25 Reasons to Love Life Up North
Cherries, pasties, lighthouses, fudge. Sure, we’re proud of the North’s marquees. But for most of us, it’s the understated pieces of the North that capture our hearts and call us back: a two-track heading into a shadowed forest, a fish market right on the pier. Here, then, is a tribute to the things we love about life Up North—25 wonders that capture the spirit of this place in subtle, soulful ways. Let our list inspire you to spend time exploring this spring, falling in love with your own personal icons.
Feb 23, 2009 Emily Bingham
(page 4 of 5)
Wild Berry Picking
Stumbling upon a wild cache of sweet, sun-warmed berries is the Up North equivalent to unearthing buried treasure: it's difficult not to be overcome with the urge to hoard it all, stuffing your pockets (or your mouth) with these tiny jewels. Most wild berries are found through summer and early fall, growing on creeping or low bushes along the edges of roads and meadows; hot spots include the Keweenaw Peninsula for the coveted thimbleberry (pictured), and the sandy ridges along Lake Superior in the northeastern U.P. for the wild blueberry, which has helped sustain generations of the area's indigenous people.
Roadhouses
Rev up and rally over to a roadhouse, which we love for the laid-back atmosphere and the way they randomly appear, oasislike, along lengthy drives through Nowheresville. At the log-sided Rico's Roadhouse (231-723-3721) in Manistee, tables are sidled into half-moon brick alcoves and the weekly specials are totally classic: Wednesday rib day, Thursday steak night, Friday fish fry with hand-battered perch, cod and pollack. More local flavor awaits at Fischer's Happy Hour Tavern, a rustic Northport version of Cheers; the Sanders hot fudge cream puffs are legendary (231-386-9923).
Waterfalls
When it comes to romantic natural phenomena, waterfalls are right up there with sunsets and stargazing—but because accessing some of the North's falls requires extra effort, the payoff is even sweeter. The Upper Peninsula is home to some 200 waterfalls (give or take, depending whom you ask)—from the wide, tumbling Upper Tahquamenon Falls to the feathery cascades of Tannery Falls—and early spring is when they're the most dramatic, thanks to surging snowmelt. The 60-foot Chapel Falls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore are the breathtaking reward to a pretty 1.5-mile hike through stands of jewel weed, about 15 miles east of Munising (906-387-2607,
nps.gov/piro).
Bridges
Of course, there's the grand dame of our state's bridges—the Mighty Mac, our million-ton steel-and-concrete stunner. But quaint wooden footbridges, like Ransom Lake Natural Area's intimate overpass above an unnamed creek (pictured), give us reason to pause, lending us a new vantage, letting us consider where we are. Take a peaceful walk at Rapid City's Seven Bridges Natural Area, a historic sawmill site and 300-acre preserve where four of seven original rustic bridges have been rebuilt over the Rapid River—a blue ribbon trout stream—and its tributaries. From Rapid City, follow Valley Road west about three miles to the preserve's parking area (
gtrlc.org).
Old-Growth Forests
Like living time capsules, these stands that somehow dodged the lumberman's ax allow us a glimpse into the pre-logging era Up North. South of the U.P.'s Copper Harbor, Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary is home to 350 acres of native hardwoods, including centuries-old white pines and beautiful virgin cedar (906-337-4579,
keweenaw.info). For an old-growth forest below the Bridge, Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling has historically untouched Jack pine, oak and lowland conifer forests—and it boasts the largest stand of virgin white pine in the Lower Peninsula (989-348-7068).
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