Caryn came up with the plan to spend a couple of nights in early January in the Upper Peninsula at the Halfway Lake Resort in Newberry, Michigan. This placed us within an hous drive of places like tahquamenon Falls, the mouth of the Two Hearted River, and Whitefish Bay at the Whitefish Point lighthouse. The trip was run through the Ann Arbor Adventure Club hosted on meetup.com. We had something like 15 attendees and though for some winter hiking was a new experience I think everyone had a good time. Sure the weather was windy and we didn't always stick together as well as we might have done but between the skiing, snowshoeing, relaxing at the cabin or in the hot tub, and generally enjoying the company of good people everyone had a fine time.
Here are some photos and a video from the weekend. We did our snowshoeing and cross-country skiing at Canada Lake the first day. After a leisurely lunch at Timber Charlie's in Newberry we went to the wind swept mouth of the Two Hearted River where we sipped a few Two Hearted beers and watched a lovely sunset. Our second day was spent mostly in Tahquamenon State Park. The hike along the North Country Trail between the Upper and Lower Falls went rather more easily than I thought it might at first. The snow was not deep and, more importantly, quite packed down. It's the latter that surprised me as we certainly didn't se any footprints from people traveling the trail before us (it had snowed a little recently). It's a shame that so many of the beech trees in the area are suffering from a fungal blight that is killing many of them off. If you visit this state park after you marvel at the waterfalls and the walk through the forest enjoying the sights and sounds do stop in at the brewpub for a bite to eat and a tasty beer. My only wish is that the fireplace had been bigger and more open; more like a fire pit with chimney (I'm thinking of what I recall seeing in a lounge at Mar Lodge in Scotland) that tables could surround. All in all a very nice place. We ended our second day out with a quick visit as the sun dipped below the horizon to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse.
The Upper Peninsula VideoEnjoy!
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