In July 2024 we spent three weeks traveling throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.). During our first week we stayed at a campground near Munising, Michigan. This blog entry features our visits to Munising and Marquette, as well as some of the lighthouses we visited during the week.
Marquette & Presque Isle Park
During our entire 3 week stay in the U.P., we had only one rainy day. The weather for Wednesday, July 17 was expected to be cloudy with some rain showers in the forecast. We decided to drive west to the city of Marquette to explore what it had to offer.
It was very cloudy and windy as we arrived at the Welcome Center at the southern edge of the city. But we decided to tempt fate and ride our bicycles on the Iron Ore Heritage Trail from the Michigan Welcome Center to its juncture with the Marquette City Multi-Use Path, then follow that trail out to Presque Isle Park and back again; a distance of about 34 miles round trip. At least, that was the plan...
So we followed the trail along the lake for about 5 miles past the Carp River Furnace and several waterfront parks until unfortunately, a light rain started. Hoping things wouldn't get worse, we continued on the trail.
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| Carp River Furnace |
Upon arrival in the waterfront district of Marquette, we stopped at the Lower Harbor Ore Dock to snap some quick photos. The dock was constructed in the late 1800s and was part of a network of docks used to transport iron ore from the mines in the U.P. to steel mills in the Great Lakes region. At one time, Marquette was one of the largest shipping ports for iron ore in the U.S.
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| Lower (Old) Harbor Ore Dock |
After snapping our photos we headed onward around the lower harbor to the Marquette Maritime Museum. By the time we arrived, it had begun raining quite hard, so we parked our bikes and ducked inside the museum, hoping to wait out the rain.
Luckily for us (depending on how you look at it), we were just in time for a tour of the nearby Marquette Harbor Lighthouse. The down side of the situation was the fact that we had to walk about a quarter of a mile, in the pouring rain without an umbrella (left back in the truck), to the lighthouse. Oh well. We both got drenched but we enjoyed the guided tour of the lighthouse very much.
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| Marquette Harbor Lighthouse |
The two-story brick lighthouse with attached 40-foot square tower was built in 1866. The Marquette Maritime Museum leases the lighthouse and about 2-1/2 acres of land from the U.S. Coast Guard. The light in the tower is an active aid to navigation. Only the first floor is open to visitors and we weren't allowed to climb the tower, but we were given access to walk out to the end of the point on which the lighthouse stands so we could get better photos. It was windy and spitting rain, but we managed to get a few good shots.
After finishing our tour of the lighthouse we returned to the musuem and spent some time looking around inside. We found exhibits about shipwrecks, the 2nd order Fresnel lens from Stannard Rock Lighthouse, and a 40 foot working WW2 submarine periscope, among other interesting things.
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| Stannard Rock Fresnel Lens |
Before leaving the museum we checked the weather radar, and we decided it would be best to ride our bikes back to the truck before more rain arrived. We almost made it. We left the bikes sit out in the rain while we ate our lunch inside the truck, and then headed into the Welcome Center where we picked up a lot of information on the Keweenaw Peninsula, our destination the following week.
Then we decided to drive out to Presque Isle Park instead of riding our bikes there. On our way we stopped for some photos of a ship loading ore at the Upper Harbor Ore Dock before turning onto Presque Isle.
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| Upper Harbor Ore Dock |
Presque Isle is a 323-acre tree-covered peninsula which juts out into Lake Superior at the northern tip of Marquette. We stopped for some photos of the Marquette Breakwater light and the Harbor lighthouse from across the water, and then continued on 2-mile long Peter White Drive, the main road meandering through the park.
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| Marquette Breakwater Light |
The wind was really kicking up the waves along the shore as we came upon a beach with surfers riding the waves into shore. It was amazing to see the size of the waves and surfers on a lake - an activity we didn't know was possible!
If you want to view the video of our bike ride, click on the link below to our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@RViewFromHere
Munising
After visting some area waterfalls on July 19, we decided to explore the town of Munising with our first stop being the Pictured Rocks Interpretive Center. The center is located in a historic building on the main drag through Munising, and features a 13 minute video about Pictured Rocks in a small theater at the rear of the gift shop.
The town of Munising celebrates its art culture with a lot of outdoor displays. After leaving the Interpretive Center we walked around town taking in some of the murals and exploring the town's Art Alley.
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Grand Marais Range Lights
One day, after spending the morning and early afternoon exploring the eastern-most reaches of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we drove to Grand Marais, to visit the Grand Marais Inner and Outer Range Lights. The Grand Marais Historical Society has a very nice museum inside the restored keeper's dwelling which we enjoyed visiting before heading outside to take photos of the 55-foot tall inner light, built in 1898. We also walked out to the opposite end of the pier to see the 34-foot tall skeletal Outer Range light.
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Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse
After visiting Kitch-iti-kipi on July 15, we drove into Manistique to see the East Breakwater Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a 35-foot tall square-pyramidal tower and was built in 1895. It sits at the mouth of the Manistique River at the end of a long pier. We walked the long pier out to it and took some photos.
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| Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse |
Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse
We also visited the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse (pronounced either sis-shwa or sell-shwa) on July 15. It's located at the end of a 4-mile gravel road near Gulliver, Michigan. Built in 1895, the 75-foot tall conical brick tower is attached to a 2-story keeper's dwelling. The lighthouse and grounds are owned by the state of Michigan, but are operated by the non-profit Gulliver Historical Society. The light in the tower is the only operational light on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. A fully restored house, fog signal museum, boathouse museum, mini oil house museum, gift shop, and 30 seat theater are all part of the complex along with a research/genealogy library located in the assistant keeper's house.
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| Seul Choix Pointe Light Station |
The lighthouse has had many unusual incidents occur there and is reportedly haunted. After climbing the tower we joined a group listening to the stories told by one of the docents about the paranormal experiences she had while working within the lighthouse, as well as sharing stories of others who witnessed strange events while there.
Munising Range Lights
After heading back to Munising, we stopped to photograph the Munising Front Range Light, a 58-foot tall tower that was established in 1907. It sits right on the main street in Munising. This active aid to navigation was a familiar sight to us as we drove past it frequently on our way to and from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
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| Munising Front Range Lighthouse |
The unusual looking Munising Rear Range Light sits on a hillside high above the front range light. The 33-foot tall light was established in 1907.
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| Munising Rear Range Light |
Grand Island Harbor Range Lighthouses
After dinner we decided to drive a very short distance down the road to take a look at the Grand Island Harbor Range lighthouses. The rather unattractive steel cylrindrical front range light is located at the very edge of Lake Superior. The 64-foot rear range light is located about 50 yards behind it across the highway, nearly hidden by tall trees. Both lights were built in 1868 and are no longer operational.
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