Peshekee Highlands Tag | Jacob Emerick's Blog

Dead River Falls

The sun had barely reason on this brisk fall morning when I stepped out of my car. I debated throwing on a fleece under my worn-thin jean jacket but decided that a quick-paced hike would keep me warm enough. Today would be started off with a visit to the familiar Dead River Falls, which had been closed off for penstock repair for the better part of a year. Not only was I curious about the construction that had closed off this popular spot but I also wanted to get some good photos of the waterfalls - my previous visits had been marred by mishaps, poor weather, and access issues.

Early morning sun on the new trail marker

There was some modifications immediately visible. After parking in a small parking loop you have to climb up a steep hill to get to the falls. While the climb remains the same, the path up had a slight weave and better foundation to lessen the slope. A cool new marker was also set up in case anyone gets confused where they are.

Winding path up to the falls

Once I reached the top of the hill I could ...

• Tags:
• dead river,
• forestville,
• marquette,
• peshekee highlands,
• uppco,
• 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

Eastern Cliff of Clark Creek Valley

Cliffs have quickly become one of my more recent hiking interests. Like mountains, they offer some excellent views of the area, and the sharp relief can make for some interesting routes and rock outcroppings. Good cliffs are hard to find in the Upper Peninsula, thanks to the millennia of erosion gnawing down on the terrain. An unexpected ally can help keep the steep rock face from getting buried by its own sedimentation - flowing water.

Cliffs of Eastern Clark Creek Valley

A river or a creek flowing at the base of a cliff can wash away any sort of debris that is eroded off of a cliff. I've already seen a number of examples: downstream of the McClure Basin (Dead River), southeastern edge of Mulligan Plains (Mulligan Creek), and the deep gorge near Cliff Lake (Cliff River). Mulligan Plains is the most interesting; with steep slopes stretching along the entire eastern wall, it is only the southern half, with Mulligan Creek flowing at the base, that the cliff's steep rock face is exposed. Today I was hoping to find another exposed cliff ...

• Tags:
• katie,
• logan,
• peshekee highlands,
• snowstorm

Revisiting the Database Class

Several months ago I wrote a blog post describing how to create a database class that would wrap the native php mysqli connection. You can read that post here. Since that post was written I've learned a lot about proper php classes and realized that I made several mistakes in that blog post that I'd like to revisit.

Singleton

The database class that I wrote constructs a new read/write connection whenever it is instantiated. However, there is nothing unique about this connection - it remains the same no matter how many different instances you have of this class. There should be only one instance of this class in this case. If you have several different connections (say, a different user for each of your databases or schemas) then you'd have to look at passing connection information into the class through a factory class, but this case requires a singleton.

A singleton class is fairly simple to make. By making the __construct method private and ...

• Tags:
• adventure,
• campsite,
• mulligan plains,
• peshekee highlands

Driving through the Huron Mountains

The roads in the Huron Mountains are the result of years of logging, recreation, and lack of maintenance. As the only maps of this area show all possible routes as random, haphazard wiggles, it takes time to understand which roads are drivable and which are barely fit for walking. Once you understand the main routes, though, much of the area becomes accessible by normal cars.

County Roads 510 and 550 connect Marquette to Big Bay. Big Bay Road, or Country Road 550, is the eastern one and is paved, more direct, and takes you past Sugarloaf, Hogback, Presque Isle, and other popular destinations. If you're looking for a more scenic route, 510 meanders further west but is gravel and require a respectable low speed. It does pass the Yellow Dog Falls and meets up with Blind 35 and the Triple A, although it doesn't actually go to Big Bay - you need to reconnect with 550 to do that. County Road 510 does have a bit of interesting history, as it was part of the planned route for M-35, the highway that Ford stopped. You can read about this on ...

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• peshekee highlands,
• yellow dog plains

McCormick Tract

Located north of Champion, the McCormick Tract is a 16,850 acre wilderness in the Peshekee Grade. Originally owned by Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaping machine, the land was donated to the USDA Forest Service in 1967 and is now available for the public to enjoy. In July of 2009 I visited the south west corner of the tract along a historic route to the old camp on White Deer Lake.

Starting from the Peshekee Grade, which follows the old Iron Range & Huron Bay railroad grade from Champion up to Mount Arvon, I parked at the access area with some fellow hikers. The small parking spot had a restroom as well as some informational signs and maps. There is no trail markers allowed on the McCormick Tract, so it was nice to get a short refresher from these maps. After crossing the bridge over the Peshekee River, we followed a well-worn path northeast towards White Deer Lake.

Trailhead sign for the trail

While the trail was easy to follow, the rain-covered, thick undergrowth soon had us soaked. For the first mile or two, ...

• Tags:
• faith,
• logan,
• north country trail,
• old growth,
• ottawa national forest,
• peshekee highlands,
• ruins

Yellow Dog River

The Yellow Dog River has recently gained media attention as one of the two waterways endangered by the proposed Eagle Project sulfide mine. This mine would be located on the Yellow Dog Plains near the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River and Yellow Dog River, potentially threatening two pristine rivers of the Huron Mountain area. The river was well known before the proposed mine, though, as it has ample recreational potentials along its length.

Yellow Dog River's route

Starting with two main branches in the McCormick Tract, southwest of ...

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• peshekee highlands,
• river system,
• waterfalls,
• yellow dog plains

The Mulligan Area

There are several important pieces to the 'Mulligan Area' of Marquette County. Mulligan Plains is a long, narrow valley pointing from the western end of the Dead River north to Pinnacle Falls on the Yellow Dog Plains. Emptying the large and wild Mulligan Swamp into the Dead River is Mulligan Creek. Along the creek is a series of relatively unheard of waterfalls collectively called Mulligan Falls. All of these are wrapped around Silver Lake Basin, the uppermost dammed basin along the Dead River, located on the edge of the Peshekee Highlands.

The Peshekee Highlands are a large, expansive, and rugged plateau just south of the Yellow Dog Plains. The elevation here is surprisingly high, usually around 1600 feet above sea level. Much of the plateau is swampy and sprinkled with lakes; the hard rocky outcroppings make it difficult for the water to drain out regularly. This area also has mineral wealth, with numerous abandoned gold and silver mines throughout the plateau. Almost two-thirds of the highlands are located within the McCormick Tract and ...

• Tags:
• mulligan plains,
• old growth,
• peshekee highlands,
• waterfalls

Dead River

Falling over eleven hundred feet from the Peshekee Highlands, the Dead River empties into Lake Superior near Marquette. Thanks to this large elevation change and route through the southern reaches of the Huron Mountains, there are many waterfalls and dams along the Dead River. The water takes after the rivers name, having an odd color and poor fishing thanks to the huge basins and dewatered stretches. Also, the Dead River was the scene of a major disaster in 2003 which gave the Upper Peninsula national attention and millions of dollars of damage.

• Tags:
• huron mountains,
• peshekee highlands,
• river system,
• waterfalls