WHAT’S U.P.?
My job has given me the
opportunity to visit many interesting places over the last few years. Last week though, an assignment sent me to
an unlikely place – Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Although technically part of Michigan, you’d hardly know it. The U.P. is a long way from Detroit. Probably, it should be a part of Wisconsin,
or Minnesota, or hell, even Canada.
Apparently whoever drew in that part of the map way back when had
overdone it with the whiskey. The U.P.
is sandwiched between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, several hundred miles
north of Chicago. It’s directly on the
way to nowhere, and I think the people that live there like it that way.
Needless to say, I wasn’t
about to travel there for work without taking advantage of the opportunity to
explore. My assignment was only
scheduled for three days, so I decided to spend the rest of the week
there. That would give me a chance to
do some hiking, and still get me home in time to spend the weekend with my
wife. Best of all, my assignment was
scheduled for the first week of October.
That is prime time there for fall foliage. Since the leaves in the southeast would only be turning brown
this year (thanks to the ongoing drought), it would give me one chance to see
some autumn color.
I flew into Green Bay early
Monday morning. I dodged cheeseheads on
my way out of town before beginning the one-hour drive to Menominee. Menominee is just on the far side of the
Wisconsin state line, but technically it’s still part of the U.P. The highlight of my three days there was
probably an evening run at John Henes Park.
The park is on the shore of Lake Michigan. Thanks to high winds, the surf in the lake looked like an
ocean. While running, I was enjoying
the view of the lake when I nearly tripped over a fox. This was quite startling, as I’ve only seen
2 or 3 foxes in my entire life. The fox
didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence at all. He just went on about his business, trotting off towards the lake
as I resumed my run.
I finished work at 2pm on
Wednesday and drove north. An hour of
driving through fine fall color along Lake Michigan brought me to
Escanaba. From there, another hour on
the road delivered me to Munising, on the south shore of Lake Superior, and the
gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
I’d chosen Pictured Rocks for my hiking, as it sounded appealing, and
wasn’t terribly far from Green Bay. I’d
dropped my original plan – a visit to Isle Royale National Park – when I found
out that reaching the park required a 6-hour ferry ride (one way).
I arrived at the Visitors
Center at 4:10, which was 20 minutes before it was scheduled to close. Unfortunately, Munising is on Eastern Time,
and I was on Central, so I was actually 40 minutes late. Fortunately I had already printed some maps
and info. I left town, heading for the
closest campground inside the park.
A beautiful drive on a
colorful country road brought me to a campground on the shore of Little Beaver
Lake. The 8-site campground was already
half-full when I arrived. Driving the
loop took about 30 seconds, and I quickly selected site #2. I set up the tent, gathered my gear, and
headed out for a quick evening hike.
Unfortunately, I had no idea when sunset would be. My days in Menominee had been overcast, and
it had been hard to tell exactly when darkness fell. At any rate, it was only a mile and half, one way, to both Beaver
Lake and Lake Superior. I was certain
that I would have enough time to reach at least one of those destinations
before dark.
I picked up the trail at the
entrance to the campground and hiked north, around Little Beaver Lake. I passed some interesting sandstone rock
formations that reminded me of the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Then a boardwalk took me through a bog and
to a junction. Here I had a
choice: Beaver Lake, or Lake
Superior? My hike the following day
would take me to Lake Superior, so I decided to check out Beaver Lake.
First I passed above Little
Beaver lake, where occasional openings in the woods provided views of the lake
and fantastic fall foliage. I heard a
splash, and saw an animal swimming across the lake. It was probably a beaver, or maybe an otter, but it was too far
away to identify. Whatever it was, it
left a wake as it swam across the still waters of the lake.
Beaver Lake lies a short
distance beyond. I reached its shore,
and was stunned by its size. Beaver
Lake is huge! Well, actually, it’s not. It’s barely a spot on the map next to Lake
Superior. I suppose a lake as large as
Superior does to tend to skew the scale of things. Well, if Beaver Lake is small, that makes Little Beaver Lake a
puddle. Small or not, I was content
with the view from the near end. It’s
expanse of calm water stretched to the horizon, interrupted only by the
reflection of red and gold leaves from the hillside above.
