From the top of Brockway Mountain, Lake Superior spreads out in front of you in every direction, blue all the way to the horizon. On a clear day, you can see Isle Royale floating fifty miles out. It is, hands down, one of the most beautiful views in the entire U.P., and you can take it all in without getting out of your car.
It is called Brockway Mountain Drive, a nine-mile ribbon of road that runs along a high ridge near Copper Harbor, at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The road climbs to about 1,320 feet, which puts you more than 700 feet above the surface of Lake Superior. That makes it the highest drive of its kind anywhere between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies.
From the pullouts and viewing platforms along the way, the views just keep coming. You look down on the little harbor town of Copper Harbor, out over thousands of acres of unbroken forest, and across a string of inland lakes tucked into the hills. And everywhere you turn, there is Lake Superior, so big it has its own horizon.
The road itself has a good story. It was carved out by hand during the Great Depression, built by work crews and sometimes horses as a way to put people back to work. It opened in 1935, and within a few years more than a million people had made the drive. They have been coming ever since.
There is no bad time to go, but locals will tell you the magic hours are the special ones. Time it for sunset and watch the sun melt into Lake Superior from the best seat in the U.P. Come in late September or October and the surrounding hills explode into red and gold. On clear, dark nights, it is one of the finest spots anywhere to catch the northern lights. And every spring, thousands of hawks and eagles ride the winds right over the peak on their way north.
Getting there is half the fun. The drive loops off M-26 between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor, so you can pick it up from either end. It is open from spring through fall, since the road does not get plowed in winter, which means right now is the perfect time. Take it slow, pull over often, and bring a camera you will actually use.
People drive across the country chasing views like this. Yoopers just have to point the car toward Copper Harbor. So if you find yourself anywhere near the top of the Keweenaw this summer, go up Brockway Mountain, roll the windows down, and remember why there is no place in the world quite like the U.P.
Sources: Pure Michigan, Visit Keweenaw, and the Copper Country Trail.
Panoramic view of Lake Superior and the Keweenaw forest from Brockway Mountain Drive. Photo by Nick Nolte, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5. Cropped for layout.
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