72 - Helpful Area Information

For visitor info on ESCANABA, GLADSTONE, RAPID RIVER, and FAYETTE, contact Bays de Noc Visitors' Bureau. Call
(800) 533-4FUN or (906) 789-7862 or visit their website. Or you can stop by the easy-to-find downtown Escanaba office at 230 Ludington across from the House of Ludington, near the lighthouse and marina. It gives info on charter fishing and on lodgings of 10 rooms and up. The Bureau shares space with the Delta County Commerce Center (888-DELTAMI; 906-789-2192). Both are open weekdays from 9 to 5, with brochures in the 24-hour lobby. . . The city of Escanaba has quite an interesting and helpful website . . . Of course, the state welcome centers at the twin cities of MENOMINEE, Michigan, and MARINETTE, Wisconsin, have loads of visitor information for their areas and their entire states. The Michigan Welcome Center is in a quaint log building on U.S. 41 (1343 10th Ave.) at the foot of the Interstate Bridge by the M&M Plaza shopping center in central Menominee. (906) 863-6496. Currently open 5 days a week. Call for hours. . . . Marinette County calls itself "the waterfall capital of Wisconsin" with many waterfalls on the Menominee, Peshtigo, and Pike rivers. Its tourism site has waterfall maps and tours, and well-organized information about recreational opportunities in this large county. . . . . Wisconsin Travel/Marinette Welcome Center is off Riverside Drive in downtown Marinette, next to the Stephenson Public Library. From Michigan, take U.S. 41 across the Interstate Bridge and take either the first right, or the second right (closer to building). Call (715) 732-4333. Open daily 9-5 in summer. From Oct thru May closed Thurs and Sun. Much info is also is on 24-hour night racks, year-round. . . . The combined Marinette/Menominee Chamber of Commerce office (715-735-6681) is in Marinette at 601 Marinette Ave./U.S. 41 (across from Walgreen's), six blocks south of the river and Interstate Bridge. Hours are Mon-Fri 8-4 Central.

PUBLIC LANDS:
In addition to developed recreational areas, public lands can offer visitors much beyond hunting: fishing, birding, hiking, canoeing, dispersed off-trail camping, horseback-riding, blueberry-picking, and more. It pays to seek out information.
♦ Extensive areas of the HIAWATHA NATIONAL FOREST are in the eastern and northern part of Delta County, from Rapid River east and north. Its office and interpretive center has the usual helpful staff, handouts, and maps, plus a small nature bookstore. It's at 8181 U.S. 2, three miles east of Rapid River. Open weekdays from 8 to 4:30 p.m. Call (906) 474-6442 or look in at fs.usda.gov/hiawatha
♦ Considerable MICHIGAN STATE FOREST land in Delta and Menominee counties includes mostly wetlands and some rivers land. Most state land is administered by the Michigan DNR management office in Gladstone at 6833 U.S. 2/U.S. 41/M-35 (906-786-2354). See their website for some state forest recreation info about Delta and Menominee counties.
♦ MARINETTE COUNTY, Wisconsin, is unusually large. (It extends north almost to Iron Mountain.) In the 1930s Wisconsin set up county forests to manage and restore cutover forestland. The Marinette County Forest has 230,000 acres, including some beautiful parks, waterways, trails for cross-country skiing and snowmobiling, spectacular waterfalls, kayaking rivers, and rapids for whitewater rafting. . .The information-rich Marinette County web site, marinettecounty.com, has loads of links to get online maps of county parks and of trails for walking, bicycling, and ATVs in different parts of the county.
♦ A Wisconsin DNR regional office is in Peshtigo (715-582-5000). The extensive wetlands by the Peshtigo River's rivermouth are rich in wildlife. Unfortunately, they have been invaded by the fast-growing phragmites reed.

