Trip Highlights - Click to jump to that section
Bare Bluff Hike at Grinnell Memorial Nature Sanctuary
Copper Harbor Mountain Biking - The Flow
Biking from Fort Wilkins to Hunter's Point
Copper Harbor Mountain Biking - On The Edge Loop
Hunter's Point Trail
Esrey Park, The Jampot and The Great Sand Bay Beach
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| Bare Bluff Hike at Grinnell Memorial Nature Sanctuary: |
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| The next morning after breakfast we drove from Copper Harbor towards Lac La Belle to do the hike to the top of Bare Bluff. This is probably one of the more remote hikes we have been on as a family. From what I had read about this hike it sounded like just getting to the start of the trail was going to be half of the adventure. The trailhead is a 2.5 mile drive down a seasonal road that at times can be very rough and muddy. For us it was mostly dry with only a few rough spots. It think a car with decent clearance could have made it at this time of the year. |
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| The parking area for the Bare Bluff Trail is marked with a small sign that says "Sanctuary Trail Head" and then "Stow all valuables out of site before locking vehicle." I could tell that the combination of the seasonal road and the sign was making mom a little concerned about where I was taking them.
The first part of the hike is on the logging road that starts to the left of the sign. |
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| Just a little ways up the logging road there is a steel gate and then just past this was a wood trail map that let us know we were in the right place. |
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| The route continues on the two track logging road for about 0.75 miles. The girls were not real happy about the weeds hitting there legs and all of the bees buzzing around. Although, it seemed to make for a faster pace than normal. |
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| After about 0.75 miles you will see the sign above on the left side of the logging road marking the start of the Bare Bluff Trail. From here it is a steady climb on a single track trail to the top of Bare Bluff. |
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| After about another 0.5 mile you break out of the trees right on the rocky edge of Bare Bluff about 500 feet above Lake Superior. |
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| Looking east toward Bete Grise Bay. |
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| Reid and I with the Tip of the Keweenaw behind us. He really wanted to get out and walk, but that was not going to happen up here. We were not really comfortable letting the girls walk around either, so we found a nice rock for them to rest on.
After a short candy and water break we headed back down. We have learned that things always go better on the trail when there is the promise of a treat. The trail loops back down below the face of the cliffs, but it sounds like this part is pretty rough and not good for kids so we went back down the way we came. |
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| Rounding the gate back near the parking area. The entire hike was 2.5 miles and took us about 1.5 hours to complete. |
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View Bare Bluff 8/18/2013 9:51am in a larger map |
| Our track in Google maps.
Directions to the Bare Bluff Trail Head: From Copper Harbor go west on US41 about 10 miles to Lac La Belle Road. Turn left and follow Lac La Belle Road for about 4 miles and then stay left as it becomes Bete Gris Road. In about 3 miles you will see Smith Fisheries Road on the left. Immediately after turning on Smith Fisheries Road there is an unmarked fork where you will need to stay to the right. There is also a "No Trespassing" sign that will make you wonder if your are in the wrong place, but from what I have read it is ok to pass through. From here it is about 2.5 miles down the narrow dirt road to the parking pull off for the trail. (47.397202,-87.911815)
For more on this hike pick up a copy of: Hiking Michigan's Upper Peninsula |
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| After our hike we drove down to the beach on Bete Gris Bay for lunch. The parking is along the road and there a few picnic tables down on the narrow strip of sand along the water. In the top left of the photo you can see the there are also pit toilets / changing rooms and the other side of the road. |
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| From our picnic table you could see the bluff we just climbed. |
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| The beach continues for almost a mile up to the Lac La Belle channel. At first we had the whole place to ourselves, but by the time we finished eating a few more families were setting up for an afternoon at the beach.
After lunch we went in for a swim and found something interesting in the water. When we drove in it felt like there were small bubbles hitting us in the face. We also noticed the same thing when pushing our hands through the water. Upon further investigation we realized that the sand at the edge of the water was covered little clear fish eggs. Fish must have been spawning in the bay. We walked up and down the beach and the eggs continued as far as we went. No one was real excited about swimming in caviar soup, so after playing on the beach for awhile we decided to head back to Copper Harbor. |
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On the way back to our campsite we made a quick stop at Haven Falls Park on the west end of Lake Lac La Belle.
