Spring Waterfall Hikes
We finally received meaningful rain in the Keweenaw which necessitated two cuttings of the lawn this past week. We made it over to the SDC at MTU for three swims across Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to go along with a schedule peppered with meetings, including: a Chassell Historical Organization Board meeting on Monday, a Hancock Trails Club annual meeting on Tuesday, a Lions Club meeting on Wednesday, a Zoning Board of appeals meeting on Thursday, and a meeting at U.P. Engineers & Architects on Friday to go over the updated design for the pavilion restroom program within the Spark Grant.
Over the course of the week I drafted a couple of stories for the Strawberry Festival Booklet about what’s happening in Chassell and an update from the Chassell Historical Organization. I also received some great news from Brad Barnett with Visit Keweenaw that the Township will be awarded the Destination Development Grant I had applied for that will help with half of the cost of the Sturgeon River Launch site entrance sign along US 41.
Sarah Scarlett and James Juip provided a very informative presentation on the Keweenaw Time Traveler at Wednesday’s Lions Club meeting. Afterwards, Steve Spahn indicated to me that he has an old vehicle available that will be a possibility for attaching the tracks our Township Supervisor Dave Mattson will be making available so we can groom the kick-sled oval we are planning to put in place on the bay this coming winter. I also spoke with Jim Vaught about the dump he has encountered on adjoining township property in the process of his retaining wall project. I subsequently contacted LouAnn Wurst with the Industrial Archeology program at Michigan Tech about examining this as a potential dig for students in their program. More about this as it develops!
With the summer hiking season upon us, we had Airbnb guests from out-of-state stay with us ahead of flying out by sea plane to Isle Royale. We are eyeing the weather forecast for the coming week with the hope for a string of enough dry days to finally seal the decks!
We did manage to do some hiking over the past week as well. On Thursday we drove down to Alberta where we stopped in at the gift shop at the pump house.
From Alberta, we headed back through L’Anse and out on the Skanee Road then up the Arvon Road to go for hikes to Quartzite and Black Slate Falls on the Slate River. These are easy hikes with very little elevation change. Quartzite Falls is the more impressive of the two with a nice swimming hole below it.
While Black Slate Falls is beautiful, be sure to continue hiking upstream to see the series of waterfalls above it!
You can see my GoPro video from these hikes at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:
On our way home and ahead of the evening’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, we stopped to pick up flowers for the yard from Artley’s Greenhouse in L’Anse.
Saturday after putting in a 3-mile rail-trail run and cutting the grass, we drove up to the Gratiot River to make hikes to Conglomerate, Upper Gratiot, and Lower Gratiot Falls.
The recent rains provided some nice flow in the stream which caused Conglomerate Falls to cut a much wider path over the conglomerate outcropping.
The higher water level also provided Lower Gratiot Falls a good deal of energy!
You can see my GoPro videos from these hikes at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:
After taking in the waterfalls, we headed down to Gratiot River Park on Lake Superior. This is a great place to search for agates and yooperlites!
There would be more hiking to come over the holiday weekend, but more about those adventures next time!
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.