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Tuesday, October 3
Trip from Silver City to Copper Harbor
It took a few hours to travel from Silver City to Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw peninsula. In Hancock, we stopped to visit and tour the Quincy copper mining site, which closed in 1947. We saw the Nordberg, the largest steam hoist ever manufactured. The tour took about two hours, and included a trip down to level 7 (of the original 92). All the levels below 7 are now flooded with water. There are still literally tons of high-grade pure copper down there, but for probably economic and environmental reasons, all of that kind of mining was shut down in this area.
At Eagle Harbor, we stopped to look for rocks on the agate beach there. More rocks for the car! Poor car! We also stopped at Esrey Park, a small town park overlooking Lake Superior, a nice spot to sit and contemplate the view for a while. But, by then it was starting to rain a bit.
The bunk we had reserved for the night at Copper Harbor was at the Lake Fanny Hooe Resort and Campground. All the rooms faced Lake Fanny Hooe with overlooking balconies. This place was our favorite accommodation of the entire trip. So peaceful, and the view was terrific.
We had hoped to do a bit of sightseeing before dark, but the rain was starting to come down too hard and it was too close to dusk. We did drive to the Estivant Pines (a grove of virgin white pines that are about 500 years old), which were a few miles from Fanny Hooe down a very unpaved road. The walking trail was a 1.2 mile loop, so we decided to wait until morning. We also stopped by the Manganese Falls, but viewing them also required a walk.
By then, it was past 7 and time to think about eating. We went to the Harbor Haus, a German restaurant and B&B nearby. It was great, but oh, what a lot of food. We had enough for lunch the next day. Copper is, of course, a big deal in this area, and it was not unusual to see big hunks of copper proudly displayed as sculptures everywhere. The restaurant was no exception. It also had its hunks of copper both inside and out, but also boasted beautifully tooled copper entry doors hung with a sign warning not to touch when very warm out.
We finally hit pay dirt on the fall foliage. It was heavenly in the Keweenaw peninsula. Reds, yellows, oranges—around every bend, more eye candy. This more than made up for the dearth of colors elsewhere. My camera was very busy!
Wednesday, October 4
Trip from Copper Harbor to Munising
We woke up to sunrise over Lake Fanny Hooe, viewed out our front window. Our first stop of the day was to return to the Estivant Pines trail. We did the entire 2.5 mile loop. It was a gorgeous day—sunny and brisk. The pines were tall and large, but after seeing the sequoias in CA earlier in the year, they seemed insignificant! The walk was great though, and the colors still spectacular, even after the previous night’s rain and wind.
We went back to Esrey park in Eagle Harbor to have our picnic lunch (leftovers from the previous night’s dinner). It was also very near the entrance to the Brockway Mountain Parkway, a 10 mile scenic byway overlooking the area between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. The Brockway is a beautiful drive, with many scenic overlooks and a grand view from the top. The foliage was, of course, great. There were quite a few people up there with tripods—looked like a camera club to me. We also ran into a fellow up there who was tracking something with an antenna-like device. Turned out to be a hunter with a couple of hound dogs in the back of his truck—he was tracking another hound who was tracking a bear down in the valley. It was hunting season in Michigan. He said he had already nailed a 400 lb. bear that morning. Poor bears. Surprised that hunting would be allowed so close to the general public, I asked him if he had ever shot any tourists by mistake.
Back down in Copper Harbor, we stopped at a couple of gifts shops (nothing but junk), then figured we’d better get started for Munising as it was 3:30 and it would probably take a few hours to get there. Including a few photo stops along the way, we made the trip in about 3 hours. We stopped for dinner just before Munising at the Brownestone Inn, a homey place with good food.
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