UP Adventures

Mike and I had a wonderful week in the UP.  We were not able to make any blog entries after the first one because we did not have Internet access.
Riggs loved the water of Lake Superior and even though it was cold he was willing to fetch a stick.
We stayed in Grand Maras at the county park, in town and only a few blocks from the downtown.  I use that term loosely as there are two bars, a grocery store, gas station and hardware.  It was a logging boom town that had 2000 residents in the late 1800's.  A beautiful harbor, beaches and tourism is their industry now.  Jim Harrison, the writer made the area part of many of his stories.  We ate at the bar he frequented... the Dune Salon...a famous Michigan landmark.  Very fun.  We then traveled thru the Pictured Rocks National Park.  The Colors were fantastic with wildly beautiful trees around every corner.  I could not take enough pictures...and none of them do it justice.  We stopped at Hurricane River to let Mike try fishing at the mouth of the river as it comes into Lake Superior.  The picture above is the shot that the photography class was taking ...so I took the same one after listening to the instructor.  No fish for Mike but we enjoyed the beach and talking to other people..many from out of state.

We drove the Pictured Rocks park drive and ended up in Munising which is a nice UP town.  Not sure how people make a living in these little areas but they are lucky to live in the mist of such beauty. We camped in another county park..right on the lake with a beautiful beach.  The nearby overlook gave
us unbelievable panoramic views of the pictured rocks and Grand Island in foreground.

We saw several beautiful sunsets...above is in Munising and the one to the right is at Indian Lake State Park which is to the south near Lake Michigan.  We travel there through some remote areas with spectacular trees vistas.
The weather was beginning to change...lots of wind and cooler temps but still a sunset.  It is a nice park on a lake and has been  around since the 50's.  Mike remembers staying there with relatives on a trip home from Ironwood when he was a teen.  Not much had changed.  Met a nice couple from the Kewanau Peninsula, she had Mikes Uncle Pat Ahnen  as a high school teacher...small world!

We then went further south to Fayette State Park which is on the Garden Peninsula.  It has a ghost town that reflects the Iron Smelting industry of the late 1800's.  The town is restored with some fascinating exhibits.   The log house below is what the workers and their families lived in...it made us feel very lucky for  our way of life.  Lots of immigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia, Bohemia and Germany.

The iron smelting industry was completely unknown to us...it is a complicated process that is very labor intensive.  The Jackson Iron company ran this foundry from the 1860's  till it closed in 1891.  There were about 500 people who lived in Fayette during that time.  The closure changed the town to one that depended on tourism, fishing and farming.  The hotel, bar and grocery store operated until after WWII and the area became a state park in 1959

I hope you can read the picture to the left.  I did not think I could explain the process very well as it is complicated.

The whole process of bringing the ore from further north across the water from Escanaba and then shipping it across Lake Michigan at the end of the production process was a lesson in the economics.  There is a beautiful protected harbor, Snail Harbor, which allowed ships to be safe...they had 900 feet of docking for boats..only the pilings remain.

Riggs is sitting in a charcoal kiln...I had no idea how charcoal was made but they smoke the wood in these kilns..but not burn it up.  Tricky job. Many of the immigrant laborers were employed in this process as it was one of the least desirable jobs.  The smelting process was dependent on the charcoal for the heat to melt the iron ore and change it into the pig iron described above.
The end of this industry was for many reasons..mostly because the process in other areas of the country improved and the cost of production  from Fayette was too much.


The limestone cliffs in the distance surround the harbor.  Many of the buildings were made from limestone bricks.  It was a very very windy and cold day as we toured the ghost town of Fayette.

Saturday we drove down under...and became trolls again as those in the UP call those of us who live in the mitten.  We stayed a Hartwick Pines State Park near Grayling.  I had been there when I was a little girl and wanted to see the virgin white pines...they were saved from being cut and given to the state by the Hartwick family.  Lots of big trees and some examples of the remaining stumps of trees that were logged.  We have to measure our white pines at the cabin but I think they are as big as some trees we saw...up to 12 feet around.  I will let you know.

They had a great logging museum with many exhibits.  The one we were most interested in was the one about the CCC ,  The work done by this group during the depression is amazing.  We know one of the 504 bridges very well...the CCC bridge on the Manistee River near the cabin.
We returned home Sunday...good thing since there was snow on the ground that morning.
It was a fantastic trip, very relaxing and a great way to transition into winter.  I know this was a long blog but I wanted to share all our fun with everyone.
Thanks for listening....Kathy and Mike