Silver City, MI to Bayfield, WI

Porcupine Wilderness State Park is Michigan's largest state park. We hiked up a mostly boardwalk trail through beautiful old-growth forest to an overlook of Lake of the Clouds. In another area of the park, we drove to the trailhead for Summit Peak, the highest point in the park. However, as we arrived, the gray skies unleashed torrents of rain. It quickly subsided, but the skies looked threatening, and we were dissuaded from our hike by the prospect of a) muddy trail, b) another rainstorm, and c) the description of rocky, root-covered paths and steep steps.

We drove on to Bayfield and got settled into our VRBO, a cute, old, 2-story house with ample room for us. After lunch, we replenished our grocery supplies at a local store, and began to explore this area.

Our first stop was an easy stroll through Beaver Hollow Nature Trail at Beaver Hollow Nature Preserves, a well-designed boardwalk through wetlands. We listened and watched for birds, and enjoyed the relaxing environment. On our way to the nature trail, we passed several orchards, and were perplexed by some fields of unidentified fruit. Blueberries? Too large. Plums? They grow on trees, not bushes. Grapes? Well, the sign said winery, so after the nature trail, we drove up to the farm to check it out. A few folks had picked substantial amounts of blueberries (big boxes, 15 pounds each) and, as we asked around, an older bearded gentleman, Richard Dale, began answering our questions. Richard was the founder and retired owner! We wanted to know what currants were, since we saw a sign about them. Boy, howdy, did we get a lesson! Here is the summary:

Red and black currants are VERY common in Europe, but are not currently (pun) in the US because the lumber industry got them banned in 1911 (fear of a fungal disease that might spread to white pines). That ban lifted in 1966, but the knowlege of farming currants got lost from a generation of immigrants. Richard climbed in our car and took us on a tour of his field of currants and fields of blueberries. (The massive blueberries were what we saw from the road). We picked and tasted and delighted in his stories. Here is an example. Jane asked about wildlife eating his produce (since this area is wilderness). He explained about his electrified fence and said that before he put it in, he'd find 7-8 bears EVERY MORNING, having eaten their fill, and ready for their nap!

Richard gave us 2 pints of fat, juicy blueberries, plus we had a few handfuls of currants from the field. When we got back to our VRBO, I made an improvised jam of just 1/4 cup blueberries and the few currants we had. We had that with toast after our dinner. Delish!!!Read more