Michigan State Parks Agate Hunting

 If you are planning a trip to the UP ( UPER speak for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) the state parks are a good place to start.  At the time there were no restrictions to collect in these parks.  There are so many in the area we could not make it to all of them, but McLain and Porcupine are a couple we spent a few hours in.  Both have promising beach areas but neither gave up Nature's bounty on the day of our visit, but others may get lucky.  Both also have an abundant camping and hiking opportunities.

Fort Wilkins State Park is where we made base camp to visit the entire UP area state parks and National Park of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Keweenaw Peninsula was known for it rich copper deposits. There are many museums related to copper in the area and for a rockhound these are rich in many types of specimens, more on that in another blog.

  Fort Wilkins is located at the most northern part of  US 41 which goes through seven states all the way south  to almost the south tip of Florida.  But at the end of the most northern part of US 41 is Horseshoe Harbor where one can go off the beaten path a bit to hunt for those lakers.  And if you are really adventurous you can even travel past Horseshoe Harbor to the very most northern point of Michigan to a remote area to hunt. But be warned, to go beyond Horseshoe Harbor you need a pick-up, preferably a 4 x 4. If you do venture this far out the trail is hard, very hard on tires. It has been known for folks to get flat tires, sometimes all four of them at once. Needless to say we did not venture out beyond Horseshoe Harbor. I guess you could hike it, but then you might run into bears. We know they are there as the bear tracks on the beach of Horseshoe Harbor proved.

  If you know where to look you can also find a couple of Native American Petroglyphs.  It is no state secret to the location, but the locals will only tell you once they get to know you and since they are not preserved they would like to keep the traffic down in the area.  All I can remember is they are located near Horseshoe Harbor.

  One would think with the big beach area at Horseshoe Harbor we would have found those agates, but no luck for us this day. We did run into a group of High School students learning about geology from a Michigan Tech. University Student Teacher as part of a summer program.

  While we had no luck finding agates, the geology of the place was a dream for a geologist. Sandee had a good time climbing and looking over these formation. So it well worth the visit to this area for that alone. Of course I had one eye open for that bear.

   I have too many pictures to post so I will not back up the website, but please visit my blog at:

http://bartoncvn69.blogspot.com/

 

                                                         Where is that bear?