Fall 2024 U.P. Photography Trip
Hope you all had a great fall everyone. Now that the snow is starting to fall, I’m finally getting around to sharing my Autumn adventures. If you’ve ready my summer 2024 blog recently, I’ll have you know that was published to the site and Facebook a mere day before I left for my annual fall photography excursion. This year I spent the fall in the Marquette area of the U.P. whereas last year I was in the thumb area. So this blog will dive into that trip, as I was spending the last bit of pre-fall color days finishing the Alpena photos and blog. Then after the trip, I had a family photo shoot client to work with and deliver prints for, so the only Autumn photography I managed to get in this year was on this trip.
Before we get into the U.P. trip though…
The night before I was scheduled to drive north, the weather continues to blow us away in 2024. In April, we had the total solar eclipse. Then in May, a massive solar storm gave us the northern lights way further south than what is typical. Now in October, a day before my trip, we got another batch of auroras! While I would say they weren’t as strong as they were in May (where I could faintly see them with the naked eye), they were certainly different from what we saw in May, and it gave me an opportunity to add some more variety to my portfolio.
We were also blessed with a comet gracing the night sky in October as well, unfortunately for me though I only got to see it through other people’s photos. I was St. Ignace the first night it really started to appear, and it was a cloudy night for me. Then after that when I was back home, I looked, but I did not see. Oh well, can’t win them all I guess.
Now on to the Trip!
This year I decided to spend what ended up being peak fall in the Marquette area of the U.P. With my mosaic project in mind, I hoped to fill in that last gaps of the U.P. by completing my photography in the counties of Marquette, Baraga, Iron, Dickenson, and Menominee. After those, the only unfinished portion of the UP will be Isle Royale, which may be in a second edition version of the project depending on when I feel the time has come to make that grand adventure.
For day 1 of the trip, this day was pretty much the drive up the mitten, across the bridge, and over to Marquette, about an 8 1/2 hour drive. Along the way across the U.P., I did make one pit stop at Wagner Falls, a scenic site I’ve visited many times, but never in the fall from what I can recall.
Image to the Right: Cascade Block
Wagner Falls 2024
The first morning waking up in Marquette, we were blessed with an absolutely spectacular sunrise. On a previous trip I captured a subtle sunset photo by the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, now I have the sunrise to go with it.
After that sunrise, the exploration began in earnest. For this day we explored Baraga County. We first went to Big Bay Point, photographing fall scenes and beach landscapes. After than we worked our way through the interior of the county, hitting up various lakes, state parks, and Tioga Falls.
After exploring the interior lands of Baraga County, I wanted to check out Point Abbaye. That is the tiny little peninsula that juts out right in the crook and bay created by its big brother, the Keweenaw Peninsula. That was a cool stop for sure, with great fall color, beautifully textured rocky shores, and a view of the distant Lighthouse Island.
Then for the last stop of the day, I wanted to be able to say that I was at the highest point in Michigan, Mount Arvon. At 1,979 feet, it is the highest natural point in Michigan, and boy did it have some views.
After a winding and bumpy drive up and down the mountain, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. The next morning, the plan was to finish up Iron county for my mosaic project. Now this day it was very wet and rainy, providing a different vibe for the photos this day. We started off in the Crystal Falls area, making random stops along the way as I was starting to get into the portion of the trip where there are not a ton of natural highlights to visit, but more random lakes and miles of forested roads. That’s why I planned this particular trip for the autumn, because if you are going to take a lot of road shots, you got to have that fall color to give it that extra juice!
After Crystal Falls, we went to Iron River, where we checked out some of the historic mining displays and structures at the local museum. And of course, I checked out a few of the local natural area that caught my attention as well.
Then while in the same area, I visited the site of the Treaty Tree. Now nothing but a stump, the tree was the site of meetings between the army and the native tribes back in the days when the borders were being established between Michigan and Wisconsin.
After that, we ended the day with a revisit to Bond Falls. It’s been almost a decade since I was last there, so I wanted capture it in the fall, and intended to recreate some shots I did on my last trip, but natural changes like fallen trees reminded me that things don’t always go the way I want on these trips. But that’s ok, and still I got some good images out of the visit.
On the next day of the trip, the goal was to complete the areas of Marquette, Dickenson, and Menominee counties that I hadn't finished yet. With this, it was a lot of interior area travels, and in terms of parks, hiking trails, or historical places to check out were very limited. So for this day, I plotted a general route to travel through the areas I haven’t covered yet, and whenever I spotted signs for boat launches, interesting sights along the way, or simply some good fall colors, I stopped and shot the scene.
After filling in the blank spaces of my project in these areas, we drove back to St. Ignace for the night, staying at a hotel there so the drive home the next day would be less strenuous with time for more photography. We ended the day with an attempted sunset shot at the bridge, but instead had to settle for some blue hour light instead.
Then came the day we returned home. It started with a sunrise over Lake Huron, as we had a great view of Mackinac and Bois Blanc Islands with our hotel room featuring a sliding door that gave easy access to the lakeshore.
Then for the drive home, we made a few stops, some in the Traverse City area for some beaches and also to check Mission Point off my to do list. Then after that was a stop around the Bowman Lake and river recreation areas, which I’ve photographed before, but had forgotten about in my pre-trip planning, but hey, now I have it in the fall to go with my summer shots.
After these stops, we made our way back home. After many weeks of processing and a family photo shoot thrown in the mix, I finally have them here, presented to you the readers. If you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading!