The peninsula is cut through by a series of small lakes and canals that the ore boats pass through. When they come, they lift this bridge sort of on the same principle as a draw bridge. One of the first things I wasnted to see when I got there was Dans new (to him) fishing boat. It is a 27’ Chris Craft that is powered by twin 283 Chevy V-8’s. Dan is doing some work on it at the moment and it is in a storage building where it lives in the winter.
I was amazed at the array of instruments that this boat has. There is a GPS system which is state of the art as well as a Loran, radar, sonar, fish finder, and two way radio and other stuff. This is the view of Captain Dan showing me the details of the bridge.
Dan will be using this boat on Lake Superior and it has to be everything that a ocean going vessel needs to be. The lake is the largest fresh water lake in the world and it is almost like an ocean especially when a storm rolls through. I was amazed at the numerous safety features and detail controls needed to operate it. I had thought it was a large fishing boat but it is rigged out for living on too. I wish it was out in the water, but next time I visit I will get a ride. It is only about 50 miles to Isle Royal national park from his dock, so I hope we get out to see that.
Bill had told me that I needed to ride my bike on up to the end of the peninsula and visit Copper Harbor. The ride was spectacular. This is a stretch of road where the trees completely cover the road, it is like riding through a green tunnel.
I stitched several photos together to get this panorama of the harbor.
This is the story of the region.
This is a piece of native copper at the base of this sign.
Some of the old mining stuff still remains.
I wish I had taken some photos of Hancock town as it is a really beautiful town. it has lots of old brick buildings and if you know Butte, Montana, it has some of the same feeling. When the copper ran out in this area the miners moved to Butte which was just starting to boom. There are a lot of families that have roots in both towns.
At the end of the road is this sign.
The paved road ends here but I ride a GS which means that gravel roads are on the program. There was a little gravel road that continued on past this site, so I took it. The road turned bad right away with huge mud puddles and some serious washouts that I got past with ease. After that initial bad road it got much better and I found myself hopelessly lost in a maze of small forest roads. I was wishing for Bills GPS unit so I could at least find my way out. I did finally find a small sign pointing to Copper Harbor that I think is for the snowmobiles that use this maze of trails in the winter. Most of the roads were nice back there.
I headed back by way of the smaller paved roads and saw this boat that I thought was unusual at a dock by a house along the bay.
it looks like it could take a severe thrashing and still float. I’m not sure just what it was intended for but it reminds me of some sort of military type thing. Maybe it is like some guys have jeeps and this is a type of boat jeep.
This is major snow country and receives around 25 feet of snow in the winter. This looks like a good way to get around when it gets deep. This is what most of the houses in the area look like. they all have steep roofs and most were two story.
On the road back I went through a little town called Gay. My brother says that there is the “Gay Bar’ there as well as a second hand store called “out of the closet”.
