Hiking Category | Jacob Emerick's Blog

Wetmore Hike Part C - Hogsback Mountain

The sound of crashing waves slowly died away as I headed inland away from Wetmore Beach. Taking the parking lot route out to County Road 550, I was unsure of how I would make it to Hogsback Mountain until I noticed a small two-track across the road from Wetmore's parking lot. It was marked as part of the Harlow Trails. I took my chances in headed westwards along the trail, inland, hoping to find my next climb.

Two bridges along the Harlow trail

The two-track started out wide enough for a small truck but quickly narrowed down after a few fallen trees blocked the path. It crossed a creek flowing into Harlow Lake with two separate bridges, both in disrepair. I was not paying attention to my direction, mostly looking around and enjoying the woods, and found myself heading northwards away from the mountain by the time the trail met up with an old railroad grade.

While the northward trend had taken me away from a direct path to the mountain I wasn't too far from my destination. I headed south down the railroad grade past a tiny ...

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• marquette,
• north country trail,
• waterfalls,
• wetmore

Wetmore Hike Part B - Wetmore Beach

After climbing Sugarloaf Mountain, just a few miles north of Marquette, I headed down the eastern flank towards Lake Superior. With Wetmore Beach to the north and Partridge Bay to the south I stepped out of the cold, soaked woods and was greeted by an amazing view of waves pounding against huge, black rocks.

Waves crashing on the rocky shoreline

I carefully crept out on the slick boulders until I could feel the spray of the waves as they crashed onto the shore. My hike had been rushed to this point... I woke up early, quickly packed up my campsite, and scrambled up a mountain. This was a great time to catch my breath and really enjoy the scenery.

Cloudy skies loomed angrily over Lake Superior, with a few whitecamps visible far off to the east. I was on a bit of a point, and I could make out both Presque Isle and Little Presque Isle along the shoreline (in opposite directions). The black rocks I were sitting on were ancient, with lichen-covered crags and deep, worn grooves. Some of the waves barely curled over before ...

• Tags:
• bushwhack,
• lake superior,
• marquette,
• sandy beach,
• shoreline,
• wetmore

Wetmore Hike Part A - Sugarloaf Mountain

Just a few miles north of Marquette is a small collection of interesting locations that I had ignored for far too long. Casting them to the bottom of my list as 'easy tourist' stops, I've driven past the Wetmore area to more appealing remote locations beyond Big Bay numerous times. I rolled into the Sugarloaf Mountain parking lot on a cold, damp morning with an ambitious plan to visit several of these locations in one fell swoop.

Looking north towards Wetmore Beach from Sugarloaf

My first destination was an easy climb up Sugarloaf Mountain. It had been a rough night camping near Diorite, with high winds and freezing temperatures robbing any chance of a restful sleep, and I was thankful for the wide paths leading up the mountain. There are two trails leading up the mountain, an 'easy' and 'difficult' route, and I took the difficult route uphill (I'm pretty sure it's shorter). Both trails were well-trod and easy to follow with stairs built on the steeper sections.

The air was cold and damp with a thin fog clinging to ...

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• lake superior,
• marquette,
• north country trail,
• shoreline,
• wetmore

Lookout Mountain

Emily and I had just finished a long hike along Norwich bluff which left us soaking wet, cold, and tired, but there was still several hours of light left in the day. We drove down the bumpy Victoria road east from Norwich Road to the start of the houses near Victoria Dam, parking at a small gravel turn off by an unoccupied white house. Lookout Mountain was south of here, along a section of the North Country Trail. North of us looked a bit interesting, though, so we took a short detour to the top of a large poor rock pile.

Cloudy view from the poor rock pile

The Victoria area is built around the ruins of a large, profitable copper mine from long ago. A historic town, some old names, and a large dam are all that remain here today, though. I am not sure where the exact shafts are located, though I did hold a small hope that Emily and I would find one today. We stood atop a large poor rock pile that cascaded down the hill below us, clearing a view of the Ontonagon River valley and some rain-shrouded hills in the ...

• Tags:
• north country trail,
• ontonagon,
• ontonagon river,
• ottawa national forest,
• trap hills,
• uppco,
• victoria

Norwich Bluff

A cold, misty morning wrapped around Norwich road like a tunnel as I barreled south from Ontonagon. I was meeting a friend at the North Country Trail parking area near FR630 and was running late. It turned out that Emily was also behind schedule, and we met at the small parking area at the same time. We both donned extra clothes in hopes of keeping dry through the slow drizzle before jumping into my car and driving up Victoria Road.

Misty two-track on the way to Gleason Falls

The Norwich Bluff hike had been on my radar for several years. Most of my hikes tend to be circular - I dislike backtracking and usually have access to a single vehicle. This adventure was a bit too linear to make a good circle. Starting at Gleason Creek, we were going to follow the the edge of a south-facing bluff over hilly terrain to Norwich Road. If there was a single vehicle, I'd have to either walk along Victoria Road for three miles or retrace my hike over the rough terrain. Thanks to Emily and her truck parked on Norwich, we could cut out several extra miles of ...

