H-58 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is undeniably scenic as it skirts the southern shore of Lake Superior near and through the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Scenic turnoffs and a quiet weekday in early summer made it possible for us to enjoy a leisurely ride along this road between Munising and Grand Marais, but there was something missing for us this time through the area.
Pretty as the road is these days, we missed the sense of adventure and the truer view of northern Michigan's rugged beauty we'd experienced in when we traveled H-58 during the mid-1990s.
The trip along the silky asphalt ribbon of H-58 today can take as little as 45 minutes.
Years ago, a similar trek could take at least twice the time and entail double the adventure...that is if you had a vehicle capable of making the drive over the sand-covered road.
We had a nice time as my sporty little yellow Focus made reasonably quick work of this route earlier this summer, but I recently dug out some old images of our drive along the route in about 1996 as part of a trip we made around Lake Superior.
I owned a trusty green Explorer SUV back then and, as you can see from those old photos, the sand over the road was quite deep in places.
As much as travelers and outdoor enthusiasts appreciated the H-58 experience in those earlier days, the current road offers a bit more accessibility to the park and places like Grand Marais.
Parts of this county road (which travels through mostly Alger and a part of Luce counties) existed as early as the late 1920s as earthen road, perhaps covered in gravel in parts.
Congress authorized the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as the United States' first national lakeshore in 1966. The legislation required a "scenic shoreline drive" as part of the park's development, but it didn't specify where it exactly would be and, citing more pressing concerns like the Vietnam conflict, did not appropriate funds to design or build the road.
The old road remained difficult to repair or maintain.
Years passed.
Pressure increased for the idea of funding a proper road, but many other people opposed building a road through pristine portions of the park.
Proposals to construct a new 13-mile road through the Beaver Basin wilderness created even more controversy.
Residents, business people, government officials, environmentalists and tourists all had differing points of view.
It took a number of years and a lot of negotiation before a compromise allowed planning and work to go forward. In 1998, Congress amended the original legislation establishing the park to scrap the proposed Beaver Basin Rim Road, protect some of the most remote parts of the park's wilderness area and provide the improved access many locals desired. The compromise included establishing the protected Beaver Basin Wilderness in the central part of the park and agreeing to reconstruct and pave the existing H-58 route.
A plan to improve the road by straightening out some of its sharpest twists and leveling out some of its steepest grades was in place by 2005. Officials also authorized money to come from the Federal High Priority Fund (80 percent) and the Michigan Local Jobs Today program (20 percent).
Five years and more than $13 million later, the last 19 miles of H-58 between Munising and Grand Marias complete, ribbon-cutting ceremonies during the autumn of 2010 marked the official re-opening of the nearly 70-mile route between Munising and Grand Marias.
Planners attempted to answer environmentalists' concerns about increased traffic and noise the paving expected to bring to the road by designing the road for a 40 mph speed limit.
The newly paved road offered better access to many areas of the park like Miner's Castle on the western end of the park near Munising, Sable Falls and the Grand Sable Dunes on the eastern end of the park near Grand Marais and trailheads for hikers in between.
Drivers of larger vehicles like RVs could navigate a route that remained impassible to them for many years.
The stretch of road quickly became popular with motorcyclists and drivers wishing to press beyond the 40 mph speed limit.
Fans of the paving hoped it would boost the local economy by spurring spending on tourism, real estate and with local businesses.
Some expressed their displeasure with the finished project by scattering nails along the route just after it re-opened, causing a number of vehicles to get flat tires.
We saw little traffic and little sign of the lengthy controversy over the route during our most recent ride along the road.
It was a nice ride, but we still missed a little of the adventure of that formerly slow sojourn through a seemingly unspoiled wilderness that previously marked the trip along H-58.
Want to learn more about H-58 and other scenic drives in Michigan? Check out Scenic Driving Michigan by Kathy-Jo Wargin or Delorme's Michigan Atlas & Gazetteer.
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© Dominique King 2013 All rights reserved
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