My "Yooper" overland adventure, May/June 2025

[TeocaliMG]

A little late to post (procrastinator). Had an awesome trip in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula early this summer 2025.

You can get a taste of the off-roading we did here:
Yooper Overland 2025

I've spent quite a bit of time up here over the years (MTU grad) but was still able to find some new and neat places for the first time.

Theres a lot to see in Michigan's Upper peninsula, but if you are looking to do an off-road heavy "overland" adventure, I highly recommend the Huron Mountain/Baraga SF/Keweenaw regions. Aside from Drummond Island, there isn't much exposed rock "wheeling" to be found in Michigan, but the afore mentioned regions do have some (particularly the Keweenaw) in additional to plentiful sand, mud, and rich forests.

I brought my Drone along, and found out after the trip how over-exposed the images were. Turns out that a week out from solstice, you might want to use a filter or at least play with exposure settings (which I did not). My Drone may have a fantastic camera, but it also requires a bit of attention to detail, unlike my cell phone that I can essentially point and shoot and never really consider things like exposure. Also recall that Canada had some wild fires earlier this summer and that contributed to the haze, but it was mostly my incompetence.


The Cliff: Now this wasn't my first time on "the Cliffs", in college I had hiked up from the base with some friends. But this was my first time there with a vehicle so in some ways it counts as a first. Not for the faint of heart, you can skip wheeling the last portion and hike it. The trail dumps you out right at the cliff on some fairly rugged rocks. If it were rated on onX, i'd expect it to be a 7.

Douglas Houghton Falls: The tallest waterfall in Michigan.

Despite going to school only 20 minutes away, and going on dozens and dozens of adventures in the Keweenaw, this was my first time at Douglas Houghton Falls. The reason for that is quite interesting. The waterfall is (was) located on private property. The owner was a good Samaritan and allowed public access to the falls. I think in 2011 someone fell from the cliff and died (perhaps more than one have died there). So he closed it off. College kids would still sneak in to check them out, but I wasn't among them.

Fast forward to this year, we stopped by to see the area under serious construction. Turns out the owner sold the property to the state. The D&R folks on site said he sold it for something in the ballpark of 300k. If you know anything about real estate, you'd know he essentially donated it. D&R said he had offers over 1 million from developers. If you are ever in the area, you must check it out, I think it will be a complete state park late next summer (2026). It's hard to put into words how much I appreciate a man like this giving his property over for the public to enjoy and preserve, when it would have been so easy to cash out to a property developer.

This was probably the last shot we had (unbeknownst to us) to hike down the falls the old fashioned way.


The Rock Cut: It still puzzles me how I never heard of or found the "Rock Cut" before. As far as i'm aware, its not even in the Keweenaw Adventure guide (OG's will know about that). Its marked on Google Maps.

It's a remnant of an old, failed railroad construction project. It looks like slot canyon hidden in the middle of the Huron Mountains. Its more impressive in person, and well worth a stop if you were already considering a drive to Mt. Arvon or Letherby Falls.

Keystone Bay: The last "New to me" stop was Keystone bay. The trail there is a bit muddy, but not insurmountable, and theres hardly a rock to be seen. Quite different from much of the Keweenaw, this area is marked by soft sandy beaches.

It may not be Moab, or Colorado, or the PNW, but the Upper Peninsula will always hold a special place in my heart. The rocks of the Keweenaw are ancient, to survive the eons and Ice ages and still stand proud above the world's largest freshwater lake is something special.

-------------------

I totally forgot to include this in the "new to me" compilation.

The Firesteel River Trestle Bridge: Again, I learned about this from another youtube video a year or two ago. Never knew about it when I was in school. Pretty neat, and a nice thing to include on the route if you are already planning to be in the area.

Under the cliff at Silver Mountain: This is a worthwhile short hike in the Sturgeon River Gorge area.

Here I am showing my daughter where I would have put the drone for the coolest family picture on the edge of the cliff, if I hadn't forgot the controller-to-phone connector:

Can you spot the closed off silver mine at "silver mountain"?

Camp at Perrault Lake: This photo shows a better representation of what the colors felt like on our "near solstice" trip. Everything was so vibrant and bright, shame the drone didnt capture it properly.

Couple more pictures from the cliff:

Horseshoe Harbor:

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[5280Bronco]

Love it! It doesn't have to be Moab, Colorado or the PNW to be amazing. Thanks for sharing! So many beautiful places in our country to explore and share.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

The UP is an amazing place that I haven't spent enough time in. I think I'll need to head up this next summer.

 

[MRTperformance]

Awesome write up and photos!

 

[OffRoadUSA.com]

Awesome! The UP is beautiful!

 

[GPPBronco]

A little late to post (procrastinator). Had an awesome trip in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula early this summer 2025.

