Sunday, June 18, 2023
The northern terminus of Hwy 41 is just outside downtown Copper Harbor. The southern terminus is 2,008 miles away in Miami, Florida. There's even a sign about it.
This is where the pavement ends. There are multiple sources on the road condition from here on out. None were that promising.
About a mile and a half out, there's another sign, "Very Rough Road Ahead." I made it another half mile and decided it probably wasn't worth it and turned around.
If I had gone all the way to the coast, there's a long abandoned NASA rocket launch site. The Keweenaw Rocket Range was in use from 1964 to 1971. In conjunction with the University of Michigan, the rockets were used to collect weather and atmospheric data. There's not much left out there, just the concrete launch pad and a marker. But, it definitely has a high coolness factor.
Just before getting back to pavement, there's a turnoff for "Horseshoe Cove." The sign clearly says 1.3 miles. The road didn't look too bad, either. So, I decided to check it out. The road ends in the Mary MacDonald Preserve, 1,260 acres of undeveloped land.
The parking lot was empty of everything but mosquitos. I didn't see any trail markers, but there is snowmobile/mountain bike trail leading off into the distance. The cove was supposed to be 1.3 miles and the parking lot was 1.1 miles. I was expecting a short trail to the coast. That's the preserve and road in.
Of course, with the burner phone and no signal, I didn't know anything about this trail. You can imagine my surprise when I started walking and just kept going, and going.
Later in the day, I did do some research and it looks like the Horseshoe Bay Trailhead is just in another part of the parking lot, though unmarked.
I discovered the trail I was hiking was the Point Trail. There were blue signs and everything. I had no idea where this trail was going. Obviously it wasn't headed to Horseshoe Cove.
After close to an hour of this, I stopped and turned around. I never saw anything but trees and mosquitos, lots and lots of mosquitos.
The weird thing is, there were cars on the parking lot when I got back. But, I hadn't seen anyone else.
It wasn't a total bust of a morning though. There's a parking lot with a small beach overlooking the Copper Harbor Front Range Light.
Google makes it look like there's a road out there. But, the sign by the beach says it's only accessible by boat.
Being a Sunday, I was surprised to find the Welcome Center open. I asked about the Horseshoe Cove Trail and they had a map. It looks like what I thought was a game trail is the actual thing. So, a revisit tomorrow may be in order.
As for the trail I was on, it would have come out to the lake...eventually. Even if I didn't see anything exciting, I did get two hours of hiking in. So, some silver lining for the morning.
They asked if I had been up to Brockway Mountain Drive. I mentioned I had been up to the overlook and saw the closure signs. They told be the bridge was out nine miles down the road. Ignore the signs by the side of the road. When I see the one blocking the road, it's time to turn around. I could do that. I really wasn't looking forward to soaking myself in mosquito repellent again anyway.
Four miles up Brockway Mountain Drive is a large parking area at the Brockway Summit and the West Bluff Scenic View. It was a bit hazy, but no complaints. It's actually smoke from Canadian wildfires drifting through.
There was also a road closure sign with more than enough space to drive around.
There are a string of smaller nature and wildlife preserves off the road, each with trails leading back into the trees. When I pulled into the parking area for the Brockway Mountain Sanctuary, I saw the one mile loop trail sign and decided to stop.
While it doesn't seem anyone from the Michigan Audubon Society has been out to look at the trail in quite some time, it was fairly easy to follow along the gold colored blazed.
As for the scenic lookout...
Truth be told, I hadn't made any plans for the evening. But, the Brickside Brewery had live music starting at 6P. Suddenly, I had plans. The owner was pouring tonight. He was talking about a few new things he had ready to go. He just had to make space for them. So, I told him about something one of my local breweries does. They call it "kill the keg." They'll drop the price for whatever is running low.
The brewery has a food truck outside that just opened for the season tonight. They brought in a tray of what they call Carrot Cake Pops. It's carrot cake, dipped in chocolate and served on a stick. Quite tasty.
Out back, Anna P.S. was performing an acoustic set. It was a nice mix of original songs and covers. She used a foot pedal to occasionally loop herself on guitar so she could play flute over it. From time to time she would loop her own voice and harmonize over that. She was really good.
How good? I bought one of her CDS.
You can check out her website here: There are links to videos of her playing on the site.
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