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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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Powerhouse Falls
Hardly a mile south of L'Anse, this peaceful spot is a fine place to take a sandwich, sit, and enjoy the water rushing around you and the stone bluffs and trees across the Falls River. It's lovely in fall color season. This is not a fancy attraction.
The county tourism group has erected a simple shelter, but there's no toilet facility. The falls themselves are up behind the powerhouse, a peeling concrete block building. (An informal trail can take you back there.) A pleasant trail follows the river about a mile downstream. (—May, 2008)
From U.S. 41 a mile south of the turnoff into downtown L'Anse, turn west onto Power Dam Road at Reid's Funeral Home, an A-frame building. The little park is in ¾ mile. (906) 524-7444. No fee. Handicap access: gravel parking, flat terrain.
Little Mountain
Right outside L'Anse, this is one of those high places like Silver Mountain where a cap of resistant rock kept the hilltop from eroding away. A mostly quite gentle hike through woods ends up on a flat rock with a panoramic view of Keweenaw Bay and the Huron Mountains. Spectacular in fall! About 25 minutes up. (—May, 2008)
Off U.S. 41 about 2 miles south of L'Anse, or 9-10 miles north of M-28 junction near Covington. Take Golf Course Road 2 miles west to trailhead. Take left fork of trail if in doubt. (906) 524-7444. No fee. Not handicap accessible.
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 destination. It deals with archery, hunting, fishing, canoes, kayaks, skating, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Skate sharpening and gun and bow setup are among the 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 indiancountrysports.com for area reference maps, details about gear and equipment offered, and fishing notes about area lakes and bays. The site 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 are on hand.
In building their current store with friends' help, the Koskis also erected a landmark for the L'Anse harbor—a full-scale, working lighthouse. The tower and beacon rise 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, visible for five miles, is 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. It had been hurt by the decline of commercial fishing, by its location a half mile from highway traffic, and by competition from Houghton's nearby shopping. As motorists passed the Holiday gas station, he felt, they wondered where L'Anse really was anyway.
After college, Steve bought the waterfront sporting goods store where he had worked, and turned down an opportunity to relocate on the highway. He became involved in local politics, and set about making the store and L'Anse's waterfront into attractions for local people and visitors, too. (—March, 2008)
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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