Yooper Land, AKA the Upper Peninsula

As it turns out, I wanted to get out of Wisconsin all together. I make my way north to Michigan, and muff around the Ottawa National Forest that evening. I eventually came across some free park campsites in the middle of nowhere and decide to settle in for the night. It’s raining, so fire making is a challenge. I get a tiny fire going for about 5 minutes before a downpour comes and ruins all of the dry wood I collected. Such is life. It decided to rain on an off the rest of the night. At least I figured out my truck leak before climbing in. #win.

In the morning, I realize it’s quite cold. Like, upper 40s inching up into the 50s as the sun sets in. Man I haven’t been this cold since Canada. Did I miss the rest of summer?! Is it already fall??! I’m not ready to be cold again!! I decide to drown my worries with a podcast that teaches me everything about hagfish while I make hot coffee in an attempt to warm up. Who knew hagfish were so cool?? They release tiny, tiny, tiny coiled up microfibers from specialized cells that traps surrounding water, creating an amazing slime. This slime acts as a deterrent from fish, as it clogs up their gills if they attempt to eat them. So cool.

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After I finish coffee and my podcast, I head north to the Keweenaw Peninsula in the UP of Michigan. Well, I attempted to make it all the way to the tip of this peninsula to Copper Harbor. There is a bunch of camping out on the water and it looks awesome in pictures. But, I ended up stopping at a roadside park and hiking along the North Country Trail. This trail stretches from New York to North Dakota, and is over 4,000 miles long! That’s insane… I do about 6 miles total, then continue north.

I also ended up stopping in the town of Houghton/Hancock to do laundry. It’s been awhile, and my clothes smell like a dumpster fire again. While I was there, I realized there was a cool little brewery in the downtown area named Keweenaw Brewing Company. I pop in there after laundry and find out pints are $3 and flights are $5. I get a few beers in and realize that a good chunk of time has passed. There’s no way I’ll make it to Copper Harbor by nightfall, and I hear the road leading out to the campsites is 7 miles of intense dirt. So, I found a campsite nearby and decided to stick lower in the peninsula. This worked out well, as I ended up finding a sweet place on a lake near town.

The next morning, I wake up early, get coffee, and head to Copper Harbor. PS it’s named Copper Harbor due to a large vein of copper ore that is prevalent in this peninsula. Native Americans used it for early tool making, and early settlers of the region mined there heavily. Copper mining is still active in the area today.

Anyway, I drive up some amazing back roads until I reach the tiny dot of Copper Harbor. I should have known there wouldn’t be cell service up here, but I was dumb and assumed that if there was a decent sized town, there would be cell service. I was wrong. It was an extremely tiny town jutting out into Lake Superior, so of course there is no cell service. I find the visitor center along the main strip and stop in to learn some shit. I find out there is an amazing bakery with thimbleberry icing that I need to visit, and I get a general idea of the road layout to get to the very tip of the peninsula. I say my thanks, fill up with fresh water, and hit the road to donuts.

The shop was a bakery/fish market. Donuts in the morning and fish in the evening. The owner was working the counter and was extremely friendly. Talked me into two donuts…. After there I headed east to find the tip of the peninsula. Asphalt turned to gravel, then turned to dirt, then turned to two-track, then turned into one large mud pit. The floor of the trail seems solid, and there’s quite a bit of traffic, so I push through the centers of the water with no issues. So different than Florida…

Once at the tip, I see more people than expected. Everyone is out searching for rocks along the lake, but I have no idea why. I mean yeah the rocks look cool, but I don’t know if I’d drive all the way out here just to look for rocks. I later found out there is quite the market for rocks found in this area of Lake Superior, and these people were hunting for rocks to sell. Particularly the Yooperlite, which is a stone that glows neon colors under black light.

There are some sweet camp spots out here, but it’s early in the day and I don’t want to just hang out here until it’s dark. I decide to drive back towards civilization. I’ve passed a few National Historic sites that look like old mining operations, so I decide to stop in and check one out. The visitor center was cool, but the actual mine is on private property and you have to purchase a tour. Eh. I’ll pass. I walk around the outside of the mine and check out all of the old machinery before hopping back in the truck and heading south again.

As I’m driving up here in the UP, I notice there are tons and tons of wild apple trees growing. I am very excited for this. Free apples? Everywhere? And they are ready for picking?? I stop and multiple apple trees and collect “road apples” to sample. PS, they all taste like shit. Super bitter, tart, astringent, and full of insects. I keep trying though. I pick tons of road apples while in Michigan, and only found a few that were palatable. Oh well. It was fun to try.

