Post by Jugglerguy on Mar 16, 2014 21:48:19 GMT -5
Toad recently asked me about rock collecting sites on Lake Superior. Rather than send the information just to him, I decided to post it here in case anyone else was interested. The U.P. has some really beautiful scenery as well as great rocks.
A couple years ago, my mom moved into an assisted living home near my sister in Marquette. I have another sister who lives near Houghton, MI in the Keweenaw Peninsula. We've been going for visits each summer and we always do some rock collecting on the way. There is one nice little beach we stop at on the way to Marquette that's near Au Train.
I don't have a good picture of the beach, but check out the cool 360° panoramic picture I took. If you have an iPad or iPhone, enable the gyroscope and it's like virtual reality. You turn the iPad to look around you.
360 Panorama
This is what the rocks look like under the water there:
Here are some rocks that mostly came from that beach. The three stripy ones in the upper right conner were from Marquette, though.
Here they are after tumbling. There's also a lot of unakite on this beach.
East of this location is the town of Grand Marais. Grand Marais is known for agates, but they're few and far between. My son and I have found a few tiny ones, but nothing too exciting. There are plenty of other nice rocks here though. We find lots of unakite, quartz, and various other nice stones.
Near Au Train, is Sable falls.
Just past the falls, you come out to the beach with giant sand dunes. The rocks look pretty good here, but the flies were horrible. I'm not sure what they're called, but they looked like house flies and there would be about a hundred of them on your legs. We didn't stay long.
The rocks from Grand Marais look like the rocks from Au Train, but there is a lot more beach to search. Grand Marais is about two hours out of the way on a five hour trip, so we don't go there as often.
Unakite:
Quartz:
We don't do much rock hounding in Marquette, but there's a really nice park there called Presque Isle. One area is called "The Black Rocks" and people go there to jump off the rocks in to the frigid Lake Superior. My son jumped off on a cold day last summer. He had a ball, but I was wearing a sweatshirt just to stay warm while dry.
This is what the rocks look like there. They don't tumble, but I need to try polishing one on my flat lap sometime.
The prettiest place in the U.P. is the Keweenaw Peninsula. We spent a whole day just searching the mine tailings piles for copper and datolite. We found some copper, but not luck on the datolite. The mine dumps are not all that beautiful.
This is part of the old mining operation.
Copper Harbor is a little town right near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Brockway Mountain drive offers some spectacular views of the area on the way there.
Panorama from Top of Brockway Mountain
This overlook was under construction, but it gives a nice view of Copper Harbor.
Panorama Overlooking Copper Harbor
This is in Copper Harbor.
Right near Copper Harbor is Horseshoe Harbor. You have to take a fairly rough road into the woods and then walk a quarter mile through the woods to the beach. It's worth the effort. The scenery is great, but the rocks were all sort of the same red rock. We didn't find much here.
Panorama of the Beach
See that rock in the upper left part of the picture? We climbed up it and walked way down to the other end. It's quite a ways and pretty high up. It's hard to get a feeling for how big it is in the picture. Look for my son at the end. I'm only a short way down the rock at this point.
Here we are at the other end.
Last summer, my sister and brother-in-law took us to a very remote beach past Copper Harbor almost at the very tip of the peninsula. We took a four wheel drive pickup and two four wheelers. I couldn't even begin to tell you how to get there.
The whole family:
We found this great banded chert there. I didn't realize what it was so I only took a little. I'm going to get a bucket full next summer.
There were also a bunch of these little thunder eggs.
There were basalt stones that were all flat and rounded, but this one was a perfect circle. I love this rock.
There are also a ton of water falls in the U.P. Here are a couple small ones.
This is my mom, sister, and daughter:
I hope you enjoyed the tour. There's a ton of other cool things to see in the U.P. If you get a chance go check it out.
A couple years ago, my mom moved into an assisted living home near my sister in Marquette. I have another sister who lives near Houghton, MI in the Keweenaw Peninsula. We've been going for visits each summer and we always do some rock collecting on the way. There is one nice little beach we stop at on the way to Marquette that's near Au Train.
I don't have a good picture of the beach, but check out the cool 360° panoramic picture I took. If you have an iPad or iPhone, enable the gyroscope and it's like virtual reality. You turn the iPad to look around you.
360 Panorama
This is what the rocks look like under the water there:
Here are some rocks that mostly came from that beach. The three stripy ones in the upper right conner were from Marquette, though.
Here they are after tumbling. There's also a lot of unakite on this beach.
East of this location is the town of Grand Marais. Grand Marais is known for agates, but they're few and far between. My son and I have found a few tiny ones, but nothing too exciting. There are plenty of other nice rocks here though. We find lots of unakite, quartz, and various other nice stones.
Near Au Train, is Sable falls.
Just past the falls, you come out to the beach with giant sand dunes. The rocks look pretty good here, but the flies were horrible. I'm not sure what they're called, but they looked like house flies and there would be about a hundred of them on your legs. We didn't stay long.
The rocks from Grand Marais look like the rocks from Au Train, but there is a lot more beach to search. Grand Marais is about two hours out of the way on a five hour trip, so we don't go there as often.
Unakite:
Quartz:
We don't do much rock hounding in Marquette, but there's a really nice park there called Presque Isle. One area is called "The Black Rocks" and people go there to jump off the rocks in to the frigid Lake Superior. My son jumped off on a cold day last summer. He had a ball, but I was wearing a sweatshirt just to stay warm while dry.
This is what the rocks look like there. They don't tumble, but I need to try polishing one on my flat lap sometime.
The prettiest place in the U.P. is the Keweenaw Peninsula. We spent a whole day just searching the mine tailings piles for copper and datolite. We found some copper, but not luck on the datolite. The mine dumps are not all that beautiful.
This is part of the old mining operation.
Copper Harbor is a little town right near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Brockway Mountain drive offers some spectacular views of the area on the way there.
Panorama from Top of Brockway Mountain
This overlook was under construction, but it gives a nice view of Copper Harbor.
Panorama Overlooking Copper Harbor
This is in Copper Harbor.
Right near Copper Harbor is Horseshoe Harbor. You have to take a fairly rough road into the woods and then walk a quarter mile through the woods to the beach. It's worth the effort. The scenery is great, but the rocks were all sort of the same red rock. We didn't find much here.
Panorama of the Beach
See that rock in the upper left part of the picture? We climbed up it and walked way down to the other end. It's quite a ways and pretty high up. It's hard to get a feeling for how big it is in the picture. Look for my son at the end. I'm only a short way down the rock at this point.
Here we are at the other end.
Last summer, my sister and brother-in-law took us to a very remote beach past Copper Harbor almost at the very tip of the peninsula. We took a four wheel drive pickup and two four wheelers. I couldn't even begin to tell you how to get there.
The whole family:
We found this great banded chert there. I didn't realize what it was so I only took a little. I'm going to get a bucket full next summer.
There were also a bunch of these little thunder eggs.
There were basalt stones that were all flat and rounded, but this one was a perfect circle. I love this rock.
There are also a ton of water falls in the U.P. Here are a couple small ones.
This is my mom, sister, and daughter:
I hope you enjoyed the tour. There's a ton of other cool things to see in the U.P. If you get a chance go check it out.