August 2027 - Michigamme 

DAy 1 - July 31, 2026

With another group of 11 folks, we decided to get a van for this trip, which made for a fun commute throughout our stay. We stayed in Michigamme to maximize our centralized location, planning to head west and then east. Our Airbnb home was right on Lake Michigamme, which is quite a large inland lake in the upper peninsula (the second largest after Lake Gogebic). The Champion mine dump is right by Michigamme, which made it our first stop for the day. This time around we got here around sunset, and there was a soft drizzle of rain. This was reminiscent of the first time we ever came to the Champion Mine in 2022. We started finding some cool specimens here and there, but it seemed like the main focus was on tourmaline - who could find it and how much of it is out there still in these piles. Much to our surprise, a few of us found specimens with tourmaline in them, and all was good with the world. As we kept looking around the piles and while some of us were collecting hematite dust from the road adjacent to the piles, the sun had went down and darkness began to quickly ensue. What made us hasten our leave however were the mosquitoes - they were aggressive and aplenty, and they made sure we all left in a jiffy right after we found a way to take a group photo. 

DAy 2 - August 1, 2026

There was an itinerary, but we all know that the plan is only there to guide us, not to limit us. This day had not been planned with details before we arrived to the UP, but rather manifested itself after some discussion over maps in the living room the night before. We decided to go to the Quinsy Copper Mine for a tour, but on our way to Houghton we stopped by the region between Alberta and L'Anse. There used to be a graphite mine here, and we tried to locate it but instead found a pile of boulders and cobbles from what seemed to be all around the UP. The majority of rocks in this pile were some form of hybrid between slate and phyllite, with plenty of accessory minerals including quartz and other metamorphic ones here and there. WE wish we had some time to explore this area more, but we had to cut it short and carry on to Houghton to visit the A.E. Seaman Museum of Rocks and Minerals. 

We arrived to the museum and took a group photo with the large lake copper on display outside. This is one of the most exquisite museums of rocks and minerals in the United States and they have samples from all around the country and the world, and of course from all over Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The specimens on display are some of the finest we've seen and it is truly inspiring to see the variety in types and species. At some point it can get overwhelming, but after all this is an educational museum at Michigan Tech University and stopping here while in the Keweenaw is a must! 

We crossed the bridge over the Portage Canal into Hancock on out way to the Quincy Mine. The drive from the museum to the bridge takes you along this very steep incline in a neighborhood that goes all the way down to the canal and into downtown Houghton. Once you cross the bridge, you begin the climb again along the roads until you get to the Quincy mine. The mine tour begins at the tour center and museum, which houses the Nordberg Steam Hoist that was built in 1918 and is the largest steam hoist in the world and took 1.5 years to assemble. The surface of the mine also has the no. 2 Shaft rockhouse that sorts copper from other rocks. We then took a tram on a rail down a hill towards an adit, which is a horizontal entrance to a mine that is dug on the side of a mountain or slope. We went into the adit, and immedeatly felt a very chilly breeze from within the mine, for which some of us weren't dressed warmly for. As we started walking into the mine, the temperature got down to about 40 degrees F. IT was wet, cold, and dark, but refreshing and quite nostalgic all at once. At one point there was a small classroom with old wooden chairs and a chalkboard for which Michigan Tech students used to learn about mining while there. We got to a point were the guide turned off all the lights and we got to briefly experience mining by candlelight. Words don't do it justice, but this is the second time some of us had experienced this tour and it was just as cool and fascinating as it was the first time, and we can't wait to experience it again. 

IT was about 4:00 pm when the mine tour ended, and so we drove north to Calumet to check out a large mine dump. There were plenty of rocks here, mostly amygdoloidal basalts and conglomerates of the copper mines we were seeing inside the mine adit not long before. This dump represent all the mine tailings that they blasted to dig the mines. They were laid out here in this pile in the middle of a neighborhood, and it made some of us wonder whether the niehgborhoods were here first or the mine tailings were. Some of us found copper here, while others found shiny inclusions of epidote in the amygdoloids of the basalt. Perhaps some of our cooler finds were what seemed like pumpellyte and thomsonite in the amygdoloids. A few of us trailed the entire mine tailing and were flabergasted by the sheer size of it as we kept walking inward. 

