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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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Lake Gogebic's East Shore Road
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The shore roads around Lake Gogebic make for a pleasantly scenic drive in a developed sort of way. The drive around the lake is just under 40 miles, with a little meandering by the shore south of M-28 in Merriweather and Bergland.
Lake Gogebic's east shore has no sizable parks and few resorts, but many larger, newer homes. East Shore Road reveals some unusual historic sites and some good places to see birds and turtles. "White City" was a stagecoach stop. The rustic cottage of Bill Bonifas, probably the U.P.'s richest lumber baron, is down past a meadow.
East Shore Road follows the lake's east shore north to M-28 two miles east of Bergland, just west of a bridge over the Ontonagon River's west branch. A dam a mile upstream from the bridge is at the outlet of Lake Gogebic. The dam helps regulate the river's flow to UPPCO's big Victoria Dam downstream. Dams hold water for use in generating electricity in July and August, when water levels are low and extra water is needed.
The east shore's northern part was developed beginning in the 1960s. When Gene and Kathy Kauranen of the Root Cellar Restaurant and Resort first moved to the lake in 1962, East Shore was a dirt road. Theirs was the northernmost house on the east shore. It was so isolated, it was almost spooky, Gene says.
Points of interest are arranged from south (near Marenisco) to north (Bergland).
HEADWATERS of LAKE GOGEBIC at Ice House Bay
In spring when water is high, a 20' boat can go over a mile south of the road, up the bayou created where three small streams join. The inlet is a great place for birding, and to see turtles in summer, according to a local resident. Be sure to be prepared for mosquitoes.
"WHITE CITY" is the site of the old inn and stagecoach stop that took passengers from the train station at Gogebic Station to the lake. The road southeast to U.S. 2, now County Road 525, is still called Stage Coach Road. A white fence surrounds the site of the inn, now private property. The original water tower can also be seen.
Not quite two miles east of where East Shore meets M-64.
"THE BUSHEL CLUB" and outlet of Trout Brook. Another park-like area that's privately owned is this pond and wildflower meadow leading down to the lake. The rustic log house in the distance was built by Escanaba lumber baron Bill Bonifas. Here was where Edna Ferber worked on Come and Get It , her novel about raw and raucous Hurley, Wisconsin, during the iron and logging boom. Ferber left Hurley in a huff because she felt it was too anti-Semitic for her. Bonifas, whose personality seems to have inspired the male protagonist, offered to put her up here. The cottage was later used by the Funk Seed people as a company retreat. "If you sold 500 bushels of hybrid seed corn, you got a trip to ‘The Villa' here," explains a local resident.
In summer watch out for turtles. It's common to see snapping turtles cross the road here, looking for sand to lay their eggs in.
Two miles north of White City on East Shore Road.
Michigan State BOAT LAUNCH and PICNIC AREA. The picnic area has a beautiful view across the lake to Alligator Eye.
Two miles north of "The Bushel Club" and nearly 12 miles south of the junction of M-28 and East Shore Road.
ELK PEN at The Root Cellar restaurant and lodging. Proprietors Gene and Kathy Kauranen are licensed by the state to keep elk in this three-acre area. At the moment there are three elk, including a young one, one and a half years old, who was born here. The Kauranens started the project in 1987 as a wildlife refuge and memorial to departed relatives and friends. "There is too much snow in this part of the Upper Peninsula for elk. Elk are grazers, not browsers like deer. They need to migrate over a larger area. Elk have established themselves in more open and less snowy areas in the Chequamegon National Forest across the state line in Wisconsin."
"I was born to hunt, forced to work," says Gene, whose dad was a trapper in Wisconsin. When his parents divorced, the kids were split up and moved away. Coming back to the North Country and gradually developing this convivial, family-oriented log bar/restaurant and resort has been the fulfillment of a dream. He seems to be working all the time at the Root Cellar, too, but here it's clearly fun.
On East Shore Road nine miles north of its intersection with M-64 and 8 miles south of M-28.
BALD EAGLE'S NEST. For years there's been a huge nest in a big tree overlooking the lake at the spot where East Shore Road heads east away from the lake. Young eaglets are regularly seen here.
About five miles south of M-28, where East Shore Drive turns southwest along the lake. If you're coming from the south, this is right where you turn inland on a straight east-west part of the road.
Return to Bergland and Lake Gogebic
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