Chapel Beach

Grand Portal Point 2 | 3 | 4

Mosquito Beach 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Miners Castle Area

Cliffs

Miners Castle 11 | 12 | 13

Potato Patch

Return Hike 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

Flowers

Lunchtime over with, we crossed Miner's Creek and turned left onto the trail up the hill to the main parking area for Miner's Castle, one of three areas in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore accessible by car. The sun started poking out seriously, and the wildflowers on this hill were as abundant and varied as any we'd ever seen anywhere. Forget-me-nots, Canada violets, ferns, and many other flowers were blooming in profusion.

After a brief struggle up the hill, we broke out onto a paved trail, and saw the main shelter at the Miner's Castle. We opted not to spend too much time here, as our final campsite was another mile and a half downtrail. We used the (running water!) facilities and topped off our water tanks, and headed toward the Cliffs campsite, knowing we'd be back this way in the morning to take pictures in better light.

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