About the UP » Recreation

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a land of possibilities

lci — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:19:53 +0000

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula land of unlimited possibilities, Terry Richard of The Oregonian writes:

A bridge as grand as the Golden Gate.
A bike-happy place that one-ups Portland.
A lakeshore as scenic as the Oregon coast.
No wonder Michigan's Upper Peninsula is the vacation destination for so much of middle America.

Read on for much more about what the UP offers those seeking seasonal and year-round living!

Fall Color Touring in the Marquette Area

lci — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:53:22 +0000

The photo blog Michigan in Pictures is featuring a fall color tour of from Marquette to Big Bay to Negaunee to Au Train. Whether you do all or part of it, you won't be disappointed – the Marquette area and the entire UP are simply gorgeous at this time of year. Some other tours they have are Pictured Rocks/Munising/Grand Marais, the Western U.P. and Houghton/Eagle River/Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The photo is from October 4, 2007 and was taken by Marjorie O'Brien, the very talented young woman who has taken many of the photos used in our About the UP section. Michigan in Pictures has an interview with Marjorie that you might enjoy.

Bikes roll in Marquette

dickhuey — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:07:10 +0000

Bikes were rolling this weekend at the 2007 Superior Bike Fest in Marquette. $8,000 in cash was awarded to the winners, but the real prize was participation and competition. Hereâ€™s a shot of an early leader taken from the corner of Washington and Third St. in downtown Marquette.

Trillium in Alger County at Silver Lake

dickhuey — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:52:52 +0000

May is a favorite time of the year for me in the U.P. and if you missed it this year you should put it on your calendar for next year! I've been a little slow in editing my 2007 file of flower photos so these postings are not as timely as I'd like, but still I think definitely worth passing on. As you can see, trillium covered the forest floor this year as far as I could see.

Flowing spring

dickhuey — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:30:13 +0000

Wandering the U.P. is always a voyage of discovery. This weekend I canoed, fished, and assisted in water sampling on and around a private lake that we have listed for sale southeast of Marquette. An extremely cold flowing spring was running hard out of the bedrock 40 feet up a rock bluff. There are reports of wells in this area that are running dry because of the unusually warm, dry weather, but this spring and the lake it flows to was unaffected. Apparently it is a strong upwelling from some deep aquifer. The water tumbles down the bank and joins many smaller seeps, which form a stream. A quarter mile further on that feeds the lake.

Look at the interesting lichen on this rock, and the crystal clear water behind it.

Canoe a foggy lake

dickhuey — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:42:25 +0000

Last night I was out in the canoe, and the lake was beautiful. Even the trout cooperated (for a while). Weâ€™re â€œcatch and releaseâ€ anyway, and a beautiful brown jumped several times and threw the hook on the third jump. Thatâ€™s called a â€œlong distance release.â€

There's magic and mystery when fog blankets the lake. It can be a very introspective experience or at the extreme you can get lost. On a really big lake, or Superior, you need a compass. That's true whenever you leave the roads and wander about in the U.P. And wandering is important: Just like anywhere else you have to leave the big roads to find what makes an area unique and wonderful.

When I first visit the city I hear lots of noise, feel lost, and the city is a strange and of threatening place where I'm "on alert". But then instead of noise I start to identify the sounds of a bus, and garbage collection, street vendors and neighbors. As I learn where to go, what to do and how to get there it becomes a place I know and appreciate. The wilds of the U.P. are just like that: Familiar and friendly to us; mysterious and strange until you learn where to go and what to see. You have to learn the territory. And we can help with that.

Hiking the U.P.

dickhuey — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:30:12 +0000

This photo is uniquely Huron Mountains. It shows a narrow divide between rock ridges with a beaver dam that has captured the spring runoff and rainfall to form a long, narrow pond. There are nine beaver lodges on this one, but only one shows in this photo. This country looked just like this like a hundred and fifty years ago when the trappers and explorers were discovering and learning the secrets of this country, and you can still find scenes like this and enjoy the beauty today.

Upper Peninsula Links

dickhuey — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:35:16 +0000

U.P. Recreation

Upper Peninsula Travel & Recreation

Lore of the Lakes

Granite Island

Scott Holman's Lake Superior Light House rehab (great site)

Great Lakes Shipwreck History

Weather Forecast and Averages

Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights

Also includes forecasts.

U.P. Radar

Weather Radar for the Upper Peninsula.

U.P. Weather Forecast

Weather Forecast for the Upper Peninsula.

Travel

Airport Information

Services

Michigan Government Links – State agencies, especially those associated with real estate.

City of Marquette

Marquette County Chamber of Commerce

Marquette General Hospital

Regional medical center and the facility with which I am most familiar. It is a modern, well run facility with over 200 doctors.

Link Lists

Da Yoopers

Exploring the North
A collection of interesting and useful links

U.P. Blue
A catalogue of essential links, compactly organized

U.P. Net

A UP Search engine

Yooper Net

Yooperland

Fishing in the Upper Peninsula

dickhuey — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:16:17 +0000

"The angler forgets most of the fish he catches, but he does not forget the streams and lakes in which they are caught."
- Charles K. Fox

Michigan's Upper Peninsula has some of the most legendary fishing in the world which inspired writers like Ernest Hemingway and Robert Traver (John D. Voelker). From perch and panfish to coho & chinook salmon and of course the lake, brown, brook and rainbow trout, the U.P. is an angler's paradise.

Exploring the North's tours & guided trips page has a lot of charter fishing and fishing guide businesses listed.

You can click to view all my listings on U.P. rivers and streams and some spectacular inland lakes and get more information about the fishing in the Upper Peninsula at the links below.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has an excellent fishing report for areas including Marquette, Little Bay De Noc, Big Bay De Noc, Au Train, Grand Marais, De Tour and Cedarville and Hessel and St. Ignace. You can get much more information (including how to order a fishing license online) from the DNR's Fishing Page.

Visiting Marquette and the Upper Peninsula

dickhuey — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:17:01 +0000

While Michigan's Upper Peninsula is off the beaten path, it's not too hard to reach through the driving or flying. Check the links below options:

Map & Driving Directions to Marquette, MI from Google Maps

Sawyer International Airport (Marquette, Central U.P.)

Chippewa County International Airport (Sault Ste. Marie, Eastern U.P.)

Ford Airport (Iron Mountain/Kingsford, Western U.P.)

Marquette County Chamber of Commerce