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BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
North Country Trail and Gogebic Ridge Spur through the Trap Hills. 20 miles of North Country Trail along panoramic bluffs and knobs may be the Midwest's best hiking and backpacking. Plusses: soaring birds on thermals, old-growth forest, waterfalls, copper-mining remnants. ...
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Backroads forest drive to Victoria and Rockland. Rugged back road through the Trap Hills to Victoria Dam, Old Victoria mining ghost town, and picturesque Rockland. ...
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Lake Gogebic County Park. Pleasant county park on Ice House Bay has a swimming beach, picnic area, fishing dock, boat launch, and campground. ...
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Lake Gogebic State Park. There's a beach, campground, and a choice hillside nature trail up into large old-growth maples and hemlocks, with outstanding spring wildflowers. ...
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Alligator Eye. Landmark hillside on Lake Gogebic's west shore has a short, steep trail to the top, with a long view east. Beautiful in fall; a snowmobilers' favorite. ...
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South end of Lake Gogebic: west shore. A scenic drive punctuated by two parks with swimming beaches and picnic areas, and two memorable hillside hikes. ...
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Lake Gogebic's East Shore Road. 19-mile scenic drive includes birding spots, an elk pen, and a picnic area with a fine view across Lake Gogebic to Alligator Eye. ...
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Region: Ironwood & the Gogebic Range
BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
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 | | At the northern tip of Lake Gogebic, the Bergland Township Park has a swimming beach, 40 picnic tables, and 15 campsites — all within walking distance to small-town groceries and restaurants. | Note: For simplicity and clarity, all points of interest directly on Lake Gogebic have been treated as a unit and located under "Bergland," the larger village with more support services, even though a few are are closer to Marenisco. Bergland is on the lake's north end, Marenisco a few miles from the south end.
For one-week summer vacations, Bergland and the Lake Gogebic area have a lot to offer. (The Ojibwa name, pronounced "go-GIBB-ick," means "where trout rising to the surface make rings on the water.")
 | | Two creeks southwest of Lake Gogebic, Nelson and Pelton, join before flowing into the big lake's southern tip. Nelson Creek forms a memorable waterfall near this placid scene, but don't try to find it without good directions or a GPS. | The 12,800-acre Lake Gogebic is 12 miles long, the largest inland lake in the Upper Peninsula and fourth largest in Michigan. In winter the lake itself is a magnet for snowmobilers, a snowmobiling hot spot, also good for ice fishing. It's close enough to Lake Superior to be in a snow belt, and it's on a feeder trail to a major east-west snowmobile trail. Businesses and bars on the lake work on creating a family atmosphere to snowmobiling on the lake.
Another attraction is hunting (deer, bear, and more) on Ottawa National Forest land and waters extending many miles beyond the lake on every side.
Lake Gogebic is known for its fishing, especially for yellow perch and walleye. A walleye planting around 1905 replaced one of the Midwest's finest bass fisheries with a walleye fishery that has lots of fish, enough of decent size that anglers frequently make their limit. The state often harvests walleye eggs from Lake Gogebic. For fishing information, stop at the Maple Ridge Motel and Bait Shop (906-575-3265) on M-28/M-64 in Bergland. The knotty pine walls of the rather charming bait shop show off taxidermist Nettie Pietila's work: lots of mounted yellow perch and other species. Her husband and partner, Gus, hand-paints jigs and invented the "Teeter Pig" ice fishing bobber for perch, for sale here. He guides for perch and black bear, too. Maple Ridge rents ice-fishing shacks, tents, heaters, and more.
Here as elsewhere, development has increased fishing pressure. Houses and small resorts with lawns line most of the lake, which has a wilderness feel along little of its shoreline. Modest older cottages are being torn down for year-round homes, some of them quite impressive.
The big lake is relatively shallow, so it warms up fairly quickly in summer, a plus for swimming. (However, boaters should be aware that Lake Gogebic's shallow depth means storms can quickly create small, sharply dangerous waves.) Its rocky lake bottom means that there's generally no natural sand beach, and resorts have small sand beaches at best. The state imports sand for the long swimming beach with a gradual drop-off at Lake Gogebic State Park, on the southern part of the west shore, and many resorts are near it.
BERGLAND, originally a sawmill town, is the only community on the lake with a full range of services, though on a small scale.
MERRIWEATHER, another village at the north end of Lake Gogebic, is three miles west of Bergland on M-64. It was settled around a barrel factory in 1920.
