with big green ferns. | |
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With the final return trip to the mainland at 6 pm, we had 90 minutes to bike back to the Washington Island ferry on the other side of the island. Being only 9 miles away, we knew we had plenty of time. We took a different route back that was a bit longer and we stopped off for ice cream at a shop along the way. Washington Island is very pretty and very rural. It has a tiny permanent population. The winter isolation must be brutal, but summers are slow and delicious on the island. There are wonderful parks; a beach; an observation tower on a tall hill in the middle of the island; some nice taverns; a couple of small museums; miles of paved back roads; rustic B’n’Bs; a nice mix of forest and small farms; and lots of Lake Michigan shoreline.
The island has a small grass-strip airport. When we owned our airplane we used to often fly to the island. We had these cool Italian-made folding motorbikes that fit in the back seat of our Piper Cherokee airplane. They were perfect for island transportation. I do miss those days.
Once back on the mainland, we slowly drove the back roads back to camp. After a quick shower in our privacy tent, we turned in early.
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Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. | | | | |
