THIS YEAR WILL BE ADVENTUROUS ONCE AGAIN WITH A NEW ROUTE DAY ONE AND 3 DIFFERENT RIDES FOR DAY 2. YOUR CHOICES ON DAY 2 WILL BE COPPER HARBOR, OR PORCUPINE MOUNTAINS OR MUNSING FOR THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT TOUR OF SHIPWRECKS.

WE WILL MEET FRIDAY AT 10:00AM AT THE DEALERSHIP AND LEAVE BY 1030AM FOR THE UP.

Please eat a good breakfast or bring snacks because it may be awhile before we eat.

DAY ONE 07/30 10:00- MEET AT DEALERSHIP AT 10AM FOR INSTRUCTIONS, FORM SIGNING  AND BREAK  INTO GROUPS

                1030AM-12:00-TRAVEL TO MACKINAC CITY, GAS UP AND THEN MEET IN ST IGNACE        WELCOME CENTER (3.50 BRIDGE FARE) 67.5 miles

               1215pm-100pm-Take 123 Newberry exit to Trout Lake.  30 miles

               0100-200pm-West on H40 to Engadine. Drop down to US 2 West to H33, then north to Curtis. Stop at Whitefish Inn for lunch. 57 miles. Gas up if necessary, about another 50 miles to Munising and 100 to Marquette from here. 

 0300pm-430pm-H44 (10 curves rd) to Germfask. North on 77 to Seney on M28. West on 28 to Shingleton. North on H15 to west H58 to H13 to Miner’s Castle and Miners Falls. Pictured Rocks. Stop for tour. 50miles

           0500-0630-South on H13 to H58 and west to 28 west through Munising and onto Marquette. To Imperial Motel, Make a left on US41-28, GO DOWN PAST MOTEL AND MAKE A UTURN (DIVIDED HWY)

ARRIVE AT MOTEL-DINNER ON YOUR OWN.

Day 2- GROUPS GOING TO COPPER HARBOR AND PORCUPINE MTS MEET IN FRONT OF HOTEL 830AM

              BILL, GERRY AND DIANE TO GIVE ROAD CAPTAIN INSTRUCTIONS.              

845AM-9AM-DEPART HOTEL AND HEAD WEST TOWARD LANSE.

945AM-1030AM -STOP AT CANYON FALLS ROADSIDE PARK. A SHORT HIKE TO THE FALLS FOR SOME MORNING FRESH AIR AND EXERCISE. DEPART AND ARRIVE IN LANSE ,

1045-1145- HILLTOP RESTAURANT FOR BREAKFAST.

1145-1200PM- GROUPS SPLIT OFF TOWARD INDIVIDUAL DESTINATIONS. GROUP 1 TO PORKIES, GROUP 2 TO KEWENAW.

This is a big, pretty waterfall on the Upper Sturgeon River is at the head of the canyon. It is necessary to cross the river to see the width of the waterfall. The canyon is beautiful with a lot of slate.

This is easy to find. It is a five to ten minute hike.These falls (Canyon Falls Upper, Middle and Lower) are south of Alberta, which is southwest of L'Anse.

This is located just north of a bridge parking lot, that is 2.6 miles north of the US 141- US 41 junction. The parking lot is west of the road. There is a big sign and a developed, marked trail to the waterfalls (Canyon Falls Upper, Middle and Lower)

Ability to Locate: Easy
Access by Hiking: Fairly Easy
Beauty of Falls: Outstanding
 

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GROUP 2 ITINERARY FOR PORKIES RUN

1200-130PM- TRAVEL TO WHITE PINE MICHIGAN. 67 MILES. 41 WEST TO BARAGA, GO LEFT OR WEST ON 38 TO OTONOGON, MAKE A LEFT IN OTONOGON TO 64. LEFT ON 64 TO WHITE PINE. TO HEMLOCK STREET, TURN RIGHT TO CEDAR STREET. STOP AT CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR SNACKS AND DRINKS.

130PM-230PM-TRAVEL BACK UP 64 TO 107 SILVER CITY AND TO PORCUPINE STATE PARK FOR VIEW AND PICTURES OF THE LAKE OF THE CLOUDS.

