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Bryon Anderson

U.P. Trip Report (photo heavy)

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Had a great trip to Michigan's U.P. earlier this month! The official nature of the trip was to deliver my son, Will, to a Geological Engineering camp at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, way up in the Keeweenaw Peninsula, but, boys being boys, we decided we should have ourselves a bit of fun along the way. smile.png

 

Since Will turns 16 this November and needed to log some supervised driving hours on his learner's permit prior to testing for his limited license, I decided that the lovely, (mostly) empty roads of the U.P. were the perfect place for him to score some wheel-time. Since we were in my Jeep, that meant learning to drive a stick shift as well. He did an awesome job and made his dad very proud. smile.png

 

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We had to have him at his camp by noon on a Sunday, so we started out early Saturday morning so as to go at a civilized pace and see a little something of the country along the way. Of course we had the obligatory "Mighty Mac" photo op -- for those not familiar with Michigan, the Mighty Mack is the Mackinac Bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, which connects Michigan's lower peninsula (aka "the Mitten") with the U.P. Of course, it didn't occur to us to do this when we were on the Mitten side of the bridge, where there's a lovely park with terrific views of the bridge towering over the Straits of Mackniac in the background...oops...but, enterprising fellows that we are, we just pulled off after going through the tollbooths on the U.P. side, strolled across a state maintenance equipment facility (no one seemed to care) and got our pics there.

 

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Then it was time for a lunch stop, featuring classic U.P. lumberjack fuel...well, for me anyway. Will was a good vegetarian and stuck with the pancakes. smile.png

 

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We spent much of the afternoon on U.S. 2, one of the loveliest drives in the U.S. as it hugs the Lake Michigan coastline (I have no idea why I have no pictures of that...probably because we were just lost in admiring the beauty of it under sunny blue skies, cruising with the windows down and the radio on.

 

We capped off our day with a visit to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, taking the boat tour (highly recommended) out of Munising Harbor. PIctures don't really do it justice, but here's a few anyway...

 

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We stayed in a very...er...quaint mom-and-pop tourist motel and in the morning headed up to Houghton to drop Will off for a week of crawling around in mines and playing in the dirt and rocks. He loved it. smile.png

 

Now it was time for a ilttle fishing...I mean, I was already up there, right? smile.png Here I am in my Jeep/homemade camper heading into the wild...

 

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I made my way at a leisurely pace toward Black River Harbor Campground and scored a nice campsite with a decent view...

 

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Next morning I rose early to try and photograph some of the many spectacular waterfalls on the Black River as it tumbles its way down to Lake Superior...most had a very easy, nicely groomed trail in and the falls were amazing. Here are Rainbow Falls...

 

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...and Potawatami Falls...

 

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These are just two of the seven or so named waterfalls just in the last couple of river miles before it empties into Superior. I had planned to to fish this river, but everywhere I stopped, it frankly scared the crap out of me! I decided to just honor it with photos and head to friendlier waters for wading purposes.

 

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And so I did...the first stream I fished was Cook's Run, a feeder stream to the South Branch of the Paint River. I spent that evening and the whole of the next day jumping from spot to spot on both of them. Both are chock-full of gorgeous wild brook trout, and I had a ball picking them out of the myriad pockets, rilffles and runs with big, bright attractor dries.

 

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I didn't realize it at the time, but that was to be about the extent of my fishing on this trip. I spent my second night in a little private campground because it had showers, which I was wanting (and needing) by then. It was on a little inland lake, and I spent that second evening standing on the dock at the boat launch, digesting an excellent burger and fries from a local pub in Iron River, and catching slab bluegills and some decent largemouth bass on a single deer hair bug that I found stuck in one of the sun visors of the Jeep.

 

I fell asleep that night with great plans to fish the mighty Brule River the next day, which is what I should have done. Instead, I got a wild hair to migrate to the eastern half of the U.P. and sample the Driggs and the Fox River there. It was a 3-hour drive, though, and I arrived to find that the east side was being plagued by thunderstorms. The Driggs and the Fox were both hight and muddy, and I spent the afternoon driving in intermittent showers and marking spots to come back and try the next day. I spent a bored night in a big state campground, listening to a large family in an RV next door whoop it up with their kids and dogs. At least I was dry in my little mini-camper. smile.png

 

It continued to rain the next day, and when I finally caught a data signal on my phone I checked the forecast and saw it was going to continue for at least another night and day yet. I was tired, dirty and digestively disturbed from too much greasy fried food. The prospect of passing another wet day in camp with no fishing just didn't appeal. I still had the rest of the week off work, so I decided to bag it and head home.

 

So, it didn't turn out to be the fishing extravaganza that I'd envisioned, but that's life (and fishing), right? I was happy to be home, to see my wife and sleep in my own bed again, and I got a couple more days of fishing in on rivers close to home before I had to return to work. It was a fun and memorable trip, and I can't wait to go back next year.

 

 

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Sounds good in spite of the weather. Glad your mini-camper worked out.

 

Les

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My dad and I took a trip to the U.P. when I had my learner's permit too, and I remember the wide open spaces of hwy 2 very well. Those waterfall pics bring back memories, although we never found any brookies. If you like to canoe or kayak camp check out the Sylvania Tract Wilderness on future trips. It's like a mini BWCA, and the smallmouth fishing was pretty good.

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Spiralspey I've heard lots of good things about the Sylvania Tract over the years. I will have to put that on the list for next year!

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We did Sylvania several times when we couldn't swing a longer BWCA trip, it's a great little area. We canoed into mountain lake, camped there, and did a few day trips to other lakes. It was only a couple hour paddle with a short portage, but we usually had the lake to ourselves and the smallmouth fishing was great. It's a C&R only fishery, and the average size fish is pretty good.

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Glad that you had a good trip. I love Michigan, one of the prettiest states in the union. I haven't been to the UP but I have been close . I wish we had as much trout water in Mo as you guys in michigan.

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Glad that you had a good trip. I love Michigan, one of the prettiest states in the union. I haven't been to the UP but I have been close . I wish we had as much trout water in Mo as you guys in michigan.

Uncletube I'm a MO native myself, so I know what you're talking about. What would be perfect would be Michigan's volume of water and Missouri's milder winters and longer growing season--then maybe our bass would get as big as yours do! :)

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I wish we had your salmon runs and steel heads BTW I am from Auxvasse,, you're a Mexico boy aren't you I am sorry I screwed this post up

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I wished we had your salmon runs and steelies.I am from Auxvasse you're from Mexico aren't you? I see your quote by John Voelker I have a hard bound copy of " Voelker's Pond " not a bad read at all.Take Care.

Tube

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Poopdeck nope, not yet, but the time is approaching for a slightly more spacious fish car. ☺️ If I could afford an RV that costs $100,000+ then gets 9 mpg, I'd take the money and go live in New Zealand.

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Uncletube, yes sir, I am indeed a Mexico boy, born and raised. :) My dad's family were all from Auxvasse, so I was there all the time as a kid. I actually did very little fishing when I lived in Missouri -- didn't really take to it until I was in my early 20's, and shortly thereafter I moved to Michigan. Sometimes things work out. :)

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Congrats. MTU is a good school.

 

Too bad you didn't visit the Yoopers in Ishpeming.

Ah, Da Yoopers...that's some "hard core U.P." right there. :)

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Nice pics Bryon. Sorry you didn't get to fish more on the trip but I think we've all had some experiences like that. Just gotta make the best of the situation which it sounds like you did. Kind'a had a bit of that myself at the same time as you did. I think I had maybe 5 days of nice weather on my 2 week Au Sable trip, and about 9 days of rain/clouds/cold.

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