CampsiteTag | Jacob Emerick's Blog

Blind 35 Hills - North Side

West from Big Bay is the Huron Mountain Club, stretching over some of the most pristine land in the Upper Peninsula. An old, abandoned road stretches out towards the club, surrounded by tall, forested hills, before suddenly ending at the property line for the Club. These hills are cut in half horizontally by the road, also known as Blind 35, and range around 1300' in elevation. After a brief visit to some of the northern outcroppings over a year ago, I returned to this area in hopes of finding some good views of Lake Superior and the untouchable Huron Mountain Club property.

Looking east along a steep outcropping

The drive from County Road 510 is not a gentle one. Blind 35, once the makings of a state trunkline, has been poorly maintained for years. My small car lurched and shuddered over the rutted road as I tried to avoid the large rocks and deeper mud pits. The road is interesting to drive on - it is straight and relatively level, and it's easy to imagine this being a paved throughfare straight through to Big Erick's Bridge. However, in ...

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• campsite
• huron mountains

The Ives Exploratory Trip

This exploration turned into the best camping experience I've had in the Upper Peninsula. When I started the hike I was only interested in doing some exploring around Mount Ives area, a large chunk of land I previously thought to be within Huron Mountain Club borders. What I found was a beautiful campsite with captivating views that I eagerly look forward to revisiting.

Sunset over Ives Lake

After a long drive west from Dodge City, I parked off of the Northwestern Road at a gated logging road. I was less than two miles from where Faith, Bryan and I parked for the Burnt Mountain hike, but this short section of road is impassable to most vehicles. Thanks that previous hike I knew there was some logging north of me, so I shouldered my gear and headed up the road. My hope was to follow the recent logging clearings northwards and set up camp once until I got tired.

While the Huron Mountain Club owns both Ives Lake and Mountain Lake (or at least the majority of the surrounding shores), there is a narrow finger of ...

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• campsite
• fall colors
• huron mountains
• old growth

Huron Mountain View

A bright pink-orange glow lit up the side of my tent early in the morning. I jumped out of the sleeping bag and my breath was taken away by the fiery view over Lake Superior. Caught in Wisconsin traffic on my drive up last night, I had climbed Raven's Nest near Little Huron River late at night through the dark and could barely make out the surrounding view in the rising moon's light. Now, with the sun's rays blazing across the landscape, the rocky top offered 270° vistas, including a direct shot at the beautiful sunrise.

Fiery sunrise over Lake Superior

Today's morning hike didn't give me much time to delay, though. I only had a few hours before some friends would be meeting me at Big Erick's Bridge. Ducking into the brush on the north side of Raven's Nest I struck east towards the Huron Mountain Club's property. There are a few hilltops covered in scraggly brush that had potential views of Huron Mountain, Howe Lake, and Rush Lake on the verge of their property (all three of these are within the Club).

Hoping to get some ...

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• bushwhack
• campsite
• huron mountains

Weekend on Mulligan Part A - Deer Lake

With a three-day weekend over Memorial Day I wanted to try a different hiking experience. Camping is a recent addition to my Upper Peninsula adventuring, but I still frequently use my car up north to drive from one hike to the next (and to grab the occasional fast food meal). Though I don't have the right gear for true backpacking I decided to try something close: set up a site on day one and walk everywhere, avoiding the car (and civilization) during the entire trip. I arrived at my destination, Mulligan Plains, in the twilight to set up for the first night.

Morning sunlight on Mulligan Plains

I didn't have time to change out of my clothes from work (shorts) and was attacked by mosquitoes the minute I stepped out of the car. A friendly local and his son was unpacking their truck for a weekend at his cabin, located on the other side of Mulligan Creek. We had a good chat about the area; he strongly suggested stopping by a number of lakes north of the creek for some good fishing. By the time he took off on his four ...

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• campsite
• mulligan plains
• peshekee highlands

Salmon Trout Point

Just north of Big Bay the shoreline makes a final reach north before curving westwards into Huron Mountain Club property. The land here is strangely flat, with an elevation of 120 feet above Lake Superior. Instead of rolling gently down to the water, the forest abruptly stops at cliffs that plunge straight down to the shallow water. Only a few cabins and roads dot the area, making it a large, flat, and empty area jutting into Lake Superior. I probably never would have visited it if it hadn't have been for a fellow hiker who pointed me towards an amazing hiking adventure.

Looking south from Black Rock Point

My first visit to this area was with Katie and Logan. We had been out all day and were more than a little tired by the time we reached Big Bay. Parking where Sullivan Creek begins to turn left, we headed east to the water at Black Rock Point. A gated two-track took us right to a small camping spot near the small point. This point is really just a small dimple sticking out from the otherwise straight shoreline with ...

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• campsite
• huron mountains
• shoreline

Rocking Chair Lakes

Perched high above Mulligan Plains are the two small Rocking Chair Lakes. A rustic camping site of the Escanaba River State Forest, these lakes offer scenic views and a peaceful escape for the adventurous. Ever since I first visited Mulligan Plains in the October of 2008, I hoped to have the chance to visit the lakes, and I got my chance almost a full year later.

It was a cool, rainy July morning in 2009 when Logan and I headed to Mulligan Plains after a night of camping on the Yellow Dog Plains. While the official route to the lakes involves driving up County Road AKC, I doubted my vehicle could make it more than half a mile on the poorly maintained route. I headed up the unnamed but well-kept county road on the west side of Mulligan Plains and cut over on a convenient driveway near the lakes. As the plains are only two thousand feet wide or so, this route got me close to the start of the trail without damaging my car more than necessary.

Eastern side of Mulligan Plains

I had to double back to find the remains of ...

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• logan
• mulligan plains
• old growth