Diving Deeper into Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Marquette's Little Presque Isle Beach

Looking to dive deeper into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, we spent six summer nights going further west and north than our last tour of the U.P. and were enchanted with what we found -- deep gorges full of stacked brown rock, clear and fast waterfalls, and incredible Lake Superior beaches that ranged from fine sand to round, red pebbles. Here is where our path led us.

Seney National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

After crossing over the Mighty Mac, we had flaky whitefish sandwiches for lunch overlooking Lake Michigan at Bay View Inn and headed to Seney National Wildlife Refuge. We've passed it on numerous trips to the U.P. but never knew exactly how to enjoy the park until a friend tipped us off -- there's a scenic seven-mile drive through the refuge with plenty of chances to get out and walk along small lakes to better see birds. Highlights were over 50 native trumpeter swans, a mother loon and her fuzzy brown baby, a dozen pied-billed grebes and lot of other diving birds. We had binoculars in the car, but they also have them for loan in the welcome center.

While in Seney, we took a detour off the beaten path to a spot that every Hemingway fan has already imagined -- the isolated river he camped and fished upon when just home from WWI that in turn inspired his masterpiece of a short story, "Big Two-Hearted River." Using newspaper articles I'd sourced when preparing slides for a Hemingway lecture, I was able to find the spot, now honored with a "Hemingway Fished Here" marker along the river, about eight miles outside of Seney at the back of the Fox River State Campground. The eight mile side-trip as absolutely worth it for Papa devotees, especially considering August 2019 is the 100th anniversary of Hem's trip that inspired the story.

View of Presque Isle from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain 

We spent our first two nights in Marquette and had plenty of time to hike, swim, and explore the town. We especially loved the vistas from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain; we did the easy hike on the way up and the difficult hike on the way down. Both had lots of stairs, but the difficult hike had some exposed roots that are easy to trip on. We got to the parking lot by 9:30 on a Sunday morning and beat the rush; it was full to the brim when we hiked out and overflowing along the roadside on our way back to town in the early afternoon.

Little Presque Isle Beach

We were lucky enough to meet a local family on top of Sugarloaf who pointed out their favorite spots to swim, and that led us to one of our favorite spots from our entire trip -- the beach at Little Presque Isle. A few miles past Sugarloaf, the beach was long and sandy, the water shallow and warm, and it wasn't very crowded, even for the weekend.

 

While in Marquette, our favorite places to eat in included Blackrocks (paired with takeout from Jean Kay's Pasties), lunch at the charming soda fountain Donckers (with dog friendly seating outside), breakfast sandwiches, lush quiche, and flaky baked goods from Babycakes, and an impromptu picnic from Dia De Los taco truck. We tried to get takeout from Rice Paddy, but the wait was 45 minutes for lunch, so we'll know to call ahead in the future.

Canyon Falls

On our way from Marquette to Ontonogan, we stopped at an unassuming roadside park off US 41 that led us to a breathtaking portion of the North Country Trail, Canyon Falls and Gorge. The deep gorge and large waterfall reminded us of hiking in Ithaca, and we had no idea that geography like this existed in Michigan. This was a trip highlight that we'll happily return to in the future.

 

Bonanza Falls (l) and Silver Falls (r)

As we made our drives, we stopped at waterfalls as much as possible, and at lesser known spots, Silver Falls outside of L'anse and Bonanza Falls near the Porcupine Mountains, we usually had the whole thing to ourselves. Our kids delighted in scampering around the rocks and jumping from one ledge to the next.

 

Lake of the Clouds

For the next portion of our trip we spent three nights in Ontonogon. We used it as a base to explore both the Porcupine Mountains and Keweenaw Peninsula and could have easily doubled our time at both spots.

Manabezho Falls, part of the the Presque Isle Falls hike in the Porcupine Mountains

A quick stop in the Porkies welcome center got us recommended hikes for kids, and our favorites were Presque Isle Falls (where we caught another portion of the North Country Trail), Lake of the Clouds, and Little Carp River. All the hikes were well marked and on nicely tended paths. There aren't restaurants in the park, so we packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it at a picnic table overlooking Lake Superior. For dinner we had freaking amazing chicken from Curbside Chicken, a simple roadside stand not far from the park entrance. Another night we had cozy comfort food at Syl's, a popular cafe in downtown Ontonogon.

Calumet

We spent a day traveling as far north as possible in the Keweenaw. We let the kids blow off some energy at Chutes and Ladders in Houghton, and had a fantastic whitefish sandwich and chowder lunch in Hancock at Peterson's Fish Market.  From there we lucked upon a new national park, Keweenaw National Historical Park, because of two beautiful old buildings in Calumet that we wanted a closer look at.

Here we found the Calumet Visitor's Center, and the kids completed eight park ranger activities so they could get sworn in as junior rangers. This was the best case of a stop we thought would be 15 minutes stretching into 2 hours. They learned about mining and iron ore production in the area and were smitten with their shiny new junior ranger badges.

Jacobs Falls and Jampot

We could have stayed longer in Calumet, but I wanted to make it to Jampot in Eagle Harbor before they sold out of their baked goods I've heard so much about. Let me tell you that they did not disappoint. We left with a box full of strawberry, cherry, peach, and pear jams as well as decedent pb & j brownies and a chocolate cupcake masquerading as a muffin. It’s also the best sort of stop when you aim for jams and sweets and get a bonus waterfall, Jacobs Falls, just down the road from Jampot.

Red pebble roadside beach near Eagle Harbor

We were especially enchanted with Eagle Harbor in the Keweenaw Peninsula and can easily imagine staying there for a week next summer. We stopped at roadside parks to explore the shore of Lake Superior, toured the storybook looking Eagle Harbor lighthouse for an hour or so, drove the bumpy Brockway Mountain Scenic Drive to Copper Harbor, and took the scenic lakeshore drive on our return trip. For dinner we stopped outside of Calumet at The Hut, a quirky mid-century style building that had huge portions and friendly service.

Iron Ore factory ruins at Fayette Historic State Park

To ease our return trip home, we spent our final night in Manistique on the shore of Lake Michigan. On the way there we explored Fayette Historic State Park, an old iron ore factory and town that was a gateway to Michigan for many immigrant families in the mid 1800s. Tall stone building ruins, still standing wooden businesses, and a fantastic rock beach (along a small path to the left of the reconstructed cabin) made this a great stop that was surprisingly dog friendly.

One of the upsides to vacationing with no strict agenda is following signs down a dusty road to a brilliant, golden sunflower maze in the tiny town of Garden, about halfway down the peninsula on the way to Fayette. The maze was free, and stems of flowers were u-pick for $1 each.

 

Kitch-Iti-Kipi looking across the spring and down through the viewing platform into the water below

Our last stop was Kitch-Iti-Kipi, the only repeat stop from our trip to the U.P. two summers ago. A small park with a magnificent spring, this 30 minute stop is worth it every time. I'll never get over the outrageous beauty of this place.

And that's how I felt about so much of our trip to the further reaches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula - I'll never grow tired of the beauty of this place.

For more pictures from our trip, visit Our Moveable Feast on Instagram.