Alger County has been a part of my life for over 25 years now and I've enjoyed every minute of it. City life really is not for me. And I think the majority of the residents living in Alger County will feel the same way as I do. The reason why I have created this site is for me to talk about my experiences with the wide-range of people I've encountered visiting the area. People from all around the globe find out about Munising and want to visit, especially during the summer. The main reason why vacationers come to the Munising area is to see the Pictured Rocks. Not only that, but there are also a lot of campers wishing to live in exclusion of the
In an ordinary small town in the Midwest, it would be very difficult to draw tourists into the community. It takes a community to have a formidable image before tourists start to come. But Munising isn't an ordinary Midwestern town. Munising is quite famous for being the gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and a variety of other tourist spots. Thousands from across the nation and world visit the National Park and Munising in general. Munising doesn't have any trouble at all drawing in tourists from all across the globe, and they have Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the Upper Peninsula's beauty to thank for that.
Hiawatha National Forest, even for just a day or two. And of course, I came across many families with children, looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives in the bigger cities, wishing to spend a bit of time in solitude and seclusion in the beautiful U.P. The most fascinating people that I came across were those who visited from across the "pond." You would be surprised to see how many people from foreign countries that came into Munising.
I was able to witness many of the tourists first hand that came to Munising
while at one of the local grocery stores. The foreigners usually traveled
within a group of two to five people and they never really had a lot of items to
purchase. It would be just enough for a lunch, or even breakfast if it was that
early enough. They would talk amongst themselves in a foreign dialect, but
whenever they talked to a cashier or a local resident, they spoke in perfect
English. No visitor seemed to have a problem speaking the English language,
which I was glad to see. Now, if it were me visiting
another country, I wouldn't know what to do, seeing that the only language I speak is English. Communicating with the natives would certainly be difficult. The visitors from other countries were really polite and I tried to be just as polite back. Can you imagine flying halfway across the world and coming to such a small town like Munising? But Pictured Rocks is what draws them here and I was happy to have seen that first hand. I found it quite amazing that many visitors seemed to come from Germany, the Netherlands, or Poland. I saw many people from those particular countries come into the store and purchase groceries. Tourists also come to Munising and Alger County as a whole during Autumn to witness some of the best fall foliage in the United States. The Hiawatha Forest is a thick woodland with miles and miles of maple trees. When the first frost hits and the days get noticeably cooler, the leaves begin their gradual change, and when the foliage is at 100% peak, the view from all across Alger County can be absolutely breath taking. Views from some of the scenic lookouts along M-28 near Munising and at Pictured Rocks are the most brilliant of the colors.
The summer time is really the busiest for the city of
Musining. Not only is there a huge influx of visitors coming to see the
Pictured Rocks, but Munising is also known for its Fourth of July celebrations,
which draw thousands. The period around the Fourth tends to be the busiest and
that is reflected in the amount of people that are hired to help out during the
summer. Pictured Rocks boat cruises are also a huge draw to the region. People
are able to get a close encounter with the mammoth rock structures that were
formed thousands and thousands of years ago by the glaciers. The
tour can take as long as three hours, but it's a wonderful tour to take if you have the chance. It's not uncommon for the park around the Pictured Rocks boat facility and the Munising Marina to be packed with people, waiting to get a chance to go on the tour. I witnessed that many times over the summer while enjoying the wonderful scenery of Bayshore Park in Munsing. Not only is there the regular Pictured Rocks Boat Tour, but there is also the Glass Bottom Boat Tour. This is the boat tour that goes out into the depths of Lake Superior north of Munising for the ship wrecks of long ago. The neat feature of the tour is that the boat you travel on has a glass bottom. So, when you're sitting on the boat, you can actually see the ship wrecks and other "living creatures" down below at your feet. It really is a neat adventure, and it's great that Munising has something so great to offer. I haven't actually gone on the tour myself, but from what I hear, it really is a great tour.
Munising does draw a lot of campers and nature enthusiasts to the area. The
city is right within the heart of the Hiawatha National Forest and the
headquarters for the forest is located in Munising. The North Country Trail
also curves through the heart of the Hiawatha National Forest, which is also a
draw for nature enthusiasts. Waterfalls are abundant in Alger County and a
number are located right within and around the Munising area. The Upper
Peninsula has over 100 waterfalls and it's amazing that Alger County accounts
for about a dozen of those falls. Superior Avenue in
downtown Munising is home to a lot of local shops and restaurants. I know many people seem to think that M-28 is the main road through town with all of the businesses along it, but that is not the case. I often get asked about the locality of a certain business or a type of business and I direct them to many stores and businesses along Superior Avenue. I know that Muldoon's has some of the best pasties in town and the Dogpatch Restaurant has some of the best food in general.
Munising is growing in the commercial sector. Even though most of the larger
acreage around town is occupied, there's still more room further out. In fact,
the town of Wetmore seems to be gaining some of the space that Munising can't
handle. Now, there's plenty of housing available for new families to come and
move into Munising, but as far as the larger businesses and retailing, they have
to relocate out a bit. That's one of the success stories involving Wetmore.
Wetmore is a small town not even half the size of Munising, yet, the town is
drawing large businesses like Pamida
Discount Store, several famous hotel chains, as well as other small businesses like banks and gas stations. Wetmore is only 3 miles Southeast of Munising on M-28. Not only is Munising a big tourist draw in the summer and fall, but also in the winter. Munising is also a snowmobiling Mecca. Thousands and thousands of snowmobilers converge on the snowmobiling capital of the Midwest (if not the world)! The abundance of snowmobile trails and the excellent care of the trails is one of the reasons why snowmobilers come into the city and make lengthy stays. Munising also gets dumped on with a couple hundred inches of snow each winter, making it a very susceptible place to support winter-time sports. When there is enough snow on the ground, it gets to be pretty difficult to find a hotel room because the hotels are all filled with visiting snowmobilers! Not only snowmobiling, but cross country skiing and snow shoeing are also very popular winter-time activities. Munising is also home to an ice climbing tournament held in January out at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I am not a resident of Munising, yet I have come to know it a lot better than I did before. There are many unique things about Munising, and many of those unique things is what makes the town of Munising so special. In fact, it's the reason why so many can't break away and move on. It's such an amazing town with such natural beauty. And once you get a chance to visit, you'll realize why people find the town of Munising, such a wonderful tourist destination year round.