I've spent quite a bit of time up here over the years (MTU grad) but was still able to find some new and neat places for the first time.

Theres a lot to see in Michigan's Upper peninsula, but if you are looking to do an off-road heavy "overland" adventure, I highly recommend the Huron Mountain/Baraga SF/Keweenaw regions. Aside from Drummond Island, there isn't much exposed rock "wheeling" to be found in Michigan, but the afore mentioned regions do have some (particularly the Keweenaw) in additional to plentiful sand, mud, and rich forests.

I brought my Drone along, and found out after the trip how over-exposed the images were. Turns out that a week out from solstice, you might want to use a filter or at least play with exposure settings (which I did not). My Drone may have a fantastic camera, but it also requires a bit of attention to detail, unlike my cell phone that I can essentially point and shoot and never really consider things like exposure. Also recall that Canada had some wild fires earlier this summer and that contributed to the haze, but it was mostly my incompetence.


The Cliff: Now this wasn't my first time on "the Cliffs", in college I had hiked up from the base with some friends. But this was my first time there with a vehicle so in some ways it counts as a first. Not for the faint of heart, you can skip wheeling the last portion and hike it. The trail dumps you out right at the cliff on some fairly rugged rocks. If it were rated on onX, i'd expect it to be a 7.

Douglas Houghton Falls: The tallest waterfall in Michigan.

Despite going to school only 20 minutes away, and going on dozens and dozens of adventures in the Keweenaw, this was my first time at Douglas Houghton Falls. The reason for that is quite interesting. The waterfall is (was) located on private property. The owner was a good Samaritan and allowed public access to the falls. I think in 2011 someone fell from the cliff and died (perhaps more than one have died there). So he closed it off. College kids would still sneak in to check them out, but I wasn't among them.

Fast forward to this year, we stopped by to see the area under serious construction. Turns out the owner sold the property to the state. The D&R folks on site said he sold it for something in the ballpark of 300k. If you know anything about real estate, you'd know he essentially donated it. D&R said he had offers over 1 million from developers. If you are ever in the area, you must check it out, I think it will be a complete state park late next summer (2026). It's hard to put into words how much I appreciate a man like this giving his property over for the public to enjoy and preserve, when it would have been so easy to cash out to a property developer.

This was probably the last shot we had (unbeknownst to us) to hike down the falls the old fashioned way.


The Rock Cut: It still puzzles me how I never heard of or found the "Rock Cut" before. As far as i'm aware, its not even in the Keweenaw Adventure guide (OG's will know about that). Its marked on Google Maps.

It's a remnant of an old, failed railroad construction project. It looks like slot canyon hidden in the middle of the Huron Mountains. Its more impressive in person, and well worth a stop if you were already considering a drive to Mt. Arvon or Letherby Falls.

Keystone Bay: The last "New to me" stop was Keystone bay. The trail there is a bit muddy, but not insurmountable, and theres hardly a rock to be seen. Quite different from much of the Keweenaw, this area is marked by soft sandy beaches.

It may not be Moab, or Colorado, or the PNW, but the Upper Peninsula will always hold a special place in my heart. The rocks of the Keweenaw are ancient, to survive the eons and Ice ages and still stand proud above the world's largest freshwater lake is something special.

You can get a taste of the off-roading we did here:
Yooper Overland 2025

Thanks for sharing! For the drive to Keystone Bay, did you need to use lockers? how deep/rutted are the muddy spots?

 

[RoseLane4]

Great write-up & pics! I’m so needing to get out and into the back country!
Thanks for sharing )

The Bronco looks happy

 

[TeocaliMG]

Thanks for sharing! For the drive to Keystone Bay, did you need to use lockers? how deep/rutted are the muddy spots?

In the video you can see that there was one really deep section I opted to go around. I probably could have made it with lockers on, but just really didnt feel like taking the chance of getting out in the middle of a nasty water/mud hole to pull winch. Especially as it was nearing the end of the day. This was also very early summer.

I bet that August or September it would be a good bit drier. A buddy of mine has done it in a stock F-150 years ago, so either the conditions are highly seasonally variable, or they were just better in the past. Or a mix of both. Either way, theres a bypass you can take for the deep hole.

 

[Headsong]

Tell me you were playing "Fishing with Fred" and "The Second week of deercamp" and singing along.

Is Dr. Yooper Dave still at MTU? Might have retired a couple years back....

 

[TeocaliMG]

Here is a rough outline of the route (yellow).

The intended highlight of the trip (aside from the cliff) was to be 14 Mile Point Lighthouse(red). I found out about this from an older alumni who was on the 4x4 club like 40 years ago.

