Gateway to Keweenaw

134 miles north and west of Munising, Mi, along US 41 where we spent the last three nights, lies the town of Houghton, Michigan. Not to be confused with Houghton Lake, where we spent two nice weeks, this town not only draws visitors to the historic copper mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula, but also bills itself as the birthplace of professional hockey. While the first is fact, the latter may be open to some debate, but we know that there's a lot of ice in this part of the country in the winter, so who knows?.....

We're tucked into space 13 of the City of Houghton RV Park along the Houghton-Isle Royale Canal. There is a little known national park on the island of Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and the headquarters of the park is here in Houghton. A ship shuttles visitors to the island for camping and hiking twice a week for a cost of $140 round trip per person. They say it's an animal lovers paradise with moose, ptarmigan, and all manner of fish and fowl to see.

The temperature was in the low 80's when we arrived about 2 in the afternoon, with a slight breeze. Each campsite has a covered patio/deck overlooking the water, so it was a great place to relax after a days drive!

Across the canal we can see the remains of a copper smelter. This area was a booming copper mining and smelting area at one time, using an abundance of copper that was first used by Native Americans for arrowheads and tools. It was so common that it could be picked up from the surface of the ground and easily shaped into implements!

Downtown Houghton is now primarily tourist supported, with restaurants and brew pubs competing with trinket shops for the visitors dollar.

While we're here primarily to visit Copper Harbor and catch a little history of the copper industry that was so prominent in the area, we also plan to enjoy a bit of relaxing time before we begin to make our way west.