The Big Spring

 

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge, a few days ago, and have made our way into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We are staying at Indian Lake State Park, through the weekend, before heading to the northern part of the UP. This area is popular but not too overly crowded.

An attraction we discovered near our campground, called the Big Spring (or its Native American name, Kitch-iti-kipi) has ended up being one of my favorite touristy outings of this trip.

The pristine water is 40 feet deep and is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring. I borrowed an aerial photo, I found on Reddit, to show how clear the water is and the self-operated raft, the park has put in place, that allows visitors to pull the raft, by cable, across the spring and back again. From the glass bottom raft you can see large trout and more than 10,000 gallons of water, a minute, gushing from fissures, in the underlying limestone, into the spring. The water keeps the spring at a constant 45° F so it never freezes.

Not only was the attraction really cool to see and experience but it was also dog friendly!