Lovely country up there sir! Lot of it reminds me of Florida. Except for that mountain you got there.
CK5
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The Great Smaug
- Thread starter campfire
- Start date
Always a pleasure to read along.
We were awakened in the middle of the night by an impressive display of cloud-to-cloud lightning. For quite a while we just sat and watched the very cool light show. Then the rain moved in. Wet rain. Not torrential amounts, but fairly heavy, and steady throughout the night. I was very glad to be camping inside the truck this year. Yay for having no tent! It was still pouring when we got up, so we wound up pretty wet once we stepped outside. I took this as a sign that I needed to take a shower (
). Shower complete, I hauled the bikes out from dry-ish storage (under the truck) and threw them in the back. We were soggy, and the cargo bay got a little bit soggy, but it was a lot dryer than we've been in other years. Score one for camping inside the vehicle. 
The folks in tents packed up their soggy gear. Trying to dry stuff out was a futile endeavor. It would need to wait.
By the time we hit the road, the storm was getting lighter.
Wet fog everywhere. Driving through a cloud, basically.
This transformed the landscape. Without changing location, we found we had been transported out of the dusty woods and into a rain forest.
Ryan's roof-mounted antenna got loose, so we stopped for a fix-it break.
Ponchos were donned, and I spent my downtime examining this creek. It had swollen quite a bit overnight, and the water was running quickly.
A bored burban. One of my janky headlight harnesses wiggled loose.
Back on the road.
The rain slowed down as the miles added up.
Eventually visibility returned to the trail. Yay!
). Shower complete, I hauled the bikes out from dry-ish storage (under the truck) and threw them in the back. We were soggy, and the cargo bay got a little bit soggy, but it was a lot dryer than we've been in other years. Score one for camping inside the vehicle. The folks in tents packed up their soggy gear. Trying to dry stuff out was a futile endeavor. It would need to wait.
By the time we hit the road, the storm was getting lighter.
Wet fog everywhere. Driving through a cloud, basically.
This transformed the landscape. Without changing location, we found we had been transported out of the dusty woods and into a rain forest.
Ryan's roof-mounted antenna got loose, so we stopped for a fix-it break.
Ponchos were donned, and I spent my downtime examining this creek. It had swollen quite a bit overnight, and the water was running quickly.
A bored burban. One of my janky headlight harnesses wiggled loose.
Back on the road.
The rain slowed down as the miles added up.
Eventually visibility returned to the trail. Yay!
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As the rain let up, Ryan announced he was having grinding noise coming from his transfer case. He decided to stop and drain out the fully-hydrogenated gear oil before bearings got trashed. I had enough 15W-40 to get him back home, but Don scrounged up some proper gear lube. Yay for carrying the right supplies.
I generally despise mud, because I hate cleaning up after it. But this sandy wet slop isn't too bad. The mist and drizzle clean the outer sheet metal. So the truck slowly gets cleaner the longer we drive. Unfortunately, this self-cleaning trick does not work on the undercarriage. But it's still better than mud.
We lulled around while the lipid transfusion progressed, following that little trail over to the nearest lake.
Lakes are funner than unscheduled transfer case maintenance.
The lakes are prettier, too.
I generally despise mud, because I hate cleaning up after it. But this sandy wet slop isn't too bad. The mist and drizzle clean the outer sheet metal. So the truck slowly gets cleaner the longer we drive. Unfortunately, this self-cleaning trick does not work on the undercarriage. But it's still better than mud.
We lulled around while the lipid transfusion progressed, following that little trail over to the nearest lake.
Lakes are funner than unscheduled transfer case maintenance.
The lakes are prettier, too.
Thanks for the update Ethan! Beautiful scenery as always
Awesome write up as always.. Looking forward to this year.
As we hit the road again, the fog continued to lift. Soon we could see patches of blue between the clouds, and the landscape again shown its bright colors.
Here is a railroad depot outside Mass City. LP makes OSB in Sagola and wood siding in Newberry. I presume these logs are bound for one of these plants (likely Sagola).
Downtown Mass City. The convoy stopped here for fuel (though I'm not sure anyone actually needed it).
Although miles South of Houghton and Calumet, that high ridge is part of the same formation that the Copper Country mines chased (the native copper in the map below).
This area had its own mines, developing in parallel with their Northern cousins (which eventually merged into Calumet & Hecla). This same section of rail network used to connect to Houghton, connecting several mines and stamp mills along the way. Of course, these mines became just as bankrupt as the C&H mines, so they look the same now. But at one point they were their own distinct region, thanks to that dead spot on the map (South of Toivola).
Adventure Mine and Champion #4 (Painesdale) offer tours, so you can still catch a small glimpse of how they worked. I have pictures of both in other trip reports. Champion closed in 1967, but the #4 shaft and shaft house found a second life as a storage reservoir for the local water district. That kept it alive until 1996, which is likely why it survived long enough to become a museum. Most others got scrapped before they were old enough to be of historical interest.
Here is a railroad depot outside Mass City. LP makes OSB in Sagola and wood siding in Newberry. I presume these logs are bound for one of these plants (likely Sagola).
Downtown Mass City. The convoy stopped here for fuel (though I'm not sure anyone actually needed it).