I headed back to the
junction quickly. The sun was still up,
and there was only ½ mile of easy trail between me and Lake Superior. How could I pass it by? The roar of the surf sounded like a freight
train. I hiked that way, reaching some
dunes before arriving at a pristine stretch of sand. Waves were crashing onto the beach in a fair imitation of the
Pacific. Best of all, I arrived just as
the sun was setting into that vast expanse of water. I couldn’t have timed my arrival better if I’d tried. I watched the spectacular red and gold
sunset, which reminded me of the fall foliage I’d enjoyed all day long.
Unfortunately, I had a mile
and a half of trail between me and camp, and dark was coming fast. I hurried back, and was within a half-mile
of the campground before I needed my headlamp.
I was almost back when I was startled by a passing hiker, walking
without a light.
I returned to camp, and
drove back to town for dinner. I’d
brought no cooking gear, or for that matter, food, on this trip in an effort to
keep my luggage light. After a
30-minute drive, I dined at Sydney’s, which is one of those places where
everything, including the salad bar, is deep-fried. I managed to find something to eat before heading back to
camp. I returned at 9, and was greeted
by a sky full of stars. They sparkled
high above me as I settled into my tent for the night. I took a book to the tent with me, planning
to read a chapter or two. Somehow, I
fell asleep right away. I slept well
until about 2am, when I was awakened by what must’ve been beavers doing
cannonballs in the lake. Jeez, couldn’t
they do that during the day?
I woke at 6am (CT) the next
morning, but it was still dark. I dozed
a bit, before getting up and breaking camp.
I had a pop tart in the car (part of your nutritious breakfast) and
drove to the Chapel Trailhead. From
this trailhead, I planned an 11-mile hiking combining Chapel Falls, Mosquito
Falls, and a long stretch of the North Country Trail along the shore of Lake
Superior. The North Country Trail is
one of the longest in the country, stretching from New York to North
Dakota. I was looking forward to
walking a small piece of it.
There were a few cars but no
people at the trailhead when I arrived.
I started on the trail to Chapel Beach, following an old road through
the woods. The trail passed two
“overlooks”, but even there, the forest was too dense to allow a view. This was disappointing, but it didn’t take
long for the scenery to improve. The
third overlook was a platform facing Chapel Falls. At the falls, Chapel Creek tumbles over a high sandstone
ledge. The falls are listed as 50’
high, but I thought they actually looked bigger. More fine fall color added to the view. After a break, I followed the trail upstream to a bridge over the
creek. Just below, was another lovely
cascade that I stopped to photograph.
Farther downstream was another platform, and a final view of the
falls. This one was nice, too, but more
distant.
Beyond the falls, pleasant
woods hiking and a fair descent brought me to Chapel Rock. Chapel Rock is a sandstone bluff, complete
with small arches, protruding from the Pictured Rocks cliffs into Lake
Superior. I viewed the rock from
numerous angles before continuing on to Chapel Beach. Chapel Beach is a long stretch of sand running from Chapel Creek
to a series of 100’ cliffs rising out of the lake. At the creek, pretty cascades run under a trail bridge, across
the sand, and into the deep blue lake.
Lake Superior was vastly different than it had been the previous
evening. The winds were calm, and there
were barely any waves. I had a snack
break on the beach, before resuming my hike west along the beach.
Eventually the beach ended,
and I climbed stairs to the top of the bluffs.
I passed through a backcountry campsite there, and joined the North
Country Trail for the 5 mile hike to the Mosquito River. This part of the trail followed the tops of
the cliffs, mostly in the woods.
Although I was in the trees, dozens of short side paths led out to fine
views of the cliffs and the lake stretching to the horizon. Thanks to all of the overlooks, I made lousy
time along here. Fortunately I wasn’t
in any hurry.
Possibly the best views were
in the vicinity of Grand Portal Point.
