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Point Abbaye had lured me out many years ago during some of my first adventures east of L'Anse. The long peninsula separated Keweenaw and Huron Bay and looked like a tiny version of the great Keweenaw Peninsula itself, stretching out into Lake Suprior like a crooked finger. Also, it promised (and…
There is no other waterfall in Michigan that has confounded me as much as Vista Falls. Sure, I did get lost over night while cutting through the Herman-Nestoria swamp looking for Upper Sturgeon Falls. And I almost got my car stuck in the mud looking for Upper Silver Falls. And there was that time at…
Sun trickled down through the wet, green leaves overhead. I paused, listening for the soft rustles of the wind high above me, feeling the sprinkles come down as the branches moved and swayed. The hill I was walking over was just west of Victoria and Lookout Mountain, within a few miles of my earlier…
Throughout many of my hiking posts I frequently use the word 'bushwhacking'. I learned this word from my dad when we would bust through the woods on a walk and was recently surprised to learn that it is actually had a legitimate definition. Honestly, when pushing my way through vegetation or…
Sitting south of the town of Rockland and the famous Minesota Mine is a long buff overlooking the Military Hills. The bluff is not especially tall, staying below 1400'. Other outcroppings along the Trap Hills and Gogebic Ridge easily close in on 1600'. In fact, if it wasn't for Irish Hollow Cemetery…
A cold breeze drifted up from the small bay and through the trees. Finally. All day I had been hiking through stifling heat of the forest near Mount Benison, unseasonal heat that had sapped the energy out of me, and even the narrow waterway of Huron Bay offered some relief. With a grateful sigh I…
The trail along Mountain Lake faded in and out like a quicksilver snake. Downed branches and undergrowth masked sections, leftovers from the long winter, and other parts just slipped into the ground. I tried my best to follow it on my way from Turner Point to the mouth of Mink Run. There's a marsh…
Predawn light streamed over Cliff Lake, dim pinks and blues reflecting off the calm surface far below. I stood uneasily on the outcropping. It would be at least an hour before the sun would break over Mt Benison's bulk and throngs of mosquitoes already surrounded me with a steady whine. A full of…
Roads that lead east from Big Erick's tend to lose their name. Sure, there is Ford and the Northwestern, two roads that are difficult to define as they twist and fork over rocky and pitted ground. There's one road that I've always called Erick's, the one that leads past Bald Mountain and along the…
The last leg of the Chapel Loop is a relatively easy jaunt from Mosquito Beach back to the trailhead. There are two possible paths, one on each side of Mosquito River, with the longer western option darting over to Mosquito Falls before looping back up. Of the three sides of the lopsided triangle…