Michigan's Upper Peninusla

Beautiful Lake Superior

Our site, nice view!

We moved here to the U. P. last Tuesday. At first we were going to Wakefield and then on to Houghton and Copper Harbor but in talking around the campfire our new friends Terry and Lu were headed up to Houghton. Wakefield is a must as this is one of the may places John lived when he was young and we eventually want to see all those areas. Our route is pretty flexible and Wakefield is actually on the way to and from Houghton on our route so we just switched the route and tomorrow we will head to Wakefield.

Fort Wilkins

We landed in the City RV Park of Houghton right next to Terry and Lu. This is a very small park but is right on the canal that splits this part the peninsula and it is a beautiful view from the RV. Houghton, the home of Michigan Tech is on one side of the canal and Hancock is on the other. Tuesday was very warm and we had a nice drive here then Wednesday and Thursday fall arrived. The temps dropped into the 40-50s during the day and into the 30’s at night. It rained some and was very windy. Brrrrrrr. So we did a little car touring, not too much as the roads here are very confusing, twisting turning, easy to get lost. We met Terry and Lu for dinner at the Library, a local brew pub. We had a great meal and John really likes their stout (as usual) and I enjoyed their brown beer. Earlier in the day John and I and stopped at another local brewer down the street called Keweena Brew House and tried their sampler. They have a nice red and brown but John says you should pass on their stout. After two breweries the good thing was we walked from the RV park, it is an easy mile. Terry and Lu offered us a ride back but we decided to brave the cold and walk. The wind had died down so it actually was a nice walk.

Friday it was a very chilly morning but the sun was out and it was forecast to get into the 60’s. The four of us jumped into our truck and headed to see the Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor areas. This is the most northerly point in Michigan. Our first stop was Fort Wilkens State Park. The campground here gets great reviews so we definitely wanted to check it out. The park is at the site of a restored Army Fort. They have done an amazing restoration job and it is definitely worth the tour. The fort was built to help maintain order in the mining boom but after two years when the army needed more personal for the war with Mexico the soldiers left. I personally think they survived two winters and decided to “get out of Dodge” as the saying goes. This outpost was cut off from the rest of civilization for almost 6 months of the year. That would truly be a difficult assignment. The rest of the year this place would be gorgeous. 

Duck nap??

There are two campground here, East and West. The east campground the sites are small and the there was one electrical post for 4 sites. If you don’t get a site close to the post you would need a very long cord. This area would not work for us at all. The West campground however would be great. Each electrical site has it’s own post. The first loop the sites are gravel but wide and many longer then the east campground. At the end is a new loop that has the largest pull throughs we have ever seen. They are wide enough and long enough for even the biggest rigs. There also are some back ins that are very nice. All of this last loop are asphalt sites What appealed to us is the how quite and beautiful this park is. We love to really get away from civilization once in awhile and this would be a great place to do it. Don’t count on a cell signal or TV reception though. It would be a great place to fish, read a book and just enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Terry and Lu at the top of Mt. Brockway

Lighthouse at Copper Harbor from Mt. Brockway

 After the park we continued on our loop through Copper Harbor where we stopped at a little shop to sample the homemade fudge. You can see the lighthouse from here but to visit it would mean a boat ride and we decided to pass and wait to see the lighthouse in Eagle Harbor. Next we took the Brockway Mountain Drive. The lady at the shop recommended driving up to the scenic outlook and back the same way as the road is not that great. So up we went, this is a very steep drive and the road is indeed in need of some maintenance but the views were beautiful, looked more like Colorado than Michigan at the top and you could see the colors beginning to change. On the way down we stopped at an overlook that was was stunning,  you could see the bay & and Lake Fannie Hooe. It is definitely worth the drive. 

Lake Superior left, Lake Fannie Hooe right

I should mention Fannie Hooe. She was the sister of the wife of one of the officers at Fort Wilkens. Were not sure why but she was very popular and they named a lake after her. We did a lot of speculation on how to pronounce her name, and wondered why she was so popular. Hmmmm, what do you think? 

Lighthouse at Eagle Harbor

Next it was on to Eagle Harbor. This little town has a lighthouse right in town and so that is where we headed. It is a beautiful little lighthouse that also has been restored. It is still a functioning  light so we the only thing we couldn’t do was go up the tower to the light.  The fella manning the lighthouse was interesting, well actually not that interesting, just ask Lu. I didn’t think he was ever going to stop talking to her long enough for her to actually see the house. We just kept walking and she was kind enough to listen to the guy, sorry Lu. 

Our last stop was Calumet. This little town has many really old interesting buildings. We’d read about their local brew pub so we stopped at the Michigan Inn and Red Jacket Brewery for a bite to eat. We were disappointed in this one. They only had their stout on tap and though the menu had lots of Michigan brews on it every time we picked one they didn’t have it. We had a couple appetizers and John had some chilli. It was ok but we’d pass this one up next time. The only cool part was the building itself. It is very old and there is a great mural painted on the bar back.

This has been a great stop. Of course there is always more to do so we hope we get back this way and I think we will as we still want to do the whole circle tour of Lake Superior, we will just have to leave earlier in the season next time. Today we are off to the International Parade and food fest here in Houghton but I will leave that until the next post.

Happy trails....................