Letter 17: Western Upper Peninsula MI/Wisconsin

Our last night in Washburn a full moon rose over with gold sparkles all across the lake.

Monday, July 26 we headed into Western Upper Peninsula to finish our circle trip around Superior. Many recommendations had been given to us about the Porcupine Mountains so we set up camp in their Union Bay campground and headed off the see the movie of the state park and the famous

Lake of the Clouds. Just over the hill to the left is Lake Superior.

Then back to the beach to hunt for Superior agates and Fred found a

new way to look for them—on a beached log!

Tuesday, July 27 we rolled on to the Keweenaw Peninsula to the town of Houghton and their city RV campground. It was full but were told of

Hancock’s city campground across the river. We crossed the canal separating the two cities and found a

wonderful spot for three nights, nestled back in the tall pine and oak trees and looking out on the canal, making this an island instead of a peninsula.

In 1843, six years before the California Gold Rush, one of the nation’s first mineral rushes occurred here. Prospectors came to the Keweenaw not for gold, but for copper. As the US entered the Industrial Revolution, the demand for copper increased. The Keweenaw contained a wealth of pure elemental copper.
Immigrants from across the world came for the jobs that copper mining provided. We drove up the hill to the Quincy mine and signed in for their tour. We were issued heavy coats and hard hats. We rode a cog-rail tram to the valley below and a water drainage tunnel. As we neared the tunnel the area was very foggy as the cold air from the tunnel met the outside air. Here we boarded a.

wagon pulled by a tractor into 2,400’ of the abandoned mine where it was 40 degrees. We were thankful for our heavy coats and wished for socks and long pants which none of our group had. Our guide was very good in pointing out all the sites including a very large piece

of copper which had oxidized, but originally was shiny as a penny.

Riding back up the cog tram we saw the

canal bridge below near the entrance to the drainage tunnel. This cog was not a part of the original mine, but was added for tours.

To transport men into and ore out of the deepest levels of the mine Quincy commissioned construction of the

Nordberg Steam Hoist in 1918. See how small Fred looks in comparison. It fills the cavernous space of the hoist house. While another guide was telling all the intricacies of this hoist he was notified of an accident. Our guide in the mine had jumped down from the tram and broken both ankles. After our hoist tour finished we went back out to see about Jay. All three of the groups on our tour were there to see about him. Olivia met his mother and found he skis for Michigan Tech’s ski team and she said, “He is my good kid and my healthy one!”

Olivia and another tourist received their phone number and when called the next day found he had only broken one ankle and was going to St Paul, MN next week for surgery. We wish him well.

Wednesday, July 29 we headed out to see the Keweenaw by following the north side of the peninsula. A ranger at Quincy had told us the pretty places, so we were following his map. Our first stop was

Calumet Waterworks park for a view of the beautiful water, waves and of course a few rocks.

Next was

Eagle River falls, then on to Jacob’s Creek and the Jam Pot, which is the gift shop for the

Holy Transfiguration Skete, a Catholic Monastery of the Byzantine Rite, belonging to the Ukrainian Metropoly in the USA. They embrace Evangelical poverty, chastity, obedience,, and stability of life, according to the Rule of St. Benedict. This is a new building and they claim their five chanting voices might be assisted by the

“Scoofies,” small creatures, shy and fleet of foot. They were said to live in the neighboring gorge of Jacob’s Creek. The locals told them they were harmless, but helpful and should be respected as they were a very ancient race and possessed exceedingly deep wisdom.

Further north we stopped at the Hebard Roadside park and couldn’t take enough pictures. which cannot show God’s beauty here. The waves breaking on the rocks adding to the blue of the water was

breath taking. We are including a view south then

north from this park.

At the north end of this area was Copper Harbor and a few gift shops. Then we turned back and up the hill to the Brockway Mountain Drive and overlook. The first stop showed us the town of

Copper Harbor. The next stop showed us miles of

views in all directions. This was 726’ above the lake level and 1328’ above sea level. There had been a nice breeze all day, but it wasa wind up on this hill top. Being on this peninsula we felt we were in the middle of Lake Superior.

Back down in Copper Harbor we drove even further out the peninsula to a view of another

light house.

Thursday, July 29 we spent the day doing maintenance, like cleaning, washing and miscellaneous shopping stops. We made reservations close to Door County, WI, and Green Bay. Fred is saving his Cowboy sweatshirt to wear in Green Bay.

Friday, July 30 we arose very early and struck out south. Leaving Michigan after six weeks of enjoyment. We didn’t see near all of it either.

We are also leaving Superior. What a thrill it has been to see the largest body of fresh water on earth. It didn’t disappoint us at all. Superior is a treasure. We were only 100 miles short of making the whole circle and we started about July 6.

Driving mostly south in Wisconsin, we arrived at Colby. Ever hear of

Colby Longhorn cheese? We use to buy it as a staple, but haven’t had it in years. The owner was so nice to

cut & dip our purchases so they would keep, if we don’t eat it, until we arrive home. Who wants some? We learned the story of Colby as one of Wisconsin’s Lores and Legends.

Steinwand Cheese Factory-The birthplace of Colby Cheese
“In a small cheese factory near Colby, WI, Joseph Steinwand was making a batch of Cheddar Cheese in 1885, but during the final steps of the process Steinwand tried an experiment.

After draining the whey, he washed and cooled the curd with cold water, drained the water, added salt, mixed the curd and then pressed it into forms where it was aged for one to three months. This resulted in a mild, soft and moist cheese that was readily accepted on the local market where it was known as Steinwand’s Colby Cheese. Its popularity soon grew nationwide, where it has remained to this day as one of the best selling types of cheese available. Steinwand called it “Colby Cheese” after the township where the cheese factory was located.

We found a Passport America campground close by and settled in for the night until we found they had Dirt Track racing every Friday night! Oh well, we have had other noisy nights and we slept anyway. The races started but, just as we were turning out the lights it started raining and the races stopped. Thank you God!

Saturday, July 31, we hit the road east through Wausau and Green Bay to Kewaanee on Lake Michigan. This is the southern end of the Door Peninsula. What, another peninsula? This country is full of them! We arrived in another PP RV park about two o’clock and Fred took a well deserved nap while Olivia played on the computer and cooked a roast. After supper we took a short drive around the pretty little town hunting for the Methodist Church that the internet says is there, but we never could find it. Olivia had even tried calling their number but the message had skips in it, so that didn’t help either. Well, we tried.

Sunday, August 1 we struck out to see the famous Door Peninsula trying to stay as close to Lake Michigan as possible. Finally, about 50 miles up we were able to see the water at

Cave Point

County Park. The other times we had glimpses of sand beaches at an access road. All the roads we were on were narrow and winding with homes in the woods facing the beach. The only public beach was the right of way for the little road. We decided this was another place where money goes, they want their privacy, and don't want to share.

This was cherry country and we stopped at a couple of markets selling a wide variety of cherry products among other things. We drove back down the west side of the peninsula where there were more little villages with lots of people having a Sunday outing. All the restaurants were full and as we headed back we weren’t the only

ones going home. We drove about 150 miles and saw lots of beautiful farms and their corn has 2 or 3 ears where ours have only one.

Door County is beautiful with its rolling farm land and tourists spots, but not our cup of tea. The towns are too crowded and commercialized for Fred.

This ends Letter 17 and we love to hear your comments so email us at Olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com

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