• Tags:
• cliffs,
• north country trail,
• ontonagon,
• ottawa national forest,
• trap hills,
• waterfalls

Nealy Falls

A short, bumpy drive along the powerline's service road brought me to a dirt four-wheeler track heading south. I stepped out of my car and immediately felt the heat rising from the ground like a swelling pool of water. Grabbing some water and a few granola bars, I entered the green forest on the overgrown track at a brisk pace, not particularly looking forward to this hike through the sweltering heat.

Power lines north of Ishpeming

After finishing my waterfall project several years ago and putting together my waterfalls of the keweenaw area website I began to explore other Upper Peninsula features, like mountains and lakes. I still visit waterfalls if they are along my route or when I'm with curious friends. However, falls started to crop up that I had missed... deep in the Peshekee Highlands, in a remote area of the Keweenaw, or in unexplored reaches of the Ottawa National Forest luring me back to adventurous bushwhacks through unmarked areas searching for the right creek flowing ...

• Tags:
• bushwhack,
• carp river,
• ishpeming,
• swamp,
• waterfalls

Northwest of the Silver Lake Basin

Finding my way back to the small campsite on the Dead River, where it enters the Silver Lake Basin, was more difficult than I had planned. A maze of logging roads, mostly impassable in my small car, wound their way from the Peshekee Grade (north of Champion, MI) past Wolf Lake Road and over to Wildcat Canyon. While this area is within Kennecott's planned 'Wilderness Road', a proposed route from Republic up to their mine on the Yellow Dog Plains, it currently has few good roads and is all but impossible to navigate. After an hour of logging roads, I finally reached the campsite and parked near the firepit, more than ready for my hike.

Firepit at campsite along the upper Dead River

Earlier in the year I had embarked on an overly ambitious route around the entire Silver Lake Basin. There are several really interesting locations along the northwest shoreline that I skipped during that hike out of sheer exhaustion. Today I was going to revist these spots. While I only had a few hours of daylight left, my planned hike included ...

• Tags:
• campsite,
• dead river,
• north country trail,
• old growth,
• silver lake basin,
• uppco,
• waterfalls

Cascade Falls

The parking lot for Cascade Falls was surrounded by a warm green mugginess after the morning's rain. It was easy enough to find, just off a well-maintained forest service road, mere minutes from Norwich Road. I stepped out and quickly put on a jean jacket and baseball cap in anticipation for the black flies that love this area and weather. A well defined and blazed footpath led away from my car into the deep green woods.

Early fork on the Trail to Cascade Falls

I didn't do much research on this hike beforehand and was surprised to find a fork in the path after a few minutes of walking. A sign for 'Bluff Trail' pointed to the left. Unable to turn around from a promising name like that I headed left. The climb was short and steep and I soon found myself on top of a rocky outcropping with views to the south and west.

Trap Hills to the West

Green Ottawa Forest stretching to the South

The views of the Trap Hills to the west were pretty amazing. I've heard good things about this rocky area of the ...

• Tags:
• north country trail,
• ontonagon,
• ontonagon river,
• ottawa national forest,
• ravens nest,
• trap hills,
• waterfalls

The Numbered Lakes above Red Road

Nestled north of Red Road and between Mulligan Plains and the Clark Creek Valley, the numbered lakes are perched almost 300' above within thick and wild highlands. Lake 8, 2, and 3 (going from west to east) are each around 10 acres in size with shorelines ranging from deep rocky outcroppings to shallow wetlands. There is no road or easy path to any of these lakes, even though there is an old open cabin on Lake 8. I had visited Lake 8 several times before, but today I wanted to see all three of the numbered lakes on a single grand adventure.

Looking south on Lake 8

Ever foolhardy, I made the mistake of spending the night on the north side of Lake 8. The Mulligan approach involves climbing the 300' up an overgrown four-wheeler trail for a mile around fallen trees and deep pools then bushwhacking a few hundred yards through a small marsh. By the time I reached the lake both my gear and I were soaked through thanks to the all-day drizzle. I rolled out of the tent early in the morning clad in already wet clothes shivering in the ...

• Tags:
• cliffs,
• huron mountains,
• mulligan plains,
• old growth,
• peshekee highlands

Winter Visit to Cliff Lake

Cliff Lake is a small body of water nestled against the southern flanks of Mt. Benison, located halfway between Big Bay and Skanee. There are two main routes to Cliff Lake: follow Cliff River north from the Northwestern Road past Forty Foot Falls or break off of Erick's Road where it meets Little Huron River Road and head east. Since I decided to tackle this adventure in early March, when Erick's Road is one of the few plowed drives in the area, I chose the latter.

Ice Covered Cliff Lake

I was excited to jump out of the car after four hours of early morning driving, even if the forecast had lied about the sunny day. Thick flakes of fluff drifted lazily on my car, parked near the sharp northward bend of Erick's Road. I grabbed a few extra jackets for layers and headed southeast past the 'Private Drive - No ATVs' sign. This road was also plowed (surprisingly), making the first bit of my hike an easy walk.

After passing several cabins in the first half mile I decided to cut north. Cliff Lake wasn't my only ...

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• mount benison,
• skanee,
• snowstorm,
• tick mountain,
• winter