We left Calumet and headed to one of the hidden gems just a bit north - Bumbletown. This was a place we went to in 2023 and it was a must visit for this group this time around. Some of our group members thought that Bumbletown was a made-up name, until we got to the village and were greeted by the sign that said "Welcome to Bumbletown - Population 45". We had increased the population by 24% at that moment as we drove to the top of this hill where a radio communications tower station exists. Just before we got here, we tried to check out what used to be a chrysocolla pit, but it looked like it was now private property with a new house that was recently built and with no trespassing and no rock collecting signs. WE respected the signs and turned around as we continued up the hill to the top of Bumbletown. We parked the van at the base of the road leading up to the hill and hiked to the top, and immediately were greeted by some of the most amazing views of the Keweenaw from an elevated ridge. 

Bumbletown hill is a basalt formation, mostly amygdaloidal with chlorite and highly weathered epidote. The basalt here was considered pahoehoe, slowly weathered by the glaciers to form striations and light grooves that indicate paleo direction of the ice. The hill itself is considered a hogback ridge (structural knob), like Jasper Knob! Looking north from this hill, we saw three distinct glacial structures known as Roche Moutonnée; asymmetrical knobs carved out by the glaciers as they advanced over the harder igneous rocks in the region. These features showcase the general direction of the ice as it moved across this region during the Pleistocene Ice Age. Aside from all the fancy and meaningful geological observations we made while up here, several of us found a little peace up here as we sat in silence looking out at the distance. It was beautiful in every sense of the word. 

We left Bubmletown with a heavy longing of wanting to stay, but our stomachs were yearning for food, and so we stopped for Pizza in Calumet as we continued along to the beach on Lake Superior at F.J. McLain State Park. This wasn't much of what we expected, as the shoreline here mostly a bay, but we enjoyed the waves and some rock skipping before it started to get dark. The clouds covered what would have been an awesome sunset, and the weather was fair and the water was inviting. 

Day 3 - August 2, 2026

WE woke up early to start packing and going through an extensive list of chores to do to check out from the Airbnb. A few of us who got up early enough took the kayaks out on Lake Michigamme and enjoyed a serene morning on the calm waters. The water was warmer than the air temperature, which overnight went down to about the lower 50s. It was sunny however and the weather was shaping up to be good for our return trip. Once we left michigamme, we did our mandatory visit to Jasper Knob where we enjoyed some BIF and the company of a group of people who also had a geologist with them. Some of us spilled the beans and pointed to our geologist in our group, who graciously told the story of how jasper Knob came to be twice, once for our group and the second time around for this group of people from Virginia. What was supposed to be a quick stop turned into an hour+ visit to a marvel of Ishpeming that is Jasper Knob. 

From there, we took off towards MArquette and stopped at a roadcut consisting of the 2.2 billion year old Kona Dolamite Stromatolites. This was on a busy road, so we put on our vests and got a closer look at these wonderous rocks that tell the story of ancient life on our planet around the time when oxygen was becoming abundant in our atmosphere. On one side of the roadcut, you can clearly see the classic stromatolite features; a face of the rock unit that we hope is preserved for generations to come. 

At this point, we all made the decision to make a detour north and stop by the black rocks of basalt at Presque isle very briefly before we head back home. This was a very brief stop as time was rushing us to get on the road if we wanted to make it back home in a reasonable time given we had a 7-hour drive ahead of us. Marquette and this part of the UP, and the UP in general has a plethora of places that require time and several days and trips to fully explore, and we shall be back to take our time and visit them in the near future.

For now, another Gneiss Adventure has concluded, leaving us completely inspired to keep exploring the wonders of this planet. We drove home with a lingering, bittersweet melancholy and a stubborn wish to stay longer. The Upper Peninsula is stunning, but our longing to stay wasn't just driven by the breathtaking vistas—it was the profound communal experience we shared along the way. Throughout this adventure we collectively uplifted and inspired one another, and that deepened our appreciation and connection to the world around us and has made this expedition quite special and one for the memory books.