Houghton Michigan on the Keweenaw Penninsula

From 8-08 Houghton Campground

We moved to a great campground in Houghton, Michigan - our new favorite. Houghton is located midway up the Keweenaw (pronounced key-we-nah) Peninsula. This is a peninsula on a peninsula - the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. Our camp site was right on the water with full hook-ups, cable TV, and a paved pad with a covered picnic table and park bench facing the river/canal.

From Houghton Campground

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Houghton sits across the river from Hancock. The cities are separated by a river/canal that connects with lakes further across the peninsula. This provides a waterway across the peninsula that allows freighters to shorten the route from the upper portion of Lake Superior. It was primarily used in the past to allow freighters to come to the copper smelters that were on the waters edge. From the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's, this area was one of the main producers of copper in the US if not the world. Copper mining started in the 1840's and continued until the 1990's, although most mines closed in 1968 when copper prices were very low and no settlement could be reached in a labor strike.

We continued to have great weather, especially for August. Highs were usually in the mid 70's and lows in the mid 50's. I was glad to have nice weather the first two days, because I spent much of those days washing the RV and Honda. We drove through road construction where the old highway had been stripped down to bare earth. They were putting water on the dirt to keep down the dust and to keep it hard packed. As a result both the car and the RV looked like we had been out "mudding" with the 4-wheelers. I've never had one vehicle much less two covered with so much mud. That is my only complaint about the UP. Many of the roads are very bad and, where they are making repairs, you must often drive long stretches on dirt.

This is another beautiful area to tour. The views along the shores of Lake Superior are gorgeous. The water is crystal clear and very blue along the horizon. Much of the area is covered in forests. We went to two different places where we could see long distances with nothing but trees and lakes in the distance. One of these was Porcupine Mountain State Park near Ontonagon (pronounced ahn-two-nog-n) in the southern portion of the peninsula. At the top of a ridge, we looked down on "Lake of the Clouds" and green trees as far as we see.

From Keweenaw Peninsula

The other high spot was along Brockway Mountain Drive at the opposite end of the peninsula near Copper Harbor. At the high point of the drive, we could look out to Lake Superior in one direction and in the other direction were miles of green treetops. Further along the drive was an overlook looking down on Copper Harbor which is near the tip of the peninsula.

We toured another lovely lighthouse in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

From Keweenaw Peninsula

Nearby we stopped at a waterfall along the road. It was next to the "Jampot" operated by a Monastery. The Monks make great jams and baked goods. I wanted to go back after trying some of their cookies but they were closed by the time we came back through. Too bad.

One of my favorite places was Calumet, Michigan. It is about 12 miles north of Houghton. At one time it was one of the richest cities in America because of the wealth generated by the Copper Mines that created the town. It looks like everything was built around the turn of the century. Due to the closing of the copper mines, there is significant deterioration in some places. Fortunately the National Park Service is working to help preserve this historic slice of America. We toured the Calumet Theater which opened in 1900 and was a stopping point for many of the top stars of the day - John Phillips Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., etc. It has been nicely restored and is very beautiful inside and out. There are many other old churches and buildings I would love to go back and tour.

From Keweenaw Peninsula

Another highlight from Calumet was the Country Kitchen which makes great Pasties (pronounced past-e). These were the meals made by the Cornish wives for their miner husbands. They are a pastry filled with diced potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, onions and beef. I was not too sure about the rutabagas, but they turned out not to have a strong flavor or much flavor at all. We both loved the Pasties and have several in the freezer for future enjoyment.

I hope we work our way back to Houghton. We could easily have stayed several months in this area, especially with such a great campground.