I find a free campsite as I’m driving south in the town of Moose Rapids. I pull up and there are huge, gorgeous sites along a slow moving river. The only downside is that the first site you pull into has a family that has been living there for some time. Multiple tents, a camper, kids toys everywhere, multiple vehicles, you name it. I take a spot next to them on the river just barely out of eyesight, but I can still hear them talking. Apparently they have been searching for houses to buy in the area, and trying to get showers at those houses to “test them out.” Not a bad plan honestly….

It starts to rain as soon as I pull up, and continues to rain the entire night. There goes my dinner over a fire plans… Oh well. I still have peanut butter.

The next morning, I am woken up by the kids next door getting ready for school. I decide to head out and get going as I’m supposed to near Ishpeming today. I have a friend (Rebecca) that I used to work with at FWC whose family has a cabin on a lake out here. She has invited me to come stay with her and her parents over the weekend to explore their property and the Sauna. I don’t know anything about Saunas, but it sounds like something new to experience, so I’m in!

I had received very specific driving instruction from my friend on how to get to the cabin, as none of the map phone services apparently get it right. Based on the instructions I received, I ended up outside of a cute little red cabin along the shoreline of a lake. I knock on the door, but hear no answer. Ah shit, did I just come to the wrong house??

I call Tom, my friend’s dad, and tell him I think I’m here…. He pops his head out of the cabin, and is completely astonished that I found it! I guess they always give people specific instructions but they don’t pay attention, then their phones bring them someplace totally random. Regardless, I’m here, and I’m ready for cabin life. I go inside and talk to Tom for a bit, but notice that the lake looks super flat and beautiful. I ask, “do you want to go fishing?”

“Are you serious?” He asks.

Of course I am, let’s go! Tom jumps up, puts his shoes on, and starts loading the boat with fishing gear. We push off into a beautiful lake with two rods and some night crawlers. This lake is brimming with blue gill, and just about every cast results in a catch. I’m totally sucked into trying to catch more fish than Tom, but that doesn’t happen. He’s a pro at this. We decide to catch fish for dinner, so we keep our best 6 fish and put them on a stringer.

Back at the cabin, he shows me how he knocks the fish in the head and then perfectly fillets them. Total expert. After fish prep was done, we walk out on the property with the fish heads and bodies to the garden they have. A large compost pile is where the fish will end up. Nothing is waste up here! As we walk back we munch on wild blueberries and black cherries and search for mushroom. Man I wish I had 10 acres to muff around on and search for berries.

In the afternoon, Rebecca and her mom show up from the Chicago area to hang out with us for the weekend. Upon their arrival, we have fish fillets ready for cooking, which they are very excited for. Tom makes his famous fish batter while Janice (mom) cuts up onion rings to fry with the fish and a salad.

I must say fresh bluegill with homemade fish batter was an amazing meal. So much so that I get Tom to share his secret batter recipe with me. I’m not allowed to share it with anyone. Sorry not sorry.

After dinner, it’s time for me to experience the sauna for the first time. I didn’t know this, but the sauna is a very Finnish tradition. Apparently, you have a wood oven in a cedar hut/building. You heat up the oven, and there are these large stones on top of it. You sit in the cedar room, either naked or in a swimsuit, and heat the room to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, occasionally pouring hot water over the stones on the oven. In conversation, this seems way too hot. But in reality it’s pretty comfortable. Yeah you sweat but it’s not too crazy. They apparently regularly go up to 212. Which I’m not about to do. So, you sit, sweat, then leave the cedar room to go hop in the cool lake outside. It’s initially a shock, but it feels fantastic after a few moments. A little tidbit of intel here, take off any jewelry you have as it heats up much quicker than your skin. I learned this the hard way with my necklace.

I ended up staying for three days at the cabin with Rebecca and her family. It was magical. We fished everyday, had saunas, rode ATVs, foraged for mushrooms and hiked in the local area. I learned a ton about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and got to see all the touristy things there were to see. Including the Yooper tourist trap, that ended up having way more going on than I would have imagined.

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We also went rock hunting, which is apparently huge up in this area. With iron and copper and tons of other metals and crystals being found up in this area, folks just go out hunting for rocks on the regular. We went to an old iron mining site, and found 1) tons of road apples, and 2) iron/jade mixed rocks. They were neat to see, and heavy as shit.

At the end of my weekend in the cabin, I head east to the town of Marquette. I have a phone interview for the job I applied for, and I need to be in an actual city where there is cell service and internet if I need it. I’ve never done a phone interview, so this should be interesting.

Marquette is a cute little college town. Tons of coffee shops dot the main road, so I find one that looks cute and pop in. Apparently they do their roasting of the coffee beans in the shop, so I sat and watched the process for a few minutes before getting in my car for the interview. All and all the call went fine. So much more awkward when it’s not in person, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

I’m headed to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore next, so I pack up my crap and drive east. Hoping I can find decent camping near the park!