Copper Harbor mountain biking Michigan's Upper Peninsula

The seven page layout of the article in Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine.

Recent Work: Traverse magazine, "flow", Copper Harbor mountain biking feature

Over the course of 2011 I had the pleasure of spending nearly two weeks in the Copper Harbor area up at the tippity top of the Keweenaw Peninsula working on a couple of articles and a variety of shoots, some personal and some for clients.

During this time I hooked up with Sam Raymond and the crew of Keweenaw Adventure Company and Aaron Rogers and the crew from the Copper Harbor Trails Club to ride some of the new trails they've been building and the world has been loving over the past few years. Wow.

This article ensued.

You can read it on mynorth.com, the website of Traverse, Northern Michigan's magazine. Enjoy the article, enjoy riding in The Harbor and enjoy the fact that good things come to people who bust their butts making them happen.

Aaron Peterson is an outdoor writer and photographer offering editorial and commercial assignment photography, stock photography and fine art prints from Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Lake Superior regions of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada.

Recent Work-Interview with Outside editor

Here's a Q&A interview I did with the executive editor of Outside magazine. It ran in the March issue of Traverse magazine.

Sea kayakers, Lovers Leap arch, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

When I saw the Upper Peninsula included in Outside’s annual editors' choice list I did two things: 1) pinched myself 2) got the mag’s executive editor Sam Moulton on the horn to see what was up with the U.P. lovefest.

The Feb. 2012 issue has your annual editors’ choice list called the “perfect things.” This year there are 63 of them, with the U.P. at #46. How the hell did we get in there?

Personally I’m a big fan of the Upper Midwest. I grew up in Wisconsin and spent a lot of time rucking around the U.P. We took father-son ski trips to the Hurley area and our dads would let us drink a bit. Growing up, the U.P. was always the spot I was going on an adventure. There’s actually a large contingent of Upper Midwesterners at the magazine. We have staff from North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The list is things we agree on, and the U.P. was one of them.

 

Many of the entries have brief descriptions of what they are, but the U.P. doesn’t. It’s just listed “46. The U.P.” Why the mystery?

We originally had an explanation of about 50-60 words, but then cut it. We figured those in the know don’t need it explained. The U.P. has that whole Jim Harrison thing going on, the really raw, real wilderness feel, some economic depression—but with a good spirit.

 What do you say to those in the know who might be peeved that the nation’s leading active-lifestyle magazine broke the vow of secrecy on the general awesomeness of the U.P.? You kissed and told man.

I don’t’ think there’ll be that many, but I guess I’d refer them to a map and remind them the U.P. is still physically a long way away from just about anything. I don’t’ think their trails will get crowded any time soon.

 The February issue also featured the comeback story of Olympian hottie Lolo Jones (#42) wearing some sort of bondage swimsuit thing on the cover. Was the U.P. ever considered for the cover, and if so, what would that image have been?

[Laughing] Not really, no. But scenics do surprisingly well on the cover, so I guess some sort of scenic like sea kayaking at Pictured Rocks or mountain biking on an incredibly flowy trail.

 The only other region specifically mentioned in the list was British Columbia (#31), known for it’s insane biking, skiing, paddling and overall outdoor wonderfulness. Can the U.P. ever be recognized as a travel destination like that?

I think so, on one level. The landscape is one of a kind, it’s off the beaten path and there’s Lake Superior—an ocean masquerading as a lake. The potential is there, but there needs to be the continued investment of money in things like trail building, and then the infrastructure that follows. Coffee shops, bike-friendly hotels, etc.

Golden moment on Copper Harbor's "The Flow" mountain bike trail

Aaron Peterson is a writer and photographer covering active travel in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Lake Superior region. Check out the website for more photography photos pictures of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior.

Wednesday Waterfall: Spray Falls, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Spray Falls, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Munising in Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula.

            Remote Spray Creek bubbles up somewhere in the middle of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, meanders through miles of maple and beech forest—then flies foam-first over a 50-foot cliff into Lake Superior. Seeing the creek upstream, you’d never guess the little guy had it in him to become one of the most dramatic waterfalls in the region.

            Due to it’s remote location and precipitous drop, visitors to Spray Falls will have to decide ahead of time how they’d like to view it: from land, or from water. Each gives an amazing perspective and a good workout (3 miles by foot, 12 miles by float). Either way, you can contemplate gravity and the world’s largest lake in peace, because the park’s tour boats usually turn around a couple miles short of this fascinating feature. Scan the water at the base of the falls for the rusting remnants of a boiler from an 1856 shipwreck.

