Say Ya to Da UP, Eh?

Firstly, we'd like to thank all our family and friends out there who have commented on our blog, either through the blog directly or via e-mail. We are delighted that you are enjoying reading our blog as much as we are writing it!

Now back to our travels...

We had seen and enjoyed the Minnesota side of Lake Superior. Now it was time to see what the Michigan side had to offer.

So we headed over to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (also known as the U.P), the northernmost of the two land masses that make up the state of Michigan (the U.P. is separated from the rest of Michigan, called the Lower Peninsula, by the Straits of Mackinac...see map below for a little geographical relativity).

The Upper Peninsula contains almost 1/3 of Michigan's land area, but only 3% of its population. It was once described in a federal report as a "sterile region on the shores of Lake Superior destined by soil and climate to remain forever a wilderness." Surprise! Copper and iron were discovered in the U.P. in the 1840s and its mines ultimately produced more mineral wealth than the California Gold Rush. In fact, by the 1860s, the Upper Peninsula was supplying 90% of America's copper. And by the 1890s, it was the largest supplier of iron ore.

But I digress. Our first stop was the Keweenaw Peninsula, a finger of land that points into Lake Superior from the western Upper Peninsula. The Keweenaw Peninsula is home to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Michigan's largest area of undeveloped wilderness (so that aforementioned federal report wasn't all wrong) . It sounded like our kind of place. There are 59,000 acres of lakes and rivers and waterfalls and forests (maple, birch, pine and the largest virgin hardwood-hemlock forest in the United States). It's a beautiful park and we truly enjoyed all the trees, although for a couple of folks who love the endless horizons of the desert, we did begin to feel as if we were in a continuous tunnel of trees.

We also enjoyed a few of their many waterfalls.
Truth be told, we never met a waterfall we didn't like!

The poetically named Lake of the Clouds

Another highlight of our time on the Keweenaw Peninsula was having our very first pasty. A pasty is kind of like a pot pie without the pot. It's all sorts of meat and vegetable goodness wrapped up in pie dough. It was originally brought to the Upper Peninsula by Cornish miners who came to work in the copper mines. It was a small and portable meal that was also very filling. It evidently stayed warm for a long time, but if the need arose to warm it up, all a miner had to do was put his pasty on a shovel and hold it over a head-lamp candle. Hmmm...

The Noble Pasty

Many thanks to our dear friend Di who had previously shared with us the correct pronunciation of pasty. It was delicious and I was delighted to find out that I actually like rutabagas.

We ended our stay on the Keweenaw with a visit to Fort Wilkins State Park, home to a restored army military outpost. During the Upper Peninsula's mining boom, thousands of people moved to the area and the fort was built in 1844 in order to keep the peace. It's a relatively small fort, with 27 structures that include officer's quarters, quarters for married enlisted men, barracks, mess halls, a hospital, a bakery, a blacksmith's shop and a guardhouse. Some of the structures are original and others have been rebuilt following archaeological excavations.

The fort's exhibits are exceptionally well done. You are allowed to wander from building to building and room to room where original furniture, clothing, weapons and personal items are displayed, along with some well written documentation. It all works together to give you a vivid feeling of what life was like for the soldiers and their families who were stationed at this extremely isolated fort. If you are a history buff and find yourself anywhere near the Keweenah Peninsula, we highly recommend a visit to Fort Wilkins.

The Copper Harbor Lighthouse, a part of Fort Wilkins State Park

One last note on the Keweenaw...while we explored the Keweenaw Peninsula, one of our campsites was in the town of Ontonagon. We were camped right on the beach, with a magnificent view of Lake Superior. We had enjoyed a campfire while watching the sunset, and just when we were about to douse the fire and head into the motorhome, we suddenly saw a flash of light across the lake. More flashes followed and we were then treated to an outstanding light show on the Minnesota and Ontario, Canada side of Lake Superior. We marveled at what must have been a very severe thunderstorm across the lake, while we sat dry and comfortable. Our turn came later that night, but by then, we were tucked in, all dry and cozy, in our motorhome.


When it was time to leave the Keweenaw Peninsula, we headed east, over to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We had been hearing from many folks about Pictured Rocks being a "not to be missed" spot on the Upper Peninsula. That was good enough for us.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a 73,000 acre park that hugs the shoreline of Lake Superior for nearly 40 miles (it's about six miles across at its widest point). Created in 1966 to protect and preserve the shoreline, cliffs, beaches and dunes along those 40 miles, it's the roughly 15 miles of its 500-million year old sandstone cliffs that are the real draw. Rising 50 to 200 feet above the water, the cliffs are subject to the relentless pounding of storm-generated waves from Lake Superior, some as high as 20 to 30 feet! The result of all this battering? Wondrous natural sandstone sculptures and sea caves and arches. And as a bonus, a huge artist's palette of colors as groundwater containing iron, limonite, manganese, copper and other minerals leaves behind colorful streaks on the cliffs as the water seeps out of the sandstone and trickles down the face of the cliffs.

Verbal descriptions cannot do this place justice...I hope the following photos (taken during a boat tour) will give you a hint of just how special this area is. We had opted for the Sunset Cruise, hoping the late afternoon sun would break through the heavy clouds and treat us to some dramatic lighting. Alas, that was not to be. Instead, we got rain. But the silver lining to that dark cloud was that the colors on the now rain-soaked cliffs simply glowed.







One last note on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore...we learned that the pounding waves are, not surprisingly, still eroding the cliffs. But as the cliffs are being eroded inland, Lake Superior is actually getting bigger!

And for those curious about the title of this blog entry... it's borrowed from a popular U.P. bumper sticker and t-shirt design that is inspired by a slogan promoted by state tourism officials. That slogan is "Say YES to Michigan" and the U.P slogan is further inspired by the fact that U.P. natives speak a dialect influenced by Scandinavian and French-Canadian speech. "Say ya to da UP, eh?"

Next stop: Sault Ste. Marie!

--- Barbara
Day 46
Total miles: 4,717