The sun is out and company is in town, time for a Copper Country Cruise. Bob Gilreath heads out for a circle tour around the Keweenaw tip, from his home in Hubbell and back again. With the sunshine and blue skies it was a perfect day to show his company what the sights way UP North look like in the midst of winter.

They started their tour on the Gay loop heading toward Lac La Belle, with a quick stop at Point Isabella for a shot of a tree on its way to take a dip in the Big Lake. Any bets on how much longer it will be before it succumbs to the Lake Superior waves?

Next stop is at the Mendota shipping channel in Bete Grise. Interesting that in both the previous photo and this one, there is little if any shoreline ice. I don't recall if the channel here usually ices up completely or not, maybe someone in the know can chime in with that answer.

UP near Copper Harbor, Bob and his guest spotted some newer residents of the area. It's official, there are at least nine turkeys living around the Harbor area. I wonder if they've taken a trip out to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse yet. Note the Harbor here is not frozen over yet, either, just ice floes here and there in the frigid waters.

Cruising right along, Bob turned in on the Eagle Harbor marina road where you have to be paying attention or you might run smack into the infamous tree in the road right before you get to the marina. Once you navigate around the road block, the view of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse is spectacular. Here you see this harbor filled in with ice between the marina and lighthouse.

Last stop before getting back on US 41 on the way home to Hubbell is at the Eagle River park where the deer gather to get some grub. Again, I don't recall if there is an actual group that feeds the deer herd here or if it's town residents and visitors that keep these critters supplied with treats throughout the winter.

This concludes our mini Lake Superior (Copper Country edition) circle tour. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

in your search engine, if you will, type in mtu webcams and then click on the liftbridge. beautiful pictures of the liftbridge.

beautiful sun shiny day to be out and about taking great pictures.

Beautiful photos, thanks for the tour!!

One of my favorite drives ever. Start in Lake
Linden, head towards Gay and Lac LaBelle and then
through Copper Harbor, taking M-26 home. Thanks
for the memories! Loved it!

What a great set and a nice day for it, too...thanks for the outing! The first photo is ethereal.

I don't know how it is that I've never seen that " 'Tree Ahead' on the Eagle Harbor marina road" (?). Have I really been away that long?
I've been trying to determine exactly where it is.

Attempting a virtual "drive by" with Google Street View doesn't seem to be of much help, perhaps 'cuz the Google camera car was intimidated by the tree?

This is as close as I can get with Google.


Is this "the tree"?

The tree is on Marina Road on the way to the old Coast Guard Station, on the other side of the Harbor.

Great pics all. I also just love the beautiful
names of some of our areas... Point
Isabella....Bete Grise.....

"Once you navigate around the road block, the view of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse is spectacular."

I see, I misunderstood that to mean that it was close by the lighthouse. In fact, as Gary W. Long (Gary_in_co) said, the tree is on the opposite side of the harbor … with a great view of the lighthouse from there!

For anyone else that hasn't found it yet, these Google Maps views should help:

Here 'tis on Google Street View:



Which is located ≈ 250 ft. west of the intersection of the unpaved road with Marina Rd (at the red "X"), or at ≈ 47°27'36.1"N 88°08'54.6"W (47.460022, -88.148504) ≈ 650 ft. from the end of the road.

I keep looking at that tree, and an undecided cross-country skier who is going way to fast comes to mind;
"Should I go to the left or to the right...the left or the right, the left...OHHH NOOOOOOO!" (splat)

That's one of my favorite drives too. Looking forward to doing that
again next summer.

What a great way to spend a day! The lighthouse pictures are my favorites!

Quite an array of photos. Brilliant.