            Location: Take H-58 about 20 miles west of Munising to the Little Beaver Lake campground area, park in the backpacker’s trailhead lot and hike north over forested dunes to the park’s Lakeshore Trail on Lake Superior. Go west on the Lakeshore Trail to reach the falls. It’s a moderate three-mile hike (6 miles roundtrip).

            Bonus: Trade your boots in for a kayak and paddle the Pictured Rocks shoreline to see Spray Falls from lake level. Talk to Northern Waters Adventures or Paddling Michigan for help getting there.

Aaron Peterson is a writer and photographer covering active travel in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Lake Superior region. Check out the website for more photography photos pictures of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior.

Michigan Ice Fest!

It's Michigan Ice Fest week here in the Munising, Michigan area of the Central Upper Peninsula.

The secret is out, Munising boasts the Midwest's largest concentration of climbable ice and the good folks over at Michigan Ice Fest have been hosting one of the nation's oldest ice climbing festivals now for nearly 30 years. I've been shooting it for awhile too, here are some picks. Climb on.

Above a gap on The Curtains, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan.

Sydney's is where the free Michigan Ice Fest beer can be found

Yea, I like this one too; The Dryer Hose, ice climbing, Munising, Michigan, Pictured Rocks

Good things happen at Michigan Ice Fest.

Bad things can happen too, but nobody laughs out loud, and newbs still get free beer too.

Recent Work-Marquette Michigan feature in Lakeland Boating

Check out the February issue of Lakeland Boating magazine for my 12-page feature on Marquette Michigan, the place I'm lucky enough to call home.

Lakeland Boating is based in Chicago, has a circulation of about 40,000 subscribers and covers inland and Great Lakes sailing and power boating in the Great Lakes region. I had no idea how popular it was in Marquette until the article came out and every boat owner in the region sent me an email. That was very cool. Freelancing is a solitary lifestyle and it's good to hear from readers, so thanks to all of you.

You can download a PDF of the article off my site by clicking the image below, then choosing "download original file" off the site page, or follow the link at the bottom of the page for a Google doc link.

Most travel writers have it easy. I've always found that inspiration comes freely when the scenery is changing every day. New places, new stories and new people offer the lens and the page a constant creative fresh start. Blank pages and blank pixels are vessels easily filled when in a new place. Plus, you don't have to worry about who you piss off when the article comes out, because you'll be long gone!

My career has been a strange brew. I'm a travel writer--but I mostly write about where I live, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the surrounding Lake Superior regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. The cool thing about that, other than that it's an amazing place to work and play (and stretch the relatively meager bucks that come with this career :-)) is that I get to write about something I know and love intimately, not just a place I'm passing through or people I'll only know superficially, if at all.

The danger is in knowing too much about a place, which makes it difficult to decide what to include and what to leave out. Also, it's a constant exercise to think like someone visiting the area for the first time--to stay fresh. Marquette is a super cool town with a great history, but when you live here, eventually the ore docks that blow the minds of tourists become as common as the gulls trying to kill your picnic. Also, I have to live with the people I write about, which can make it tough to be honest and well liked, but so it goes.

WARNING GRATUITOUS BUT MOSTLY HARMLESS SEXUAL HUMOR AHEAD: Someone once told me that writing about your hometown is like making love with your spouse: It's important that you know each other well enough to get it right, but equally important to pretend you've just met so it stays interesting.

Read full Marquette Michigan feature article in Lakeland Boating here

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Inside Outside: Making the List

 

The Upper Peninsula gets its due in Outside magazine's February issue. Outside's admittedly arbitrary and unscientific but ridiculously funny and cool "63 Perfect Things" includes The U.P. at #46.

Just like this:

46. THE U.P.

Consider for a moment that this is an international magazine with a circulation around 700,000 (more than double the total pop. of the U.P.), how many people are going to look at that and understand how two little letters can spell freedom, community, wilderness and a lot of other cool words I could list if I did things like lists.

THIS JUST IN, #63 is the Stormy Kromer cap which everyone knows is as U.P. as a pasty pie. Even has a picture of a red plaid one.

So congrats to my beloved U.P. and the Kromer!

Stay tuned for some other news from me and Outside in an upcoming issue, hint, hint, wink, wink. Cha-ching.

Wednesday Waterfall: Scott Falls

Scott Falls is only about 20 feet from the side of M-28 just west of Munising, one of the busiest roads in the Upper Peninsula. It’s so close you can actually pull up, roll down your window and snap a photo from your vehicle. Like black bears munching blue berries in the ditch and the handmade signs for pasties and smoked fish, Scott Falls is one of those precious roadside attractions that makes any trip to the U.P. memorable.

