Huron Mountains Tag | Jacob Emerick's Blog

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 Michigan Highways.

read more »

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

Clark Creek and Island Lake

Due to the rugged nature of the Peshekee Highlands, the Dead River's upper reaches are quite unique. From its headwaters in the McCormick Tract, it drops over 400 feet before reaching Silver Lake Basin, the first of five reservoirs along the Dead River. The surrounding land doesn't drop as quickly as the river on its route to Lake Superior, with the deep river valley surrounded by soaring cliffs and towering hills. There are two interesting tributaries flowing from the north that drop several hundred feet before joining with the Dead River: Mulligan Creek and Clark Creek. On a hot, humid day in July of 2009, I decided to visit the Clark Creek area to hike along the creek and its wide, deep valley near the Dead River Basin.

I took a long, but personal favorite, route out of Ishpeming along Deer Lake Road. This road is really curvy and busted up, but it offers amazing views of Deer Lake Basin and the wilderness surrounding the Dead River Basin. Unfortunately, I did get stuck behind a logging truck on its route to...

read more »

• Tags:
• logan
• huron mountains
• old growth

Superior Mountain Hike

Superior Mountain is a lumpy set of peaks located west of the Mouth of Huron river. Rising from the edge of Lake Superior and sandwiched between Little Huron River and Mount Benison, the mountain has many rocky outcroppings with excellent views of the surrounding area, some over 1400 feet of elevation. This rugged peak offers some of the best climbing and hiking options of the western Huron Mountain range outside of Huron Mountain Club boundaries.

Starting on the western end of Little Huron River, a number of rocky outcroppings rise before the large, forested Mount Benison. These peaks do not have official names, but the majority of them are grouped together as Superior Mountain (or Clause Mountain) with the two southern ones as Tick Mountain. While I had visited two tough rocky mounds of Superior Mountain during my Tick Mountain climb, I never attempted climbing the bulk of the peaks. The sheer, south-facing cliffs blocked my usual route from Little Huron Road, and I thought I would have to devote a good portion of...

read more »

• Tags:
• logan
• huron mountains
• bushwhack

Salmon Trout River

With most of the Salmon Trout River's main branch located in the fabled Huron Mountain Club property, it is hard to visit or enjoy. It has a small watershed and low average water flow, but the location and rugged terrain make this river an amazing and rustic destination for the adventurous hikers.

The Salmon Trout River has two main branches, the East and West Branch. Together, these rivers drain the northern reaches of the Yellow Dog Plains, even sharing some watershed area with the southern Yellow Dog River near Eagle Rock. They, along with Cedar Creek, have hollowed a deep gorge that forms a valley between the Yellow Dog Plains plateau and the Huron Mountains. The upper reaches of the river are easily visited,...

read more »

• Tags:
• waterfalls
• huron mountains
• yellow dog plains
• river system

Tick Mountain Hike

Called Tick Mountain by Geocachers, there was a rocky peak on the outskirts of the Huron Mountains that had steadily become a thorn in my side. I first tried to climb the peak with a friend during the winter and was forced to turn around within site of the final climb because of time constraints. My second attempt ended abruptly when both I and my hiking partner fell through the ice of Little Huron River in the early spring. This was my third attempt, in the midst of summer, and I was determined to make the climb.

Tick Mountain rises from the banks of Little Huron River like a long spine of rocky peaks. There are four separate rocky outcroppings, with the eastern one being the tallest at 1342'. This point is separated from the rest of the spine by a 300' dip, which is the challenge I turned away from during my first climb. The first two outcroppings have limited western views of Bald Mountain and an unnamed peak nearby, but the second two have expansive views in all directions. This makes the mountain an ideal...

read more »

• Tags:
• logan
• huron mountains
• bushwhack

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.

Starting with two main branches in the McCormick Tract, southwest of the Yellow Dog Plains, the river begins as a series of lakes and swamps that once hosted the famous island fortress of the Bentleys and McCormicks. Because of these swamps, the river has a yellow/brown color during spring melt or heavy...

read more »

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

A Few River Gorges

The Western Upper Peninsula has a unique geology compared to the rest of Michigan. Ancient bedrock creates surprisingly tall mountains and highlands that trap lakes, swamps, and wetlands hundreds of feet above Lake Superior. Throughout the geologic history of the area, glacial and volcanic events have both carved deep channels and helped confine the waters, eventually leading to rivers draining the land through gorges and over waterfalls. Here is a short list of the major gorges of the area, at least the ones I've had the opportunity of visiting.

Sturgeon River cuts one of the more well-known gorges of this area through the flat, sandy Baraga Plains southwest of L'Anse. This gorge is heavily forested, and good lookouts over it are hard to find. The two highlights of this area include Silver Mountain, an ancient volcanic plug, and Sturgeon River Falls, both located in the Ottawa National Forest. Most of the gorge is simply a deep river valley (three hundred feet near the falls), though there are a few rock cliffs...

read more »

• Tags:
• waterfalls
• huron mountains
• ottawa national forest

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.

Starting in a circular Dead River Headwater lake, the river starts out a meager creek winding through the swamps and rocky hills south of the expansive Mulligan...

read more »

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

Huron Mountain Range

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan isn't particularly known for its mountains. While the terrain is more rugged than the Lower Peninsula, there are no vistas that compare to the Rocky or Appalachian Mountain states. However, there is one group of peaks collectively known as the Huron Mountains worth mentioning for their height and rural setting.

The Huron Mountains stretch northward from Marquette following the curve of the land toward Skanee before dissipating south near Alberta. They circle the Yellow Dog Plains, a sandy plateau mostly owned by the Mead Paper Corporation, and the Peshekee Highlands just north of US-41. The roads are windy and unmarked, used only by outdoorsmen and logging companies, and is not plowed or maintained for most of the year.

There are three main portions of this range. Starting in the east, near Marquette, is the Sugarloaf range. These mountains are known for their two main peaks, Sugarloaf and Hogback, as well as numerous waterfalls from the Dead River,...

read more »

• Tags:
• waterfalls
• huron mountains
• yellow dog plains

Bald Mountain

On several adventures east of Skanee, MI during the summer of 2008 I noticed a large mountain near the mouth of the Huron River. It wasn't until I started looking at geocaching websites for interesting hiking spots that I learned its name, Bald Mountain, or noticed that it was the easternmost point of the Huron Mountains. There are several rocky peaks closer to the Huron Mountain Club property, offering potentially great views of their rugged landscape, but Bald Mountain offered three rocky outcroppings, an altitude of 1,184 feet, and a good view of the Huron River and Keweenaw Peninsula. So I decided to climb it.

Hoping for good weather, Cory, Logan and I headed over Big Erick's bridge around 9am on a cold Saturday morning. While the weather wasn't bad during the drive, it was snowing lightly for the entire way down. We were surprised to see that the roads were plowed past Huron River all the way to our planned entry route, allowing us to park several dozen yards from the snow covered two-track leading north to the mountain.

Neither...

read more »

• Tags:
• logan
• huron mountains
• cory
• snowstorm