Yooper

Researching this part of our great country, visiting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, or the UP, was a definite. Many others wanted to escape the cities this year, so our camp sites were a bit limited, but I’m so thankful we made the plans we did.

The Upper Peninsula borders several of the Great Lakes, but we spent our time on the northern shore on Lake Superior, which for all purposes looks like an ocean minus the salt.

Our first camp site was in a large state park, the Porcupine Mountains. While where our tent was located was in close proximity to others, the camp grounds themselves had rocky shores where we spent many hours on the warm rocks, dipping our toes in chilly water, reading while listening to the waves gently crash on the burgundy rocks.

The park was about as different from our first camping experience on this trip as it could be. It was a dense forest with thick green undergrowth and ferns galore. While in North Dakota we saw abundant wildlife, here we only saw chipmunks and birds, and one terribly curious and adorable creature, who after extensive internet searching, I believe is a marten.

Our first day, we hiked along a ridge overlooking the Lake of the Clouds, a narrow lake about a mile long, but only 15 feet deep. The hike provided sweeping views of the distant landscape, full of green until it met the blue up above. I can only imagine how these thick maple and oak forests look in autumn. The weather could not have been more glorious. While most of our walk was under the shade of large oaks, moments on the edge of the ridge opened up and greeted us with delightful breezes. The rock overlooks provided a perfect place for a picnic lunch and enjoyable pauses along our trek.

The next day, we hiked the Summit Peak Loop.  After the young ranger mentioned the name of the hike, I joked with her about what an intense climb it must be.  Even though the hike includes the highest peak in the park, the parking lot for the hike is about at the level of the highest peak.  The forest was beautiful: dense, lush ferns, and small swampy areas with cattails and irises.  Unfortunately, we didn't stop to take a lot of time to look at the forest because those lovely swampy areas provided the perfect breeding ground for one of my least favorite blood-sucking creatures.  So, it was a fast-paced hike with lots of slapping, but lovely views of the UP anyway.

We took another short hike, mosquito-free, by a narrow wandering river.  Along the way were short informational signs that talked about the area's history in mining, although little evidence of those mines from the mid-1800s still exist.

Our evenings were spent looking out over Lake Superior, playing cards, struggling to start a fire with few trees around to drop little limbs, and listening to conversations of those around us.  One thing I had not anticipated was the difference in accents and words used in this part of the country.  I love hearing the soft, kind words and the simple add-ons of phrases, and the drawn-out Os.  One local told me it probably wasn't too different from my own southern heritage.  I told him I felt the sentiment and mannerisms were very similar, but the language was vastly different.

Our next camp site was in a big campground and our tent site was on the beach, overlooking Lake Superior.  We dreamed of watching the sunset and sunrise over the water through the open door of our tent.  But then, weather happened.  The forecast predicted rain for a solid 24-hours including when we would be setting up our tent.  Not only that, but there was a gale warning for a full day in the area with threats of wind gusts of 30+mph and possible wave swells of up to 11 feet.  Then, our kayaking tour that swore they didn't cancel until the day of canceled well over 24-hours in advance.  Oh, and did I mention the high for these days was about 50?  So, we wimped out and booked a hotel in the area that had a hot tub.  While sipping our wine in the hot tub, we laughed at our circumstances.  Yes, waking up on the beach sounded lovely, but not in the conditions we were given, so once again, we made the most of our time, but just adjusted our plans a bit.

These changes once again provided us with a little more free time, so we enjoyed some stops along the three hour drive between Porcupine Mountains and Pictured Rocks.  First, we stopped in the small town of Marquette, a shipping town with history of railroads bringing iron ore out to big ships that then dispersed it around the world.  A local told us that in the winter the whole harbor freezes over and they all enjoy using it as a skating rink.

Ore Dock

We pulled over to a roadside attraction, a sculpture garden created by one man. Lakenenland was started by a man, who self admits that he had a drinking problem and so he chose to spend his time instead creating works of art and placing them around a 37-acre park he purchased and now allows people to drive or walk through free of charge. The metal sculptures varied from alligators to rock bands to supporting labor unions to purple elephants. There was also a bog walk with hidden animal sculptures. A truly fascinating roadside attraction, and if you want to hear this glorious accent, you can listen to the creator of this unusual place.

Munising (with a long U) is a teeny-tiny town that averages about 200 inches of snow each year. Many road signs include instructions for snowmobiles as well. There is a lot of fishing (whitefish) and a fair amount of tourism for the Pictured Rocks. On our one full day in the town, the wind was powerful, and my weather app said that the windchill was in the upper 30s. The sun did come out in the afternoon, but it was still fairly brutal, so we did a very short hike to see one of the many area waterfalls, went to several scenic overlooks to see the stunning rock cliffs and then went in a couple of the few shops in town. One of which had a wine tasting of local wines. They were all fairly sweet, but it certainly wasn’t a bad place to enjoy part of a frigid day, sipping local specialties.

For dinner, we stopping by the local establishment, the Barge Inn, and soon found ourselves engrossed in conversation with fellow tourists and locals alike. I loved learning some of the local lingo, especially the term “trolls,” a derogatory term used to describe those people who live “under the bridge,” also known as main land Michigan.  We also learned about the famous food, pasties.  The area, known for mining had once been full of expert miners from Cornwall, and so the Cornish pasties, very similar to meat pies became common.  The Yoopers (U-Pers) are a proud people. It is mostly hard-working folks in the mining, shipping or lumber industries. It is rural, small towns scattered between National Forests even a National Wildlife Refuge. It is heavily wooded with a few scattered fields, but very little appears to be farmed. There are some rolling hills, but the southeastern part is very flat and even marsh-like.

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a truly stunning lakeshore along Superior with rock formations and rock cliffs right up against the water.  As they are right up against the water, the best way to see them is from the water.  We had signed up for a 6-hour kayak sunset tour of the rocks, but the weather changed that into a 3-hour morning kayaking tour.  I would love to come back and go further along the lakeshore while the afternoon sun hits it, but we enjoyed rowing up the colorful rock formations that are millions of years old, going into small caves and watching young seagulls huddle on the rock faces.

There is said to be lots of wildlife in the UP: black bears, moose, wolves, bobcats, fishers, porcupines, etc.  We were unlucky with mammals, unfortunately.  We did see sandhill cranes that winter in Florida and enjoy spring and summer months up here.  We only saw them along the roadside, enjoying marshy areas.  Their large brown bodies often stood out from a long distance, but it wasn't until we were upon them that we could truly tell what they were.  We were most excited to see a porcupine.  Many of the locals were surprised that we hadn't seen one at all, especially along the roadside.  It was near the end of our UP journey that we finally saw them.  Although we were disappointed that they were much flatter than we hoped, technically, we did see a porcupine!

Despite some uncertain weather, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the UP, enjoying beautiful scenery, a slower pace of life, and friendly Yoopers!