Back to Normal Autumn Temperatures
Last week’s heat wave came to a screeching halt going into Thursday with high temperatures dropping from the upper 80s early in the week to the upper 40s along with some much needed rain showers. Seeing this in the forecast, we got out on Tuesday with our friends Lisa and Kristin to hike the Slate River to Kukuck’s Falls.
The trail to the falls follows the canyon rim through a pine forest. There is an initial steep uphill climb from the parking area, but after that there are only gentle ups and downs on the way Kukuck’s Falls. If you choose to visit Slate River Falls along the way, this side trip involves a very steep climb down into the canyon on not much of a trail. While it was very tempting to check it out, we decided to take a pass.
Lower Ecstasy Falls, Upper Ecstasy Falls, Slate Slide Falls all come into view while hiking the canyon rim culminating in this view of Kukuck’s Falls.
We took a break at the falls and spent some time checking out its geology.
On our way back out we made a short bushwhack to the river to get a closer look at Slate Slide Falls.
We did run across mushrooms on the bushwhack. Their numbers have been suppressed this year due to the dry conditions.
You can see my GoPro video from this hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Last Wednesday’s highlight was getting out to run on the MTU Trails with the Keweenaw Running Group. I brought along my new GoPro 12 to get a feel for just how smooth its hyper-smooth feature is. The highlight of this run was running in the the rain and seeing a double rainbow!
You can see the video at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:
Thursday morning we went to a meeting of the International Neighbors in Houghton to see our friend Mary give a presentation on her experience doing the Great Loop with her partner Jeff. This is a boat trip that started for them on Lake Superior and officially started at St. Ignace. They went to Chicago on Lake Michigan, connected with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, then the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to the Gulf Coast. They then followed the Inter-Coastal Waterway around Florida then all the way up to the Hudson River and Erie Canal before connecting up with the Great Lakes and coming back homeward. This was definitely an epic adventure!
I had a window to cut the grass and then Julie and I got out on the Chassell Fitness Trail with the dogs. We squeezed in our walk just ahead of a fast moving thunderstorm!
That evening I was off to the Fire Hall for the October Chassell Planning Commission Meeting. We had a presentation from Dr. Jennifer Jermalowicz-Jones with Restorative Lake Sciences who recently evaluated Pike Bay and the adjoining portion of Portage Lake for milfoil. While this invasive is making a comeback after past years’ herbicide treatments, we learned that we have a very diverse population of over thirty native lake weeds making the lake much more ecologically diverse compared to other Michigan lakes.
Friday was both rainy and windy. I got a lot of personal and township related business completed, but then braved the elements by getting out in the somewhat raw conditions to do some salmon fishing on the Pilgrim River. I had no luck on this day, but ran into my friend Hunter and picked up some intelligence from him.
Saturday, we went down toward Bruce Crossing to hike the North Country Trail with our friends Mark and Jennifer on the segment heading west from US 45 near O Kun de Kun Falls. Both of them wrapped up their #hike100NCT as part of this 5.5 mile hike!
You can see my GoPro video from the hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
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.