230PM-3PM-TRAVEL TO WAKEFIELD VIA SOUTH BOUNDARY RD OUT OF PORKIES,TAKE 107 OUT OF PORKIES TO RIGHT ON SOUTH BOUNDARY RD.  GOES AROUND THE MT AND BECOMES 519 SOUTH TO WAKEFIELD. ANOTHER 40 MILES. GAS STOP AND BREAK. There may be a discrepancy in the route around the mountain. 1. Head west on Little Carp River Rd toward S Boundary Rd - 3.4 mi

2. Turn right at S Boundary Rd - 8.0 mi

3. Turn left at Forest Trail 117/Presque Isle Rd - 3.1 mi

4. Continue onto N County Rd - 2.4 mi

5. Continue onto Co Rd 519 - 7.8 mi

6. Turn right at N Co Rd 519 - 1.3 mi

7. Continue onto Thomaston Rd - 1.0 mi

8. Slight right at M-28 W - 1.3 mi

9. Turn left at US-2 E - 361 ft

10. Take the 1st right onto Brotherton St - 0.1 mi

Arrive at: Wakefield, MI

315PM-500PM-TRAVEL TO PAULDING AND BOND FALLS. GO WEST ON 28 AT WAKEFIELD TO BERGLAND. STAY ON 28 TO BRUCE’S CROSSING AND TURN RIGHT ON 45 TO BOND RD. MAKE A LEFT TO BOND FALLS STATE PARK. 48 MILES.  STOP FOR VIEWING OF WATER FALLS AND ICE CREAM IF DESIRED. THERE IS SPOT FOR ICE CREAM THAT IS WALKING DISTANCE FROM PARK .

OUT OF PARK MAKE A LEFT TO CALDERWOOD RD WHICH GOES NORTH TO 28, WE HAVE THE OPTION OF STOPPING AT ANOTHER WATERFALL SIGHT, AGATE FALLS WHICH IS UP TO THE GROUP. IT IS A JUST A QUICK LEFT ON 28 AT THE INTERSECTION, F NOT WE MAKE A RIGHT ON 28 AND HEAD TO 41 TO MARQUETTE. ANOTHER 40 MILES STOP AT 28- 141 INTERSECTION FOR LAST GAS STOP AND BREAK.

7-800PM- TRAVEL THAT LAST 60 MILES TO MARQUETTE AND BACK TO MOTEL FOR PIZZA PARTY.

 Complex and spectacular Bond Falls, one of the western Upper Peninsula's most visited and photographed places, is just one of the attractions at the outlet of the Bond Falls Flowage. Put together, it's a fine place to spend a day, what with trout fishing in the flowage and on the Ontonagon River's Middle Branch; the swimming beach; a woodland streamside path; wading in the rapids before the falls; and enjoying an ice cream cone at a little park below the dam with swings, picnic tables, and benches.

An Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) dam created the flowage, over three miles across. Just below the dam and across the road, a trail, steep and root-laced in places, follows the river for a quarter mile through cedars and other conifers. The river cascades over a dark, wide rim of ancient volcanic rock, fractured into boulders. It forms several pools — magnets for splashing and wading on hot summer days. The river then curves and disappears into a concrete channel that minimizes erosion.

Finally, the water spreads out for dramatic effect at Bond Falls. There the river drops almost 50 feel over a wide series of stair-like boulders. The water makes complicated, curvy spray patterns in many directions, then creates a wide pool and divides, forming an island. A bridge lets people cross onto the island, which provides a grand photo opportunity for capturing the falls' complex panorama against the sky, as if the photographer were standing in the river.

Until recently Bond Falls was off-limits to anyone not sure of foot, let alone disabled. Now it's fully accessible via a second entrance and steep asphalt drive down to a parking lot. From it a 600' boardwalk leads to the falls. Viewing platforms with artistic grillwork frame some views of the falls. People can still walk down to the water. (Funds from gas and oil drilling make such projects possible despite Michigan's economic woes.)

At the main falls, visitors can cross a footbridge to reach another, steeper trail along the east bank, returning back to the road and the Bond Falls Outpost (906-827-3753). That's the little ice cream-souvenir stand and camp store just below the dam, next to the campground office.

In Fish Michigan: 50 Rivers , fishing authority Tom Huggler says the five-mile stretch of the Ontonagon River's Middle Branch north from Bond Falls to Agate Falls is an excellent spot to fly-fish for brook trout. It's "shallow, fast water that stays cold, . . . with some deep pools and substrate of mostly cobble and gravel." ??Camping and a public beach had been on the north shore of Bond Falls Flowage, just above the dam.
Now UPPCO has exercised its right as a private landowner to sell some land around the flowage not needed to generate energy to a developer, Naterra Land. Naterra has platted parcels for vacation homes — up to 424 on the flowage's 1,700 acres. (Homes would be set back at least 200 feet from the shore, with no "view corridors" cut to the water.)

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