Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan - July 14th, 2021
When traveling for long periods of time, sometimes you just need a day to relax. Camping near Garden, Michigan for two nights gave us a chance to do just that. We even felt like taking in a small nearby attraction, Kitch-iti-kipi.
Tuesday was a driving and resupply day. On the way from Potawatomi State Park in Wisconsin to Bay Ridge RV Park in Garden, Michigan, we stopped in Escanaba, Michigan for groceries and a picnic lunch. We found Ludington Park right on the bay for a wonderful picnic. For ice cream afterwards, we didn’t even have to go looking for an ice cream shop. It came to us! The Sticky Fingers food truck was parked right in the park, serving Jilbert Dairy ice cream from Marquette, Michigan. RB tried to have a Mint Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream cone, but the man would only serve that flavor in a dish. He said the chunks of fudge are too large and would not stay on a cone. He was right. The fudge was thin, but in large sheets. Very tasty. LB had vanilla and butter pecan in a cone.
We arrived at Bay Ridge RV Park with plenty of time to get two loads of laundry through the single washing machine and dryer. The rest of the evening we stared at the bay from our camp site.
Since our laundry and grocery shopping was done, we headed out to Kitch-iti-kipi or the Big Spring on Wednesday morning. Kitch-iti-kipi is the largest natural freshwater spring in Michigan. It is located in Palm Books State Park. Just like all of Michigan’s state parks, it is $9 per out-of-state vehicle to enter. We had an annual Michigan state park pass, so we did not have to pay any additional fees. There is not much to the park other than the spring. There are probably hiking trails, but we did not investigate.
There is a raft that is pulled across the spring on a cable so visitors can get a good view down into the clear water of the spring. One of the visitors turns a large wheel to propel the raft across the spring and back. Kids love to take a turn at the wheel. You can see the water bubbling into the spring at the bottom from the raft. The water pumps in at a rate of 10,000 gallons per minute. If you are in the area or passing through, it is worth a stop. You can visit the spring in less than hour. It all depends on how long the line is to get on the raft. We don’t know how long the line gets during the day. We were there between 9 am and 10 am on a weekday and only had to wait for one round trip of the raft to get on. However, it looked like the number of people there was increasing as we left.
The rest of the day we hung out at the RV park. It is not a large park. Most of the camp sites are in the shade. Again we stared at the bay from our camp site. We managed to finish dinner before the rain started. Laying in bed that night, listening to the rain drum on the roof of our van reminded LB of visiting his grandmother as a child, listening to the rain beat on the tin roof of her house.
Taking a day to recharge ourselves gave us the energy to get ready for our next big adventure. We were heading up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore next. So many people have told us how great it is, so we were looking forward to it.
Check out our related video: Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan
(RB)