Halfway down Lake Gogebic is the Ontonagon/Gogebic county line, which happens to separate the Eastern and Central time zones. A local tradition is to celebrate the New Year's twice, first at the Hoop n' Holler Tavern in Merriweather, then moving south down the lake to Gogebic Lodge or Root Cellar to welcome in the new year an hour later on Central Time. Visiting snowmobilers enjoy this immensely.
A spectacular segment of the North Country Trail system is nearby in the Trap Hills, part of the Ottawa National Forest. Old Victoria, a museum of log miner's houses from 1900, can be reached by the remote Victoria Road - an adventure in itself. (Old Victoria is a point of interest in the "Porcupine Mountains/Ontonagon" part of our web site.) More Ottawa National Forest land southwest of Lake Gogebic includes many small lakes. (The best idea of what's here is conveyed by the big map of the national forest, sold at its offices on U.S. 2 in Ironwood and at the Watersmeet Visitor Center.) Most of the national forest land near Lake Gogebic is managed as high-quality recreational land, with few ugly clear-cuts. Planting and good management practices have restored the cutover abandoned by lumber companies.
Porcupine Mountain State Park is 25 miles north via M-64 through White Pine; within another 40 miles are the Ironwood area's waterfalls to the west and the pristine lakes of the Sylvania Wilderness Area to the east. Longer day trips can get you to the Keweenaw Peninsula or - an attraction for young people - the go-kart tracks, wildlife parks, and minigolf of Minocqua, Wisconsin.
Today BERGLAND, a tidy town between M-28 and the lake, is the Lake Gogebic area's social and tourist hub. Lake Gogebic is becoming an attractive area for retirees, especially Chicago-area people. They like it that Michigan doesn't tax the first $30,000 of their state pensions. Bergland is a lively little place compared to the other villages on M-28 between Ironwood and Marquette. It has two restaurants, a grocery store, several churches, and Nordine's, one of those general stores that can still thrive in small U.P. communities.
Resort owners and businesses work to promote the area with events like fishing tournaments. They cater to snowmobilers but cooperate to keep rowdy sledders out and promote the lake as a quiet boating and snowmobiling destination. Residents and businesses work together for water quality, community projects, and low taxes in the revitalized Lake Gogebic Improvement Association.
Evidence of Bergland's origins as a sawmill town are still around: some tiny houses on M-28, and the old storefronts along the original main street, Pine. Pine Street intersects with M-28 and goes down the hill to the lake and the railroad. Fans of local color might want to check out the scene at SULLY'S (906-575-3909), a bar with food in the old hotel around the corner facing Cedar.
Sawmill towns typically withered when the forests were cut over. But Bergland enjoyed a happier fate, thanks to its location on Lake Gogebic and to the principles of its Norwegian founder, Gunlak Bergland.
In 1900 Ontonagon County's old-growth pine had already been cut. The Diamond Match Company had pulled out of the area, abandoning towns and townspeople to deal with the results of their destructive logging practices and leaving large areas scarred by fires that were probably preventable. Forest fires swept through Matchwood, Ewen, and the entire town of Ontonagon. The topsoil itself burned in some areas, leaving land infertile.
Hemlock and hardwood remained. By 1900 G. A. Bergland was ready to set up a modern sawmill here to utilize these trees, previously unwanted. He had come from Norway to Cadillac, Michigan, as a middle-aged man. He worked in Cadillac sawmills, saved his money, and invested in timberlands, first around Sidnaw west of Covington in the western Upper Peninsula. Ontonagon leaders courted Bergland and his mill to help rebuild their devastated town after the Great Ontongon Fire of 1896. But he preferred to make use of the convenient rail transportation already in place at the north end of Lake Gogebic between Duluth, Marquette, and Sault Ste. Marie.
Gunlak Bergland was a good employer, wise in his choice of foremen, according to Ontonagon County historian Knox Jamison in The History of Ontonagon County Towns. "He didn't believe in the company owning the town lock, stock, and barrel as was the case with most of the lumbering towns up until that time." The practical Norwegian had others own the local general store and boarding houses and run his lumber camps and mill operations. That way he could enjoy his fishing.
Most workers' homes in Bergland were owned by individual people. That put the town in a much better position to sustain itself after the lumber was cut and to take advantage of its potential as a tourist and fishing destination. By 1905 or so, two steamers already plied the Lake Gogebic, taking anglers and sightseers to the White House Hotel on the lake's south end.
