• Monday-What'sUP May 9 - 11:52 pm

This little creek is on the Sawmill Road in Lake Linden and is aptly named the Sawmill Creek, but it could be anywhere in the U.P.. It’s one of the many small, meandering cricks, that make their way through the woods to wherever they’re going. Did you catch that…I called it a creek and a crick, because I never know which pronunciation is proper. :-> Even though my hubby, Jim Drew, took this shot and it’s quite near our farm, I can’t say for certain where this little river actually makes it start. I do know that it flows down, around and finally into Torch Lake near the Maple Leaf, where sometime soon the smelt may be running. The second shot is from Frederic Koski, picturing the elusive morel mushroom, which if it hasn’t sprouted in your area of the UP North country, is bound to shortly. Get out and get your share of the many creeks and mushrooms before the bugs begin!

Wish I were walking along that creek/crick

I love morels and haven't had any since grandmother's passing. How I'd love to hunt them now and have them for supper.

Do the Smelt still run in the U.P.? We haven't caught a Smelt in Lake Huron for 4 years. Sure do miss those tasty little fish.

Smelt/Chassel/da Tech....biting the head off and kissing your girlfriend.....now that was living..

I always spelled it creek and pronounced it crick. Either way it's a great place to find yourself on a hot summer day after the black flies have gone for the summer.

On most trips north I would walk up the SAWMILL CREEK about 1/2 mile to a beaver dam and catch some nice sized speckies...

Hey Fellow Pasty Landers! Question. What are the yellow flowers that adorn the banks of rivers and creeks (early spring) here in the Copper Country? I have always called them cowslips. Is this correct? If so, anyone know how they got that name? Whatever they are called, they are a sure sign of spring and ultimate beauty. Also, they are popping up all over the place.

Thanks!!

lorelei, are you in the Copper Country? I thought the Cowslips weren't usually out until late in the month! I am heading up there tomorrow for 11 days and can't wait.....just hope the weather cooperates as I'll be beach combing!! Have a great day everyone.

Lorali
They are also called marsh marigolds.

Stix out West,
Yes, I am in the Copper Country. The cowslips are poking out all over the place. I really noticed them yesterday as we went for our annual mothers day ride. Hope you have safe travels and I will cross my fingers for nice weather. It was muggy here this morning. We are expecting thunder and rain today.

Lorelei...thanks for the update! Doesn't look too pretty up there today, according to the web-cam. Rain won't be so bad if it's not accompanied by a cold wind! Off to pack!

j,
Thanks. I thought that there was a different name for them as well as cowslips.

I've even seen a cowslip under the fence.

check it out!!! http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/plants/wildflower/marshmarigold.html

Chas Saginaw:
River and creek spawning smelt have disappeared in all the Great Lakes. Quote from the Northwoods Call: "Where'd the smelt go? There seem to be no pat scientific answers, but competition from invasive species is suspected."

From Webster's 9th New Collegiate dictionary: creek. pronounced krik (as in tip) "a natural stream or river."
crick. pronounced krik (as in tip) "a painful spasmodic condition of muscles in the neck."

Re the early yellow flowers. They could be the Yellow Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium americanum) or Trout-lily. They have a lily-like flower that hangs from a 6-8 inch stem and a pointed mottled brown leaf similar to that of a tulip. They grow in moist meadows and woods.
The Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)has buttercup-like flowers and kidney-shaped ruffled leaves similar to a geranium's. They gorw in bogs and marshes.

My son Rob and I were on a little bigger stream yesterday.

look here for photos of us on The Montreal river
on the tip of the keweenaw. No black flies yet
;-)

https://pasty.com/pcam/albut62

ANOTHER ONE of the MANY reasons cited for the decline of smelt is the swelling lake trout population.

Has anyone explored the possibility that the zebra mussel may be contributing to the decline in smelt populations? I wouldn't be surprised to find a link there. Boy that picture of the crik makes me think "Heeeere fishy fishy"...

Aren't speckled trout marine fish? Maybe your were catching brookies.

Cowslips,cricks and smelts are some of my favorite things.It is hard to believe that the smelt are gone.Back in the late 50's we got so many smelt by the Dollar Bay Bridge that you could not even give them away.We sure had a lot of fun,had a bonfire and all.My Mom dipped them in flour and fried them.They were so good.

Bob,enjoyed your pictures today.

In the forties and fifties I would catch a five gallon bucket of perch off the Grand Haven Mi. pier. Since they planted salmon in the Great Lakes the perch and the smelt are no more. Today you might catch four or five perch. The DNR has traded perch and smelt for salmon. I don't see any other reason perch and smelt have disappeared,the salmon eat them all.

The alewife is another possible reason for the smelt decline. Not too many zebra mussels in Lake Superior (relatively speaking) and the decline in smelt started long before the zebra mussels arrived.
Brook/Speckled Trout (Brookies/Speckies) are the same fish in Michigan and Ontario. Speckled Trout is an entirely different fish in most coastal states, but they don't refer to them as speckies.

We are thinking of coming to the UP for a holiday and were wondering when the black flies are at there worst. Thanks.

Sharon,

End of May = worst blackflies.
My kids looked like chickenpox victims at the graduation parties.

sharon....the next batch of flies arrives in July!

I'm taking a chance this year. Vacationing in Copper Harbor the first week of June. We'll take long sleeves, regardless.

hey my fellow yoopers, any one know when the steelhead run starts?

Woody: If it hasn't started and been over already; it won't happen this year. I was fishing steelhead on the Big Huron second week in April and had a wonderful time. Second week of May is always too late for the peak run.

Thanks for info on black flies. We have them where we live and would like to escape from them. However, there is no place like the UP for a holiday.

Stix Out West, Have a save trip home to Keweenaw :)

Looking for any info on the previous owners of the Harbor Haus Fritz & Maiken Ehlers. They were like family to me growing up. Would love to find a picture of them both as mine were lost in a move out of state. Thanks so much.

Fellow Yoopers and wannabes.....if those black flies are too bothersome... come on down to Escanaba...we do not have them here in the deep south of the UP.....I think it is because we always have a breeze from the south off Lake Michigan....

Black Flies......sounds like fun to me! NOT!

I recall spending half my childhood summers looking down at a creek like that all the way up and down the shore of and at Gitche Gumee camp. Stick races,"Wishing Well" set ups and dams down by the lake were my specialty. Didn't need no "Game Boys" No sir Dagnamit! (Say it as if you have no teeth) Say, just FYI- I,m eating a Ma Hart's pasty as I type!