2025-07-08 – Copper Harbor
Heading for Copper Harbor, we elected to follow roads that hugged the west coast of the Keweenaw to the extent possible. Not long after we started we encountered a 33 foot tall bit of “road art”. It is a snowfall “thermometer” erected along the road “celebrating” a 1978-79 snowfall record of 390.4 inches of snow, likely an all time record for the area east of the Rockies.
Our drive continued, leading us by some very nice views of Lake Superior and through a number of small, ne very small, towns. First among them was Eagle River with a population of 65. Not only did it feature a waterfall, it had a modern timber bridge across which the highway passed. The pretty falls was immediately above that bridge and was best viewed by another bridge, this one for foot traffic.
Next was Eagle Harbor. A bit larger that Eagle River, it had a population of 69! It also had a really nice lighthouse that, along with its outbuildings, had been lovingly restored. We paid the nominal fee and toured the place.
Besides the usual lighthouse items, one of the interesting exhibits was about the shipwreck of The City of Bangor. It was the winter of 1927 and the ship was carrying a load of 220 new, mostly Chrysler, automobiles. The ship went on the rocks & did not sink, but it was soon completely encased in ice. Crews eventually chopped away the ice and managed to drive most of the cars across the frozen lake to dry land under their own power. Remarkable!
Their little museum also featured a single, 1,700 pound piece of pure native so-called “float” copper. Formed during glacial movement, this is the form of metallic copper that Indians used starting at least 5,000 years ago.
Our destination in Copper Harbor was Wilkins Historic State Park. The park features a fort and lighthouse from 1844 but didn’t seem to have a compelling story to tell so we skipped that part.
A small monument just north of Wilkins marks the northern terminus of U.S. Highway 41, the main highway north through the Keweenaw. The highway is often reputed to be the first number designated highway. Whether or not that is true, it is a long one with a southern terminus in Miami, FL.
2025-07-09 – Copper Harbor
Let’s start with how much we like Copper Harbor. It feels like a hunting-cabin-in-the-woods kind of place. There are woods, of course, and they are absolutely riddled with trails, as in hiking trails, biking trails, ski trails, UTV trails and snowmobile trails. And there is beauty. The shoreline is lovely and the vistas from high points are wonderful. And then there’s its history. Copper mining, and all that went with it, is well represented; as is its eventual demise and the economic transformation that is still going on.
We stopped at the visitor center who’s enthusiastic, part time, representative gave us a ton of places to see. We also availed ourselves of their Wi-Fi because cell service here is nonexistent.
One of the main sights is Brockway Mountain Drive and the viewpoint at its peak. We headed up the winding road to have a look. Roads here have no shoulders and are through the woods so you really feel the forest surrounding you. When you finally arrive at the clearing at the top, it is a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.
From the viewpoint you can see the next ridge that is the spine of the Keweenaw peninsula. That ridge marks the copper-rich fault line followed by US-41 and where the mines we saw were located.
Continuing to the end of the drive we arrived back on the coastal highway and Silver Falls. From there we continued south through Eagle Harbor to take a look at Jacobs Falls.
Nearby Jacob’s Falls is one of the big roadside attractions, a place called The Jampot. It seems there is always a line waiting to get in to purchase some of their jams made from locally sourced fruit. One of its most sought after products is thimbleberry jam and a sign on the door said they were out of stock. We waited our turn, anyway, to get inside the tiny shop. But we left without making any purchases of their high priced items.
A bit down the road was “The Jam Lady” who offered similar fare in a self-serve venue that was, shall we say, less confidence inspiring.
Besides its lighthouse, Eagle harbor is also home to a restored life-saving station and a state harbor. The state harbor facility was one of the most massively constructed set of docks and launch ramps we’ve even seen!
On our way back to Copper Harbor we crossed to US-41. We stopped at the Central Mine where we toured two of their buildings. Of interest was a “then and now” map that showed the homes and buildings that once existed and the 30 percent of them that remain. The others were torn down to reclaim the building materials or simply disintegrated over time.
There is, of course, a lighthouse in Copper Harbor. It is not accessible by road but can be viewed from a beach across the road from the campground. We took a short bike ride and stopped at that beach. Pretty!
2025-07-10 – Copper Harbor
We started our day with breakfast at Morning Sunshine, a food truck in town. Then we were off exploring.
Our first stop was the Delaware Mine. Prehistoric miners dug pure “native” copper from this area beginning at least 5,000 years ago. It is estimated that those miners removed between 500,000 and 1.5 billion pounds of pure copper from the area over that time. A trench marks an area where they dug. Such sites were often where more modern mines were located.
In modern times the site was actively mined from the mid 1800s by a succession of companies. By 1870 the town that supported the operation had grown to 1,150. But despite its size and the use of best practices, the mine never made any money. Only a few houses remain. All nine of the lower levels of the mine are flooded. In 1977, the first level of the mine was converted to a tourist attraction.
We donned hard hats to take the self-guided tour starting by descending 100 feet down on damp wooden stairs to the Level #1 of the mine via Shaft #1. There we followed the horizontal, dimly lit tunnel for about 1,500 feet where signs explained significant sights. It was hard to imagine working there with only candle light.
Back on the surface we walked the ruins of massive buildings that housed cable lifts to hoist cars full of ore to the surface, pumps that kept the mine from being flooded and a stamp mill to pulverize the ore. In later times they even had an electric generator to provide lighting.
Heading on, we stopped at Bohemia Downhill & Nordic Spa. The place has a complex of yurts that house food, retail and a spa. Like many ski areas, they offer lift rides to the peak for tourists and the spa appears to be a year round operation.
Our next stop was to drive around Lac La Belle on the Keweenaw’s east coast. On that drive we stopped at Haven Falls, a modest but pretty falls along the road.
The Lac La Belle opens directly into Superior and the Mendota Lighthouse marks the entrance to the lake. The US Army Corps of Engineers keeps the channel dredged for access to the harbor.
We also noted the prolific swaths of variously colored lupines along the road to the lighthouse. It was the largest number of the flowers that we’ve seen since driving across the south island of New Zealand.
Along the road we made a quick stop to see Manganese Falls. This cool series of cascades flows down a steep, narrow canyon too tight to navigate on foot.
There is a sign near Copper Harbor’s visitor center directing visitors to Estivant pines, a stand of old growth timber. So, we drove the rough gravel road deep into the woods to walk the trail among them. The trail lead us into mature forest but there didn’t seem to be very many large trees and those we did see were all dead, a disappointment. Then we came to a bench indicated on the trail map and there, directly across the trail was a beauty. That one tree made the drive and walk worth while.
We needed a quick dinner that evening before heading out for a concert in the park. Solution? Hot dogs and beans. Yum!
We set our chairs up in the park facing what seemed like a transportable band shell, a small mobile home sized trailer with a wall that folded out to extend a roof and a stage floor. The performer was Kevin Blackstone who sang and played well for a couple of hours. Most of what he performed was his own work and the subjects were often of local interest. My favorite was about wanting to drive home to Copper Harbor but being stuck waiting for the Houghton lift bridge.
It was cool that evening and, in spite of wearing jeans, long sleeves & jackets, we got cold and left the park before the performance was finished.
