Project Solitude, Late Fall trip in the UP

[upcruiser]

After taking in the views I headed towards Bare Bluffs. A nature conservancy has purchased the land and maintain a hiking trail. Getting there mother nature threw me one last downed tree to deal with.

Out came the trusty saw one last time.

Still quite a bit of standing water

After a quick lunch I headed off to hike the 4.5 mile loop of Bare Bluffs. I will put it bluntly, Bare Bluffs is simply one of the most dramatic views in the UP. The bluffs are poised on the edge of a sheer 250 foot cliff, the biggest cliff I can think of in the UP. The El Capitan of Michigan. haha

A pretty amazing to just sit and take it all in.

The decent down the far side of the trail was a bit more technical. With all the downfall from the storm I managed to miss the trail where it cut right. I figured I would simply intercept the trail as I descended but since it had cut right above me I ended up bushwacking all of the way down to the shore through some incredibly thick brush. Climbing back up proved to be very difficult. The under growth made it a huge task just getting back up the bluff that lies below the cliffs. Once back on the trail things were MUCH easier.

The whole adventure ended up taking longer than I planned. I had to meet Tom for Saturday night's location of Pt Abbeye which lies at the end of the Skanee Peninsula. From Lac LaBelle which was where I connected with pavement again, I was going to have to b line it directly down through Houghton to Lanse where I would have to cut back northeast to hit the peninsula. My original plan was to take a series of dirt roads and trails down towards Houghton but, as all plans do, it changed.

I managed to make it to our camp right as the sun was setting. Tom was taking wild life shots and we drove the last couple of miles to the tip of the peninsula.

End of the road. Huron Islands dead ahead, Huron Mountains visible to the right.

Continued...

 

[holidaynation]

Absolutely outstanding, I have never thought of Michigan that way, and it is now on my list of must do's. Thanks for sharing. I read and re-read and followed on Google maps/satellite, and enjoyed the journey. On a side note: Some friends and I (and my 4 year old daughter co-pilot) did an October tour this year in the Nippissing area of Ontario, similar in nature to your journey. Many hours in the truck, and several hundred kilometers of dirt roads,cart paths, bush trails and the inevitable pavement portions, and then choice camping at night, turned out to be one of my best tours ever. Although, a ten plus hour tour just to your starting point, I can see this being a viable adventure for sure. Thanks again for the wonderful write up and photo tour, you are a great Michigan sales rep.

 

[Andy G]

Wow. This is awesome.

I spent most of my young life up in that area (from Traverse City originally), and in the EUP as well.

Now I'm in Kodiak, Alaska...and while it's amazing up here, there's still nothing like Northern Michigan.

Thanks for taking us along...

 

[Storz]

Absolutely incredible story and photos! Makes me really miss the north country, I went to school in Ashland, WI and spent countless night adventuring around the chequamegon national forest in WI. That area is what really got me into the whole Expo mentality Thanks for the awesome photos

 

[achampagne]

Great looking Disco, great report, even better photos! Thank you for sharing. Also a nice trasharoo.

 

[upcruiser]

Absolutely outstanding, I have never thought of Michigan that way, and it is now on my list of must do's. Thanks for sharing. I read and re-read and followed on Google maps/satellite, and enjoyed the journey. On a side note: Some friends and I (and my 4 year old daughter co-pilot) did an October tour this year in the Nippissing area of Ontario, similar in nature to your journey. Many hours in the truck, and several hundred kilometers of dirt roads,cart paths, bush trails and the inevitable pavement portions, and then choice camping at night, turned out to be one of my best tours ever. Although, a ten plus hour tour just to your starting point, I can see this being a viable adventure for sure. Thanks again for the wonderful write up and photo tour, you are a great Michigan sales rep.

Ah, super cool! I have been wanting to get up to Lake Nippissing and explore that region for awhile now. Do you have a trip report posted anywhere I could check out? I would love to see some of the details of it.

 

[upcruiser]

Wow. This is awesome.

I spent most of my young life up in that area (from Traverse City originally), and in the EUP as well.

Now I'm in Kodiak, Alaska...and while it's amazing up here, there's still nothing like Northern Michigan.

Thanks for taking us along...

I am from the Traverse City area too, grew up in Leelanau County, the town of Cedar, yeah Polka Fest, you probably know that. haha I had a place in Glen Arbor up till about 5 years ago where I would spend most of my summers. That is one of the most beautiful summer areas there are, hands down. I agree, there is no place like Northern Michigan. That's why I moved back several times when I tried moving away. I love the mountains, but being away from the water kills me and the UP itself is such a unique area, like no other place I have ever been to in my travels. Love it.

 

[upcruiser]

Great looking Disco, great report, even better photos! Thank you for sharing. Also a nice trasharoo.

Thank you, I absolutely love my D1. Such a well rounded vehicle for this kind of travel.

 

[upcruiser]

OK, back to the trip report. Sorry for the delay. I haven't had a spare minute this past week.

Our arrival at Pt Abbeye, photo taken by Tom. The wind was really picking up out of the north which is unprotected on the rocks at the tip of the peninsula. The sun was just setting which afforded for some soft colors in the clouds.