Apparently, that used to be a favorite. I could hardly find any information about getting there by wheel. Boat is far more common. Suffice it to say, it's not to be attempted solo. I'm sure the conditions are at least slightly better in late summer. But I parked in front of this mud hole and walked at least a quarter mile through at least half a dozen similar mud holes. Using a little bit of interpolation, it was guaranteed to be a slog all the way to 14 Mile Point (at this point, still 1.5 miles away), and this was already after some smaller mud holes and ditch crossings.

Notice in the picture below, there is a path through the woods. As far as I could tell, all the tracks were made by SxS's. If you have a route that's only being trafficked by SxS's and some of them are opting to cut down dozens of saplings for bypasses, safe to say its nasty. Confirmed, also by walking through them with my old shoes.

Is it possible? yes. Do I want to try it again? 100%. Do I want to try it again solo in early summer? 0%

 

[GPPBronco]

Here is a rough outline of the route (yellow).

The intended highlight of the trip (aside from the cliff) was to be 14 Mile Point Lighthouse(red). I found out about this from an older alumni who was on the 4x4 club like 40 years ago.

Apparently, that used to be a favorite. I could hardly find any information about getting there by wheel. Boat is far more common. Suffice it to say, it's not to be attempted solo. I'm sure the conditions are at least slightly better in late summer. But I parked in front of this mud hole and walked at least a quarter mile through at least half a dozen similar mud holes. Using a little bit of interpolation, it was guaranteed to be a slog all the way to 14 Mile Point (at this point, still 1.5 miles away), and this was already after some smaller mud holes and ditch crossings.

Notice in the picture below, there is a path through the woods. As far as I could tell, all the tracks were made by SxS's. If you have a route that's only being trafficked by SxS's and some of them are opting to cut down dozens of saplings for bypasses, safe to say its nasty. Confirmed, also by walking through them with my old shoes.

Is it possible? yes. Do I want to try it again? 100%. Do I want to try it again solo in early summer? 0%

Yeah. That looks like a lot of work and some muddy boots. Not in my non-Sas base. Even with the 33” tires and winch.

 

[Headsong]

Here is a rough outline of the route (yellow).

The intended highlight of the trip (aside from the cliff) was to be 14 Mile Point Lighthouse(red). I found out about this from an older alumni who was on the 4x4 club like 40 years ago.

Apparently, that used to be a favorite. I could hardly find any information about getting there by wheel. Boat is far more common. Suffice it to say, it's not to be attempted solo. I'm sure the conditions are at least slightly better in late summer. But I parked in front of this mud hole and walked at least a quarter mile through at least half a dozen similar mud holes. Using a little bit of interpolation, it was guaranteed to be a slog all the way to 14 Mile Point (at this point, still 1.5 miles away), and this was already after some smaller mud holes and ditch crossings.

Notice in the picture below, there is a path through the woods. As far as I could tell, all the tracks were made by SxS's. If you have a route that's only being trafficked by SxS's and some of them are opting to cut down dozens of saplings for bypasses, safe to say its nasty. Confirmed, also by walking through them with my old shoes.

Is it possible? yes. Do I want to try it again? 100%. Do I want to try it again solo in early summer? 0%

Wow, you were UP there eh? Beauty. Never got that far UP Nort, started out one day before phones/gps and began to realize I was in for a much longer ride that planned....coming up from Crivitz.

 

[TeocaliMG]

Yeah. That looks like a lot of work and some muddy boots. Not in my non-Sas base. Even with the 33” tires and winch.

Maybe not 14Mile point, but don't let the rest fool you, you could do most anything in the Keweenaw and Huron Mountains with decent tires, ground clearance and 4x4 and its well worth it as a Michigander to check out the full extent of the UP (particularly west of Munising)

 

[GPPBronco]

Maybe not 14Mile point, but don't let the rest fool you, you could do most anything in the Keweenaw and Huron Mountains with decent tires, ground clearance and 4x4 and its well worth it as a Michigander to check out the full extent of the UP (particularly west of Munising)

We get up that way at least once a year, often to the Marquette area - sometimes Houghton-Hancock. Most recently in February, just to see the beauty of the winter weather.

I’ve heard there is a good route between Marquette/Big Bay and L’Anse. And I’m definitely interested in how the road out to Keyston Bay was…?

 

[TeocaliMG]

Another neat area to check out is the Fiborn Karst Preserve. In the Eastern/Central part of the UP, it is an old, abandoned Limestone Quarry. It is part of the same rock formation that makes up Drummond Island, Mackinaw Island and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula. Very neat area, technically no vehicles allowed, so I have not included any vehicle footage I may or may not have from that area. But you are welcome to hike it. I recommend spending at least a short stop there on your way up to Tahquamenon or Pictured Rocks.

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