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L'ANSE
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Baraga County Tourist & Recreation Association. Great weekday info center with local history books, terrific county map, savvy tips for exploring secluded area waterfalls, beaches, mountaintops, other backroad adventures. ...
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Falls River, Upper, Lower & Middle Falls. A wonderful, uncrowded place with complex waterfalls in a piney forest. One of the best U.P. waterfall walks, partly right in town. ...
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Front Street Park. Fine view of L'Anse Bay, fishing pier, marina, shipwreck, beach, playground and "train," summer concerts, picnic pavilion, horseshoes, waterfall trail. ...
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Indian Country Sports. Complete outdoors store (hunt, fish, canoe, kayak, camp, ski, snowshoe), info center, and working lighthouse. Lake trout tips from commercial fisherman's son. ...
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In the Mind's Eye. Regional gifts and art, art supplies, science and nature books for adults and children, one-hour photos — great for rainy days. ...
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Shrine of the Snowshoe Priest. A stature and shrine dedicated to the kindly priest in who in the 1830s ministered to the local Indians ...
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L'Anse Township Park & Campground. A serene bluff-top setting for park and modern campground, among pines and hemlocks overlooking Keweenaw Bay. Rocky beach is down below. ...
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Mount Arvon. In the Huron Mountains, Michigan's highest point has no view, but many take rugged logging roads to claim "I climbed Mount Arvon, Michigan's highest point." ...
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Indian Country Sports
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Steve and Anne Koski have developed their harborfront outdoors store into a complete outdoors destination. It deals with archery, hunting, fishing, camping and tents, skating, canoes, kayaks, cross-country skiing, ice fishing, and snowshoeing. (Iverson's classic wood shoes are in stock.) Skate sharpening and gun and bow setup are among services provided. Indian Country Sports is an excellent place to stop for detailed information about the area's outdoor recreation opportunities, plus licenses, bait, nautical charts, plat books - everything but USGS maps. Visit its web site for area reference maps, details about gear and equipment offered, and fishing notes about area lakes and bays. It has many links to other websites on weather, area attractions, and Great Lakes shipwreck and maritime subjects.
Lake trout fishing is a specialty. If it's Saturday and the tourism office is closed, this is also the place for info on reaching the high point at Mount Arvon, on cross-country skiing on the Pinery Lakes Trails, and on scenic highlights on the improved Big Bay Road through the rugged highlands of Huron Mountains and the Yellow Dog Plains. Practical Stormy Kromer hats and "I conquered Mount Arvon" T shirts are on hand.
In building their current store with friends' help, the Koskis also erected a new landmark for the L'Anse harbor - a full-scale, working lighthouse. The tower and beacon rises 44 feet above street level. The Coast Guard recognizes the lighthouse (lat. N 46-45.28, lon. W 88-27.23) as a private aid to navigation. The light is visible for five miles, recognized by its pattern of one second on, 2 1/2 seconds off.
Steve, an avid hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman, is the son of one of the area's last commercial fishing families. He grew up rooted to the area, especially the Big Lake. As a marketing major at Northern Michigan University, he thought about L'Anse's overlooked waterfront and downtown, afftected by the deccline of commercial fishing, competition from Houghton's nearby shopping, and its location over half a mile from highway traffic and visibility. He called L'Anse a "cruise control syndrome"? town; as motorists passed the Holiday gas station, they wondered where L'Anse really was anyway.
After college, Steve bought the waterfront sporting goods store he had worked for, turned down an opportunity to relocate on the highway, got involved in local politics, and set about making the store and L'Anse's waterfront into attractions for local people and visitors, too.
17 S. Front at Baraga, at the harbor and a block west of Broad Street (the street that leads down the hill from U.S. 41 to downtown L'Anse). (906) 524-6518. Open year-round. Mon-Sat 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fri to 6. Wheelchair-accessible.
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