Treat Farm, Sleeping Bear Dunes

Treat farm is a spot you can’t reach by car, and perhaps that is why it remained undiscovered for me until recently.  The hike meanders through a wooded forest south of Empire (at the corner of Stormer and Norconk roads).  About half of a mile in, the trail opens up into a sun-lit meadow dotted with the buildings of this historic farmstead, beckoning exploration.  The Treat Barn was purchased by Charles Treat and his family in Detroit and moved piece by piece on rail cars to Empire in 1912.  Horse-drawn teams moved the pieces to the spot where it was reassembled and now stands.  Mr. Treat was an engineer and after laying the foundation for the barn, he continued to experiment with concrete.  You can explore some of his unique creations, including the domed concrete root cellar.  Also check out the rain water collection system on the building (used due to difficulties in drilling a well) and be on the lookout for remnants of the family’s farming (asparagus and apple trees) that fed them until the 1930s when the sandy soil started to deplete.

A walk through the meadow will lead you to a trail up the backside of the dunes south of the Empire Bluffs.   Atop the dune you’ll be rewarded by two breath-taking views; the one of Lake Michigan and Platte Bay in front of you and the vista of the farm and beautiful woods behind.

Porcupine Mountains in Color

 

Escanaba in da Autumnlight

Crossing “The Bridge” is something unique to our Northern lives.  How many times have we planned time in the UP to recuperate or re-energize only to feel the trip truly commence once departing Mr Mack’s northern end?  The UP has its own energy and every one of its cities has a soul. Escanaba’s seems to be big, made of steel, powered by coal, and rusty.

Porcupine Mountains in Black and White

photo: Nate Richardson

I might be lazy… but after spending an exorbitant amount of time digging around in the vocabulary for deserving adjectives, I finally decided to just let the images describe the places I saw on a recent trip to the U.P. These are shots from Porcupine Mountains State Park. Although this is an amazing place to visit anytime, I happened to be there just as the colors were turning and imagine they are peaking, making it an amazing place to explore right now! Look for more posts for places to see in the U.P.

Port Oneida

Looking for a spot to take a fall color tour?  This time of year, it’s as if the leaves decide to color coordinate with the vibrant siding and rusting metal of the old barns, corn cribs, and farmhouses at Port Oneida Rural Historic District (located a few miles north of Glen Arbor along M-22). It’s well worth a visit.

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