Palms Book State Park – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

Wednesday, October 7th, 2020

This morning was a travel day from our campground in Cedarville to the Picture Rocks KOA RV Campground in Wetmore, Michigan. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours. We didn’t want to give Matilda her sedation drugs again so she had a calming chew and I held her.

The drive was beautiful!

Our campsite was surrounded by beautiful fall colors!

After we set up our camp, gave Matilda a nice walk around the campgrounds, and ate some lunch, we hopped in the car to explore the area! Our first stop was Palms Book State Park.

Kitch-iti-kipi (or it is also called “Big Spring”) is a short walk in the park and is a popular attraction. It is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring. The temperature of the water is always 45 degrees and it never freezes during the winter because of the constant temperature of the water flowing from the fissures in the underlying limestone. Every minute more than 10,000 gallons of water flows out of the fissures. It is about 40 feet deep and the water is very clear. You can see the trout swimming around and the fallen trees down below!

Kitch-iti-kipi means “Mirror of Heaven” by the early Indians

At Palms Book State Park was this “Prayer of the Woods”. The author is unknown but I really loved what it says! It’s a reminder of how we need to take care of our environment and not destroy it!

When we finished exploring the park, we drove around the town of Manistique. In town was the former Manistique Water Tower. It stands 137 feet high and is a Romanesque brick tower in an octagon shape . It was finished in 1922 and held 200,000 gallons of water. It was used until 1966 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

We found the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse which was first lit in 1916 and still used today. It is square shaped and red in color! It is located on the east side of the harbor where the Manistique River flows into Lake Michigan.