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| Copper Harbor Mountain Biking - The Flow: |
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| My legs were a little tired from hiking with an oversized 2 years old on my back and my ride the previous day so I had the family drive me up Brockway Mountain to the start of The Flow trail. This is the most popular 2.7 miles of trail up in Copper Harbor and some of the finest in Michigan. The trail winds it's way down the north side of Brockway Mountain and lives up to it's name with a smooth track and banked corners. |
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In the evening it was off to The Mariner North for dinner. We have eaten here a couple times and the food and service has always been good. The only complaints that could be made is that there is no air so it can be a little warm and there are always a few flies that seem to find there way in here. For us this really isn't a big deal because it is still an improvement over eating outside at our campsite.
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| Biking from Fort Wilkins to Hunters Point: |
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| The next morning we biked into town. There is a crushed stone bike path that runs along US 41 from Fort Wilkins State Park to the east end of Copper Harbor. Our first stop was at Jamesen's Fish Market for donuts and coffee. |
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| The homemade donuts with the thimbleberry frosting were awesome! Thanks to one of the visitors of our site for recommending this to us. If it was not for his email we may have overlooked this great little place. The smoked fish is also very good. |
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| Our plan was to sit outside at the picnic tables outside Jameson's and enjoy our coffee and the view of Copper Harbor. However, we had a 2 year old with us that wanted to either run into the parking lot or fall off the dock into the water. We decided it would be best to finish the rest of our coffee on the go. |
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| After our donut stop we continued on to Hunter's Point. There is another crushed stone bike path that starts on the west end of town by the entrance to the marina and goes out to Hunter's Point Park. This is also the same path that takes you back into town at the end of The Flow trail. |
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| The kids have always liked climbing on the rocks along the shore here. |
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| Walking on the red rocks to the west end of Hunter's Point Park. |
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| Another good spot for throwing rocks. |
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On the way back we made one more stop at the Old Country Store so the girls could try and spend some of their souvenir money. The only purchase ended up being rock candy that they ate on the porch.
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| Copper Harbor Mountain Biking - On The Edge Loop: |
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| In the afternoon it was time to hit the mountain bike trails again. I was dropped off up on Brockway Mountain again, but this time I went down the other side via the On The Edge Trail. From here I explored some more of the west trails and then crossed US 41 by the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. From here I worked my through some more of the east trails back down into town. |
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| The On The Edge trail is only 0.4 miles long, but it may be the most interesting 0.4 miles of single track in Michigan. It starts running right along the edge of a cliff and then drops down Brockway Mountain on a section of wooden bridge switchbacks. |
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| When I got back Reid had to show me the rocky trail that he found along Lake Fanny Hooe in the campground. He is wondering when they are going to start making the full suspension version of the Strider Balance Bike. He is getting so fast that we either have to run or ride our bikes to keep up with him. |
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| In the evening we took a relaxing drive to Eagle Harbor. |
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| The Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. |
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| Back in Cooper Harbor we stopped at the Berry Patch for ice cream.
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The only thing that the girls remember from our last visit was this play car at the Berry Patch.
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| Hunters Point Trail: |
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| The next morning we drove back to Hunter's Point to walk the trail out to the end of the peninsula. We started out on the South Beach Trail that runs along the shore on the Copper Harbor side of the point. There were several openings where you can walk down to the rocky shore for a view of the Harbor. |
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| In just over 0.5 miles you reach the end of the point.
