Late in the 20th century, when I was still an FCG working on the Lincoln Mark VIII program, we drove from Dearborn, Michigan to Bemidji, MN one winter, in pursuit of -20 F weather for final testing in January. The route we took was about straight north up through Michigan’s lower peninsula, across the Mackinac Bridge, then just about straight west across the upper peninsula(UP, which we pronounce by saying the letters, not pronouncing the word ‘up’). We continued across a little portion of WI before heading into MN. That was the last time I’d been to the UP. Until 2023…In the picture below, the UP is the portion between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.
I’ve mentioned my retirement buddy, Lori, who was in my graduating class at MIT, started the same summer I did, and retired the same day I did. I got this idea that I wanted to go camping in the UP, and asked her if she wanted to go, and where should we go? She immediately suggested a place called Kitch-iti-kipi, since she’d never been but wanted to see. So we selected a campground inside Indian Lake State Park, in Manistique, MI(which is on the southern border of the UP, about halfway across from east to west), and we drove up on a Wednesday, because: we’re retired and can go do stuff in the middle of the week!
The UP is nowhere nearly as settled as the lower peninsula, which is part of the reason it is a destination for us “trolls who live below(ie, south of) the bridge”. It is truly beautiful, and mostly isolated, but not without access to civilized things like grocery stores and gas stations. For dinner, Lori marinated chicken breasts in Italian dressing, it was awesome!
The next day, we took a short drive to Palms Brook State Park, inside of which is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring, known as Kitch-iti-kipi, which means Big Spring. This spring flows “more than 10,000 gallons of water per minutes gushing through fissures in the underlying limestone at a constant 45 degrees Fahrenheit.” The water is a very clear blue, and the spring is navigated by a raft that requires someone to haul us across the spring and back using a rope tied to the raft.
The raft has a glass bottom, and a roof to keep in in shadow. From there, you can see all the way to the bottom, up to 40′ feet down. I have trouble recalling when I’ve seen water this clear. After staring at it for a while, you can easily spot the water billowing up from fissures on the bottom. Curiously, it is not a steady spew; I describe it as breathing, since you can see the silt billow up, then back, then up again.
The next day, we took a drive down the little peninsula south of Manistique, trying to reach the shore. We eventually did, but I’m still not sure how we got there. We were constantly driving off marked roads in Google maps, but were being adventurous, following trails in Lori’s capable Ford Ecosport and trusting our sense of direction, until we reached the shore. The view was beautiful, relaxing and isolated. It felt like a private beach, probably because it was in the middle of the week. The water was far too cold for me to swim, but not too cold to dip my toes. Along the way, we found a flock of sandhill cranes and also plenty of wildflowers.
It was a great trip, and a good way to introduce myself to the UP(Lori had visited elsewhere in the UP before). Now that I’ve been able to enjoy the UP properly, I want to come back in 2024, and hopefully camp my way across, either northwards or westwards for about a week. People have recommended Porcupine Mountains, Pictured Rock National Seashore and the Soo Locks. I would bring my telescope, since the skies are pretty dark compared the lower peninsula.
