A 2020 View of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Every year I go up to the U.P. for a week. This is a quick over-view of the high-lights of the trip.

We saw plenty of beautiful country roads. This was at Sporley or Big Trout Lake. (I’m not positive which one – they’re about a mile from each other.)

There’s plenty of beauty in nature to see; like these mushrooms at Lakenenland Sculptures Park.

This is the Greenwood Reservoir. It’s worthy of a separate post by itself. I hope to get to it either today or this weekend.

I love this rustic cabin in the woods; a reminder of days gone by.

Extraordinary sites like this are the norm in the U.P.

I’ll start with the first day of our trip. We passed this limestone mine on Quarry Rd.

They don’t have to tell us twice. We kept away.

Deb and me at McDonald Lake.

This is the raft that takes you out to Kitch-iti-kippi Springs. That area of the pond never freezes.

This is a view of the opening of the inside of the raft. There were these little fish and then there were…

Big fish too! I did a post on this recently if you want to see more of this amazing state park.

South of Marquette is a closed Air-force base. (KI Sawyer) It’s now apartments. We were driving by this and we had to stop.

Yikes! That looks deadly!

They had several planes on display.

I’ve said it before, but you can never say it too much; “Thank you to our men and women in the military.”

What was the weather like in the U.P. the first week of October, 2020? We had hail for a minute and we had sunshine. The temperature was usually in the 50’s which is perfect for hiking down trails – not too hot and no bugs! It did rain some but never when we were wanting to get out and explore. (Thank you Jesus!) We didn’t see snow except for one tiny exception. It was really strange. We were driving down the road that runs along Lake Superior. One, only one, intersection had snow and the ditches around it. We have no idea why there was snow there and nowhere else. I guess Michigan’s weather does what it wants.

Driving along Lake Superior in Marquette, we saw this building and were curious. We stopped and learned it was a furnace for iron back in the day.

If you go inside the furnace and look straight up, this is what you see.

One day we went through Lakenenland Sculptures Park. It was amazing.

At the sculpture park they had an area of the old pioneer days.

Isn’t this beautiful? There was so much at Lakenenland Sculptures Park that I did a separate post on it recently. To see more sculptues, check it out.

We wanted to see color and were told to check out Duke’s Rd. This is it. Beautiful roads like this abound in the U.P.

Duke’s Rd.

This was on the side of Duke’s Rd. I have no idea what it is.

2020 has been a strange year. We’ve had a man-made virus, natural disasters, people being censored and other things I won’t get in to. I’ve always believed that knowledge is power. For that reason I’ve become interested in learning how to live off the land if that ever becomes necessary. I tried to think of who I knew that had the most knowledge for that kind of stuff. Brad, Debi’s brother, came to mind. We asked him if he would teach us about nature and things like starting a fire without matches or a lighter. He was glad to help us. I plan on doing a separate post on that in the near future. We learned a lot, but it’s only the beginning. Hopefully we’ll never need to use this newly gained knowledge, but if we do – we have it. Thank you Brad and Diane for welcoming us into your home!

I don’t know why I love this shed, but I do.

Dead River Falls. I did a post on the Dead River Falls a few years back. It’s so amazing that we wanted to come again and see the fall colors. We learned that there’s not just 5 falls back in that area, but seven! It’s on the north side of Marquette.

That’s me sitting on a dead tree on the dead river.

You can see the fall in the background. I’m stopping here with the Dead River pictures because I would get carried away. To see spring pictures of the Dead River; click on menu, click on waterfalls and scroll down.

Corey volunteered to take us sight-seeing (or did we volunteer him?) so we took him out to lunch. We asked him where he wanted to go and Sherries Restaurant is where he picked. It was the afternoon, but he got the farmers omelet – which is his favorite. The food was delicious. While up there, we of course went to Vango’s to get a cudighi sandwich and we also got pasties. Those are a must when we cross the Mackinac Bridge.

We went to Sugarloaf Mountain. That’s a must-see if you’re in Marquette. I did a post on it recently if you want to see more. The views were stunning.

We, of course, stopped at scenic turn-outs several times to see Lake Superior.

Presque Isle Park is north of Marquette. It juts out into Lake Superior, surrounded by her on three sides.

You can drive or walk around Presque Isle Park. It’s amazing.

Lake Superior. North side of Presque Isle Park.

Autumn, Deb, Cory, Peg and I went to the Flat Rock Hiking Trails. There’s a pavilion there. (Just an FYI) Thank you Peg for letting us stay at your home and for your hospitality!

Walking trail at Flat Rock.

The Flat Rock rapids.

This birch tree is at Bass Lake.

This is Trenary Toast. We stopped and got toast to munch on. They have it in every flavor you can think of from cinnamon, cherry to chocolate and more. Support your local businesses! It’s such a sacrifice to eat all the delicious foods that are up there, but we like to do our part to help out!

This is a rest stop with teepee shaped pavilions. It’s near the entrance to Sceney National Wildlife Refuge. Pretty neat, eh?

Sceney National Wildlife Refuge

Sceney.

It was hard limiting the pictures of Sceney National Wildlife Refuge. There’s so much to see.

This is a rest stop on the north side of Lake Michigan. Michigan has the most beautiful rest stops. There’s one on highway 2 with a view of Fumee waterfalls. There’s the teepee one I just showed you. Many have beautiful views and some even have trails to walk down. You could make a trip of just driving along the Great Lakes shorelines and stopping at scenic turn-outs and rest stops and see such beauty that you’ll be amazed. I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but I love Michigan!