Although miles South of Houghton and Calumet, that high ridge is part of the same formation that the Copper Country mines chased (the native copper in the map below).
This area had its own mines, developing in parallel with their Northern cousins (which eventually merged into Calumet & Hecla). This same section of rail network used to connect to Houghton, connecting several mines and stamp mills along the way. Of course, these mines became just as bankrupt as the C&H mines, so they look the same now. But at one point they were their own distinct region, thanks to that dead spot on the map (South of Toivola).
Adventure Mine and Champion #4 (Painesdale) offer tours, so you can still catch a small glimpse of how they worked. I have pictures of both in other trip reports. Champion closed in 1967, but the #4 shaft and shaft house found a second life as a storage reservoir for the local water district. That kept it alive until 1996, which is likely why it survived long enough to become a museum. Most others got scrapped before they were old enough to be of historical interest.
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Speaking of that railroad, segments of it have been turned into the Bill Nicholls ORV Route. Some of the guys had never seen the Firesteel trestles, so we arranged to swing past them en route to our camping site.
Trestle #2 (the first of the 3):
The group had circled the wagons between trestles #2 and #3, to make way for the steady stream of UTVs that now cruise this trail.
And then we did the same thing with trestle #3.
Circling the wagons, part 2:
By this point people had seen enough trestle, so we cruised over trestle #4 and rolled on towards camp.
Trestle #2 (the first of the 3):
The group had circled the wagons between trestles #2 and #3, to make way for the steady stream of UTVs that now cruise this trail.
And then we did the same thing with trestle #3.
Circling the wagons, part 2:
By this point people had seen enough trestle, so we cruised over trestle #4 and rolled on towards camp.
Thanks. I immediately decided to download an archive of the pictures once I found out the UPO site was going down. But the site was already down by the time it was announced, so I didn't get anything.
Whatever happened to UPO? It pretty much imploded over the last few years. I never have met Tom, TJ, or Kristian out on the trails. Tom hinted about joining a couple years back, but did not show up. The Roamwherever/Roam Auto/UPO brands seem to have died off. Eh?
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I do still have my own pictures, though. So not all is lost. 
And what are you doing in the Keweenaw these days? 
Sorry for being a nerd. C&H gobbled up everything North of the portage, except Quincy. Everything South of the Portage ended up as part of Copper Range, which was basically an expanded Champion Mine. Copper Range also started the White Pine, which was really the only non-native copper mine in the area and the last to close. The Ontonagon native copper mines were never really part of these consolidations because they were closed by then and all production was on conglomerate and amygdaloid loads.
UPO is just guys like us. I like to keep up the appearance it's a real organization for whatever benefits that can have (but we often disprove this to attendees with our lack of organizationThanks. I immediately decided to download an archive of the pictures once I found out the UPO site was going down. But the site was already down by the time it was announced, so I didn't get anything.
Whatever happened to UPO? It pretty much imploded over the last few years. I never have met Tom, TJ, or Kristian out on the trails. Tom hinted about joining a couple years back, but did not show up. The Roamwherever/Roam Auto/UPO brands seem to have died off. Eh?
). Really, it was never anything more than people in trucks following each other around in the woods, but this is one of those things where the total is more than the sum of the parts. I think they got a lot of interest in the early days due to good marketing and a lack of alternate events. These days you can go on MOL facebook page and find people to go camp with and never have to drive over 100 miles.There is still a Roam clothing store in Munising, but this last year is hardly a fair indicator of what businesses will survive or close.
Shoveling.And what are you doing in the Keweenaw these days?
I think the cat is basically out of the bag that I'm making a transition.
No apologies needed, I like this stuff. You already knew that. :P
I had thought (perhaps incorrectly) that Copper Range (& White Pine) wound up in the same company as C&H. Did they not merge together later on, after C&H ran out of Northern mines to close?
While we're grousing about websites being down, I'd like to lodge a complaint about CCE going offline a few years back. I see that some of the articles are back up now, but for the last few years the information has been unavailable. And what's back up appears to be a small fraction of what used to be there. Sigh...
UPO is just guys like us. I like to keep up the appearance it's a real organization for whatever benefits that can have (but we often disprove this to attendees with our lack of organization
Hahaha!
Chaos is a headache. But aimless rambling is great. The trick is to find the happy balance...
If you're patient enough, you can get most of the content on the way back machine http://web.archive.org/web/20161011185634/http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/
Nice! I did not realize the wayback machine saved his pictures.
I anticipate a sharp drop in my productivity...
Leaving the trestles behind, we headed toward Indiana Mine.
It's easy to drive past without even noticing the mine. From this angle it's nearly invisible.
From this angle you can see a little bit of the outcropping.
But the fence around the opening is the biggest giveaway, once you get close enough to see it.
If these rocks could speak...
Looking down from above the opening.
Looking down at the truck.
It is at the bottom, though, where the mine keeps its greatest treasure.
Back on the trail!
It's easy to drive past without even noticing the mine. From this angle it's nearly invisible.
From this angle you can see a little bit of the outcropping.
But the fence around the opening is the biggest giveaway, once you get close enough to see it.
If these rocks could speak...
Looking down from above the opening.
Looking down at the truck.
It is at the bottom, though, where the mine keeps its greatest treasure.
Back on the trail!
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