On Friday afternoon, we set off for the 3 hour drive all the way up the west shore of the Bay of Green Bay and across the woodsy peninsula (with eyes peeled for moose...none observed). Upon arrival we headed to Jasper Ridge Brewery in Ishpeming for late lunch/early dinner and first beers. Nearly all the microbreweries in the area serve a blueberry wheat that comes with real blueberries floating in it- yum! We stayed at the Econo Lodge Lakeside located a few miles outside of Marquette and across the street from Lake Superior and the Iron Ore Heritage Trail (also containing a few segments of the North County Trail). We took an evening bike ride to scope out downtown Marquette and had another beer at Ore Dock Brewing Company before heading back to the hotel for the night.
View of Lake Superior from our hotel balcony
Ore Dock Brewing Company
On Saturday, we got back on our bikes and headed back through downtown Marquette and on to Presque Isle Park, a city park on a little peninsula. The ride included beautiful views and the chance to observe a "retired" ore dock and one in action. This invention allowed train cars filled with ore to be brought out onto the dock and dumped down a series of slides into ships for transport. Nowadays, they are loading 1000 ft superlakers daily, so it is still a pastime in the area to head down to the ore docks and watch all the action. They also had a conveyor belt to bring coal into the plant.
The active ore dock waiting for a ship to arrive
Beautiful shoreline and views at Presque Isle Park
After exploring Presque Isle, we turned back down the bike path and headed to the Marquette Maritime Museum to check out the exhibits and visit Marquette Harbor Lighthouse. The Marquette light is a schoolhouse style lighthouse built in 1866. Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed for renovations so we could not go inside, but still did the tour the grounds. The lighthouse is on Coast Guard property so a museum volunteer escort is required, although we heard that some of the land may be returned to the city for them to manage. Next was lunch at The Vierling Restaurant and Marquette Harbor Brewery and beers for dessert at Blackrocks Brewery. As we learned on the lighthouse tour, the ancient lava rocks in the area (i.e., black rocks) are quite rare geologic formations- the only other occurrence of these rocks is in New Zealand. The rocks actually predate the presence of Lake Superior, as eruptions formed the valley that would eventually be visited by glaciers and filled with water to form that largest freshwater lake in the world! Fascinating!
Marquette Harbor Lighthouse
Pizza and (you guessed it) beer at Chocolay River Brewery rounded out the evening and the breweries for the trip (that was 5 in case you lost count!). We were brave enough to try a dip in Lake Superior that evening, which was quite cold but bearable for a little while. Then again, it might have been the power plant next to the public beach that warmed the water up enough to stand it....refreshing anyway! I think we did at least 15 miles on the bikes since we could use the trail to get to most of the attractions.
South Beach Park...and the power plant
On Sunday, we packed up and headed up to Sugarloaf Mountain for a hike, which is also a city-owned nature area and part of the North Country Trail. I had come across limited information about the hike during my online research and it received such good reviews that it was worth checking out. It was not that well marked and could have only been maybe half a mile, but was pretty strenuous for a land of relative flatlanders. At the top of the "mountain" we saw jaw-dropping 360 degree views of Marquette and Lake Superior.
Summit of Sugarloaf Mountain along the North Country Trail
We also made an impromptu stop at the free Iron Industry Heritage Museum in Negaunee on the historic site of a forge from the 1800s; the forge contained a waterwheel which harnessed the Carp River to operate machinery that burned charcoal to purify the iron ore. The museum, operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, was very informative, providing a lot of the background information about the mining and ore processing, as well as the cultural history of the region. Another fun fact: early explorers discovered the iron ore deposits in Michigan because they realized their compasses didn't work right as a result of the magnetic properties of the rock!
Our last stop of the adventure had to be for a pasty (pronounced PAST ee, rhymes with "nasty") at Dobbers Pasties in Iron Mountain, MI on the ride home. A pasty is a pastry or turnover containing a meat and vegetable stew filling (check out this great NPR story for more on the pasty). Even this local cuisine has its roots in mining- the miners often took pasties for lunch and heated them over their candles. Side note: Dobbers ships to all 50 states if you would like to try one. I ate mine too quickly to take a photo, but never fear, we brought some home for later.
Pure Michigan, indeed. Lake Superior does not disappoint.
Presque Isle Park again, with lava rock
