If you look at a map of Lake Superior, it is shaped sort of
like a hand shadow puppet that we used to make in front of the light of a
projector. It has a long skinny nose
that were our fingers, and a lower “jaw” that was our thumb. That point of land that sticks out in between
is the Keewenaw (pronounced Key-won-awe) Peninsula. It is an 85 mile long mountain range that
sticks out into Lake Superior and was the location from 1840-1965 of mining the
most pure copper found in the world. It
goes as far north as you can go in Michigan, and has the two cities (one of them being Copper Harbor) where boats
can take you to the legendary Isle Royale National Park 50-70 (depending on the
city) miles away across Lake Superior.
The area’s big claim to fame is that it averages over 300 inches of snow
a year. At one point on the road you
pass a huge sign demonstrating how much snow that actually is.
At the tip of the Keweenaw is the town of Copper
Harbor. Copper Harbor has a beautiful,
huge, completely sheltered natural harbor. It was used to ship the copper to
major cities along the Great Lakes. The
town fathers say that the early days of the copper rush were a time of “whiskey
and whiskers” and the town of Copper Harbor prospered. To
control the lawlessness of this remote frontier, the US Army built Fort Wilkins
in Copper Harbor. 
Copper Harbor is rugged and seemingly untouched. You drive for 30 miles through hardwood and
birch forests to get to the town. Occasionally
you see the ruined buildings of an abandoned mine or a pile of the tailings
from the mine peeking through the trees.
Copper Harbor has Lake Superior on one side, mountains on the other, and
a cute inland lake (Lake Fanny Hooe) in the middle of town just 4 blocks from
Lake Superior. There are about 10
motel/cottage complexes in town and 4 or 5 restaurants. On Friday evenings they have an Art Crawl
where the dozen or so artists and galleries in town have an open house to sell
their wares. There are mountain biking/hiking/cross
country skiing/snowshoe trails originating in town and fanning out throughout
the area. On the weekend that we were
there, there were a huge number of young people mountain biking and
kayaking. Copper Harbor is a happening
place!
The Adventure
We were in Copper Harbor for about 36 hours, and over the
course of that managed a kayak paddle, a long bike ride and a trip to the restored
fort. We set off in the morning to kayak
Lake Fanny Hooe. Our campsite was across
the street from the lake, and the town map showed a stream or canal that
connected it to the harbor and Lake Superior.
The morning dawned cool and drizzly, but most of it had burned off by
the time we set out in our kayaks. Then,
as we were kayaking along a dense fog bank closed in on us. Fortunately, we were close to shore and were
never in danger. We came around a bend
and the fog lifted to reveal that we were next to the Fort, and there were
re-enactor soldiers preparing to shoot cannons out over the lake, we had heard them shoot earlier that morning. We decided it was time to return home rather than become cannon fodder. Within a short time of our reaching home, the
fog cleared and we had a bright, sunny day.
So, we set out on our bicycles to explore the town and
harbor and Fort. The beaches are made of
pebbles that are a distinctive red color, and across the harbor is a beautiful lighthouse. The highlight of our tour through town was a
stop at the Berry Patch where they serve the most delicious ice cream sundaes
in the world. Sadly, the photo shows only half of the wonderfulness because we had already eaten half by the time we took the picture. Once again we have more pictures than text. So, please continue to scroll down through the photos.
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