Lakenenland / Presque Isle Park
Day 1 in Marquette, MI | Visiting Lakenenland | Hiking Around Presque Isle Park | April 2024
Our week in Marquette started off rainy and cold. After spending almost a month in Southeastern Pennsylvania watching spring arrive, it felt like jumping back a season, and it was hard to re-adjust to colder temperatures. But we were still excited to be here and enjoy the area, so we managed to get out and brave the cold every day. We had driven through Marquette before, and also visited Curtis’ sister here last summer, but this was the first time we’d been able to spend more time getting to know this area.
On our first day here, it rained quite a bit throughout the day, but eager as we were to get out, we waited for the first break in the rain to go for a short walk at a nearby attraction called Lakenenland Sculpture Park. The park consists of a wide dirt road which you can either drive or walk on through the woods, where sculptures created by Tom Lakenen and others are scattered all around. The park is open 24/7 (which my #vanlife brain sees and immediately thinks, so can I park here overnight??) and it’s also open in the winter for snowshoeing and snowmobiling. Given the threat of rain, it might have been more comfortable for us to drive around today, but all of the sculptures are unique and interesting, so we decided it was worth taking the extra time to walk around with our umbrellas.
While Curtis and his parents letterboxed and lingered longer at each of the sculptures, Charlotte decided it was the perfect day for a walk and led me through the park at a quick pace. Halfway through it started to rain, but she didn’t let that deter her from taking a second loop, during which it started to downpour. I took the reigns from there and led her to a pavillion where the others came and joined us to stay dry. Eventually we gave up on waiting for the rain to stop, knowing we’d come back here later in the week when our nieces and nephew arrived. We drove back to the house for lunch and to rest, and the guys went to help Curtis’ sister move out of her house.
Later that afternoon once the rain had cleared, we went out on an evening walk with Curtis’ parents at Presque Isle Park — the dogs had to stay behind because they weren’t allowed on the trails. Right as we arrived, a giant ore ship was pulling in, so we watched to see it make port and prepare to unload (we later learned that this was the Lee A. Tregurtha, previously the USS Chiwawa – a WWII era tanker with quite the service record). After that, we went for a long walk, going around the isle in a counter-clockwise loop on the road which was closed to traffic. Having seen the phrase “Presque Isle” used for several different places in the upper peninsula, Curtis did a little research and learned that it means “almost an island” in French, which I guess is an accurate way of describing a peninsula!
The sky was still thick with clouds, which gave a cool gray and moody vibe to our walk. We enjoyed the lookouts over the rugged cliffs and watching the water crash into the rocks at the Black Sand Beach. It definitely had hints of the Maine or PNW coastline vibes that we’ve loved visiting in the past. The dreary weather may have added to our experience here today, but we were looking forward to having a clear day here to hike some of the nearby peaks! Altogether, our walk was about 2.5 miles long — you can see our AllTrails recording here.
When we got back to the car, we lucked out to arrive just in time to see the ore freighter begin loading from the ore docks. That’s the first time we’ve watched something like that happen!
