July 21, 2024
Copper Harbor is located at the tip of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, making it the state's northernmost community. There are only about 100 residents who live year-round in a town that's only 10 blocks long and 3 blocks wide. The area is well-known for its outdoor recreation, small town charm and amazing views of Lake Superior. It's also the location for the passenger ferry to Isle Royale National Park.
There is a lot packed into this small village. We found lodging opportunities, restaurants, shops and outdoor recreation equipment rentals. Although we were traveling at the height of the summer season, we were happy to find their weren't crowds of people. We had no problems finding parking or a seat in a restaurant. We found that to be true of all the places we visited on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The area in and around Copper Harbor is incredibly rugged with a mulititude of trails for hiking, kayaking and mountain biking. The area is also known for its birding, fishing, rock hounding and lighthouses. Plus there are beaches to explore and relax on. If you're brave enough to visit the peninsula in the winter (Average snowfall is an amazing 270 inches!), you can find every type of outdoor winter activity imaginable.
Our first stop was the historic Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. The lodge was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp and is listed on the National Register of historic places. The complex covers 167 acres and includes the rustic main lodge along with 23 cabins and a golf course. All of the buildings were constructed using rough-cut stone and dark painted logs. The views from the lodge were beautiful and we could see why the lodge's grounds were designated an International Dark Sky Park.
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We then headed down into Copper Harbor and started our exploration of this small village by visiting Manganese Falls. The falls are located along a gravel road a short distance from the campground at the north end of Fanny Hooe Lake. They tumble down from a height of 35 feet into a gorge. They weren't running as fully as usual, and it's a little difficult to find a good view of the falls from top to bottom through the trees. We followed a foot path from the rim of the gorge to a viewing platform.
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| Manganese Falls |
Next we drove to Fort Wilkins Historic State Park. The park is located at the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. It includes a modern campground, two lighthouses, trails and a historical fort with living history re-enactors. They did an excellent job of answering questions without breaking character at all. The restored fort was built by the U.S. Army in 1844 as a military outpost with the intent of keeping the peace in the state's copper country. However, by 1870 it was determined the fort was unnecessary and it was abandoned. It became a Michigan State Park in 1923. The site is extensive and includes 19 buildings. We enjoyed walking through them and talking with the re-enactors.
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If you'd like to see more of the fort, check out our YouTube video by clicking here.
The 1866 Copper Harbor Lighthouse with its 44 foot tower is included in the park. It aided ships transporting copper from the U.P. Unfortunately the road that leads out to the lighthouse isn't open to the public, so we had to satisfy ourselves with views of the lighthouse from across the water.
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The 1865 Copper Harbor Rear Range Lighthouse is also located in Fort Wilkins S.P. The lighthouse is owned by the Michigan Historical Museum System and is currently used as the home for the assitant manager of the park. In order to respect the privacy of the residents, we took our photos from the road just outside of the entrance. The light was shown from a window at the opposite end of the dwelling. The light was later moved to a metal skeleton tower next to the dwelling.
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| Copper Harbor Rear Range Lighthouse |
After finishing our exploration of Fort Wilkins S.P. and its lighthouses, we drove further north to "the end of the road", or the beginning, depending on your point of view! U.S. Highway 41 runs over 2000 miles between Copper Harbor Michigan and Miami, Florida. The paved road ends in a cul-de-sac about 2.5 miles north of Copper Harbor, but it actually continues as a seasonal dirt road all the way out to the very tip of the peninsula. We considered the drive out, very briefly. The road is rumored to be extremely rugged, so we decided to settle with photos of the sign marking the road's official end/start and leave it at that.
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| Is it the end of the road, or the beginning? |
From there we drove back into Copper Harbor village for some lunch and to explore the shops located along its main street. We had an excellent lunch of burgers topped with beef brisket and barbecue sauce at the Tamarack Inn - we highly recommend it!
After leaving Copper Harbor we headed south on U.S. 41, stopping for some quick photos of the beautiful Lake Medora on our way to the Delaware Copper Mine where we learned more about why this area is known as "Copper Country". But you'll have to wait until our next blog entry to read about that!
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However, we'll leave you with a little food for thought regarding the average snowfall on the Keweenaw Peninsula. We found this sign along U.S. 41 just a short ride from our campground...
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We love Michigan and the rugged beauty of the Upper Peninsula. But we definitely won't be moving there permanently - summer visits are enough for us!
* All photos and videos are the property of the owners unless otherwise noted. *
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