Porcupine Mountains State Park, MI…

We grew to like this little gem of a campground in Wakefield Michigan near the Wisconsin border. Sunday Lake has provided wonderful viewing during our four day stay. And although we had a hard time finding a good level site we would come back here anytime.

Our last active day at Eddy Park we planned a long day in Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park. We wanted to hit the “top three” attractions in this large 92 square mile park. The Porkies, as the locals call them, are covered with a forest of the hardwood-hemlock type, with mostly hemlock, maple, basswood and birch. After paying the entry fee and acquiring our day pass, we first visited the Presque Isle River and saw the three largest waterfalls there, the Manabezho, Manido and Nawadaha Waterfalls.

 

The waterfalls and the river views were incredible and we hiked every stairway to all of the viewing platforms so that we could appreciate every vista. There were also trails upriver we took to enjoy the mature forest and the amazing mushroom and fungus displays the forest offered up to us. There has been a lot of rain here so mushrooms were everywhere as well as beautiful wildflowers and raspberries. We picked a few berries as we walked and had to tear ourselves away to drive the long 33 miles to the go see the next marquis site, the summit view.

This summit view hike was straight up with oodles of ascending steps. Sharon was amazed at the sturdy wooden stairways that even lured her up the summit’s tower where otherwise she would have preferred waiting below as I climbed those heights. The mountain vistas were wonderful so after hiking to all the platforms we chose our favorite one to sit down to share our picnic lunch and enjoy the view. Some cedar waxwings were gorging on currants as we ate so it was enjoyable watching them flit from bush to bush plucking berries.

We hiked back to the car to drive 15 miles over to take the short trail the Lake of the Clouds that is nestled in a deep gorge between two mountains.  It is a pristine unspoiled lake fed by the winding Carp River. Here we found another amazing vista and many more stairs to climb. As much as we enjoyed the mountain climb and the lake, the waterfalls at Presque Isle River called us back since it was on our way home.

   

So glad were we that we returned because we discovered that farther down the waterfall trail was yet another boardwalk and stairs leading to a suspension bridge over to an “island” created by the raging river separating the land mass. This trail led us to where the river spills into beautiful Lake Superior. We marveled at the opposing forces of the waves coming in and the river venturing out. In fact it so mesmerized us that we found our own little rock expanse to lounge, soak in the sun and marvel to our heart’s content. With no one in sight it seemed as if we had the place all to ourselves… what an amazing end to the day. 

Sharon counted all those stairs that long day in the mountains and she said we walked 965 stairs.  Man I knew we had gone up and down a lot of those well built stair cases… the best stair stepper workout we ever had!

So on our very last day at Eddy Park we decided to rest, do chores, laundry and simply enjoy our last views of Sunday Lake. Next up will be a short drive to Bad Water Casino in Wisconsin…

Waterfalls and Black River Harbor, MI…

Our next stop was at Eddy Park in Wakefield, Michigan where we found a site one row from the edge of Sunday Lake. This is another township park and typical in that we only have electricity (50/30/20 amp) and water.There are some sewer sites but they were either full or too un-level. We will stay here for four days even though it took us a while to find a site that wasn’t too sloped so that we could get level. The rates are great in that we are paying $15 for this site and we have certainly enjoyed the lake views..

Needing a few things we went out and explored the towns nearby. Wakefield itself is a very small town with only fulfilling basic needs. It is nice but we were looking for a larger grocery store so we drove a bit further west through another small town of Bessemer (bigger than Wakefield) and on into the town of Ironwood in Michigan then into Hurley just across the border in Wisconsin. 

The history of these towns is fascinating and it explains why the adjacent towns of Hurley, WI and Ironwood, MI are so different. We really noticed the differences when we crossed from  Michigan into Wisconsin and noticed that every other building in Hurley seemed to be a bar. Most of these bars would be classified as “dive bars” and they mostly appear to be in decline. It turns out that Ironwood wanted to separate itself from the debauchery found in Hurley so most of the bars and bordellos ended up in the nearby town of Hurley. Ironwood celebrates its mining heritage after all and lets be real… all those miners had to have somewhere to go after a hard days work!

The next day we took a drive over to Black River Harbor where we took a few hikes in the area. There is a dry camp campground there as well and we did see one 40 footer RV sitting in a spot, however, most sites appeared to be more suited to smaller rigs.What attracted us here was the five major waterfalls with hiking trails running adjacent to them.

