Gay Michigan

I'm going to just say this. Visiting Gay, Michigan was probably one of the most interesting places I've ever visited.

It is located in Keweenaw County. 

Copper Mining at Gay

I actually read the history of the town and was intrigued. Immigrants were taught English as well as working at the Stamping Mill. The company constructed homes and schools.

The town has a beautiful playground now that seems to be cared for by the local residents.

We decided to go visit the ruins.

The ruins inspired me to 'shoot' them in Infrared B&W. 

These miner figures were painted in various areas of the ruins. It reminded me that this area held ghosts and the history of immigrants coming to our country to work in harsh conditions and raise families. 

What was it like, how difficult was it? I was so curious I read more history of the place. 

Was it noisy? Was it smelly, was the work difficult? I couldn't help but feel the vibe of the place.

I had to take a shot of Jer walking through the ruins for perspective. Yep, it looks a bit spooky, but that is how I wanted to portray it.

Here is a photo from the Keweenaw County Historical Society:

In the photo above you can see the smoke stack, there was some sort of processing that needed a chute [????] to dump the waste out in the Lake.

 

I couldn't resist more than one angle of these wooden supports.

Who can resist a little family portrait in the ruins???

I'll go back here and there is another set of ruins that Jer says I just 'have to see'. I guess I was so fascinated by them.

And of course.

It was the perfect place to do some toy photography. Yep. I brought characters just for this place.

I won't put them all in here, but I had a fantastic series of shots.

....Oh.

And my son thoroughly got immersed in the process, we found out something we had in common.

Below.

I handed him the camera and to set up Homeless Joe and his Dog with a background of the wooden structures and alien looking landscape.

After several tries he ended up with this. I'm proud that he took me up on the challenge since he has never operated any other camera other than a cell phone.

I won't bore you with the series of photos we did while in the ruins. It was fun, creative, and so much fun for me.

Chasing waterfalls

After the sunrise at Brockway Mountain and the stop at Esrey Park, we hit the next place my son wanted me to see.

Silver River Falls.

I intended to take shots like the one below so I could remember each place we stopped. Nah, I didn't remember to do that. At least I can look it up on maps.

The roaring water was wonderful. I like waterfalls. I love waterfalls. I love rivers.

Apparently my son and Em and Mari do also. Mari played in the cold water [in a safe spot] while we walked around and I took some shots.

Jer brought the tripod, but I was able to do some hand held shots. 1/20th of a second exposures do give a sense of the motion of the water. The morning was heavily overcast, so it was easier than trying to expose in a glaring bright day.

There is a trail of sorts alongside the river that allows you to check things out. Me? I would have seen how far I could have hiked towards Lake Superior, but we had so many more things to see. 

We loaded up and headed towards Great Sand Bay.

Lake Superior is like visiting the ocean. It is windy, chilly, and loud with waves crashing into the shore.

Because of the blowing sand and water spray, I kept my camera in my backpack. But still, one can take some decent shots with a cell phone these days.

We spent quite a while 'beach combing' and enjoying the thunderous waves. The winds were so strong that the dune grasses drew swirls in the sand.

Jacob's Falls was our next stop.

This was the most curious thing I've ever seen on a roadside trail. Ashes? But in a way, I understood this completely. I doubt I'd have left a whole box.

This was my first glimpse of the falls and this is where most folks stop. Not my group. 

...and yes, I climbed up these roots to get higher while my son was climbing from the opposite side below.

See the blue jacket? That was my kid.

He survived, but I was worried that he'd fall in.

While I was gone, this project finished up.  There is just some touch up work left. But the new view out my back door is now pretty amazing.

 

Our exploration of Gay Michigan was interesting enough that it deserves its own write up. --> Soon.

Mill Bluff and Roche- a- Cri State Parks

Before driving to my son's house last Friday, I stopped back at Mill Bluff and explored the other half of the trails.

Last time I was there in the start of August, I walked the stairs to the top of the bluff and enjoyed the overlook. I noticed on the map of the area that I could hike around the bluffs that I saw in the distance. I decided to go back without the dogs and really check it out.

Here was that view:

In the upper right corner of the photo, there are more bluffs. They are part of the park also and have trails around them and apparently there is a faint trail one could use to climb to the top of the bluff.

I found the parking spot and started up the sandy trail when I saw this sign.

Timber rattle snakes

have been reported

on this trail

Be careful

I was happy that I chose this time not to bring my dogs. I did not hear or see any snakes but I did keep my eyes peeled.

The trail around the bluffs isn't difficult, part of it has been maintained in its natural state of grasslands and scrub oaks with prescribed burns. Other parts have grown in thick forests because of fire suppression that has been used over many years.

The goal for me was to find the 'faint' trail to the top of the bluff. 