Compared to its brash, crashing cousins nearby, Scott Falls is a dainty maiden traipsing through a fairy tale landscape of thigh-high thimbleberry. The demure trickle drops about 10 feet over a sandstone lip, splashing into a shallow circular pool before running a few hundred feet into Lake Superior.

While the falls is beautiful, the best part is the cave behind it. That’s right, a real cave. Now, it’s instinctual to think “cave=creepy,” but really, this is “cave=cool.” Wade around the edge of the pool and slip behind the falls and into the sand-floored cavern with moss-covered walls. This is the kind of place where garden gnomes are born and raised. Yea, it's a U.P. gnome nursery.

Location: About 10 miles west of Munising on M-28, immediately across the highway from the MDOT Rathfoot Roadside Park.

Bonus: One more mile west is AuTrain Beach, one of Lake Superior’s warmest, and sleepiest sand beaches.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Bond Falls

 

Bond Falls has long been one of my favorite waterfalls to photograph in the Western Upper Peninsula (U.P.) It's easy to get to, visually stunning and the surrounding area has lots of potential for creating good images as well. The "Z" formation in the rapids above the falls has long proven popular with nature photographers visiting the region.

Bond Falls is located on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River near the tiny hamlet of Paulding, in the Western Upper Peninsula.

The 50-foot high falls tumbles over a 100-foot-wide fist of dark, fractured rock. Below the falls the river pools around a small island, then slips away into the dense U.P. woods to the north.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Noquemanon Trails Network

I had the pleasure of attending the Noquemanon Trails Network's annual fundraiser, the Snowball, this past Friday evening. What a hoot. Good food, great people and a fine cause.

The NTN is a non-profit umbrella trails group for most of the mountain biking and skiing trails in the Marquette, Michigan region. The same trails where great events like the Noquemanon Ski Marathon  and Superior Bike Fest are held. The trails that make the Marquette region such a great place to live and play.

I was proud to support NTN at the snowball this year with a donation of a 20x30 canvas gallery wrap. The print was auctioned off live and brought in $350 for the Noquemanon Trails. There's some gas in the groomer, and I'm glad to help.

See you on the trails.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Wednesday Waterfall: Laughing Whitefish Falls, Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Laughing Whitefish Falls is located in the Laughing Whitefish Falls State Scenic Site just north of the former town of Sundell in Michigan's central Upper Peninsula.

Here the diminutive Laughing Whitefish River cascades down a sandstone bowl into a deep valley on it's way to Lake Superior.

Aaron Peterson is a writer and photographer based in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For more of his work from the Lake Superior region visit www.aaronpeterson.net.

Recent Work-Marquette Backcountry Ski

Here's the December 2011 Traverse magazine profile I wrote and shot featuring Marquette inventor David Ollila and his Marquette Backcountry Ski. The ski was developed for the Lake Superior hills of Michigan's Upper Peninsula but is proving popular all over.

 

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette and Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  For more of his work visit www.aaronpeterson.net

Snowy Owls invade Michigan's Upper Peninsula

There's nothing a photographer likes better than seeing something new.

Snowy owls, native to the arctic tundra, have been spotted throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula and along Lake Superior. A photographer's dream come true.

Speculation abounds as to why the birds are here. It's not too uncommon, as every few years the owls' main food source, the lemming, crashes and forces the birds south out of hunger. However, this year reports are indicating that owl numbers are up and this migration may be a case of arctic overpopulation.

This owl was photographed on Lake Superior along the Keweenaw peninsula near Copper Harbor, Michigan.

Aaron Peterson is a photographer and writer based near Marquette on Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) For more images of life along Lake Superior and Michigan's Upper Peninsula visit my website at aaronpeterson.net.

Recent Work-Marquette Backcountry Ski

The December issue of Traverse magazine has my five page profile of Marquette, Michigan native, entrepreneur, inventor and all around outdoor nut Dave Ollila and his latest innovation, the Marquette Backcountry Ski.

Dave O developed the Marquette Backcountry Ski (it's a mouthful, maybe just MBS?) for terrain like that found in the Upper Peninsula. Short, steep, brushy, gnarly wooded hurt locker sort of stuff--lots of potential for fun, but also for damage to those pretty, expensive skis designed for the open pow of actual mountains 1,500 miles to the west of the Lake Superior snowbelt we call home.

