THE ADVENTURES OF PLATY AND THE GANG
2006 --Phase 2 Michigan upper peninsula
(click on the pictures for a larger view)
We continued our stay in Ironwood after Judy biked into town. She
decided to quit hiking for a while so we went into tourist mode. We
visited Hiawatha as a geocache site. This one wasn't hard to find.
You could see it from 1/2 mile away.
The whole upper peninsula is wilderness of one type or another, either State
Park or forest, National Forest or some kind of preserve. We spent
one day driving in the Porcupine Mountain area. Copper Peak didn't have
any snow or even any people around. The ski lift is on the left of the
picture and the top of the ramp can be seen at the top.
Further north is the Black River area in
the Ottawa National Forest that has many
waterfalls. We hiked to all 5 of them.
Each waterfall had a parking lot. The closest was maybe a 100 yard
walk. The furthest was 3/4 mile.
What they didn't tell you was how
far down. At one of them I counted 192 steps. That's 12 stories down
and then back up!! On the last
fall of the day I stayed up top and let
Judy go by herself. The
Great Conglomerate Falls is on the left
and Potawatomi Falls is on the right.
The next day we covered the next area east thru Ontonagon. It has a harbor on Lake Superior and was where a 3708 pound copper boulder that sparked the copper rush of the mid-1800's was found. We had lunch and visited the Museum.
At the Adventure Mining Company I did the underground tour. They drove us thru the ruins of the facility in a neat ATV. It's a Swiss army troop carrier. Judy didn't go on the underground portion so it was just the guide and me. Judy went back to the gift shop to wait. The owner had a new puppy. Judy petted it and it peed on her foot.
The mine operated from 1850-1920. There is still lots of copper there but now it's cheaper to get it from the strip mines out west. All of the old mines in the area are tunnel type mines. The work was very dangerous and expensive. Most were closed in the 1920's. Now there are mining ruins everywhere.
On 6/2 we moved to the
Ojibwa Casino in Baraga.
They have 12 full hookup paved sites
with cable TV for $10/ night.
There's a nice restaurant, the
motel swimming pool, a bingo hall,
and the casino right across the parking
lot. What else do you
need?? OK, so the wireless
internet won't reach the RV. What
can I expect for 10 bucks? (As I'm
writing this the Bingo Hall just opened
and there's a stampede of gray haired
old ladies rushing the door.) Judy
tried her hand at the 2 cent
slots. She didn't know how they
operated so she just put in a dollar and
kept pushing the buttons. All of a
sudden the machine started
ringing. She had gotten 5 of a
kind. She immediately cashed out
$10 richer.
We
used the casino as a base of operations
to explore the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The area saw mining start thousands of
years ago when the ancient people found
exposed veins of copper. By
the 1800's this was the largest copper
producing area in the world. Now
there is none. The Keweenaw
National Historic Park is a co-op
between the National Park Service and
locally operated sites. We
visited the Coppertown
Mining Museum in Calumet. The
Calumet and Heccia Mining Company was
the largest mining and smelting
operation in the area. 
Near the north end of the peninsula is the Estivant
Pines Sanctuary. This is a 500
acre tract of old growth pine
trees. Some are up to 500 years
old. We hiked a couple of miles
thru the forest. It's hard to
describe but it's really different to be
in an old growth area.
The next day we returned to north of Houghton to eat at the Lindell Chocolate Shoppe. On the National Register of Historic places, the interior of the Shoppe has remained the same since the 1900's and still serves home-style meals and desserts.
We
stopped at the Houghton
County Historical Museum but the
only thing open was the steam train
ride. It seems that a lot of
tourist places don't open until June 15
after schools are out. We had
almost everyplace to ourselves.
Tomorrow (6/6) we will be moving to Marquette.