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The road to Horseshoe Harbor felt ancient. Old rocky dirt was pressed hard as cement below my car's tires even though the route wound around several huge puddles that I dared not tackle head on. It was not like other Keweenaw roads, the bumpy and rutted Mandan Loop or the rough washed-out Smiths…
Winter had been rough on the old Smith Fisheries Road. Well, to be honest, I don't think I have ever seen this road in great shape. Since my first visit to Montreal River in the summer of '08 every drive has been a treacherous one, lurching over huge ruts and praying at that ridiculous slope around…
The Keweenaw Ridge has plenty of interesting rises of conglomerate and basalt. The spine stretches from the Porcupine Mountains all the way past Copper Harbor with dozens of prominent mountains and bluffs, some remote and forested over, others easily accessible and well-known by locals and tourists.…
Angry no trespassing signs shouted down on me from high in the trees. They were scattered through the woods, not in a solid line, and it was confusing to know where the actual property line was. The only thing that was obvious was that the wide, easy road leading from Keystone Bay was private while…
The noon sun hung high in the sky. I looked west, along the south shore of the Keweenaw, and mentally reviewed my status. All morning had been spent walking alongside Lake Superior, starting up near Horseshoe Harbor and curving around the eastern tip. I was near Keweenaw Point now, the farthest…
Cool air issued out of the hole of the woods like the gentle yawn of a waiting giant. It was surprisingly tough to leave the open air of the shoreline, with Lake Superior's vastness sitting always to one side, and enter the closeness of the forest. I stepped away from the Keweenaw Rocket Range and…
Moonlight trickled down through bare branches and spilled out onto an overgrown track in the woods. It was a full moon that morning, or pretty close to one, and the sun had yet to rise in the eastern sky and brighten my passage. I wasn't too worried. Aside from a few deep mud puddles the road over…
Migisy Bluff sits south of Marquette Mountain, a curving ridge that stretches from County Road 553 east to Harvey. There are several spurs of exposed rock that poke south along the length, the most prominent one sitting on the far east and promising excellent vistas of Lake Superior. Near the…
Big Pup and Little Pup Creek are two fairly typical creeks in the Huron Mountains. Little Pup, the smaller of the two, starts right above the hairpin curve on County Road 510 and is only a few miles in length. Big Pup Creek is much more ambitious, almost twice as long and stretching far west towards…
An unseasonable warm gripped the Marquette area. I stepped out of my car in short sleeves and looked around curiously at the snow drifts piled up against the woods. I was parked just north of Sugarloaf Mountain at an old gravel pit. There were no signs marking anything special here but I was one of…