Tammie and I held off our vacation this year until autumn so we could see the gorgeous fall colors in the Upper Peninsula. It’s a long way from where we live in the Lower Peninsula. The folks that live there are affectionately known as "Yoopers," whereas us denizens are known as "trolls" by the folks in the U.P. because we live below the Mackinac Bridge which connects the two peninsulas. Clever, huh?

According to the Michigan website and the phone calls I made to Michigan travel information centers, this year it was hard to determine when the peak of the fall colors would be. It was a very hot summer with very little rain. As it turned out, most of the trees in the Upper Peninsula were just barely turning colored when we arrived in late September, which is unusual.

We kept going west and made our first stop in Munising. After getting a motel to stay for a couple days, we checked out a couple waterfalls in the city limits and took a boat the next morning to explore some wrecks in Lake Superior. The boat had a glass bottom so we could see ships that sunk many years ago, yet were preserved due to the frigid waters. In the photo to the left, you can see the anchor still lying on the lake’s floor in almost perfect condition.

Lake Superior is a cold and often violent lake. It’s the largest and deepest freshwater lake in the world. When winter approaches, boats try to stay off it.

Munising is home to a beautiful state park where Tammie and I did some hiking later on that day. Though a lot of the leaves hadn’t changed color yet, the scenery was spectacular. The first stop was the ranger’s office for maps of the different hiking areas. After getting a lot of friendly and informative advice, we set out to the different areas with their own special vistas and sights.

We were in the vicinity of the Pictured Rocks, so called because of the beautiful multicolored cliffs that edge up to Lake Superior. One of the cool rock formations can be seen to the right.

Yup! That’s yours truly leaning against it so the photo would have some scale to it. Behind the rock and me is a cliff that drops down a long way to the cold and rocky waters below.

The state park is not just cool rocks and trees. There are quite a few water falls too. Some can only be seen by foot. These long hikes require camping out in the forest, which Tammie and I passed on. We stuck with the shorter hikes which only went 6 or 7 miles round trip.

One of the water falls can be seen to the left. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of that particular waterfall, but the ranger’s office at the entrance to the park will tell you everything you need to know before you start any sightseeing, hiking, or camping.

Naturally, you’re also warned not to feed the bears. Luckily, that advice needed no heeding since we didn’t come across any.

With all this hiking, you work up a huge appetite that gets sick of munching on trail mix all the time. The Upper Peninsula is famous for its pasties. It’s a pastry filled with beef, potatoes, rutabaga, and other good stuff that was first created to feed the miners in the old days. Because of the way they're made, they stayed hot in the cold underground mines, hours later when it was time to eat lunch. They are filling and delicious, so we went out of our way to make sure we had some for lunch that afternoon (which wasn’t difficult since there are many places to get them up here).

We found out from a tour guide that Muldoon’s Pasties was declared the best pasty in the whole Upper Peninsula. Since we refused to settle for second best (and because they were only a couple minutes away from where we were at the time), we headed straight over there and bought some with gravy. They were delicious and, as you can see from Tammie’s happy face, deserved their reputation.

The nightlife in most of the cities in the U.P. is pretty nonexistent. So we usually went to bed early to wake up for more fun the next day. With all the hiking we did, it wasn’t too hard to fall asleep!

After a couple days in Munising, we drove to Houghton. It was a college town with an abandoned copper mine that now held tours. After enjoying the tour and settling in our motel, we spent the next day driving up to Copper Harbor. Along the way up 41, we took in gorgeous, lush forest at their peak of fall color. The reds, oranges, ad golds were spectacular! Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull over to take any photos because it was only a 2-lane highway with not much of a shoulder, if any. On the way back, we took 26 stopping off at a historic lighthouse and a delicious bakery run by monks called the Jam Pot.

After seeing the gorgeous peak colors, we were encouraged and drove southwest to the Porcupine Mountains. To our delight, they were also at their peak. Again, we found lodging first and then headed out to the Porcupine Mountain State Park. The picture below is from one of the roads running through the park.

Look how happy I am to be surrounded by such beautiful scenery! There were a lot of hiking trails, too many to get taken in the little time we had left on our vacation. We made sure to check out the Lake In The Clouds. We saw some cave where bats liked to hang out in (but we didn’t see any bats). Mostly, we drove to different hiking areas and just walked taking in the trees, the mountains, and a lot of waterfalls.

The mountains had so many trees it looked like fields of golden broccoli. We finished up at its highest point at Summit Peak, one of the highest points in Michigan at 1.958 feet. Click my smiling face to open a new window with a panorama I made from a few photos I took at the peak (the image is about 56k and could take a 15-30 seconds to download, depending on your connection speed).

For the most part, we were blessed with terrific weather. It was sunny and dry. But on one of the last days, we did get hit with a day of cold rain. Rather than languish in our motel or a restaurant, we drove to see Lake Superior and its mighty waves. We found it a dramatic way to spend an afternoon. (We’re not that hard to please, are we?)

We even thought it picture worthy. The photo below is one of the few we shot during the storm as the rain came down very hard. Check out those white caps!

How time flies! It’s already been a week and now it’s time to head home. Since the route back went through Munising, we made another stop there to take in some more hiking (as well as another stop at Muldoon’s Pasties, of course). Munising was now almost at its peak of color by this time and the stop was well worth it.

Back in the state park, we took in some more hiking. It was earlier in the morning and the sun was still a little low and bathed the forest with lush sunbeams. Chipmunks were scurrying around preparing for the upcoming winter.

Invigorated with the beauty, we ignored the many complaints of our out-of-shape limbs and joints and did a little more hiking. And we were richly rewarded for our trouble.

We got to see another large and beautiful waterfall that I was able to walk behind (which required ignoring the fence and the warning saying it was not a safe thing to do. Oops.)

But now it was time for the long drive back home. Though it’s usually a sad time because it means it’s back to the humdrum of work, bills, laundry, and home maintenance, we still made the best of it by enjoying the a last look at the Upper Peninsula in its fall color peak. If that wasn’t enough, we’d get to see our area of Michigan peak in the next two weeks as well.

If you want to see some incredible fall foliage colors, I highly recommend Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Since it’s in late September and early October, it’s not too hard to find a place to stay. It’s off-peak season so you’ll find that you have a lot of the hiking trails to your self. I know we plan on returning. Hopefully one day we’ll even be able to do some camping in Isle Royale.

If you plan on visiting the Upper Peninsula, check out the State of Michigan tour site where you can get any information on what to do and where to go, no matter what time of year it is. Maybe we’ll see you up there sometime.