GUIDES AND CHARTER CAPTAINS:
Big and Little Bays de Noc are famous for walleye fishing. See a detailed fishing report on Bays de Noc website for realistic notes about changing walleye locations due to the quagga and zebra mussels. Steelhead, salmon, brown trout, and lake trout are other species. Ice fishing for most of these species is a big deal. Note: lately clearer water from the mussels have reduced alewives, a primary fish food. As a result, fish have been moving to new places in the area. Phone contacts sometimes more effective than e-mail. . . . Tourism for Marinette County is covered at The Real North. Its descriptions of that large county's fishing and flyfishing opportunities, centered on the Peshtigo River, are excellent. . . Charters based in GLADSTONE and RAPID RIVER: Bay de Noc Charters (walleye) at (906) 384-6472; kandhlee@uplogon.com. . . Bill Myers' Delta Dawn at (906) 428-9039 or 906-779-1135; deltadawncharters@yahoo.com. . . . Mark Peloza at Hawg Heaven Guide Service at (906) 482-3809; hawgheaven@upmichigan.net. Ice fishing also offered. . . Walleye's Choice Fishing, Tackle & Charter Service with Keith Wils at (906) 428-1488; (888) 883-4741; walleyeschoice@yahoo.com, at10132 M-35, Gladstone. . .. . Tom Gudwer's Fishing Fever Charter (906) 359-446-3227. Also fishes out of Manistique and Marquette. . . Take Five Fishing Charters with Dick Stafford. (906)_ 789-0110. rstafford@up.net. . . CEDAR RIVER: Jim McDonald's Fin Addict Charters focuses on walleye andF="http://walleyemadnessfishing.com">Walleye Madness (715-582-9090) is based at Peshtigo Harbor.

EVENTS:
For the ESCANABA area, consult the calendar on travelbaysdenoc.com or call (800) 533-4386. . . Varied fishing tournaments and occasional big-name golf tournaments are staples. . . The Upper Peninsula State Fair, now Michigan's only state fair, is the third full week in August. Exhibits are mainly farm-oriented, with the familiar rides and big-name country entertainers of typical state fairs. . ..The first weekend of August brings the Waterfront Art Festival to Ludington Park. For MENOMINEE and MARINETTE (715-732-4333; mandmchamber.com) there's the 100-Mile Sailboat Race leaving from the marina on July 4 weekend, and the Waterfront Festival on the first full weekend of August, with a big parade, fireworks, music. (Reserve rooms early.) The last Sunday in June, Menominee's marina park hosts the Art for All art fair, the same day as the Menominee River Century Ride in Marinette County. Bike rides begin at 15k. . . . Since 1982 country music fans in campers have descended on a field in rural Porterfield, Wisconsin, 7 miles outside Marinette, on a weekend in June. The Porterfield Country Music Festival is one of those events that just grew and grew. Around $100 buys a weekend (Thurs.-Sun.) of music by some of the biggest stars of country music and up-and-coming musicians.

PICNIC PROVISIONS and PLACES
Most of these places are "points of interest" described in this book, and often mapped.
♦ In ESCANABA, Ludington Park on the waterfront is just about a perfect picnic spot. Most picnic areas are towards the park's south end. . . .There's convenient, quality takeout at Stone's Deli at 1220 Ludington (sandwiches and salads) and at Dobber's Pasties next to K-Mart on U.S. 2. The big supermarket in Escanaba is Super One Foods. It's on the west side of North Lincoln/U.S. 41/U.S. 2, a couple blocks north of the M-35/U.S. 2 intersection, in the direction of Gladstone.
♦ The Little Bay de Noc beach at VanCleve Park in GLADSTONE is a wonderful place to swim and picnic. The Kids' Kingdom playground is exceptional. . . . Quality, handy takeout is from The Corner Bakery (sandwiches, soups, desserts) at 824 Delta at 9th.
♦ OFF U. S. 2 heading east from Rapid River, picnic spots are Little Bay de Noc Recreation Area with giant hemlocks and remote Peninsula Point with its lighthouse tower. . . .See above for Escanaba-area takeout. Coming from the east? Stop at Jack's Fresh Market on the east side of Manistique, by Pamida.
♦ Most of the PARKS ALONG M-35 between Escanaba and Menominee have picnic areas and sandy swimming beaches. From north to south, they are Fuller Park, Fox Park, Wells State Park, and Kleinke Park. See our "Parks along Green Bay" map and look under "The Green Bay shore" and "Cedar River" for details. . . . Bring food from Escanaba or from Schloegel's or the Wildflower Café in Menominee, or stop for broasted chicken, pizza, or whitefish at The Lighthouse in Cedar River.

♦ For convenient and tasty takeout in MENOMINEE, there's the Wildlflower Café on the east side of U.S. 41 south of the AmericInn (bagel sandwiches, salads) and Schloegel's for pasties, sandwiches, and pot roast melts. It's on the east side of 10th St./U.S. 41 as you enter tn. Angeli's Central Market has a huge salad bar with Italian specialties. It's at the foot of the Interstate Bridge in the M&M Plaza on U.S. 41. . . Menominee has three beautiful parks on Green Bay: downtown's harborfront park on First St. by the marina, Tourist Park farther south (lighthouse view, swimming), and Henes Park on a peninsula on the north edge of town. . . There's also a picnic area at Stephenson Island, the downtown Marinette park surrounded by the Menominee River and reached by a footbridge or by car from the Interstate Bridge/U.S. 41.

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