We had the place to ourselves it appeared. Despite my suggestions to Tom that it might be better to setup back in the woods with a bit of wind protection, he would have none of it. So, we chose to setup on the rocks, a bit exposed. He likes to suffer a bit. What the heck, my last night of the trip, I figured I could manage with the wind beating on the RTT again.

Tom catching some images in the last light. I fired up the trusty coleman and cooked up some brats as we took shelter from the wind on the downwind side of the Rover. The coulds cleared and the stars were once again brilliant. We noticed some headlights through the woods and a vehicle parked down off another spur that was on the bay side of the shore. After a half hour or so a couple of guys walked over and introduced themselves. They came out from L'Anse and were having a bonfire. We talked a bit, picked out some constellations, before walking over to their camp to enjoy the warmth of their bonfire. After an hour or so we headed back to camp and called it a night. Once again I was smitten by how great the roof top tent was as we were perched out on the rocks, in the damp wind, at freezing temperatures. I had one of my best nights of sleep yet despite the wind buffeting. I awoke early again hoping to get some shots of the sunrise to the east, directly in front of us, coming up over the Huron Islands and Huron Mountains. Unfortunately, the clouds had moved in again overnight with snow showers falling towards the horizon. While now great sunrise, it provided other photographic opportunities...

Shot of Tom's Tundra that he took

Cool texture in the rocks.

We packed up the tents with frozen hands and Tom split off to head back for another busy day while I pressed on to link back towards Marquette via the dirt. My mission this morning was to find the old rock cut of the old Huron Bay Railroad, built in the 1800's and only run one time and abandoned. I was determined to find a section that I had seen old photos of from its construction.

continued.....

 

[upcruiser]

I had a general idea on my gazeteer of where I could find the rock cut and worked my way in the general direction via dirt roads and several dead end logging trails that added to the time in my search.

It was a cold day

This time of year in the UP, the ground is practically saturated from rains and snows. While exploring several logging road spurs I encountered quite a bit of mud and downed trees. I was getting close to the area I was trying to reach but no luck.

Sloppy, sloppy

I came to the conclusion I had to head further south and up to the Peshekee Grade intersection to get around to the other side of the grade to reach the cut. On the way I encountered a bridge out but with a bypass.

After retracing a portion from my first day of the trip I was able to access the rock cut. Success! The rock is carpeted in moss and the old grade now serves as a creek.

Icicles forming.

After exploring around the area for a bit I worked my way over to Mt Arvon, the highest point in Michigan, at a nose bleed inducing, oxygen deficient, 1980 feet it is tough summit to claim..... or maybe not. In reality Arvon is nothing spectacular as it is a wooded, round hill. With the leaves down there are some views to be had though...

The view from Mt Arvon towards the Skanee Peninsula, Pt Abbeye is barely visible. The iphone doesn't really capture vistas too well as it tends to make things farther away.

continued...

 

[upcruiser]

As I rolled away from Mt Arvon, I made my way towards the AAA road which is a major connectore east/west across the Yellow Dog Plains just south of the Huron Mountains. The other major connector is the Nortwestern Road which was the chosen route of this year's UP Overland trip.

Bald Eagle taking flight

Crossing the AAA was uneventful. The western portion is still undeveloped, rough and primitive in areas but as you get further east it turns into a virtual dirt highway now that the highly controversial Kennecott nickel sulfide mine is being constructed. Heavy truck convoy traffic, road widening, power lines being buried along the length of the road from Big Bay, the road looks very different now. I have been astounded by the sheer scale of the operation. The site is unrecognizable now, giant fences surround the operation site with 24 hour security and a large amount of heavy equipment moving dirt and clearing the grounds. If you do travel this area be very careful of big equipment moving along this corridor.

The day was already getting late and I needed to get back home, unpack and clean the mud and grime off the truck before leaving for my next work trip the following day. I decided to get out onto the pavement at Big Bay versus connecting all they way a further 40 miles via dirt to Marquette.

Dirty Rover

Back to pavement in the town of Big Bay. The location of the classic Jimmy Stewart film, Anatomy of a Murder, based on the true story that happened in the town.

It felt great to squeeze in a late season overland trip in the UP. The Rover gods smiled on me as the Disco performed flawlessly despite the 475 mile route, with around 120 miles of which being pavement. I have yet to experience the woes of Rover ownership.

We have a distinct amount of time that these types of trips are possible. Typically by December most of this route would be inpassable without having a very high clearance vehicle and after January say good bye till May when it will be clear of snow but incredibly soggy and sloppy. Time to put away the recovery gear and wax the skis up as that is now the best way to get out and explore the region.... unless you are one of those snowmobile guys....

Until next time! Cheers!

 

[cajun65]

Great trip report, and beautiful pictures. I can't wait to go back to the UP. It's a long, but worthwhile trip from here.

 

[holidaynation]

Ah, super cool! I have been wanting to get up to Lake Nippissing and explore that region for awhile now. Do you have a trip report posted anywhere I could check out? I would love to see some of the details of it.

I don't want to mess up your great thread, so I will see if I can PM you a link. I might clean it up first as it was a group thread that the info got tacked into.

again. great tour awesome journal.

E

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Nice pictures and a good read for sure. Thanks.

 

[BCHauler]

Shot of Tom's Tundra that he took

This is an incredible photograph. Could be right out of a Toyota truck brochure (or a RTT brochure for that matter). Thanks for sharing.