Attn: Yoopers

[2LeftCleats]

Will be traveling north to Michigan UP mid Sept. Haven't been there before but looks beautiful. Ms. Cleats is allowing the bike so plan to do some riding and hiking. The area is much bigger than I thought and time is limited to about 4 days, so thought I'd query the locals on board. We're looking at the Houghton area, Picture Rock, Porcupine mountains. Anything that's a not-to-miss both from a cycling, hiking, or other perspective? Any other areas that you'd recommend or suggest instead of the above?

Thanks for any help.

[christian]

Ride Brockway out of Copper Harbor. I await your thank you thread.

[mtb_frk]

We were just up there in July. The western UP is much prettier than the eastern, generally speaking. If you are looking for mountain biking I would check out the Marquette area. Copper harbor is cool also, but there is more trail in Marquette. For non-biking things to do... The drive from mackinaw along U.S. 2 is a must, you are basically driving along the shore line of Lake Michigan. Johnny Dogs in munising, I hear has some really good hot dogs according to one of my yooper friends. I've done the pictured rocks tour a couple times, it's pretty cool. I would like to do a kayak tour someday. Porcupine mountains, check out lake of the clouds. We did the Quincy mine tour in Hancock, it was much better than I was expecting. I would also stop by McLean state park and go to the beach. Calumet is a neat town, pretty empty now but really shows how big the boom was in the UP. Hopefully it isn't snowing when you go. :)
Hope that helps.

[Geeheeb]

Iron Ore trail is pretty cool. I wanted to cut south to Laughing Whitefish Falls, but didn't, so I don't know if gravel or dirt is involved inside the state park. I haven't been up to Houghton, but would love to sometime. Have fun!

[93legendti]

https://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=10973#trailid=BGM026-027&lat=45.0605&lon=-87.12&zoom=7&m=roadmap&a=RB

In the 80's, I was at a Northern Michigan University on business and it snowed - it was September 1.

[Plum Hill]

Since you're heading up from Indiana, go through Harbor Springs and ride the Tunnel of Trees. It's top-rated by Jef Mallett (of Frazz fame). And me, too.

http://mynorth.com/2010/09/guide-to-a-scenic-michigan-getaway-m-119-tunnel-of-trees-in-harbor-springs/

[bikinchris]

Even Mackinac island is fun for one day. You can lap the island while the Mrs. Shops. In St. Ignace, Mr.C 's drive in has a burger so sloppy, it comes wrapped in a coffee filter.

[zmudshark]

Ride Brockway out of Copper Harbor. I await your thank you thread.
^^^^+ a gillion

[thwart]

Ride Brockway out of Copper Harbor. I await your thank you thread.
Okay, I didn't know about this. Did a little research...

Pic:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Brockway_Mountain_Drive_Panorama.jpg/1000px-Brockway_Mountain_Drive_Panorama.jpg

[2LeftCleats]

Thanks for the replies. Copper Harbor is now top of my list. Trying to minimize the hours spent in the car, so it looks like some of these places may have to wait for a follow up trip.

[commonguy001]

Brockway mountain road is a great ride both ways.
If you like gravel roads there are lots of miles of forest service roads up there.
If you are a MTB guy the copper harbor trail system is pretty crazy in a good way.

Add in a cool little brewery right in town called Brickside and it is nothing but a win up there.

[zmudshark]

Thanks for the replies. Copper Harbor is now top of my list. Trying to minimize the hours spent in the car, so it looks like some of these places may have to wait for a follow up trip.Copper Harbor is a long way up, but worth it.

[eddief]

Not in the UP, but maybe on your way. Don't miss the mushroom houses:

https://www.google.com/search?q=charlevoix+mushroom+houses&espv=2&biw=1422&bih=677&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMInNXW1tjPxwIVgkaICh3cEAMB

[2LeftCleats]

Just back and the info supplied above was helpful.

Weather was nearly perfect: sunny in the 70s-80s until the last day.

After staying overnight in Grand Rapids with in-laws, we drove to Munising. Nice little hotel on the beach. We did a tandem kayak tour of Pictured Rocks. Really outstanding getting up close to the beautiful walls. The kayaking was surprisingly strenuous coming back against the wind. But definitely worth it. Did a little hiking and a very short but tough ride due to the aforementioned wind.

The kayak guide was from Marquette and tipped us off to a good breakfast spot and co-op grocery. Replenished supplies of various local brews and headed up to Houghton. Stayed at a B&B on the river cutting across the Keweenau peninsula. Rode some there. Houghton and Hancock stand on opposite sides of the river separated by a lift bridge. Moving from river to either town involves some notable climbing, to the extent that they don't appear drivable in wet or snowy weather. My Garmin indicated 20% up some of the streets.

Hancock has a small arts and design school, Finlandia. The day we went through, it hosted a farmer's market. The Finnish food we sampled wasn't terribly flavorful, but we bought some delicious tabouleh and flatbread from an Iranian couple there.

Next we drove along the Superior coastline to Copper Harbor at the tip of the peninsula. Picturesque little town. Not a lot going on but fishing and tourists. Shout out to Christian and others who mentioned Brockway mountain drive. The picture above posted by Thwart was exactly what it looked like though fall foliage isn't far along at this point. The picture fails to convey the challenging climb out of Copper Harbor. Someone had helpfully painted on the road surface about halfway up (the twists and turns obscure all the pain): "WE ARE NOT DONE YET". Turned out the mountain was a place we returned a couple more times since there is no wifi/cell service in the town, and we could get a weak signal up on top. Drove to the end of a dirt road (there are a lot of dirt roads there) and did a nice hike out to the beach.

We drove down along the coast to the Porcupine State Park. Both up and back we went through Calumet. Did not see a lot of charm there. It has definitely seen better days. When we first drove though, we heard bagpipes and followed the sound to the funeral of a firefighter.

At Porcupine we had planned to do more hiking. But during a trek to Lake of the Clouds, we turned back because of a thunderstorm. Still, the place was great.

Traffic was negligible in the UP, especially in the upper Keweenau peninsula.

Didn't do as much riding as I'd have liked, but this was our vacation, not my vacation, so compromises were made. We had a great time.

[Ken Robb]

To prepare yourselves to understand the locals listen to some recordings by Da Yoopers.
FWIW my first ski experience was with the Northwestern University Ski Club. We spent a weekend at Indianhead Ski Area near Iron Mountain and Hurley, WI. The HIGH for the weekend was -22F! There was a guy staring at my face at the top of every lift staring at my face. He wasn't in love with me. He was checking for frostbite. You betcha.

[93legendti]

I am glad you enjoyed Michigan.

I've never done the Brockway Mtn climb. Do you recall the length and elevation gain of the climb?

[2LeftCleats]

Re: Brockway climb

Garmin data shows highest point at about 1330 ft about 1.5 miles from the start of the climb (700ft elev gain). The steepest is about 14-15% in the first 0.1-.2 mi.

[93legendti]

Thanks!