To Cleveland and back

June 19, 2021

No, not that Cleveland. Cleveland, WI, a lakeside village with a population of about 1,500.

We’re on a layover day here at Two Rivers, a fact that makes us very happy as we sit at our lakeside table over breakfast watching the the weather roll by. For about a half hour it puts on a spectacular show for us as cloud formations build up dramatically and then transform before your eyes and bands of lighting flicker further out on the lake. It was raining hard when we first looked out the window, then hardly raining. Then, abruptly, a short but intense hailstorm that whitens the surface of the lake with tiny eruptions.

We’re here a second night because we’re waiting for our passage to Michigan. We’re ticketed to ride the Badger across Lake Michigan to Ludington, but there’s no crossing scheduled on Saturday so we have to wait a day. I forget now why we planned a second night here rather than just arriving the night before departure, but it works well. We’ll spend the day on a ride further down the lake and back. Once the rains cease and the weather stabilizes, that is.

Why Cleveland? Because it’s 21 miles away, naturally.

The ride begins with six miles along the Mariner’s Trail, the paved lakeshore bike path that connects Two Rivers with its sister city to the south, Manitowoc. Manitowoc is also the departure point for the Badger, so we’ll be biking this stretch again tomorrow morning. Fine with us - it’s a lovely, relaxed ride. Conditions are perfect, almost coolish, with a high today of only 65 - nearly 20 degrees cooler than yesterday.

Leaving our motel (the Lighthouse Inn). The Mariner’s Trail starts right by its parking lot.

On the Mariner’s Trail. Manitowoc is visible down at the end of the water.

Six easy miles later we arrive in Manitowoc. The town looks interesting, but rather than hold up the ride and my partner for photographs now I decide I’ll just stop here on the return and let Rachael bike home alone while I poke around a bit.

After we bike through a couple of miles of Manitowoc’s neighborhoods we emerge on Lakeside Road and ride it all the way south. It’s not quite the idyllic riding we found on the version of Lakeside Road north of Two Rivers, but still a very nice ride. This version is a two lane striped road that carries a modest bit of traffic but still feels quiet and pleasant. We don’t pass any compelling sights, so I decide to let the video tell the tale today and we just ride. If I could have though, I would love to have captured a photo of the deer that bolted out of the brush and raced across the road maybe forty feet in front of me and then shot arrow like through a gap in the trees.

Video sound track: Air, by Jesse Cook

We reach Cleveland, put in our 21 miles, and turn back. A mile later we come to the village’s tiny waterfront park, lean our bikes against a massive willow tree, and sit on the lakeside rocks to enjoy our lunch.

In Hika Park, Cleveland. It’s finally warmed up enough to shed our outer layers.

And then we bike back again. When we reach Manitowoc I pull off to explore downtown alone while Rachael continues on. I’m favorably impressed by Manitowoc. It has some impressive structures, the remarkable county courthouse especially; and the waterfront is nicely developed with an attractive park. It feels like there’s a real sense of civic pride here.

The Manitowoc River runs to the lake here, and a pair of long breakwaters protects the harbor. There’s an impressive pier lighthouse at the end of the northern breakwater, but the end of the southern one is oddly bare. Its lighthouse washed into the sea in a violent storm just two years ago.

It’s a pretty small place, but there’s enough here that I could imagine settling here someday. Rachael and I have been taking note of the horrifying heatwave that is savaging so much of the west now, and speculating about where climate refugees might emigrate to in the not too distant future. Manitowoc might have a real revival in its future.

The pier light at the end of the north jetty.

Gothic St. Boniface Church opened in 1885 but shuttered fifteen years ago. The plan is to demolish it and convert the space into a park.

The Manitowoc County Courthouse dominates the town’s skyline.

The striking stainless steel dome is a replacement for the original glass one that was damaged in a wind storm in 1950.

Perhaps the most prominent feature in town is the submarine moored in the harbor. For the first half of the last century the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company was the primary industry in town, building steel ferries and ore haulers for trafficking the Great Lakes. During the Second World War though it was commissioned with building submarines for the war effort, which then sailed to Chicago and were dry dock shipped through canals and down the Mississippi to New Orleans.

The Manitowoc shipyard produced 28 submarines during the 2nd world war. One, the USS Cobia, is permanently moored here as an exhibit, part of the Manitowoc Maritime Museum. Along the walkway beside it are colorful banners, one for each of the 28 submarines.

Honoring Manitowoc’s submarine construction to the war effort.

Informative plaques honoring each of the submarines line the harbor side.

Finally, it’s time to bike back home - a relaxed, lazy six miles along the lake makes a fine way to end the outing, and our tour of Wisconsin. Tomorrow, Michigan!

Those are some courageous fishermen. It makes me anxious just imagining walking out there.

Looking south along the Mariner’s trail to Manitowoc.

This is an odd sculpture. As Rachael noted, its plaque speaks extensively about the canoe, but doesn’t mention at all the three Native Americans.

The Badger, which we’ll ride across the lake on tomorrow, is the last coal fired steamship operating in the country. We’ll need to purchase some carbon offsets after the voyage.

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Ride stats today: 43 miles, 1,100’; for the tour: 834 miles, 25,300’

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 834 miles (1,342 km)

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Rachel and Patrick HugensNice pics, and info, well be coming up from sheboygan to manitowoc for the ferry. Was it difficult to get a ticket?
Racpat
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Rachel and Patrick HugensIt looks like it must be a nice ride up from Sheboygan. With more time and foresight we might have gone down that way for an overnight out and back.

Ticketing for the Badger was very easy. I don’t know how far in advance you need to book to be assured of passage, but we booked about a month ago: https://www.ssbadger.com/schedule-fares/book-now.html.
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2 years ago