Beaches busy during Michigan's 'free' weekend

By P.J. GLISSON

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Perfect weather brought out people in droves during Michigan’s state-sponsored “free weekend” in which no licenses were required for fishing or ORV riding and no fees or stickers were needed for state parks.

The beach and surrounding water at Lake Gogebic State Park were busy with a variety of activity, including boating, paddling, scuba diving and swimming.

Ben Sondergrath and his fiancé, Rachel Torp, both of Chassell, said they were enjoying a long weekend filled with boating, fishing and camping, along with friends from Minnesota.

According to Sondergrath, they were hoping to catch some walleye and were looking forward to more campfire meals with friends.

“You live in a beautiful place,” said Deb Freyberg, who was part of the group, along with her son, Brian Freyberg and his wife, Meryl, and daughter, Ingar, 3, all of Forest Lake, Minnesota.

Nearby them were Van and Tara Kinnunen of Grand View, Wisconsin. Dressed in a scuba diving suit, Van said he likes to look for stuff in the water and on land, where he uses a metal detector.

“I pick up the trash on the beach,” he said, noting that he definitely finds more of that than treasure.

Among the Saturday collections he showed were fish hooks, pull tabs from cans, rotting rings and “a neat little religious pendant.”

He emphasized that the most rewarding aspect of the activity is knowing that he’s making the area safer for kids, who might cut their feet on such items.

Lake Gogebic Park Officer Allan Hocking said there was more activity in the park than usual, which he attributed not only to the state’s no-fee weekend, but also to added traffic from the Fireflies All-Lake Garage Sale, which was raising funds for the Lake Gogebic Volunteer Fire Department.

ORV riders also were out this weekend enjoying various area trails.