"The Cutover," as the devastated North Woods was called, reverted to the state and federal government for non-payment of taxes in the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the western Upper Peninsula most of that public land - nearly a million acres altogether -has been consolidated under U.S. Forest Service management as part of the Ottawa National Forest. "The national forest took lands nobody wanted, and now people want to be there. They are lands people want to protect" thanks to good forest management, says assistant forest supervisor Randy Charles. If you happen to be near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, there's a Chequamegon National Forest display on reforesting The Cutover on Highway M south of town. It's surrounded by big landmark pines along with photos showing that land in 1920 when it was bare, and its gradual rejuvination in 1940, 1960, and 1980. "The whole western Upper Peninsula looked like the 1920 photo," Randy says.
Back to Ironwood & the Gogebic Range
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BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
RESTAURANTS,
LODGINGS
& CAMPGROUNDS
These are our choices, not ads.
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BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
RESTAURANTS
HOOP 'N HOLLER TAVERN
(906) 575-5555
As the name suggests, this small tavern is a friendly place, and not just for adults, but for children as well. (Video games are there to entertain them.) Carolyn Maves cranks out very good bar food in her tiny kitchen, while her husband George tends bar. There is fried chicken from the deep fryer, and flame-broiled burgers ($4.50 for 1/3 pound without fries, $5.50 with). In summer Carolyn has time to make quesadillas and salads. But in winter snowmobilers keep the kitchen constantly busy, and there's only time to serve soup made ahead. A picture window frames a view of Lake Gogebic. The eating space is not a big room, so expect some smoke. A small sand beach is next door. Trivia tidbit: this is the country's westernmost bar in the Eastern Time Zone.
On the north side of the mouth of Merriweather Creek on the short road and bridge that connects the center of Merriweather with West Shore Drive. From M-28/M-64, take the angled street that dips down from the highway to Lake Gogebic. Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., kitchen open from 11:30 to 10 except Sunday from noon to 9 Eastern Time. Wheelchair-accessible. Family-friendly but smoky. Full bar.
ANTONIO'S
(906) 575-3581
In Bergland, Antonio's is the locals' gathering spot, an all-around diner/family restaurant. Its loyal clientele come for the sociable atmosphere, breakfast scene, and reliable service. It's known for good burgers ($3.39 for 1/3 lb.), subs, soups, and its Italian menu. (There's also a standard American menu.) Baked pasta with cheese and Italian sausage ($8) and excellent pizza are favorites. (Thin-crust is the regional specialty; deep-dish is also available.) The owner also has an Antonio's in White Pine. No credit cards; out-of-town checks accepted.
On M-28 where M-64 heads to White Pine, across from Mobil Station in "downtown" Bergland. 575-3581. Open daily 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. Handicap access: assistance required. Family-friendly. No alcohol.
GOGEBIC LODGE
(906) 842-3321
The restaurant area at Gogebic Lodge really is a lodge in the old sense of the word: a big, bustling, family destination in rustic style. There's a two-story stone fireplace and lots of activity: in winter, snowmobilers at the bar (it has the best lake view), kids playing video games, an attentive wait staff circulating in the open dining area. Full menu. Soups are outstanding here, and the Friday fish fry is a big draw. There's a lakefront deck, but the new screened pavilion by the lake is in some ways even nicer.
On M-64, west shore of lake, 8 miles north of U.S. 2. Summer: 11-9. Winter 8–9. Bar to 2 Central Time. Wheelchair accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar.
THE FISHERMAN
(906) 842-3366
enjoys the reputation for having the best food on the lake - and a great view, too. The dining area, small, quiet, and northwoodsy, has a stone fireplace. The room extends right over the water, with big windows on all sides. The cozy bar is a separate room. Gift shop in lower level. The Fisherman is the only Lake Gogebic resort to serve breakfast year-round. Pan-fried walleye is the most popular item on the menu, even for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. Another favorite is the lake perch plate with slaw, hush puppies, and more ($11 at lunch, a bit more at dinner). Dinner entrées mostly range from $11 to $15 and include an excellent fresh salad bar. Filet mignon also appears in an unusual sandwich at lunch. Lighter side entrées and children's menu also available.
On M-64, west shore of lake, 6 or 7 miles south of M-28, and 6 or 7 miles north of U.S. 2. Closed in April. Open daily 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun to 8 Central Time. Dinner served 5-10 p.m., Sun 2-8 p.m. Wheelchair-accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar.
