Continuing UP Northwest

Our Bay Furnace Campground site was our home for one night after our Pictured Rock boat tour.

We continued driving west towards the Wisconsin border along the southern shore of Lake Superior. From Christmas, Michigan we passed through the citiy of Marquette and two villages named Ishpeming and Michigamme.

We discovered an interesting stop on this route. A place to visit if you're ever in this part of the UP Northwest Michigan is "Lakenenland". The "Lakenenland" is a scrap metal sculpture art park that is located on M-28 east of Marquette. It is free to the public and allows visitors to either drive through or walk around the park.

Created by Tom Lakenen, the Detroit Free Press called Lakenenland "The coolest unofficial roadside rest stop in the state." The 37 acre park includes a Sculpture Trail, a winding road through the woods featuring more than 100 of Tom's whimsical, colorful and sometimes "tell it like it is" Metal Art sculptures showcasing his tremendous talent for turning junk metal and scrap iron into awe inspiring, entertaining works of art.

There are all sorts of various sculptures made out of scrap metal.  There is also an old mine and old mining equipment set up inside the park.

We eventually arrived at our unscheduled, overnight campground at the L'Anse Township Park. We were in site 5 which is a large site with power and a great view of the bay. The price was only $35. The park is situated on a sloping hillside which offers a beautiful view of Lake Superior and Keweenaw Bay. 

Historically, this campground is the site of the first trading post and the original townsite of L’Anse.    

We left L'Anse Park around 11 AM on Memorial Day and arrived too early to check-in at Porcupine Mountains - Union Bay Modern Campground near Ontonagon, MI so we opted to pull over by the lake and wait until 2 PM. We had a lovely spot for lunch on the shores of Lake Superior. We even had enough room to put out both slides and after lunch I took a nap!

The Union Bay Campground is the park’s only modern campground offering electrical service, a modern toilet building, a sanitation station, boat launch, camp store and more. In many sites, you can hear waves crashing along the rocky shoreline of Union Bay, off Lake Superior.

Several of the campsites are located along the shore. A sandy beach is located within walking distance along M-107. There are a variety of campsite sizes; some are ideal for tents or smaller campers, while others can accommodate larger RVs. .Our only negative are the Buffalo Gnats, also known as Black Flies.

Our site #47 is away from the water's edge up against the tree line. It is HUGE, two to three times the regular RV size in width and depth.

We will be here for the next two days. Karen and I have enjoyed this extended stay in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We're considering returning to the UP in the Autumn another year to see some of the same places when the colors start changing. It's not nearly as popular with tourists as New England, but there are some amazing fall colors here without the crowds!

On Tuesday morning, May 27 we drove out to the Lake of the Clouds Trail and the Summit Trail. Spectacular scenery to behold in the late Spring, but imagine this place as the leaves start changing colors around September/October.

The Lake of the Clouds is situated in a valley between two ridges in the Porcupine Mountains.[2] Surrounded by virgin wilderness and stunning vistas, the lake is a popular destination for hikers, campers, and fishermen. The lake is a prominent feature of the park, and can be viewed at the Lake of the Clouds Overlook at the west terminus of the former Michigan highway M-107.

Lake of the Clouds is about 1 mile long, but according to the park signage at the start of the 0.5 mile trail to the viewing site, averages only 15 feet deep.