As I approached the Point, I could make out a large Natural Bridge
spanning the water at the base of one of the cliffs. Before long, I was standing on top of that very point. This point protrudes north farther than any
other spot along my hike, and offered the best views of the cliffs racing away
in both directions. From there, the
route remained along the edge of the cliffs, providing more uninterrupted
scenery.
After a quiet morning, I
started seeing people along this stretch of trail. Many were backpackers, while others were dayhikers, presumably
doing the same hike as me in the opposite direction. People grew more numerous as I approached the backcountry
campsite at Mosquito Beach. Here the
cliffs break down, thanks to the erosive force of the Mosquito River, which
cascades down into the lake. I stopped
on a rock bench overlooking the beach for lunch at 12:30. I enjoyed the sun, and peaceful sound of the
surf, and my final views of the lake and the cliffs. From there, I knew I’d be back in the woods for the remainder of
the hike.
After lunch, I walked the
beach briefly before crossing a bridge over the river. I then wandered through the campground
before picking up the trail to Mosquito Falls.
Easy climbing through the woods brought me to a pleasant cascade on a
pretty stream. Initially I mistook this
for Mosquito Falls. I knew the
waterfall was small - it’s listed as 8’ high - but I’d expected a larger
stream. I found it a few minutes later,
on the far side of the next ridge. Here
I found a broader stream tumbling over a lovely 5’ ledge before racing down a
long series of slides and cascades. I
stopped there to appreciate the view, and take my final photos of the day.
Unfortunately, I was
experiencing technical difficulties with my camera. Before leaving, I’d deleted around 800 photos from my camera’s 1
GB memory card. Oddly, when I arrived
at the lakeshore the night before, my camera told me I only had 59 photos
left. How could that be? I feared there was something wrong with the
card. I’d burned through most of the
remaining photos, and deleting photos had no effect. I could take a picture, and the number remaining decreased by
one. But if I deleted it, that number
didn’t change. On this trip, there
would be no second chances. It was
almost like shooting film all over again.
I burned several photos at
the cascades that ended up not being Mosquito Falls. By the time I reached the real waterfall, I only had a few
left. By the time I experimented with a
few compositions there, they were all gone.
Oh well. Unfortunately, I still
wasn’t at the actual falls. I followed
the trail across a bridge and then downstream.
Below a run of cascades, I reached another 8’ ledge waterfall. I wasn’t able to capture this one on film,
but I suppose that’s ok.
An uneventful mile of trail
delivered me to the trailhead at 3pm. I
headed out, passing a deer on the way.
Instead of the heading directly back to Green Bay, I decided to do some
sightseeing. First I stopped at the
Miners Castle, which is a popular sandstone bluff along the Pictured Rocks
cliffs. The castle was interesting, but
really nothing compared to what I’d seen earlier that day. From there I drove to Miners Falls, where I
hiked the 1-mile round trip trail.
Miners Falls is quite impressive, possibly even more so than Chapel
Falls. I kicked myself for not saving
at least one photo for it.
There are many other
waterfalls in the area that are viewable from the road, or along short
hikes. I thought about checking a few more
out, but decided to skip it. It was
getting late, and I still had a 3 ½ drive back to Green Bay. I hit the road, enjoying the fall foliage
one final time. Back in Menominee, I
stopped at Perkins for dinner, and had a bread bowl salad, without the bread
bowl. That was a bit
disappointing. Then I drove to Green
Bay. I always wondered where I’d have
to go to find an English-speaking white person working at the counter of a
Motel 6. Now I know the answer – Green
Bay, Wisconsin. I guess that shouldn’t
be a surprise.
I enjoyed my trip to
Pictured Rocks and the U.P. I’ll
definitely hike there again if another job assignment sends me in that
direction. Even if it doesn’t, the area
is worthy of consideration for a summer vacation. Christy and I could drive there, taking in lots of other sights
along the way. The Apostle Islands are
nearby, as are the Porcupine Mountains, and of course, Isle Royale. From there, it isn’'t terribly far to the
Boundary Waters of Minnesota.
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