THE ROOT CELLAR
(906) 842-3535
has grown over the years from an actual root cellar into a sandwich place into a resort with cottages and a spacious multi-room log restaurant with big dining-room windows looking out to Lake Gogebic in the distance. It has all the things snowmobilers want: friendly atmosphere, good food and drink, hearty portions, a stone fireplace. The big round bar is at the center of things. "Absolutely no profanity," proclaim several signs. Host Gene Kauranen insists on a family atmosphere and asks rowdies to leave. The extensive menu offers sandwiches any time, steaks, walleye, liver and onions, and daily dinner specials like Friday fish fry (at $8 on the low end) to prime rib on Saturday and Monday ($15 to $28). All prices from 2004. Homemade Italian beef sandwiches on French bread $6.45) are an unusual addition to the sandwich menu ($5.45 to $7.45) with char-broiled burgers. All sandwiches come with cole slaw and fries. Children's menu and senior portions available.
On East Shore Road nine miles north of its intersection with M-64 and 8 miles south of M-28.Kitchen open daily except Tues from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Central Time. Closed Tues except in snowmobile season from Jan thru sometime in March. Wheelchair-accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar.
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BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
LODGINGS
MAPLE RIDGE MOTEL & BAIT SHOP
(906) 575-3545
This vintage motel, set back a bit from M-28, has 6 cheerful air-conditioned rooms, each with two double beds and a roll-away. They are convenient little cocooning spots, with cable TV and a coffeemaker, mini-fridge and microwave in each room. All guests can use the kitchenette/lounge, where they can make their own dinners if they wish. Rooms are $64 for two in winter, $50 in summer, $88 for four in winter, $60 in summer, all taxes included. Right next door, proprietors Gus and Nettie Pietila operate an interesting bait shop, where Gus hand-paints jigs when he's not out guiding for bear and walleye, or fishing himself. Nettie is a licensed taxidermist, and the walls are covered with her work. Fishing advice is readily available.
On M-28 in Merriweather, 2 miles west of Bergland. Open year-round. Handicap access: call. Flexible sleeping arrangements but no play space or common area for children.
GETAWAY BAY
(906) 842-3423
Perched beneath big pines and hardwoods overlooking the south end of Lake Gogebic are three freestanding housekeeping cottages and a larger two-story building with a three-bedroom apartment on top and two motel rooms below. Personal décor touches and themes make these warmer and cozier than many lodgings: chickens in unit #1, strawberries in the kitchen of unit #2, etc. Bedrooms are done in wildlife themes (moose, deer) with handmade quilts. All units have decks with lake views. The motel rooms have coffee, minifridges, and microwaves; the other units have full kitchens. Summer rentals are by the week, and by the day the week ahead, available permitting. A two-bedroom cabin is $105-$110/day for two, or $530-595/week for two, $60/extra person oer weej, children half off. .
There's a boathouse, and dockage, boats for rent, and a laundry on site. Located within easy walking distance of Alligator Eye and a convenience store.
N-9320 South Hwy. M-64, about 7 miles north of U.S. 2 at Marenisco. Handicap access: call. Family-friendly. $10/night for dogs, which must remain attended or left in a crate.
THE ROOT CELLAR ALL-SEASON LODGING
(906) 842-3535
On a spacious site well away from the popular Root Cellar restaurant and bar are six ranch-style housekeeping cottages overlooking Lake Gogebic near an open grassy area. (One building has two units, one upstairs and one down.) Each unit has a fireplace, full kitchen, a covered porch, satellite TV, and a wildlife theme. Rentals by the week in summer. Sample rate for a two-bedroom unit: $600/week for 4, or $88/day for two in winter. $28/extra person $60 weekly), including children. No charge for ages 4 and under. Rates
Boats are for rent, and dockage is available.
11071 East Shore Road, halfway up the lake and just south of the Gogebic County line. Handicap access: call. Two units have no stairs. Children welcome. No dogs, except for hunting dogs in vehicle kennels and on leashes otherwise.
THE TIMBERS RESORT
(906) 575-3542
The 9 vintage housekeeping cabins at this roadside resort in the village of Bergland have been attractively renovated by David and Linda Daniels. Retired from their industrial jobs in Indiana, they started tackling a daunting fix-up job. The cabins are in a shady grove of mature conifers and hardwoods, up the hill and across the train tracks from a pleasant, sunny lawn and beach area with a camp fire pit, picnic area, docks, and boat rentals. A cement boat launch is three blocks away. A playground is up by the cabins. A fish-cleaning station and guest laundry are on-site. Dog kennels, groceries, restaurants, a bar, and churches are within walking distance. The resort caters to families in summer and snowmobilers in winter.
Cabins sleep from 2 to 10 and rent for $62 to $290 a night, depending on season and occupancy. Many have original knotty-pine interiors. All have cable TV and full kitchens. No air-conditioning. Call a month ahead for summer rentals.
On M-28 in "downtown" Bergland. Open year-round. Handicap access: call. Family-friendly. No pets. Kennel within walking distance.