Man there were fungi of ever type everywhere along the Black River which made me wish even more I had taken a class in Mycology when I was in college. I am sending many pictures to Dawn of Dawn's Bloggy Blog hoping she can enlighten me on some of them. Also we saw a plant with beautiful blue fruits that start out white that I wished I knew what was (pictured above left). We hiked many of the Black River trails and took in all but one of the waterfalls (not sure how we missed it). At the tail waters of the Black River is Black River Harbor and it features a very picturesque park with a cool pedestrian suspension bridge.

The suspension bridge took us over the harbor onto the shore of the very beautiful Lake Superior. We walked along this nice little beach and on our return found a bench that faced out over the lake where we watched the waters of the Black River intermingle with the placid waters of Lake Superior. A great way to end the day…

Keweenaw Peninsula - Part 3 – M26 south to M41…

Having driven to the northern point of the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor our next excursion was south. Our choice was taking M26 along the northern lakeshore line. Our first stop was Hunter’s Point Park where we found an exquisite little rocky beach. There were a couple of trails one of which wound through the woods along the rocky shoreline of Lake Superior. To get a real feel for this special little place read a naturalists viewpoint. Jim Rooks (now deceased) who wrote a very nice description of this special spot. We totally enjoyed strolling along the shoreline as we took photos, admired the striated sandstone and picked up an occasional rock hoping to find an agate…

Moving on down the Keweenaw Peninsula on M26 we drove by Brockway Mountain where there is a road that goes over the top of  the mountain where it that is said to have great views of the landscape. We chose to hug the shoreline as we could catch glimpses of the blue waters of Lake Superior knowing that soon we may not see it again. Before we knew it we entered Eagle Harbor, the home of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.

The red brick with white trim Eagle Harbor Lighthouse is at the entrance of the harbor and was built in 1851 and later replaced in 1871. We drove over to a small spit near the town where we could see the lighthouse standing guard to the harbor. We then drove past the lighthouse where we stopped and walked around the grounds a bit but if you want to get closer there is a small admission charge to see it. Just south of Eagle Harbor is the small town of Eagle River. It too has a lighthouse, the Eagle River Light Station established in 1854 but it is privately owned.

As we drove through the town of Eagle River we noticed the The Houghton Township Community Center in Eagle River. This white building with a bright red roof was very striking and nearby was the Eagle River Timber Bridge. This bridge has a wooden arch that supports highway M26  over the Eagle River. There is also a nice little falls near the bridge we thought was worth the stop all by itself.

As we continued south we once again came to the town of Calumet and next up were the towns of Hancock and of course Houghton where we just had to stop for a couple of cold crafted beers at the Keweenaw Brewing Company. Once back across the lift bridge there was one last stop we wanted to make on the peninsula at a place called Agate Beach.

Agate Beach is a short way over from Baraga on the west side of the peninsula and is said to be one of the best places for agate hunting in the state of Michigan. We pulled into a small campground there at Agate Beach and parked. Camping is only $5.00 per day here! As we strolled along the beach I met a nice lady asking what I was doing. I explained to her I was looking for agates and spent some time showing her how to spot them. She appeared to be nearing 80 and told me that she had always wanted to do what we were doing in our RV but her husband wouldn’t do it… Well he passed away and off she went as she now goes camping in a camper van on her own. Good for her! Get out there and live life to its fullest…

We enjoyed the rest of the day at Agate Beach and we even found a few agates as well as many beautiful rocks whose rough edges were all smoothed off by the power of mother nature who used  the sand grains and churning of the Lake Superior waters. Each stone, like a fingerprint, unique and different are each worthy of a look. We did take a few back with us but left many, many more beauties for others to rediscover…

We have really enjoyed our stay here and our visits to the Peninsula have been totally enjoyable but it is time for us to move on. Our next stop is Wakefield, Michigan which will likely be our last stop before moving into the state of Wisconsin.

Keweenaw Pennisula - Part 2– to Copper Harbor

Upon leaving Houghton to go north we crossed over the Portage Lake Lift Bridge and entered the town of Hancock, another neat little mining town. Just past Hancock climbing steep Quincy Hill we found the old Franklin Mine. This is a old copper mine owned by the Franklin Mining Co. which was organized in 1857. We stopped for a little walk to explore the old building and hardware from the mining days gone by. They give tours underground but we opted to tour above ground as we like the daylight over the darkness. Walking through the field of mining relics from the past I couldn't  help but feel the hardships these folks must have endured mining in such cold, frigid winters.

