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See the wonders of Michigan, by air, land or sea By Kristyne E. Demske
With gas prices hovering around the $4 mark, it may seem counterintuitive to hop in the car for a long weekend drive, but rising airline costs are pricing many people out of faraway vacations. And since everyone’s working to save the environment, it’s a great time to go green by going to see some green: enjoy some of Michigan’s natural wonders, in the sky, on land or by boat. First, head west on I-96 to Howell, where the Brighton Recreation Area is gaining attention among bird enthusiasts. With 4,947 acres of hills and lakes, the area is great for horseback riding, biking and hiking. But Kirsten Borgstrom, of Travel Michigan, said the real treasures there are found in the air, as ornithologists flock to the area. “It’s becoming quite popular in the state of Michigan,” she said. There are “so many types of birds that you can see here, and really only here, in the spring and summer seasons.” Chris Kargel, a park ranger, said the area has a wide variety of habitats, from mature hardwoods to wetlands to prairie fens, which are only found in certain parts of the Midwest, left over from glaciers thousands of years ago. “Some of the better areas to bird watch are actually fairly easily accessible,” he said. “Especially during the spring migration, you can see a wide variety of birds right along some of the campground roads,” and the gravel access roads in the park. He said the area is home to several species of special concern whose populations are on the decline: cerulean warbler, marsh wren and hooded warbler. Ornithologists can also spot the pine warbler and the blackburnian warbler, species that aren’t usually seen this far south. Head further northwest to Baldwin, off US-10 and M-37, where a rustic hunting lodge will rise out of the forest. The Shrine of the Pines was originally built by Raymond W. Overholzer, whose life’s passion was carving wood furniture. The Shrine was created without the use of glue or any other adhesive. All of the furniture is made from reclaimed white pine tree stumps and roots left behind in the 1920s by the logging industry. “When you walk in, it’s overwhelming,” Borgstrom said. The cabin was built in 1941 to house more than 200 artifacts, including a 700-pound tree stump and a rocking chair fashioned from the roots of a tree. The chair is so well balanced that it rocks 55 times with just one push. “The pieces that are there are what he was able to do during his lifetime,” Borgstrom said. North and east of Baldwin, off of I-75, take a ride on the Inland Waterway in Indian River. It’s the state’s longest chain of rivers and lakes, which American Indians and fur traders used to get their wares from the Cheboygan River out to Michigan’s west coast. “If people are interested in boating, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, that kind of thing, you can actually go from Cheboygan all the way across into Lake Michigan,” Borgstrom said. The waterway flows from the Cheboygan River to Mullett Lake, down Indian River to Burt Lake, then down Crooked River to Crooked Lake and on to Little Traverse Bay. To the north, the Cheboygan River flows out to Lake Huron. The area provides 30 miles of river and 150 miles of shoreline. But before boaters leave the Indian River area for the coast, check out the Cross in the Woods. The 55-foot-tall, 22-foot-wide cross was carved out of a single redwood tree, Borgstrom said, and has a bronze figure sculpted by Michigan artist Marshall Fredericks at the top. “It’s just another unique thing to go and see,” Borgstrom said. For more information on Michigan travel destinations, log on to www.michigan.org. You can reach Staff Writer Kristyne E. Demske at kdemske@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1041.
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