SOOPER DOOPER YOOPER!

One of Nancy's creations from U.P. Rocks.

     We finally made it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a.k.a. the "U.P."  People from the U.P. are referred to as "Yoopers" by those living in the Lower Peninsula.  Not to be ignored, the Yoopers refer to the residents of the Lower Peninsula as "Trolls" as they live below the Mackinac Bridge which connects the 2 peninsulas and forms the State of Michigan.  Since we stayed in the U.P. for well over a month I guess we were temporary Yoopers.

These 2 photos are of Copper Peak Ski Flying Hill.  It is no longer in use
and is now a tourist attraction.  In order to get to the peak you need to
ride a ski lift to the summit of the hill, then take a 16 story elevator
to the lower staging area, then walk 8 stories to the
top.  The final 8 stories hang in space, sway in the wind and are enclosed by
wire fencing with open, grated metal steps.  It was way too freaky
for me but Nancy enjoyed her stroll to the top.  

Fans of hockey history would find Houghton,
Michigan on the U.P. interesting.

This gauge measures snowfall amounts on the
Keweenah Peninsula.  The record annual snowfall is
390.4 inches!  The arrow indicates last year's
accumulation.  You better like snow to live here.

     We entered the U.P. from the west via Wisconsin.  The U.P. is massive so we needed a lot of time to tour the highlights as we made our way east.  Unfortunately for us, just when we thought we had finally escaped all the rain we had experienced earlier on our trip, the rain came around from a different angle to haunt us.  Apparently, on Father's Day the western half of the U.P. was slammed with tons of rain over a short period resulting in road washouts and swimming bans for the rivers, lakes and the Lake Superior shoreline.  Although we had great weather for our trip, we had to drive far out of our way to get to the beaches and upon arrival we had to avoid the water, lest we become infected and turn into zombies.

One of the washed out roads to
a state park on the Keweenah Peninsula.

Lake Superior's beautiful shoreline.

     Our first stop was in the Town of Wakefield where we scored a spot in a county park on a lake.  Unfortunately, most of the towns in the U.P. were a little economically challenged and the Wakefield area was no exception.  However, Wakefield offered a fabulous location to explore some beautiful scenery.

Bond Falls State Park.

     Of course, a lot of our focus was pursuit of the elusive agate which adorns the coast of Lake Superior.  This meant that our first adventure was a journey to Little Girls Point.  Upon arrival we could see the devastation caused by the storm, but lo and behold, there they were--ROCKS!  Nancy immediately dove into collection mode and discovered heaps of beautiful rocks.  While collecting we thought that we were scoring lots of agates.  However, after purchasing an excellent book entitled "Is This an Agate" by Susan Robinson we discovered that Nancy's new rock collection was woefully agate deficient.

Some of Nancy's treasures.
No agates here.

Little Girl's Point.

Sandstone on a beach on the
Keweenah Peninsula.

     Next we toured the Black River Scenic Byway.  This turned out to be a "not to be missed" highlight.  The drive ended at the beautiful Black River Harbor, but the journey there revealed 5 spectacular waterfalls.  Each waterfall was vastly different from the others.

Some of the U.P.'s beautiful waterfalls.

     We followed-up the Black River trek with another highlight as we ventured to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.  This is a large park with mountains approaching 2,000' feet, a nice shoreline along Lake Superior, tons of great backpacking trails, and another great waterfall area in the Presque Isle section of the park.

Lake in the Clouds in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.

     Our next stop was the Keweenaw Peninsula.  The peninsula is the northernmost point in Michigan and seemed to have the best rocks for Nancy's insatiable appetite.  The Brockway Scenic drive was a real highlight overlooking the northern peninsula and terminating in the quaint town of  Copper Harbor at the very tip of the peninsula.  This region was rich in copper so mines could be found all over the peninsula.  Although the copper is still there, it is no longer economically feasible to mine so all the mines are now closed.  Quincy Mine offers the best opportunity to view one of the abandoned copper mines.  The mine tour started with a cog railway ride down a steep hill to the mine entrance and then was followed by a trolley ride deep into the heart of the mine.  The tour is on level 7 of the mine several hundred feet under the earth.  It turns out that the mine actually has over 90 levels with its longest shaft cutting 9,260' feet into the ground!  The mine is now completely filled with water up to level 7.  Along the walking portion of the tour there is a small puddle of water blocked by a fence.  It turns out, if you happened to step into the puddle you would plunge hundreds of feet and get to see several of the lower levels as you descend to a watery grave.  I can't imagine how anybody could work in these mines with only candles to light the way.

Level 7 of Quincy Mine.

Quincy Mine Shafthouse.
This structure dominates the skyline
of the Houghton area.

The steam hoist at Quincy Mine is the largest steam
hoist ever built.  It connects to the the shafthouse several hunderd
yards away via a huge steel cable and is used to raise and lower copper ore
 and workers thousands of feet in the mine.

     Our fun highlight was the 4th of July celebration in Eagle River on the beach.  The event featured bands playing all day, food prepared by a local restaurant, beer provided by a top-tier brewery from the lower peninsula, and ended with a fireworks display.  We arrived around 6:30 p.m. and had a blast socializing with the locals until the fireworks concluded.

Our view from Eagle River beach prior to the 4th of July fireworks.

     We are now moving on to explore more of the fantastic U.P.
CHEERS!!!