Upper Peninsula Overland Challenge 2012

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
We just wrapped up our 5th annual UP Overland event. This year's event was a 4 day competition covering over 500 miles of UP backcountry including several state parks, a national park, a national forest, several state forests, vast stretches of undeveloped coasts along both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, and a whole crazy spectrum of weather. We had 55 people in 29 vehicles entered as teams who were given task sheets each morning requiring route finding, team work, along with places and things to locate each day. We covered alot of ground starting at Whitefish Point traversing the shores of Lake Superior to Grand Marais on day 1, across Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and down into the Hiawatha National Forest on Day 2, South to the Garden Peninsula on Lake Michigan on Day 3, then concluding in Munising on the Shores of Lake Superior onces again. Big thanks to our sponsors Roam Automotive http://roamauto.com and Roam Inc http://www.roamwherever.com.

I had some work that interfered with my ability to do the full four days of the trip but I met up mid day Friday for the last 2 and a half days. Here are some of my pics, hopefully some of the other folks who took part will post up.

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The unbelievable clarity of Kitch Iti Kippi spring with its 40 foot depths pumping out 25,000 gallons of water a minute. The sheer number of giant brown trout swimming about in the spring is incredible.

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One stop on day 3 was at historic Fayette, a ghost town on the north shore of Lake Michigan which is now a state park. Looking accross the harbor to the dolomite cliffs.


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The old buildings in town make for some cool photographic opportunities.


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Navigating the dirt roads and trails of the Garden Peninsula
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
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Storms rolling through at Pt Detour at the tip of the Garden Peninsula.

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Watching a couple of storms rolling across over Lake Michigan from Saturday night's camp.

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Sun getting low over the water. Dinner on the grill.

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Teams camped out in various locations at their own discretion. Saturday night I camped with Team Crapshoot. Good times, good beers, good food, and a damn nice campfire along a rugged coast. Life is good.

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Great skies were in no short supply for the trip. This was Sunday morning.

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After working our way back north through the Hiawatha National Forest we popped back out on Lake Superior, this shot taken near the town of Christmas.

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Munising Falls, one of the many great falls in or near the town of Munising.
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
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After the event I was welcomed back home to Marquette by this sunset over Lake Superior.

Ok, so I missed the first two days of the trip... BUT I did pre run the entire route last week so allow me to share some pictures I took along that route since it is such an amazing part of the UP.

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Falls along the lower falls portion of the Tahquemon River.

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Whitefish Point Life Saving Station

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If you take the route along the coast it is sandy, VERY sandy. Pulled off to look at a beach.

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Sometimes it was just a tight two track, but sometimes you would have sand drifts like these caused from wind blowing sand into the woods off of the beach.

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Camp for the night along Lake Superior. Not a soul as far as the eye could see either way down the beach.

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Sun about to set.

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Sunrise the following morning.

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A reflective creek.

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The always picturesque Crisp Point Lighthouse. This light is one of the more remote lights on the mainland in the continental US.
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
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The view from the top of Crisp Point Light

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Crossing the burn zone from the large fire that scorched 21,000 acres in the area.

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Along the route approaching the mouth of the Two Hearted River.

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Paddling the Two Hearted River

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Self Portrait action shot ;-)

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Getting into the burn zone on the river. Amazing at the scale of the fire but also how fast nature rebounds. Plenty of green to contrat those blackened trees already.

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Night Two's camp, on another spectucular stretch of Lake Superior.

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I had company, Tom, Ana, TJ and Amy and their kids(the Roam crew and our imbedded TV6 reporter) met up to camp on this night of the prerunning. Always fun to share a campfire with some friends, especially on such a great beach.

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Tom my UPO coconspirator and Ana

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Enjoying the world's original form of entertainment.
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
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Taking in the view of Grand Sable Dunes in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

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After dropping south out of Pictured Rocks, encountering the plethora of lakes in the state and national forests of the central UP. This is Bass Lake near Steuben.

OK, thats all I have to share, let's see some pics from some of the folks who attended and competed.......
 

mph

Expedition Leader
Great shots! Looks the weather window you had created some incredible lighting...Well done!
I need to make it back to the midwest one day....
 

FJ80ROMER

New member
Great shots of the UP I would like to learn more about signing up for next years event. I have covered most of the UP but would love to see more.
 

TJDIV

Adventurer
Awesome pics. I had to unpack and repack to fly to San Fran... here is a video of "Kitch-iti-kipi" aka The Big Spring - we stopped on Saturday there. Michigan's largest freshwater spring. (I find it funny that they label it the largest "freshwater" spring... am I missing something?) BTW -... I just posted 11 minutes of uncut GoPro footage. More of a "relax and swim with fish" video.. haha. I'll post up some pics ASAP!

 

suntinez

Explorer
The UP is so beautiful, as usual your pics do justice. Can't wait to see everyone else's.

You guys ROCK for making it a point to bring this area to everyone's attention. I had so much fun there thanks to y'all, and just scratched the surface ... I'll be back :elkgrin:
 

TJDIV

Adventurer
Here are a few photos my good friend Steve snapped on Saturday:
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Camping in the heart of the U.P.
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Pulling off the road-
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Day two rolling through the Kingston Plains-
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Crazy skies + weather the entire trip.
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TBC...
 

TJDIV

Adventurer
Night one camp, taking milky way + northern light pics at 1am
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Grouped up in Grand Marais, MI
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Just because.. .watched this rainbow for over an hour as the storm blew to the south east.
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Group shot (less than half of us! ) sitting on the porch of an old building in Fayette
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Will post more up from my iPhone ASAP.

-Tom
 

mrwizard

Adventurer
Very cool trip report and great photos. I think this is the first time I've been jealous of someone living outside of the Pacific Northwest. :) Looks like a stellar trip. Thanks for sharing.
 

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