Completely revised and updated guide to both the celebrated places and off-the-beaten-path destinations of a wild, historic region originally based on mining and logging. The Upper Peninsula has mostly escaped rampant tourist development. This guide includes lodgings, restaurants, and campgrounds, chosen for scenery, tranquility, and often walkability as well. Regular notes are made for places that are family-friendly, handicap-friendly, and/or take pets. Opportunities for hiking, fishing, swimming, diving, paddling, looking for rocks and minerals, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing are noted. Visiting waterfalls, lighthouses, art galleries, specialty shopping, and museums are popular activities covered here. A large page format permits annotated maps and many illustrations. Fully indexed.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
". . . looks at things with fresh eyes and sees interest in things like [our] working harbor and grand public libraries." -- Marinette Eagle-Herald, December 4, 2001
"Everyone who reads this will learn something, maybe even about their own home town. Descriptions are skillful and accurate." -- Marquette Mining Journal, December 2, 2001
"Jam-packed with useful bits of information and maps. [Every] boatwatching or lighthouse-visiting opportunity in the U.P. [is] included here." -- Great Laker magazine, Winter 2002
"Presented in the hands-on, no-fluff style that makes the Hunts' guides so popular." -- Michigan Out-of-Doors, November, 1997
"The best and only guide [to the U.P.] you need, bar none. [Includes] cool things like kayaking and bird migrations." -- Detroit Free Press, September 30, 2001
"Everyone who reads this will learn something, maybe even about their own home town. Descriptions are skillful and accurate." -- Marquette Mining Journal, December 2, 2001
"Jam-packed with useful bits of information and maps. [Every] boatwatching or lighthouse-visiting opportunity in the U.P. [is] included here." -- Great Laker magazine, Winter 2002
"Presented in the hands-on, no-fluff style that makes the Hunts' guides so popular." -- Michigan Out-of-Doors, November, 1997
"The best and only guide [to the U.P.] you need, bar none. [Includes] cool things like kayaking and bird migrations." -- Detroit Free Press, September 30, 2001
From the Publisher
The publisher, Mary Hoffmann Hunt (huntsguides@yahoo.com)
Why this remote place is ideal for relaxed vacations and adventures
Here are four wonderful things about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Our guide is designed to put people in touch with these things.
1. The U.P. is BEAUTIFUL and mostly UNDEVELOPED, with the largest expanse of public land east of the Mississippi. In the North Woods, a distinctive northern ecosystem, it’s a place of rocks, hardwood and evergreen forests, and many clean inland lakes and trout streams — plus well over a thousand miles of Great Lakes shoreline along lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. With a little selective planning, visitors can get away from it all and enjoy nature without crowds.
Simple pleasures are its highlight: hiking to waterfalls, picking berries, fishing and birding, paddling, seeing the Milky Way in a dark sky — and sometimes the Northern Lights. Bring a few boxes for beachcombing treasures — colorful granites and sandstones, volcanic rock with tiny gemstone bubbles, occasional agates, and limestone fossils in the eastern U.P.
The U.P. is not for shoppers or the fashion-forward. Its elemental simplicity is a tonic for jaded kids.
2. It’s INEXPENSIVE. Locals are notoriously thrifty. In places with a year-round economy (starting at Marquette and Escanaba going west), restaurants have to be priced for locals. Gourmet fare is rare, but so are potatoes from a box. Older resorts and motels are almost always clean; small lakefront resorts survive. Some areas have B&Bs and new motels with pools for visitors who prefer atmosphere and amenities to value.
3. VISITORS DON’T NECESSARILY HAVE TO PLAN AHEAD, even in July and August, if they stay at highway motels or state or national forest campgrounds without electricity and hot showers. Late August and early September is the best time of all. (Advance reservations are essential at many small resorts, however.)
4. LOCAL CULTURE is a SURPRISING HIGHLIGHT. Small museums are everywhere and often quite interesting; some large museums, especially the Seaman Mineralogical Museum in Houghton, are major destinations. Many artists have studios in Marquette County and the Keweenaw.
Historic architecture from the mining and logging booms of the late 19th century is impressive by any standards. When the area was an economic hot spot it attracted many ETHNIC GROUPS: Yankees, Cornish, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, French-Canadians, Finns, Italians, Croats, Slovenians, and others (mentioned in chronological order). Their influence is evident in music and food, especially Italian and Finnish, plus the famous U.P. soul food, the pasty —Cornish with Scandinavian rutabagas added. Take time to talk to people; the distinctive local dialect is a mix of the Scandinavian accent of the Upper Midwest, made famous in the movie "Fargo," with French-Canadian cadences. (The "eh?" is French.)
As outsiders from downstate Michigan, the authors were a little worried about whether they would pass muster with locals, no-nonsense folks who are put off by pretense. Local feedback has been good. The most perceptive comments from any source are those of retired Finnish-American metallurgist Tauno Kilpela of Atlantic Mine in Copper Country. He thanked the Hunts for "taking a long look, and an honest and friendly look, at God’s Country."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Author advises, don't buy old (2001) guidebook!,
By
This review is from: Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Second edition (Paperback)
Since our book has been delayed, many people seem desperate for the old one. But too much has changed, even in the Upper Peninsula, to make it very useful. These high prices are not ours! I don't think an out-of-date guidebook is even worth $20, its original price.
A new edition of "Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula," completely revised, is coming out sometime this spring. It is the book to get! Editorially, it covers the same material as the old book -- probably more. The new edition will be smaller (6" by 9") but fatter. Easier to shelve. Meanwhile, much of the book's content is on our web site, hunts-upguide.com. Be aware that it is not always up to date. Gradually new material will be added, with the date at the end. As always, no one pays to be in our book or on our site. The Upper Peninsula is a wonderful, little known place for vacations and getaways, rich in natural beauty and in history -- great for families -- and relatively quite inexpensive, too. U.P. reading tip: People familiar with the Upper Peninsula and its weather may well enjoy "So Cold a Sky: Upper Michigan Weather Stories" by Karl Bohnak, weather forecaster at TV 6 in Marquette/Neguanee. Weather has played such an important role in U.P. history, and Karl combines meterology and history in a fascinating way.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All travel guides should be written like this.,
By Gia Diamond (Northern Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Second edition (Paperback)
Frommer's, Lonely Planet, Fodor's and Baedeker's take note: This is one excellent travel guide! More than hotels, motels, watering holes and restaurants, "Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula" goes where other guides don't: into the hidden crevices of a community to ferret out little-known facts.The Hunts help you find local color as well as food and lodging. This book is for the traveler who is tired of the usual- or for anyone who goes to the U.P. for day trips and getaway weekends.. This is not a standard guidebook. It's quirky and interesting - and reads like a good magazine feature story. How about we send the Hunts to San Francisco or New Orleans or Savannah - to get the real scoop on those wonderful destinations?
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unusual guide to an unusual destination!,
By
This review is from: Hunts' Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Second edition (Paperback)
I've just returned from a vacation to the U.P. and I can't imagine having taken the trip without this wonderful guide. Almost every town and village in the U.P. is covered with detailed, honest, useful information. This is literally the only guide you'll need.
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