Bear Belly Adventures

We are staying in High Rock Bay. It’s located at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. This is about 12 miles north of the town of Copper Bay.  In order to get here we had to travel about 7 miles of unpaved road after highway 41 ends.  These roads are not your typical country back roads. They are not just gravel with the occasional pothole from a recent rain storm to dodge.   The road to this area is mostly dirt with bowling ball sized boulders that riddle the road like land mines.  The pot holes are more like cauldron holes with the occasional swimming hole.  There must have been some recent rain because those holes were also full of mud water.  The holes that are full of water also have those bowling ball sized boulders only now you can’t see them.  One of these holes was nearly 2.5 – 3 feet deep and full of mud water.  Although I never needed to switch into 4X4 the higher clearance was nice to have.  Its probably a good idea to have good suspension also.  It takes about 45 minutes to travel that 7 miles.  By the end, I felt like I had finished a wash cycle. The constant swaying and bouncing from uneven bumps and holes was overwhelming.  Was it worth it?  Yes it was, 100%.  The views are dramatic and beautiful.  Although the haze from forest fires does diminish views of the distant light houses, it’s still worth every curse word. It’s worth the weird new rattle coming from the Jeep. It’s worth seeing the looks of utter disbelief from Nana who was also bouncing around in the back.  On another positive note, when I opened up the camper, I found out where things needed to be secured better! 

It’s doable if you take it slow.  In September 2025 they are grading the road and making it twice as wide.  The local ATV and snowmobile clubs are sponsoring the work. Their community use the road more than traditional vehicles do.  It should open up this area to almost any vehicle.

For summer recreation there is an abundance of multi-use trails, mountain bike trails and hiking trails.  There are also many places to paddle.  Inland lakes, ponds and Lake Superior offer great opportunities to paddle.  

High Rock Bay has about 10-15 decent sites.  It is on state land and currently there is no registration or pass needed to use the land.  As is true with any dispersed camping don’t make new sites or fire rings.  There are already enough.  There are more firepits than sites.  Many people use the area as a day stop to have lunch and have made fires all over.  Several have been dismantled to discourage use.  Best practice is to leave the area nicer than you found it. Sometimes that means you need to pick up after people who weren’t as courteous.

Only about a half mile from where I am camped there is a historic rocket range.  It was in service from the 1964 to 1971.  It was operated by NASA and the University of Michigan.  The goal was to study the upper atmosphere.  They launched Nike Apache and Arcas rockets.  In 2000 a memorial stone was placed at the location to document the area.  At this time there is only a concrete pad, some old iron and the stone monument.  On some of the circular shapes of metal, you can still see numbers. These numbers appear to be hand etched into them.  I presume they are degree marks.

The nearby town of Copper Bay is also where the ferry takes off for Isle Royale.  Isle Royale is an island National Park in Lake Superior. The ferry ride is about 3 hours one way so plan accordingly.  This area is also big on mountain biking and the town caters to them with a bustling downtown area.  There is one gas station in town. The next one is 36 miles away.  The general store has most everything you would need to cook a meal.  Although none stood out as outstanding to me there are several sit down restaurants in town.  In my opinion a must have is the thimbleberry glazed donut from Jamsen’s Bakery.  The bakery is right on the shore of Lake Superior.  Once I got my order, we sat at a table on their dock. We overlooked the lake and enjoyed our donut and strawberry mango beverage.

Over at Lac La Belle there is a lodge and resort by the same name.  They have a store called Bear Belly Pit Stop!!  I had to go and see what it was all about.  They are no longer a sit down restaurant.  They had to switch to a take and go establishment during Covid. They never changed back to a sit down place to eat.  They still make food fresh and have daily specials.  I got their brisket sandwich with a chipotle aioli sauce.  It was good!  I sat down at the lake to eat.  They also have Bear Belly merch.  I had to get a patch.

That’s about it for now.  I’ll highlight any longer hikes or interesting things we do while up in this area.  Until next time… live your best day, every day.