Keweenaw Peninsula

wetland flowers

We finished up PMWSP the next day, I went for a 5 mile hike through the woods while Thayer continued his computer work for his friend Chris.  He is setting up a website and working on product information and labeling.  It is an ongoing project that he seems to enjoy.  The woods were very beautiful, filled with maple, oak, cedar and many unfamiliar trees.  I imagined that this is what the eastern part of the US looked like when "A squirrel could go from the Atlantic to the Mississippi without touching the ground!"  I don't know who said that but I've heard it many times. It didn't take me long to do the hike, the bugs were very motivating!

endless canopy of trees

acorns from the mighty oaks

We then continued up the Keweenaw Peninsula, viewing the Eagle River Lighthouse and enjoying the lake views. Incredibly, we are just starting to see the fall colors coming out!  It appears that the sugar maples lead the way into fall, with their leaves just starting to turn on select branches. Just as it got dark we pulled into a cool wayside park on a little bay near Eagle Harbor.  It rained like crazy that night!

Eagle River Lighthouse

roadside pullout

The next day we drove just a little further up to the very top of Keweenaw to Fort Wilkens SP.  I am really beginning to appreciate the time, money and effort that has gone into the preservation of our historical treasures.  Here again is another beautifully preserved fort from the 1860's.  It was built to manage the rapidly growing trade and rowdy people that were coming to the area for copper, lumber, and mischief.  It wasn't used for very long, typical of boom and bust economies.  We toured the fort and bicycled around the park.

blacksmith shop

Ft. Wilkens SP

general store

Now we headed back down the other side of the peninsula, the south side, taking in new sights and delights. We stopped at Brunette Beach and while Thayer dozed I walked up the beach to see the amazing rock formations. Sorry, here I go again! I'll try to be brief. This where all this sand is coming from!  Sedimentary rocks ranging in age from 1.5 Billion years to only 500 million years surround this lobe of Lake Superior. Needless to say glaciers, winter ice, monstrous winter waves, rivers and streams and wind have taken their toll on these soft layers of beautifully colored rocks. The lowest layers (1.5B), the Jacobville layers, are some of the oldest rocks you can see exposed in the US! They are the dark red rocks you see in the photos. Other subsequent layers are in gray, white and tan. We will visit these layers again when we go to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.  But today I just moseyed along enjoying the interesting looping swirls of color along the shore. You will also see lots of lovely, rounded darker rocks that don't seem to fit in with all the others. These are glacial erratics transported here from the granite mountains of Canada. They come in all colors, textures, and sizes, most beautifully rounded and polished by the initial glacier transport and then by the pounding waves and swirling sand of the lake. There are also agates galore, their translucent colors just shine in the splash zone. I had to go back to the rig and convince Thayer to come have a look, boy, was he glad he did!

Jacobville layer on the bottom 1.5 billion y.o.

Canadian granite

erratic amid the sandstone

Brunette Beach 8.2 miles north of Gay, MI

agates

That night got a little tense as we drove into the darkness without a lot of turnouts for overnight. But Thayer rose to the occasion, found a forest service road,  and we settled in on a dead end. On the way in we had seen a large lightening storm brewing to the east. A few hours after we stopped it slowly rolled over us lighting up the sky with almost constant lightning for a good 45 minutes or so.  The lightning was high in the clouds so it wasn't too scary but it was simply an amazing light show! I've never seen anything like it! This was the hottest night yet, 90+ degrees, 90%humidity, with NO air movement, absolutely stifling!  One of the few hardships we must endure.