More Keweenaw

Saturday, September 26, 2015

We decided to stay an extra day here to go up to Copper Harbor and Brockway Mountain.  Though foggy this morning, it became sunny and warmed into the 70s.  Great weather!

Our drive to Copper Harbor was up Hwy 41, about 50 beautiful miles.  In Copper Harbor is Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbor Lighthouse.  Not much has changed around here since our first visit 45 years ago.  They have updated the displays at the fort, but the buildings are the same.

Fort Wilkins was a policing post, not a military fort.  It was built to keep the peace between miners and the Chippewa and Ojibwa, though no problems ever occurred.  The fort opened in 1843, but over the next two years the soldiers were relocated to Texas to fight in the Mexican War.  For a period, it was rented as a health resort, then reopened in 1867, after the Civil War, and closed permanently in 1870.  So as forts go, this one had little use and saw no fighting.

Typical military, they had procedures and regulations for everything.  It appears they wrote regulations constantly with all the time on their hands. Their 6 months of winter probably helped support this as well.

We have been to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse at least twice before.  It requires a boat ride to get there. We opted not to go, as the price is now $17 each and is the exact same design as the Ontonagon Light that we saw earlier this week.  The light is still active.  The lamp is a beacon, constant white, differentiating it from Eagle Harbor.  The lighthouse went into service in 1847.  It originally had a 4th order Fresnel lens.  It was automated in 1919, deactivated in 1933 when the skeleton tower light was erected.  The light was moved to the tower In 1933.  The lighthouse was given to Michigan for a state park in 1974.

On the way home we drove Brockway Mountain Drive.  The best view is going north (towards Copper Harbor) but it was too foggy on our morning trip up.  This roadway was built in 1933 with Depression era funds.  It is about 8 miles long and follows the ridge of Brockway Mountain rising 720 feet above Lake Superior.  The road was rougher than we remembered, although portions have been repaved.  Today there were bikes, ATVs, hikers, and much more traffic than we remembered; guess that’s progress.

Overlooking Copper Harbor.  The Lighthouse is a speck on the long piece of land at about 9 o’clock.  The body of water to the right is Lake Fanny Hooe.

Lake Superior, about 5 miles away.

As you see in these pictures, the fall colors are just starting.  They are usually pretty well along by now, which we were counting on.  Bummer!

That’s about it for today, we head for Marquette tomorrow.