Michigan’s Western U.P.

Michigan's Upper Penninsula (U.P.) is one of the best kept Midwestern travel secrets. Wild, loaded with lakes, waterfall, ancient forests, land preserves, parks, and old mountain ranges, it is a nature lover's paradise. It a historian's dream. Home of some of the oldest mountains on earth, ancient copper mines, ghost towns, and ship wrecks the historian will be busy picking and chosing what to see. There are in-season countless large and small museums. Some are world class, like the A.E. Seaman Mineralogy Museum in Houghton, Michigan. Are you a rock hound? Michigan's U.P. has some of the most complex geology in the world. Many minerals are unique to it, found nowhere else in the world. Copper, silver, gold, Mohawkite, datolite---maybe diamonds are part of the geologic history of the U.P.

Do you like the outdoors? The Porcupine Mountain State Park (60,000 acres) has over 90 miles of hiking trails from novice to the extremely rugged. Rustic campgrounds, lodges, and luxury resorts are part of the scene. If water is your love, there are hundreds of miles of shore along Lake Superior. Countless lakes and rivers provide opportunities for swimming, boating, canoing, kayaking, and fishing. The Sylvannia Wilderness has lakes where canoes and kayaks are the only craft permitted. Deer walk across the road or along it. Eagles soar overhead above 100 foot white pines. This area was once a retreat of the privilaged few and U.S. presidents. You may see a wolf dash across a road or along a hillside. A black bear with cubs may hurry from a lake or steam up a hillside and into the deep woods while you watch.

The weather in the U.P. puts on quite a show, especially along Lake Superior. Don't like the weather? Wait a few minutes! It can snow in May or the first of October. Storms along Superior are the stuff Beethoven wrote music about. Sunsets are multicolored and different every night. If you are lucky, you may see the Northern Lights. Sunrise over Superior is like watching liquid gold. In the spring or early fall, it may be in the twenties at nine, 60 by noon, and 80 or better by three. My wife(a big city kid) was amazed the first time she was there. The first thing she noticed was that you could not smell the air and you could see deep into clear lakes and rivers. She said her appetite went through the roof after a dose of the air, walking on a beach, and hiking the woods.

The U.P. has its own cuisine. A walleye dinner with all the trimings is a must while you are here. You have to try a pasty. These are Cornish pastries filled with meat, potatoes, onions, rutabegas, and spices. Over the years, I have had beef, ham, and fish pasties. It is hard to say which is better. Thimbleberry jam is another treat.
Thimbleberries are about the size of their namesake and a little milder than blackberries. I like picking and eating them along the roads where they grow, but also bring a few jars of jam home. There are a lots of great Italian restaurants, and they do like a good steak in the U.P.! Fudge is not big in the western half, but bakeries crank out cookies, muffins, and breads that are out of sight!

Start talking to the woman who runs a bookstore, the clerk at the general store, or
owner of a trading post and you may be surprised where they came from. Over the years, I have discovered that many were retired teachers, social workers, and other professionals who came to the U.P. to get away from it all. It is as a friend said“ a different kind of life.” It is slower and more deliberate. In one day, you may stand on a small mountain peak, explore the depths of an abandoned copper mine, and shoot pictures at a waterfall. In between, you may watch a mother bear shepherd her cubs to safety, have a memorable lunch or supper, and cap it off by watching the sun set over Lake Superior. At the hotel I have used for years, guests bring drinks, cushions, and cameras out to the beach as the sun begins to set. Fires may be lit. Children play in the shallows, if it is warm. And everyone “oohs and ahs” at the reds, oranges, yellows, and purples as the sun slides into Superior. I suspect more pictures have been shot and videos taken of those sunsets that anything else many people see on their holiday.

Heading northward in the U.P., you start up the Keweenaw Penninsula. At one time, almost all the world's copper came from here. Huge amounts remain. You will pass through towns with names like Ontanogan, Greenland,Toivola, Ahmeek, Calumet, Eagle River, and finally Copper Harbor. Above Eagle River, much of the drive will be along or within sight of Lake Superior. Massive sand dunes, endless beaches, roadside parks, and maybe the sight of an ore carrier out on the lake will delight you. If you take Brockway Mountain Drive on the final leg upto Copper harbor, you will be able to look out over Lake Superior for miles, back down the penninsula, and finally northward over Copper Harbor the land beyond it. You must have a camera!

This book has information and directions to twenty-five selected locations in the Western U.P. Some are well known; some are off the beaten track. Old Victoria is an abandoned 1800s mining settlement that is being restored. You can see the handmade cabins, sauna, and the furnishings. Recreators during the summer help bring life to the mining cmp. Bond Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the midwest. A short walk from a paved lot brings the visitor to the massive cascade.
Climb Wolf Mountain, and the panorama of the valley below is breathtaking.
The Porcupine Mountains has one of the largest stands of virgin pine in the midwest. The view from the escarpment of Lake of the Clouds of the the Carp River valley is breathtaking. Hike for an hour or several days on trails. The trail along the Presque Isle River takes you past waterfall after waterfall, all different, some spectacular. Have a great lunch at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and Golf Course and play a few rounds. The beautiful log lodge, cabbins, and golf course were built by the W.P.A. during the Great Depression. At the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse and Museum, see relics from shipwrecks, tour a working lighthouse, and learn about the fishing industry. Finally, park your car and walk the grounds of Fort Wilkens State Park. The 1800s fort looks as it did when it was built. Visit the infirmary, officers' quarters, brig, armory, enlisted men's quarters, bakery, and blacksmith's shop. All are filled with relics from the time. In the summer, watch recreators work at daily life as it would have been in the 1800s.

The U.P. is not for everyone. It is a long ways between MacDonald's. Your smartphone may not work in some areas. The weather is chageable. But—if you love water, great sunsets, old mountains, open roads, fishing, hiking, history, geology—and Nature---This is your place!