Page 127 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

A hand-operated raft skims the surface of
Kitch-Iti-Kipi, a giant spring and one of the
Upper Peninsula’s hidden gems.

20 people and is propelled by a human-powered wheel National Wildlife Refuge, a 95,000-acre preserve that
attached to a cable that spans the lake from shoreline to servesashometomorethan250birdandanimalspecies,
shoreline, a distance less than a football field. andwherewesawabaldeagleandafamilyoftrumpeter
The wonder is what lies beneath. As the raft swans.
skimmed the surface we peered through a glass bottom But we were on a quest for autumn color and were
inthecenteroftheboat.Aswegazeddownwecouldsee determinedtoachieveourgoal.Soweheadedwestward
dozens of fish – trout, we were told – drifting dreamily to Keweenaw Peninsula, which juts northward like a de-
between us and the lake bottom. And on the bottom we fiant thumb toward the heart of Lake Superior.
could see the source of the spring bubbling from the This wind-blown spit of land had been a treasure
floor, like a tea kettle roiling 45 feet below. The entire trove of copper for many decades, producing tons of the
scene – water, fish and spring floor – glowed in an eerie precious metal to fuel Michigan’s economy. But the cop-
green light, like liquid emerald. per mines played out long ago, and evidence of that de-

Therearemanyotherattractionsinthiscentralpart cline is common, from abandoned mine shafts to
of the Upper Peninsula, including Fayette Historic State deserted houses.
Park, which preserves a 19th-century iron-smelting op- But Keweenaw Peninsula is not blighted. Michigan
eration,oneofMichigan’slargestinitsheyday,andSeney Technical University is located in Houghton, a former

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