It's All Keweenaw's Fault: Six Short Stories

The Keweenaw Fault is a reverse fault that bisects the Keweenaw (pronounced "KEE-we-naw") Peninsula which is the northernmost part of the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The Keweenaw Fault runs roughly southwest to northeast in an arc along the top edge of the peninsula.  In fact, the fault is the boundary between the Midcontinent Rift System and adjacent Precambrian terrain. The peninsula, itself, is the southeastern side of a large syncline beneath Lake Superior. The northwestern side forms Isle Royale.  The fault is more than 100 miles long and stretches from the lower part of the Keweenaw Peninsula, up through Copper Harbor where we are camped.

Today, we explored all sorts of hiking trails and attractions along the Fault.  These are their stories.

CHAPTER ONE: THE EAGLE HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE

We decided to drive west along the shore of Lake Superior to Eagle Harbor, and then work our way east.  Winds last night reached 30 mph -- less than the 60 mps that were predicted for Michigan's Upper Peninsula generally.  We were saved by how far north the Keweenaw Peninsula juts into Lake Superior.

But, even though today turned sunny, we still could feel the winds from last night's gale, and we certainly could see the winds' effects as the waves off Lake Superior were crashing into us.

Driving further west, we reached Eagle Harbor and caught sight of the lighthouse across the bay over the gale-swept waves:

It was still morning, and the lighthouse and its museum had not yet opened for the day, but we still had a chance to walk the ground and get a good view of the lighthouse:

We would have liked to stay to see the museum, but we knew we had many stops to make before the day ended.  So on we drove.

CHAPTER TWO: THE SILVER FALLS TRAIL

Back toward Copper Harbor, at the west end of the Brockway Mountain Drive, we stopped at Silver Falls.  Here, the Highway 26 bridge over Silver River was an admirable construct of stone:

Down the trail we went along the Silver River and had a chance to view the falls from below:

Kathy was the trailblazer, and she pointed out the cascades as the Silver River worked its way down to Lake Superior:

Silver Falls lay at the intersection of Highway 26 with Brockway Mountain Drive, so as soon as we returned from the Silver Falls Trail, we started up the drive, which is said locally to be the most spectacular drive in the area.

Brockway Mountain Drive is an approximately 9 mile scenic roadway between Eagle Harbor, to the west, and Copper Harbor, to the east. The Drive runs along the ridge of Brockway Mountain on the Keweenaw Fault and climbs to 1,320 feet above sea level, 720 feet above the surface of Lake Superior. Several viewpoints along the route allow for panoramas of Copper Harbor, Lake Superior, and undeveloped woodland. On a clear day, Isle Royale is visible approximately 50 miles north across Lake Superior toward Canada. 

CHAPTER THREE: THE OREN KRUMM TRAIL

Our first stop was the Oren Krumm Trail.  This trail is named in honor of a local teenager, Owen Krumm, who carved the trail into the Brockway Mountain ridge as an Eagle Scout Project.  He died soon after the dedication of the trail, so it was named after him.

The trail was a beautiful introduction to the trees and other wildlife of the area.

This is near the peak of color for this section of the Upper Peninsula, and we got more than our share of bright fall colors:

We also found some mighty tall birch trees!

CHAPTER FOUR:  THE BROCKWAY MOUNTAIN LOOKOUTS

Having finished the first hike on Brockway Mountain, we drove further up to the summit, where we had great 360-degree views, including of Lake Fanny Hooe and our campground at this end of the lake --

-- and downtown Copper Harbor, with its lighthouse protecting boats coming into the harbor from its point on the peninsula opposite the town:

To the southwest, we could see Lake Medora nestled into the colors of autumn:

CHAPTER FIVE:  THE MICHIGAN NATURE ASSOCIATION TRAIL

After lunch, it was time to move on from our sightseeing, to the Michigan Nature Association Trail on the west slopes of Brockway Mountain.

The trail gave us some teasing view of Lake Superior --

-- and, at the end of the hike, we got a great view of the  cliff on which the Brockway Mountain Lookout perches, high above Brockway Mountain Drive:

CHAPTER SIX:  THE ESTIVANT PINES TRAILS

We moved further east from Brockway Mountain, back up above our campground, to the Estivant Pines.  

Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary is a 508-acre nature sanctuary maintained and preserved by the Michigan Nature Association. 

It includes what is believed to be the last stand of virgin white pine forest in Upper Michigan. Some of the trees in the sanctuary are 130 to 150 feet high. 

This wilderness tract was named for a Frenchman, Edouard Estivant, who purchased it in the 1870's.  The tract was sold to a mining company in 1947, and the mining company started logging the old growth pine and maple in 1970.  Local people protested, and eventually, the Michigan Nature Association purchased the tract to save it.  However, in 1987, a logger cutting along the north boundary of the sanctuary cut 24 large pine, maple and birch trees in the sanctuary.  This and other cutting efforts were eventually stopped through additional purchases by the Michigan Nature Association.

As we hiked through the preserve, we had a chance to appreciate the old growth trees, as well as some of the old growth fungi as well:

By the time we were done hiking in Estivant Pines, we had put in a full day, with perhaps 6 miles of hiking and lots of other poking about, for a total of maybe 5 hours in the cold, 43 degree weather of the Upper Peninsula.  But, what the cold winds took away from us, the bright sun and woodland scenery gave back to us.  We felt we couldn't have done better at exploring all that the Keweenaw Peninsula has to offer along its ancient fault.

We have to leave tomorrow, but we've put this area on our list to explore more deeply when we pass this way again.