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SKANEE
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Silver Falls. An interestingly complex woodland hike reaches an overlook, then dark rocks, rushing water, and a wading pool. Downstream are a second waterfall and swimming hole. Part of Copper Country State Forest. ...
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Black Slate Falls and Quartzite Falls. A short trail reaches two little, idyllic woodland waterfalls over quarzite and dark, layered slate. ...
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Big Eric's Bridge, Big Huron River and mouth. Memorable state forest area along a steelhead stream: beautiful rapids, camping at the Huron River mouth with its wavy sandbars and bayou, Lake Superior view of Huron Islands and the dramatic Huron Mountains near Big Bay. ...
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Huron Islands & Lighthouse. The Huron River's mouth offers a splendid view of the rocky Huron Islands, a wildlife refuge, just offshore in Lake Superior. Knowledgeable boaters and a Skanee fishing charter can reach the stabilized granite lighthouse on the westernmost island. It was built in 1868 to warn copper shipping vessels of rocks and shifting waters. ...
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Big Eric's Bridge, Big Huron River and mouth
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 | | Photo by Larry A. Kastler. Courtesy michigan.org | | Fall fishing on the Big Huron River at Big Eric's Falls. | The Huron River, also known as the Big Huron, empties into Lake Superior just four miles away as the crow flies from Big Eric's Bridge and the beautiful rapids just downstream from it. To the immediate east, the Huron Mountains rise precipitously above Lake Superior. The lighthouse on the westernmost Huron Island can be seen four miles away.
 | | The 1992 hemlock bridge isn't the main attraction here, but rather the location's remoteness and the Huron River's striking rock formations and rushing water. | The prime fishing lakes of the exclusive Huron Mountain Club near Big Bay (fenced to keep all outsiders away) are not even ten miles east of here.
This is part of the Copper Country State Forest. Anglers fill the campground here in spring and fall. In his helpful map/ guidebook Fish Michigan: 50 Rivers, noted fishing writer Tom Huggler says the Big Huron is one of the two best steelhead streams in the entire Upper Peninsula. Summer visitors may enjoy the series of small falls, rocky rapids, and pools just below Big Eric's Bridge. Big Eric, incidentally, was a lumberman whose company logged in these parts fifty years ago.
Though it's not easy to carry a canoe down to the water, the Huron River can be canoed from below the first downstream waterfall to its mouth. (The mouth can also be reached via about two miles of unimproved road. Take Portrice Road north from Skanee Road near Big Eric's Bridge, go east on Huron Road. Do not cross river. At the next two intersections, take the right road.)
The Huron River mouth is a very beautiful area, where sand piles up on the beach like waves. The bayou behind the sandbars at the river mouth is a contemplative, restful place, a favorite of paddler Dean Sandell, retired recreation planner for the state forest system.
Go toward Skanee from Main Street in downtown L'Anse. Continue out on Skanee Road past Town Road and Skanee. The road turns east and the pavement ends at Big Eric's Bridge. (906) 353-6651. Open from late April to first snowfall or end of deer hunting season. Handicap access: no.
Return to Skanee
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