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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA

JUST OUT! A new edition of Hunts' Mapguide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Over 300 entries, all conveniently located on maps and chosen because we think they are the coolest things to do in the U.P. (No ad tie-ins!) Great choices for restaurants, hikes, shops, adventures, museums, boat trips, waterfalls, vistas, road trips, and much more! To learn more click UP MAP GUIDE

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ON THE WAY TO BIG BAY
POINTS
OF INTEREST

Points of interest along CR 550 are arranged from Marquette and the south to Big Bay and the north.
How to get to CR 550 from downtown Marquette: Go north on Front St. until it dead ends at Fair. Go left on Fair. In two blocks, turn right onto Presque Isle Ave. At the third blinking light turn left onto Wright St. Look for Sugar Loaf Ave./CR 550 on the right.

Phil's 550 Store. An old-timey convenience store run by a blacksmith, with a good wine selection, smoked fish, a free maps for bike trails and area waterfalls ... more

Sugarloaf Mountain. A 20-minute walk up to the summit of this cherished local landmark gains grand vistas of Lake Superior, Marquette, and surrounding forests. Especially spectacular near dawn or dusk ... more

Wetmore Pond. Walk through an old-growth forest to a platform for viewing a sphagnum bog with carnivorous pitcher plants. Hike up to red rocks, nice for picnics and contemplation, with another great view. Hogback Mountain offers a third. ... more

Little Presque Isle, Wetmore Landing & North Country Trail Segment. Along this beautiful shore are rocky and sandy beaches, coves, sandstone cliffs, and an island for kayaks to explore. Nearby pines, berries put favorite northwoods habitats in one hikeable area. Get map of trail network for skiing and hiking. ... more

Songbird Trail. A 1.1-mile loop has 10 stops with signs about songbirds you're likely to see and hear along the way ... more

Harlow Pathway/Cross-Country Ski Trail. Two ungroomed trails-5.6 miles in all-with easy to intermediate skiing are near remote, rustic state forest cabins one can rent for the night ... more

Granot Loma. Banker Louis Kaufman's remarkable log lodge, built for $2 million in the early 1920s, is off limits unless you rent it for $10,000 a day. The public can see the show barns of Loma Farms and the colorful postmodern gates made ... more

Little Garlic Falls. Formed by a productive trout stream, this secluded falls are a 2-mile hike from the road ... more

County Road 510 to Big Bay. Crisscrossing the Yellow Dog River and its tributaries, this road is the gateway to several beautiful waterfalls ... more

ON THE WAY TO BIG BAY

Little Presque Isle, Wetmore Landing & North Country Trail Segment

If the gorgeous, rocky shore at Wetmore Landing and the adjacent sandy beaches were a state park, they would be far better known and more visited. Local people treasure this area today. It is a good place for birding during spring and fall migration.

Marquette-area hiking enthusiasts maintain that one of the best trails anywhere is the four-mile North Country Trail segment beginning at the parking area at Wetmore Landing. It continues south to Little Presque Isle and beyond, for another mile along Lake Superior before it turns inland and crosses CR 550 to end at Tourist Park on Marquette's north edge. Visit www.northcountrytrail.org and click on the Upper Peninsula for details and connecting trail segments.

"With its blend of water, beach, rock outcroppings, and thick forest, the Little Presque Isle area is the quintessence of the lovely landscape of the Superior Peninsula," writes Lon Emerick in The Superior Peninsula. Much of the forest consists of old-growth hemlocks and red pine. Little Presque Isle and the sandy, popular swimming beach on the south side of [Presque Isle] Point are accessed by the Wetmore Landing parking area. Kayakers can carry their craft a short ways to the beach to put in. South of Little Presque Isle, Emerick writes, "a series of small coves and cliffs as high as 50 feet have formed, creating in miniature the layered and fluted formations found at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore." Rims of ice around these little coves may last into May and June.

"North of the Point extends [another] sweep of sand beach punctuated only by Harlow Creek; each year the creek alters its winding course as it empties into Lake Superior," Emerick continues. "Back from the rock and sand beaches is a dense covering of tall red pines; shadbush and blueberry form the understory. The old beach lines can be seen as a series of low ridges further inland."

Little Presque Isle is a striking focal point for this shoreline hike. The island, about a hundred yards offshore, can be reached by kayaking or wading in hip-deep water - a wonderful place to enjoy solitude in a beautiful natural setting where wind and waves have carved little coves in the rock.

Nineteen miles of hiking and cross-country ski trails in many loops connect the area's natural features - not only the spectacular shoreline, but Sugar Loaf and Hogback mountains, Wetmore Pond, Harlow Lake, and Potluck and Harlow creeks. The DNR trail map makes planning easy. Pick up a map at Phil's 550 Store or the Michigan Welcome Center.

The Wetmore Landing parking area is east off CR 550 about 5 1/2 miles north of Wright St. The Little Presque Isle parking area is a mile north. (906) 485-1031. No charge. Handicap accessible: no.

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