Arrival of Autumn Colors
This past Sunday we finally got out to enjoy the arrival of the autumn colors. Our hiking group was heading up between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor to hike the Lake Bailey Nature Sanctuary, but, in an effort to be somewhat compliant with my health care professionals regarding my foot, our friend Sue, Julie, and I opted for a drive into the higher country of the Ottawa National Forest to our south. We headed down to Kenton to take a short hike to Sparrow Rapids on the East Branch of the Ontonagon River.
The river runs much clearer here than what you find where the North Country Trail crosses it to the north. From this point northward it passes through the Ontonagon Valley clay that turns the water to a much less attractive brown.
Julie captured this shot of me soaking up the beauty at the river’s edge.
Hiking back out I spotted this fly fisherman wading the stream above the rapids thinking how nice it would be to be out there myself.
I put together a GoPro Quik app of this hike as a YouTube short on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link.
A short distance to the southwest of Kenton we took a hike to Jumbo Falls on the Jumbo River. While not a large waterfall, the fall color beautifully frames this drop in the stream.
These higher elevations within the Ottawa National Forest have colder nights earlier in the season than we do closer to Lake Superior so the color comes earlier. When planning your color tour of the region you want plan on visiting here in late September to get some of your best views.
For a GoPro Quik app take of this hike, check out the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
After reaching Alston on the way back north, we took North Laird Road which provides a commanding view toward the east which includes the geological outlier known as Limestone Mountain. After working our way around its east flank, we eventually found ourselves in Elo where we stopped to get a pizza at Kurt’s Korner. Definitely a must stop if you are hungry out in these parts!
Monday, Julie and I ran a number of errands but made a stop at the Quincy Mine Dry House Ruins to check out the recently installed sculptures produced by Kasey Koski
You can see my GoPro Quik app take on this visit to the dry house ruins at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel.
Tuesday my focus would be on working with Chassell Township Clerk Lynn Gierke on making the supplemental submissions for our Natural Resources Trust Fund and Recreation Passport Grant proposals to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources regarding our Sturgeon River Launch project. We had recently received our preliminary scores and, working with recommendations given to us by Merrie Carlock during her site visit back in July, I worked with Chris Holmes at U.P. Engineers and Architects to update our site map to incorporate Merrie’s input. Dan Palosaari was incredibly helpful with updating our budget and I worked through the narrative portion of the submission with Lynn and she got everything entered into the MiGrants system.
Today I brought the truck to Mike Reynolds at Garnet Garage to replace the starter. At 21 years it looked downright gnarly and was definitely on its last leg. I had a broken sway-bar linkage in front so I had him put in a new pair as well. The rest of my day was focused on turning out the minutes from the September Chassell Planning Commission meeting and getting those out for review ahead of tomorrow evening’s meeting.
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.