 

Further north on M26/41 we drove drive trough another hardened mining town called Calumet, nicknamed Copper Town U.S.A., which was settled in 1864. We took a stroll through town and struck up a conversation with a very friendly parking meter patrol lady who told us a little about the town and its shops.We could tell this town was hustling and bustling during the boom days when more than half of the USA's copper came from here during the late 1800’s.Many of the storefronts displayed historical photos of the former townspeople.Sharon enjoyed browsing in the Mercantile store the meter lady recommended because it had an assortment of old candies, homemade fudge, Michigan cherry products and thimbleberry jams.

We also learned from a mid-town historical marker that a tragic event happened in Calumet in 1913  as it is the site of the “Italian Hall Disaster” The story is that striking miners and their families were gathered on Christmas Eve for a party in the Italian Hall, when someone screamed "fire" causing people to stampede which crushed or suffocated 73 victims, the majority of them children. The identity of the person(s) who started the stampede has never been determined. Folk singer Woody Guthrie's song, "1913 Massacre", is based on this event.

Continuing north we passed through many other smaller mining towns through some scenic countryside in the upper Keweenaw Peninsula. The rode goes no further north as we reached Copper Harbor a small town on the north end of the peninsula. Copper Harbor’s name comes from the time when it was the primary shipping port for all the copper mined from local area during the mid-19th century. It now appears to be mostly a recreational town for summer vacations and winter snowmobiling. It is also another place to catch a ferry to Isle Royale National Park in northern Michigan. A scenic state park is here called Fort Picken’s State Park which has some nice hike and bike trails. We walked along one of them and found our first thimble berries so named as they look like thimbles once plucked from the bush. Related to blackberries but more fragile than even raspberries, these berries we found to be not very tasty as they were a bit tart and somewhat mealy. This may be why they primarily put them in jellies where sugar can sweeten them up. There is much more exploring to do of the beautiful Lake Superior and we are certainly glad we decided to visit Keweenaw Peninsula.

NOTE: There will be a part three here and yes we are a bit behind on the blog and are now near the town of Wakefield, Michigan.

Checking out the Keweenaw Peninsula…

We left the Ojibwa Casino and drove about 87 miles which was a pretty long day for us lately as we so slowly crawl across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We have stayed here long enough that I think we have now become Yoopers although I am sure many up this way would quickly disagree.

We left one Ojibwa casino near Marquette only to pull into yet another one at Baraga, Michigan. The one we left was free with electricity only whereas this one charges $20 per night but offers full hookups (50 amps), water, sewer, free cable TV and free WIFI. Like before they also  gave us a free drink coupon and $5 free cash to prime the gambling pump. We wanted to stay here 6 days but they will only let us stay three as there is a huge fireman's golf tournament this weekend and they had to reserve the whole RV park (only 12 sites here).

Our first day here we drove up to check out the town of Houghton where we had hoped to stay at their city RV park ($30 per night for full hookups right on the waterfront) but the weekenders have all the prime days covered. We did take a walk through the town and enjoyed the energy of this sleepy little Michigan town. It is home to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge which we got to see in action and also home to a small Michigan Technology University, founded in 1885, where we stopped at the Mineral Museum then also played a few holes of Frisbee golf at the course adjacent to the museum. We have found that having a University nearby will be one of those key requirements for our future home once we lea decide to settle down again.

While driving around we did spot a pair of Bald Eagles and even though we have now seen many of them in our travels it is still very cool to see them. Also nearby is the a National Parks office for getting information to take trips over to Isle Royale National Park. We stopped and chatted with two park’s personnel about the park and since one was a geologist we learned a bit about the geology here. It costs over $120 for the round trip to Isle Royale (6 hour trip one way). So we won’t be making a visit this time around but we did take in a nice movie about the refuge and it definitely looks like a spot to spend a week or so…

There is a lot of mining history in this area, primarily copper, and while walking through town one can get a sense of what life might have been been like during the mining boom. We found the rock work done in the the buildings built during the late 1890's and early 1900's was really exceptional. I loved looking at the masons' work tracing how they meticulously matched one piece of rock with another. Yet it was also interesting to note that the same attention was not spent along the side walls as they simply put whatever rock pieces were leftover in order to make what was to be a shared wall to the neighboring building.

Our favorite building was the Courthouse as the architecture was to us more interesting than most courthouses we have seen. A plaque out front said the building celebrated Victorian Architecture during the copper boom up here.  There certainly was noticeable pride taken in their craftsmanship when building such fine structures and they will surely last generations to come. Well after all that walking and studying the architecture it was an easy choice to end our day when we happened upon the Keweenaw Brewing Company on the way back to our car. We walked in, pulled up a couple of bar stools and ordered a Widow Maker for Sharon and a Gales Pale for me. Let's just say the beer was good enough that we stayed for a while. Good beer, good energy, good times…