WHITETAIL LODGING
(906) 842-3589
These attractively furnished vacation units have beautiful views of Lake Gogebic. Each has a knotty pine interior, complete kitchen, oak dining chairs, separate sitting area with gas fireplace and queen sofa sleeper, and queen beds in the bedrooms. No TV. A pay phone is outside. Two cottages are freestanding; two form a duplex.
The Silent Bear Lodge, for example, sleeps up to 8 guests and includes 2 bedrooms with loft, 2 full baths, 4 queen beds, and 2 queen sofa sleepers. Winter rates are $1200 per week or $200 per night based on 4 guests (add $25 per night for each additional guest)
The complex has a playground, fire circles with firewood supplied, fish cleaning station, dock and boat lifts, and boats to rent. Call as early as possible for summer and snowmobile season.
On East Shore Road halfway up the lake. Open year-round. Virtually wheelchair-accessible: 2 units. Children welcome. Dogs permitted; call first.
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BERGLAND AND LAKE GOGEBIC
CAMPGROUNDS
LAKE GOGEBIC STATE PARK
(906) 842-3341;
Reservations: (800) 44-PARKS; http://mi.gov.dnr
Because Lake Gogebic is fairly shallow, it warms up early for swimming at the sandy beach area. There's a large playground and picnic pavilion by the beach, with the boat launch south of that. M-64 runs close to Lake Gogebic's west shore, and the looping roads lined with camping sites are wedged between the highway and lakeshore. The park includes nearly a mile of shoreline; most of the lake is lined by cottages. Almost a fourth of the 127 campsites are right on the lake; none are very far from it. The campground is grassy, not wild, and generally shady. Reservations advised for mid-June through late August. A 1 1/2-mile trail (see in Points of Interest) crosses the road to go back into the park's interior.
The park is on M-64, 8 miles south of M-28 at Merriweather or 10 miles north of U.S. 2 near Marenisco. State park sticker required: $4/$5 day, $20/$25 year. Camping $12 in-state, $14 out of state/night. Handicap access: showers, toilet, boat launch ADA accessible.
LAKE GOGEBIC COUNTY PARK
(906) 667-0411;
onsite caretaker (906) 667-0411. www.gogebic.org/ camping
A 54-site campground, used mainly by RVs, is part of the attractive 80-acre county park at the southern inlet to Lake Gogebic, on Ice House Bay. There's a nice swimming beach, picnic area, and boat launch. Campsites ($12/day in 2004) are served by electricity and water, and visually open to neighbors. Many campers are monthly or seasonal. Reservations, advised in May and in summer, are taken through April at 667-0411; after that, consult with caretaker. There's a small tent area. No showers here, but campers are permitted to use showers at Lake Gogebic State Park, 6 miles away.
From the west, two miles east of the Marenisco turnoff, take M-64 northeast, watch for signs in 5 miles; turn onto East Shore Dr. From the east, about 19 miles west of Watersmeet, turn right (northwest) onto CR. 525. Look for park signs as you near the lake. Open from May thru Sept. Handicap access: call caretaker.
BERGLAND TOWNSHIP PARK
(906) 575-9060
Right in town, this 28-site shady hilltop park and picnic area is at the head of Lake Gogebic. Its in-town location would let family members have different schedules because it's within walking distance of so much in town, including a Laundromat. The park's swimming beach and boat launch are down the hill and across the train tracks (still occasionally used). The playground is by the campsites. Some sites are served by 30 amp electricity, others are for tents. Flush toilets, showers, dump station, drinking water at sites. Usually only fills on holiday weekends and for special events.
On M-28 in the heart of Bergland. $10/night, $60/month, $750/season in 2004. Open from May 1 to October.
HOOP 'N HOLLER
(906) 575-5555
On level ground are four, widely-spaced RV sites with 50 amp electric and TV hookup across from the popular tavern in Bergland at the north end of Lake Gogebic, with a small beach nearby. There are pontoon boats to rent. Sites are $15 and $20/night, $90 and $120 by the week.
For directions,ee Hoop 'n Holler under restaurants.
ONTONAGON COUNTY PARK
(906) 575-3412
45 sites (pit toilets, no showers, water at a pump) are near or on the lake, some with shade from younger trees. 30 amp electric serves the sites. There's a picnic shelter, swimming beach, and paved boat launch with dock. Reservable by the month ($325). Space normally available except on holiday and special weekends.
On M-64, west side of lake, 2 miles south of M-28. $12/night in 2004. Open May 1-Sept. 30. Wheelchair-accessible.
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