# Favorite roads in the U.P



## deepwoods (Nov 18, 2002)

Brockway Mountain Drive


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## Dirty Sanchez (10 mo ago)

I went and saw that Paulding light a few times. Ever check it out on a plat book/topo map.

It appears to me that you are seeing head and tail lights from the occasional night cars in the distance.

The map shows the highway right in line with where the light appears.


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## Cork Dust (Nov 26, 2012)

deepwoods said:


> Brockway Mountain Drive


We used to ski the Brockway Mtn. Challenge, ski up until your legs turn to rubber and then see if you can keep them working on the way down...


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

KenTrost said:


> I'm taking a trip I've made more times than I can count next week all the way across the U.P. and I realized it's always 2 or 28. Other than through Seney there's more than 2 east-west roads, right? I've never really branched out; it's always straight shot hurry-up-and-get-it-over-with. I always enjoy taking 2 west of St. Ignace until 77 and 28 the rest of the way to Wisconsin.
> 
> What's everyone else's preferred path? What are some roads I've been dying to see my whole life but never took? With gas prices I'm not expecting traffic to be as thick as it normally is this time of year but id still like to avoid Munising and Marquette and it will be nice to get off the beaten path and go a different way.


The one that separates the lower from the Upper.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

For just crossing east-west with a bit of variety, that is a set of limited choices. M-69, M-94, & M-36 all do offer that.

I believe each National Forest, the Ottawa & the Hiawatha feature a pair of “Forest Highways” that are high quality roads but are north-south routes.

Crossing the Ottawa through the middle, east-west, is very do-able; one could travel from just past Kenton, through Bond Falls area, and on to Gogebic via Paulding as mentioned. After Paulding it would be via a top grade gravel road.

Crossing the core of the western Hiawatha east-west is also doable though more convoluted and would require a bit of research as it is heavy with inland lakes and then just limited crossing points over the Whitefish. The eastern Hiawatha has great roads; one can drive from Pickford to Engadine without using 2 or 28 quite easily. The US 2 Fudgie Speedway can be largely skipped via Trout Lake-Rexton-Engadine by using M-123 starting just north of St. Ignace. Or using 123 to get to M-28. 

Iron & Menominee counties offer nice backroads into Wisconsin, Dickenson less so. Gogebic does as well but by then you are driving south to get into WI. North-east Wisconsin is the most unpopulated (year-round) part of that state but aside from a few large areas of Federal holding, one can quickly find themselves in heavy tourist areas, sometimes even on their State routes, winding through lakes completely full of cottages at 35 mph.


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## stickman1978 (Sep 15, 2011)




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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

stickman1978 said:


> View attachment 841293


You should have driven a little farther west to where Teets road intersects the Dick Road.


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## KenTrost (Dec 24, 2020)

Hoping to be over the bridge by 7 tomorrow morning and then I’m going to take a new route. I don’t know what yet but I’m going to try to avoid 2 and 28 after I get west of Seney. I’ll report anything interesting Monday hopefully after I’m back home.


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## KenTrost (Dec 24, 2020)

pike man said:


> You can go North out of Manistique on M-94 up to Shingleton then West on M-28 to just West of Wetmore and catch M-94 West again. This will take you close to Marquette. Nice drive !


Going to shoot for something similar to this.


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## shell waster (Nov 5, 2004)

there's construction on 28 east of Munising


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## Night Moves (Jan 28, 2021)

There are tons of east west route choices between 2 and 28. I spend the entire fall exploring that territory.


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## gatorman841 (Mar 4, 2010)

Manistque river road or the Fox river road are both good roads.


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## stickman1978 (Sep 15, 2011)

94 to 437 to 445 to 13 to buckhorn road will take you right back to 94.


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## stickman1978 (Sep 15, 2011)

Michigan couple on vacation in the U.P. rescued after being stranded for 15 hours


Joanne and Karl Metcalf's car was stuck in the sand near Lake Superior for over 15 hours before border patrol agents found them.



www.sooeveningnews.com





Don't be these people.


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## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

stickman1978 said:


> Michigan couple on vacation in the U.P. rescued after being stranded for 15 hours
> 
> 
> Joanne and Karl Metcalf's car was stuck in the sand near Lake Superior for over 15 hours before border patrol agents found them.
> ...


That story is a plus for the little hotels and motels out there. You think the holiday inn is gonna notice you didn’t make it home tonight?


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## stickman1978 (Sep 15, 2011)

Botiz said:


> That story is a plus for the little hotels and motels out there. You think the holiday inn is gonna notice you didn’t make it home tonight?


Love staying in these little hotels and resorts UP there. Probably stayed in at least a dozen or more.


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## bearhunter2 (Mar 11, 2018)

ken trost you should have kept going on triple a it turns to dirt past the mine turns into ford rd, just watch out for logging trucks .4 to 5 miles t at northwestern turn left to skanee go left and go to baraga or l'anse. don't turn right real ruff you might blow a tire , we have blowen 2 from sharp rocks.


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## bearhunter2 (Mar 11, 2018)

oh forgot to say i've seen lot's of moose up their off triple a rd.


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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

That couple just gave all us dad’s a reason not to be upset with stupid teenage stuff. Of course thinking about the stupid stuff I did in my teens really should be enough!


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## PerchPatrol (Mar 31, 2006)

That new superhighway to the eagle mine really changed our trip from big erics bridge to big bay, thats for sure.

Blows my mind, we spent years running all over the yellow dog plains. 

What a payoff that mine turned out to be.


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

Lots of them….smith’s fisheries rd, 412, but my favorite I won’t mention.


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## KenTrost (Dec 24, 2020)

Turned into a 2500 mile grind of a week rather than a 1000 mile stroll. Wound up not getting too far off the beaten path again.  Next time I’ll explore. Saw my first ever (live) wild Michigan elk on the first trip up though!


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## stickman1978 (Sep 15, 2011)

Thats a lot of Cheezits and Girl Scout Cookies, 😆.


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## Polar7 (Aug 28, 2020)

Dirty Sanchez said:


> I have many times from base camp on the peshekee grade..log lake/ clear lake area. We ran all those roads and trails hard.
> 
> I also was blessed with Champion and Mead gate keys. (As a Forester for champion).
> 
> ...


Haha I’ve been in said hole. What a nightmare, almost swallowed my Big Bear. The trail gets almost to Big Bay and is then gated. We rode up from Champion.

On the way back we were not looking forward to going through the hole. We took a small logging road to the East up a ridge, lo and behold it goes right up and around. Won’t be driving through that hole again!


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I came to some intuitive, and counter-intuitive conclusions, back in there. The main one was - stick to only the routes currently/recently being used as haul roads by the log trucks. This can mean ignoring the map(s) altogether, despite the spaghetti of options all over them. “I chose the one less traveled by / and that has made all the difference” goes the famous poem - but that is not always wise.


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