Keweenaw Rocket Range: Michigan's Space Launch Site
From 1964 to 1971, NASA and the University of Michigan fired research rockets off the very tip of the Keweenaw, mostly in winter, over...
Land, water, weather, and the road there
Outdoors & Travel
Upper Peninsula wild places, practical travel context, outdoor traditions, and the stories behind the view.
Keweenaw & Copper Country
21 stories from this part of the U.P.
Isle Royale Greenstone: Michigan’s One-Source State Gem
Chlorastrolite, the Isle Royale greenstone, exists only on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw. Collecting on the island is illegal, a senator compared it to...
Estivant Pines: The Old-Growth Forest Copper Harbor Saved
Copper Harbor’s giant white pines were sold to loggers, until a 1970 newspaper column sparked a Save the Pines campaign. Neighbors and even schoolkids...
Bond Falls: The U.P. Waterfall That Never Runs Dry
Bond Falls near Paulding may be Michigan's prettiest waterfall, and its famously steady flow has a secret: a power company dam keeps the tap...
Lake Superior Agates: The U.P.'s Billion-Year Treasure
Lake Superior agates are the U.P.'s favorite beach treasure, banded stones about a billion years old. How they formed, and how to spot one...
Are There Mountain Lions in the Upper Peninsula?
For the first time in over a century, a mother cougar and two cubs are living in the U.P. — and 2025 just set...
Isle Royale: Michigan's Wild, Least-Visited National Park
An island wilderness of wolves and moose, with no roads and a lake on it that has its own island. And it's the least-visited...
Porcupine Mountains: Lake of the Clouds and Old Growth
Michigan's largest state park hides an ancient forest and a cliff-top view locals call the most beautiful in the state Tucked into the far...
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