Keweenaw Back Roads

We sold our boat this spring so opted for a car-camping vacation this year. We decided to check out some of the places we've only seen by water along the Keweenaw coast. Here's the Keweenaw, it's the very tip of the U.P. - see the arrow pointing at the top of the page? (click on the map for a bigger view) It's about a 6 hour drive from the Mackinac Bridge so not a lot of people venture there.  We used this awesome map to navigate the back roads - actually not roads at all but ATV/ORV trails.

Our first adventure was to High Rock Bay

We traveled a pretty rough road out of Copper Harbor and learned a few days later that there was a much better road we could have taken.  It was well worth the bumps and we spent two wonderful nights here.  Weather was great and water was warm. This view looks East, to the point, from where we set up our camp.  You can see the Manitou Island Lighthouse - it's the white spec in the distance.

White pines and the evening sky

Setting up our camp

The road ends at the end of the Earth - did I mention we were the only ones there?

The Keweenaw is known for its Thimbleberries and there were plenty!

We had a visitor the first morning...Once he knew we were on to him he moved pretty fast.  By the time I got my phone/camera he was heading back for cover.

We could have stayed at High Rock but really wanted to explore and get to Keystone Bay, a place we've sailed by a few times and wanted to see by land.  We had a great map and had some directions from a guy we met along the way.  He said something like, "you might be able to get through..."  The circle on the far right is High Rock Bay.  The circle with arrow southwest of High Rock is Keystone Bay.  On this link, you can move the satellite picture around and see the lay of the land between High Rock and Keystone.

Once we started down the road to Keystone, we both wondered whether we should keep going.  Already committed, we put it in 4WD low gear and hoped for the best.  On our way out we timed it - .1 mile in 12 minutes, that's a mile in 2 hours!  But it was so worth it!

Keystone Bay looking East

Looking West

We weren't alone, there was one other truck when we got there.  Here's the view from our camp.

Evening skies - yes, we did have a thunderstorm!

The heaven's opened up

We had a snug situation through the thunderstorm and not one bug thanks to the foresight and engineering skills of my wonderful husband!

Next, to the Montreal River Falls...