Exploring Northern WI and Upper Michigan

In May Mike and I found the headwaters of the Menominee River. This is where the Brule River joins the Michigamme to become the Menominee River. The Menominee River forms the boundary between the northeast corner of Wisconsin and the southern tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We wanted to get closer to the dam and it took awhile to find our way around, but we found success. This is a picture of the Michigamme Falls Dam.

The Menominee is 118 miles long and has nine hydroelectric power dams and reservoirs on the river, this is one of them. Large blocks of the shoreline and adjacent uplands are owned by We Energies and timber companies such as International Paper, plus the Michigan and the Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources, and county governments in Wisconsin.

The map below refers to Michigamme Lake as the Lower Peavy Falls Pond. This is part of the Michigamme River. It took us awhile to find this spot. A more direct route is to take Hwy 95 north of Iron Mt to Randleville, veer to the left and then take a left on Peavy Falls Road. It becomes Lower Dam Road as you cross into a different county. This would be an amazing body of water to explore. It is totally undeveloped.


This photo is looking from the Michigamme Falls Dam. You see the Brule River on the upper right. This is the beginning of the Menominee. How cool is that!

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Our vacation at the cabin

Mike and I decided to spend a week at the cabin for our vacation. On our first day, Friday, May 28th, we witnessed several box turtle making there way from the river to a sandy slope behind our cabin. Their mission was to lay eggs and return to the river. When we awoke the next morning we observed 2 snapping turtles doing the same thing. The video below is of one of the snappers as she made her way back to the cool Menominee River. It was amazing to witness.




In addition to the amazing snapping turtles we observed several box turtles making the same trek to and from the river to lay eggs.