Chilling Out Underground

First order of business this morning was a tour of the Quincy Mine in Houghton.  Most of the buildings of this mine sit atop a bluff overlooking Houghton and Hancock, and the Number 2 Shaft building is a recognizable icon towering above the city’s skyline to the north.  Now operated by the National Park Service, parts of this mine have been preserved and are available for tours.

We had signed up for the 9:45am tour and the tour took about two and a half hours.  Part was upstairs in the massive Hoist House, which contained the world’s largest steam-driven mine hoist.  This was necessary to lift 10 tons of ore up a nearly two-mile mine shaft.  The shaft, at 9,260 feet, was the world’s longest mine shaft when the mine ceased production in 1945.  Both of these are worthy enough to be added to our Worlds Largest collection.

Then it was aboard a cogwheel driven shuttle down the hillside to a horizontal shaft, where we walked nearly a half mile into the side of the mountain.  At 43 degrees and dribbling from many places, it was a stark contrast to the warming day outside.

Michigan Technological University even ran a class on mining in a small classroom dug out of this passage.

Fascinating tour and a fascinating subject (copper mining), and the engineer in me wanted to explore the mechanical aspects of the massive steam engine that ran the hoist and the construction of the various buildings at the site.  Not to mention descending 9200 feet into the earth in a primitive car on rails in total darkness.  Ok, probably not the total darkness part.

Deb sees things totally different.  She was admiring the profusion of wildflowers that seem to be everywhere.  It does make for a very striking landscape.

We headed back south out of the Keweenaw Peninsula and then east. New destination, the Porcupine Mountains.  It’s been about 25 years since we last were there with the boys and I don’t remember much about it, other than rain.  The rain made for a rather underwhelming experience.

This time was much better.  The smog made distance viewing less than optimal, but we were glad we made the detour to this place.  First stop, at Lake of the Clouds, was rather brief, but we spent more time at the Presque Isle unit on the west end of the park.  The Presque Isle River has a series of waterfalls that are well worth the two-mile round trip hike, and the river drains into Lake Superior at a very picturesque beach.  Would love to spend more time here but we also want to make it around Lake Superior in the time allotted.

Leaving here, we drove for a couple hours and ended up in Ashland, Wisconsin, at another Plan B, the WalMart just outside town.  That’s one casualty of traveling during the high season: availability of suitable camping spots.  Another casualty: the Apostle Islands.  We’ve driven by here a few times in the last several years, and have always intended to take in the Apostle Islands.  One year it was too cold; we were chased out of the UP by a snow storm that dumped 12 inches of snow behind us.  Another year we were more in a hurry.  This year, with no agenda and everything done at the last minute, all the outfitters that rented kayaks for paddling around the islands were booked up.  As timing would have it, we are arriving on a weekend during high season.  We have our own kayaks along but they are not suitable for Lake Superior.  So this will again be tossed in the “next time” bucket.  I’m sure we will be through here again at some point.

So now we’re in another WalMart, bedding down for the night in their parking lot.  Last night’s experience was generally good, perhaps a bit noisy at shift change times of 11pm and 7am, but otherwise OK.  Let’s hope this one is the same.