From Saint Paul I took a somewhat indirect route with a couple kinks in it through northwestern Wisconsin in which I managed to "collect" the last 7 counties I had not been in in the state, so I can add it to the list of states where I have been in all the counties. I camped in a state park near Hayward, the small town in the north woods where the Birkebeiner, the best known long distance cross country ski race in North American, takes place each February.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula, known just as “The U P”, is a quite long narrow piece of real estate and took me nearly a full day to cross with a couple short stops at a waterfall and some time on a beach along Lake Superior east of Marquette . In contrast to some northerly waters, Lake Superior is deep enough that its water stays permanently frigid through the summer; my dip in the Lake didn’t last more than a few minutes. Most of the UP is heavily forested and real north woods country and many parts, particularly the western copper mining areas were settled mostly by Finns and Cornish, which is why the Pasty (a bough pocket stuffed with a fairly bland combo of meat and potato) is the national food of the U P. I camped the next night near Munising, a small town along an attractive bay along the lake neat Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I took a drive into the park and to a few overlooks, but you apparently need to be on a boat on the lake to get a decent views of the colorful cliffs that give the park its name.