....and I did. 

I spent a long time on top of this bluff. My mind was peaceful. That is what I wished to achieve. I'd done what I'd set out to do.

And...I saw no snakes.

I climbed 340 feet to the top of a bluff and just enjoyed the view. In case you haven't guessed. I like rocks and bluffs.

The next stop was Roche-A-Cri Mound. No dogs allowed. I can understand why because the are consists of 303 metal stairs to the top of the bluff.

I did explore the petroglyphs and hiked another one of the trails. I found an abundance of cool fungi and rocks.

But it was time to hit the road north to my son's place where we'd take naps and get up at 1am to drive to the UP and see the sunrise I just talked about in the last blog.

That...was the first part of the whirlwind trip.

I managed to knock off two more areas that I have wanted to see for a long time. I'll definitely go back to that Bluff I hope yet this fall to see what the change of seasons bring.

 

Returned.

 

I went on a whirlwind tour of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.  No tour bus. Just my youngest son, his wife, and my 5 yr old grand daughter. 

We arrived predawn at Brockway Mountain after driving through the night. We packed the 4 of us into my Cross trek Subaru. After all, the car is newer and a much safer vehicle than what my son owns. It also tends to sip gas.

I made rules of course. No eating in THE car. I'm a stickler for keeping the inside clean.

Gas prices? Anywhere from 3.98/gallon to 4.29/gallon. 

That aside....

We drove all night to get to Brockway mountain to see the sun come up. 

The wind on the 'mountain' was so wicked we retreated to the 'Nose' Lookout to watch the sunrise over Copper Harbor.

We found a couple from Colorado who were standing quietly waiting for the sunrise. The clouds moved in and the sun started to try to peak through.

The couple left, their opinion was that the sunrise would not be worth watcing.  We waited patiently and moved around as the sky began to change.

We kept moving, and I went back to the 'scenic' lookout overlook and took this shot of Copper Harbor.

And as things kept changing my son kept waving me below the overlook to check out different views of this point. 

The old adage. Patience. 

Things will keep things changing and sometimes a person will be surprised and sometimes they will be disappointed.

We were NOT disappointed.

We explored the trails under the look out point and found more exotic views of Copper Harbor.

First Mission Accomplished.

I wanted to go back to another spot. I don't recall what it it is called, but it was the first spot we looked at for my son's impromptu April wedding.

I wanted to go back to this spot --taken in April with a wicked wind at predawn. [Cell phone shot in April]

This spot had so much potential with a bit more light. The rocks, the waves, the winds, the harsh environment was absolutely perfect. The tree on the right in the photo above was uprooted and gone.

However the stormy looking clouds and wicked winds still made for a great shot in B&W Infrared.

 

I handed my IR camera to Em and she took a couple of shots. Below is my son Jeremie.

Here is Mari. How she was not cold, was a mystery to me. We spent quite a bit of time here in this spot.

We explored this area thanks to a 5:30AM breakfast and strong coffee. This particular spot has so many interesting facets to it. Lichen, rocks, waves, winds, trees, plants, and clean toilets!

Here is Mari trotting down a trail next Lake Superior.

Oh to be a child again!

We noticed an elderly fella out by the shore and I grabbed a shot of him...

He was as obviously as intrigued as we were by the variety of interesting rocks we found along the shore.

This little 'wayside' intrigued me the most in the morning. Well, that was before we explored further.

Jer later asked me which part of the whirlwind tour was the 'best'. I started by naming each place we visited.

I don't really know. I need a lifetime of exploration of these places.

This is a somewhat close shot of the same place with my cellphone in April.

 

It is a worthy spot to explore more.

I guess I'll be spending some time sorting through the shots I took and trying to make sense of all the beauty I've seen.

I should be a wander-er.

I hope I can be! Pic by Jeremie. He is pretty good at catching me off guard.

We took the whirlwind tour, to see what I liked best. When asked...I said all of it.

We put 1,200 miles on the car from Saturday morning to Monday morning.

No regrets.

Just a feeling that I have to go back and explore more.

Carpe Diem.

My intentions with epic trips like this, is to take small portions of Rich's Ashes with me and let him explore amazing places that we had planned to see together. 

And maybe some not too epic spots! The town IS named Gay, and it is a tiny town worth exploring. --- It involves mining and not the what you might think. 

I think this is a very interesting part of the lake shore history. I will visit again.

So the name will throw you.

But it happens to be one of the best places I've visited in Michigan. 

Just not necessarily for the play on words.

But for the interesting history and scenery of Gay Michigan.

More to come.......

stay tuned.

My idea is to travel to places that Rich would have loved to explore and to drop a tiny amount of his ashes in each place we would have loved.

Yes.

I did that.

And it feels perfect.