Imagine you’re on a raft with about a dozen other people. The raft has a see-through bottom in the middle.
You’re all peering below at the incredible crystal blue-green clear water beneath you.
Lake trout, brown trout, and brook trout lazily swim underneath as you slowly pass over lime-encrusted tree trunks and branches in the 40-foot deep pool of water.
Think you’re in Florida?
No, think again.
You’re in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, crossing the largest freshwater spring in the state.
Kitch-iti-kipi
Kitch-iti-kipi, also known as “The Big Spring”, is found at Palm Books State Park, northwest of Manistique, Michigan.
And it’s one place you don’t want to miss seeing when you’re traveling in the Upper Peninsula!
After you arrive at Palm Books State Park and park your vehicle in the parking lot, you take a short walk down a paved trail through a woods filled with tamarack trees.
Nestled among the trees is a gorgeous natural spring, that looks like a small lake with a river flowing from it.
What brings people to the park is not only the crystal clear spring water and amazing views.
Or that the spring is kept at a constant 45 degrees Farenheit year round, from water gushing more than 10,000 gallons a minute from fissures in the underlying limestone.
It’s the experience of traveling across the spring on a raft, about 20 feet long, that is manually propelled by a wheel and cable system.
A cable stretches about 200 feet across the spring, propelled by a wheel that one of the passengers on the raft turns.
Each turn of the wheel takes the raft slowly across the spring. And then returns back to the starting point.
When I took my ride on the raft this week, two young boys, who I later learned were brothers, did all the turning of the wheel.
I asked if I could help, and they replied, “No. This is our fifth time, we really like turning it!”
The Legends of Kitch-iti-kipi
As you might guess, Kitch-iti-kipi has a number of legends about it. From the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website:
The legend of Kitch-iti-kipi is said to be about a young chieftain whose girlfriend got the best of him. He told her he loved her far above the other dark-haired maidens dancing near his birch bark wigwam.
Prove it, she insisted. As a test of his devotion, she declared that he must set sail in his canoe on the pool deep in the conifer swamp. He was to catch her from his canoe as she leaped from an overhanging bough. His canoe overturned in the icy waters and he drowned.
It turns out that the maiden was back at the village laughing at his foolish quest.
According to legend, the spring was named Kitch-iti-kipi in memory of the young chieftain who went to his death in the icy waters in an attempt to satisfy the vain caprice of his ladylove.
Other legends tell of Chippewa parents who came to the pool seeking names for their newborn. They supposedly found names like Satu (darling), Kakushika (big eye), Natukoro (lovely flower) and We-shi (little fish) scribed in the sounds of the rippling water. They attributed healing powers to the waters.
A drop of honey on a piece of birch bark dipped into Kitch-iti-kipi and presented to a loved one was to make them true forever.
Another legend concerned the tamarack growing on the banks of Kitch-iti-kipi. A small piece of the bark ground in a mortar and pestle and placed in an individual’s empty pockets would be replaced by glittering gold at exactly midnight.
Whatever the legends, visitors to the spring loved them. Kitch-iti-kipi is said to have many meanings in the Chippewa language-The Great Water; The Blue Sky I See; The Roaring, Bubbling Spring.
Others called it the Sound of Thunder and Drum Water, even though the quiet is eerie. Whatever its name and legend, Palms Book State Park continues to draw curious visitors.
Go Take a Ride on the Raft!
If you find yourself in the western part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I highly recommend you take a side trip to Palm Books State Park to travel in the raft at Kitch-iti-kipi.
Personally, I’m hoping to find a way to come back in the winter. I can only imagine the beautiful scene of the blue-green waters and the snow-covered trees.
To enter the park, you’ll need to have, or buy a Michigan “ recreation passport (costs $11 as of September 2017). Passports can be bought with credit card or cash at the state park entrance.
