In the northern reaches of the Midwest, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan stretches 300 miles from Wisconsin to Ontario. Three of the Great Lakes — Superior, Huron and Michigan — lap its extensive, 1,700-mile shoreline. Lush pine and deciduous forests carpet the landscape. Hundreds of waterfalls cascade. Scores of light stations guide freighters around rugged reefs and cliffs.

Whether travelers explore one locale in depth or drive the peninsula end to end, intriguing natural and manmade attractions await them. Here are some ways to enjoy the Upper Peninsula.

Explore Copper Country

Keweenaw Peninsula extends into Lake Superior in the northwest section of the Upper Peninsula. In winter, the snowfall averages just under 200 inches, but in the summer, white blossoms bedeck sugar plum shrubs and yellow marsh marigolds dapple roadsides.

In this pristine land, 19th–century miners extracted copper that fueled the Industrial Revolution. At one time, the Calumet & Hecla (C&H) Mining Company employed 18,000 miners a day. Some 50,000 people representing 38 distinct ethnic groups lived within walking distance of the town of Calumet. (Today it has fewer than 900 residents.)

In cooperation with 16 privately–run sites, the Keweenaw National Historical Park interprets the area’s copper mining history. Among its key sites is the C&H Public Library in which miners could delve into 45,000 books.

Calumet Theatre presents the copper era’s cultural legacy. Men in top hats and women in fancy bonnets attended opening night in 1900. Those of lesser means watched from bleachers above the balcony. Current productions still use the theater’s ropes and counterweights system to move scenery.

Tours of Laurium Manor Inn reveal a copper baron’s lifestyle. This 45–room mansion boasts such opulent features as silver–leaf ceilings, dining room walls covered with gilded elephant hide, and a 1,300 square–foot ballroom. At a time when miners earned $.25 an hour, construction of this residence cost $50,000.

In contrast, the Quincy Mine showcases the miners’ grueling work. Wearing hard hats, visitors ride an outdoor cog rail tram to the seventh level mine entrance. Inside, an ore cart which miners hand–pushed holds an 832-pound specimen of 99 percent pure copper. Guides demonstrate how, by candlelight, one man held an iron drill while another hit it with a hammer to bore blasting holes in the rock. When the lights are turned off, the absolute darkness accentuates the miners’ dangerous environment.

Lake Superior, which bathes the Upper Peninsula’s northern shore, is the largest of the Great Lakes. In fact, the waters of the other four equal only two–thirds the volume of Lake Superior. This enormous body of fresh water measures 350 miles long, 160 miles at its greatest width and more than 1,300 feet at its deepest point.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore rims its coast for nearly 40 miles, from Munising to Grand Marais. The park’s sheer cliffs and dangerous reefs typify the wild shores that caused 19th–century mariners to call it shipwreck coast.

Roads lead to several overlooks and to trailheads that access the Lakeshore–North Country Trail. The best way to view the colorful cliffs, though, is on a three–hour narrated boat tour.

Starting in Munising, the boat cruises through clear, blue-green waters. Forests crown the dolomite–sandstone cliffs. Sculptured formations with such descriptive names as Miners Castle, Indian Head and Battleship Rock tower on the shore. Colorful streaks, etched by minerals in the groundwater that oozes through cracks, paint the cliff faces. White is created by limestone, red and brown by iron, and blue and green by copper.

In Rainbow Cave, water drips from the ceiling directly into the lake. At Grand Portal, the water has carved an impressive arch. Squawking birds herald Gull Rookery where seagulls perch on nests.

Pastel stripes and blotches form distinctive colorful patterns on each rock wall. Adding to the beauty, “rootbeer” waterfalls, brown from tannic acid, tumble into the lake.

Skirt the Rapids

At Sault Ste. Marie on the Upper Peninsula’s northeastern point, the St. Mary’s River connects Lakes Superior and Huron. The river’s turbulent mile-long rapids cascade over a 21–foot drop. Before the first lock was built in 1855, vessels were mounted on skids and portaged around the raging water, a three-month operation. Now the trip takes about 15 minutes.

On a two–hour narrated boat tour, visitors ride through the Soo Locks, often with gargantuan freighters nearby. The largest vessels sailing on the Great Lakes measure more than three football fields (1,000 feet) long and 105 feet wide. Their clearance inside a lock is only 2 ½ feet on either side.

When the light on the gate turns green, the tour boat enters one of the four American locks from the Lake Huron side of the St. Mary’s River. The gate closes and water flows in, raising the boat 21 feet — to the same level as the water behind the gate ahead. Depending on the lock, from 10 to 22 million gallons of water are required to change the water level. When the front gate opens, the boat blasts its whistle and mariners cast off the mooring lines.

Now on the upper St. Mary’s River, 16 miles from Lake Superior, the boat passes under the International Highway Bridge. The Canadian and U.S. flags fly at the center of the bridge span, marking the border of the two countries. The boat then traverses the river and begins heading downstream. A steel plant, paper mill and other major landmarks stand on the Canadian shore. Then the vessel enters the Canadian Lock. Water flows out, lowering the boat 21 feet to the level of the lower St. Mary’s River. Forty–five miles away, Lake Huron laps the Upper Peninsula’s southeastern shore.

Relax in an Island Setting

With horse carriages and bicycles the primary modes of transportation, the pace on Mackinac Island is soothingly slow. (Motorized vehicles have been banned for more than a century.) The island sits in Lake Huron a short distance from where the Mackinac Bridge connects the state’s two land masses.

Magnificent Victorian “summer cottages,” some with more than 30 rooms, beautify the East and West Bluffs. Museums and historic sites chronicle the island’s history. Inside Fort Mackinac, for example, fife and drum performers fill the air with music one hour, and soldiers fire thundering muskets and cannons the next.

At the Grand Hotel, guests stroll through groomed gardens, sip cordials on the wide veranda or dine to the tunes of a live orchestra. Pink geraniums or their likeness appear everywhere — in flower beds, wallpaper, toiletries, carpets and china. Opened in 1887, the hotel maintains some traditions, including the requirement that men wear a coat and tie after 6 p.m.

To explore the island, visitors ride bicycles, take carriage tours or drive horse–drawn buggies. Arch Rock, Devil’s Kitchen and other unusual limestone formations accent the shore road. Nature trails wind through inland woods and flower–dappled meadows.

In town, shoppers gravitate to gift stores, boutiques and galleries bordering quaint streets. The sweet aroma of homemade fudge wafts through the air. Visitors glue their noses to wide windows as they watch the sugary liquid being stirred in large copper kettles, cooled on marble slabs, and then cut into delicious morsels. Few can resist this Mackinaw Island specialty.

IF YOU GO TO THE UPPER PENINSULA:
Northwest Airlines and other carriers fly daily to Hancock–Houghton, Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie and other Upper Peninsula cities.