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| This is a another great place to climb around on the rocky shore. |
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| Looking back along the north shore of Hunter's Point. |
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| Esrey Park, The Jampot and The Great Sand Bay Beach: |
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| From Hunter's Point we continued west on M26. Our next stop was at Esrey Park for lunch. With picnic table right on the edge of the rocky Lake Superior shore this is one of our favorite roadside parks in Michigan. |
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| Another unique feature of Esrey Park is the steps cut into the rock wall that lead up to a nice overlook. |
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| The view from the top of the wall. There are no handrails here so we had to keep reminding the kids to be careful and not get too close to the edge. |
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| After our picnic we continued through Eagle Harbor and on to the Jampot. The Jampot is operated by the brothers of the Society of St. John, a Catholic Monastery. They make tasty homemade jams. jellies and baked goods. After waiting in a short line we left with some Wild Thimbleberry Jam and a couple huge muffins. All of it was very good, if you are up here make sure to try some for yourself.
The Jampot website >>
Directions to the Jampot >> |
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| Just up the road a couple hundred feet is Jacob's Falls. This 20 foot high cascade is right on the edge of the road and is worth making the short walk over from the Jampot to see. |
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| After the Jampot we headed back towards Eagle Harbor and stopped at one of the beach access spots on the Great Sand Bay. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing. The area was a little busy for the UP, but the beach was nice and the water was warm with a shallow sandy bottom. There are several access spots along this section of road. We chose this one because it had the shortest stairs and a parking area across the road with pit toilets. Everyone else must have been thinking the same thing.
Directions to the Great Sand Bay Beach >> |
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| At night we drove up to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge for dinner. We have eaten here a couple times and it is one of our favorite places in the area. It has always been very good, but never very busy. This hopefully is not a bad sign and it is just because we usually eat fairly early in the evening. |
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| The historic lodge was built in 1934 from hand hewn logs. The building has a lot of character both inside and out, and feels like you are stepping back in time. In addition to the restaurant there is a 9 hole golf course and the mountain bike and hiking trails run right though the property. For overnight accommodations there are 8 motel room and 24 cabins with 1 to 3 bedrooms.
More information on the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge >>
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| Hazy morning up on Brockway Mountain.
The next day was our last full day up in Copper Harbor. The family shuttled me up Brockway Mountain for one more ride down the flow trail and then met me in town for another thimbleberry donut. After the donut stop I rode some more of the trails on the east side of US 41. At the end I decided to try and take the Downtown trail back to town. This ended being the most difficult trail that I rode up here. There were several sections that were not rideable, at least for an old guy on a fat bike.
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| We spent the rest of the day at the campground resting and preparing for our departure. The first order of business was laundry. There is a laundry mat available in the bathhouse in the east campground. |
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| While waiting for the laundry we walked over to the playground between the campground and the parking lot for the fort. When the kids were playing a bald eagle flew right over us on the warm breeze. It was kind of funny that after all the hiking and biking that we did, we finally see our first eagle right in the campground. |
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| Next we tried fishing in Lake Fanny Hooe. The fishing dock is located next to the boat launch on the end of the west campground. |
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| Reesey tried so hard to blow a bubble that the gum shot right our her mouth and into the water. We watched it float until the wind pushed it out of sight. We didn't have any luck so the fishing did not last very long. |
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| In the evening it was warm, humid and buggy at the campsite. We used this as a good excuse to go out to eat again. We planned to drive to Calumet and go to the historic Michigan House Cafe. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that they are closed on Wednesdays. There wasn't anything else that looked good to us in Calumet. We probably should have just headed back to Copper Harbor, but instead I continued on to Houghton not really realizing how far the drive was.
In Houghton we found The Library Restaurant and Brew Pub. The food ended up being pretty good, but we waited way too long for it. Mom had to keep Reid entertained by drawing trains and playing videos. When the food finally did come we almost had a mutiny on our hands because the kids meals did not come with fries. Apparently you need to add them and they are extra. Another big minus for this place. Luckily we had some to share and the crisis was avoided.
When we got back to the campsite mom broke out the super s' mores to make up for the disappointing dinning experience. In the morning it was time to leave Copper Harbor and start making our way back towards home. We broke up the long trip back with stops at Pete's Lake and Cheboygan State Park. Follow the link below for the rest of our trip. |
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Next Page - Pete's Lake Campground >>
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and walk the 0.6 miles back to the parking area on the North Beach Trail.