The ski is designed for the terrain of places like the Upper Peninsula, but what I found interesting is that it reflects the spirit of those who tend to gravitate to places like the U.P., Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, Vermont (maybe) etc: tough, reliable, no frills. We are not pretty or fancy, but we tend to get st#ff done. This is not the land of steez; this is the land of cheese. I could go on, but I think Keillor has used up most of the good stuff.

It's a good ski. It's a good article. Check them both out if you get the chance.

When Autumn Attacks!

It snowed the other day. September 14th. On my dog.

But not on the chickens. They know to cluck and cover.

Naturally J grabbed a butterfly net and a hammer to confront the incoming weather.

 

The snow then changed tactics, morphing to rain and evading J's net.

It rained like a *insert favorite rural weather simile here.*

Afterwards the sky did a little victory dance.

J figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em so we danced barefoot on the wet lawn. Which, by the way, is a really good way to get a toddler's grimy little feet clean!

Oh yea, and this all took place over about ten minutes. Really proves that in the Upper Peninsula, if you don't like the weather, just wait...

 

Recent Work-Traverse Magazine

The August issue of Traverse magazine, a gorgeous publication covering northern Michigan includes my eight-page feature article on Upper Peninsula Overland, a non-profit adventure travel and tourism promotion organization for the U.P.

Fun article to work on and shoot and a great group of folks involved. Check it out:

Life with Chickens: Part 1

So, we have chickens. Not really a big deal anymore, seems like everybody does these days. But life with chickens (and toddlers) is just so darn fun I had to share. Who needs TV?

For those that care about these sorts of things, we have a flock of five Barred Rock hens that give us plenty of eggs. Plenty of exercise too if you're in the "try and whack things with a stick" phase of your life (I just outgrew this, but J is picking up the slack). They are sweet, old-fashioned birds that know how to find their own food and keep out of harm's way. Unless of course, by finding food they end up in the veggies, flowers or sandbox in which case they are also in harm's way.

J is a helper. He likes to help with the eggs. He likes to help with the camera. Which unfortunately means he ends up helping with the compost too. Take a look!

 

Stand Up Paddling!

Finally got a chance to check out stand up paddling, or SUP this weekend at the Great Lake Sea Kayak Symposium in Grand Marais, Mich.

Sweet sport. Probably adding it to the repertoire, much to my saving account's chagrin.

Here are the first few quick edits:

Yep, that's right, got wet on this one. Shot from the splash zone and underwater in the shallows using a waterproof housing for my Nikon D700. Learned a bunch, mostly how much I still have to learn about shooting subsurface. And that shooting underwater in Lake Superior for about three hours will bring on mild hypothermia even in a wet suit. And that a gin and tonic (or several) is not an approved remedy for hypothermia :-\

Paddling Five Mile Point

Got out this weekend for a quick sea kayak paddle on Lake Superior and was reminded of what I love about living and working in this region: outdoor options.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Grand Island National Recreation Area are both world class kayaking destinations about 20 minutes from home, and that's where I'm usually lured. This time however, I was looking to fill in some blank spots on my mental map of Lake Superior and stayed a little closer to the farm.

Five Mile Point begins just east of AuTrain at a convenient little wayside with a historical marker and a sweet waterfall. I'm embarrassed to say I had never paddled the point before, but figured a sandstone  point in Lake Superior exposed to northern wind and waves was bound to have an interesting shoreline.

I was not disappointed. It reminded me a lot of the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin--arches, caves, cliffs and creamy swirls of tan and brown sandstone. Just an awesome day paddle, one of many along the Hiawatha Water Trail.

Here are a few quick and dirty snaps from the old iPhone.

 

For those curious about the boat, it's a Current Designs Isle, a Greenland style boat designed for large paddlers. It has lines like a throwing knife, is fast and straight tracking with tons of volume.

New Work-Fantasy Islands

Just got my hands on the July/August issue of Midwest Living magazine. Last August I was asked to shoot the Republic Island Lodge, a small cabin retreat on an island in the Michigamme River near Republic here in the Central Upper Peninsula.

Working with the fine folks at Midwest Living is always a treat, but working with the great owner of the property, Cara Middleton and her family made it even better. In one short evening and an even shorter morning we were able to pull off the assignment under a tight deadline between paying guests.

It's funny, I consider myself a laid back guy, but wow, do I love stress and pressure. Makes you sharp and focused, eliminates distractions and forces you to use your gut. Give me a double scoop of pressure with stress frosting; I'll polish it off and pay the bill with crisp, fresh images.

Here are some shots from the island.