Seasonal Stories: Hot Weather Camping in the UP on the Shore of Lake Superior

Seasonal Stories is a new feature I’m starting where I share reflections about being outdoors and exploring the northern Great Lakes. Sometimes these posts will mainly be trip reports (like today) and other times they may be longer and interweave history and/or memoir (like my post on the Blowdown in July of 1999).

In late July we went dispersed camping in the Copper Country State Forest in Baraga County (in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). This is an area we’ve camped at twice before—once recently and once several years ago. It’s a beautiful area, although due to its proximity to the beach, stable flies are always a potential challenge with a south wind. So that’s an additional bug challenge to factor in (along with mosquitoes, deer flies, etc.).

Our view from our tent in June 2025.

We were originally hoping to visit a spot we had found several years ago (but not camped at). However, we couldn’t find a successful route this time. We kept running into privately owned land with no trespassing signs (and gates). We didn’t research the route when we did it previously. We just thought it could work, and tried it, and it worked. We assumed we’d have similar luck this time, and we were wrong. After an hour of trying and with no decent options left without driving several miles further or going down roads that we didn’t feel equipped to deal with, we decided to backtrack and return to an area we were more familiar with.

That turned out to be a great plan. We decided to try a new branch off the main road and ended up finding a beautiful, private site. The other times we’ve camped in this area, it’s been beautiful, but not private.

The view from our campsite in this area in June.

It was a hot day with temperatures in the high 80s (Fahrenheit)—peak summer. We set up our tent with a great view of the lake.

Our tent at our private campsite in July 20245.

Then we set up our Solostove and started a fire to get a coal base for cooking. And we enjoyed a beer. We cooked up sausages with sauteed onions and bell peppers and cheddar cheese for dinner, along with a salad in our bag (one of our go-tos as a side for the first night of a camping trip near our vehicle).

Getting a coal base in the Solostove for cooking with a great view.

We ate dinner and watched the sunset. After cleaning up, the mosquitoes descended, so we retired to our tent for a final beer and chill before bed.

The first night’s sunset was subtle but gorgeous.

The next day was just as hot. We slept in and had a lazy morning. Then we took a walk down the beach. Usually when we’ve visited this area we head east, which continues along state land till you get to a rocky point. This time we headed west where the state land changes to private property within about half a mile. It was a scenic stretch of shore and along with enjoying seeing the different styles of cottages and houses, we saw some cool sites including mushrooms, a tannin-stained creek flowing into the Big Lake, and some neat sandstone rock formations.

A tannin-stained creek flowing into Lake Superior.

We had a quick lunch of sandwiches and snacks and hung out at the campsite for a bit. Then, we took a canoe paddle along the shore.

Paddling our canoe.

When we got back to camp, we lit up the Solostove and made steaks for dinner with another salad in a bag. We enjoyed the beautiful sunset and had an early night. All the sun and heat wore me out.

Another great sunset.

Our campsite in the evening.

I woke up the next morning still feeling some of the effects of the heat. It was going to be another hot day. We talked about our options. We decided to go for a drive in our truck, taking a backroads way to Marquette that we’d never done before. We could spend some time in air conditioning on route and in stores.

The sunrise view form our tent.

We checked our maps and headed off. It was a pretty easy drive on gravel roads through some lovely forests. Eventually the forests shifted to a more recently logged area where many blueberry bushes were growing. A lot of people were out braving the heat picking berries, with vehicles and 4-wheelers pulled over on the side of the road.

Once we reached Marquette, we got coffee and waffles at Velodrome and then went “big city” shopping in air conditioning at Loews and Meijer. We got pizza from Third Coast and brought it back to the campsite for an easy dinner.

Eugene found eggnog at Meijer and I found sushi so we were both happy!

We drove through Big Bay and tried a few other ways to access the original area we planned on camping at on the way home and still had no success. Oh well—we had fun trying and we had a beautiful campsite to return to and a delicious pizza dinner.

The sunset was absolutely beautiful. The best of the trip and the best I’ve seen in a while. We watched it till the end. Then we stayed up by the fire and did some stargazing. Finally, we called it a night and went to bed.

The sunset the final night of the trip.

The next day we packed up and then took a final canoe paddle.

During our final paddle, we paddle up the Huron River a bit into an area of wetlands.

On our way home, we stopped at Big Eric’s Bridge and explored some of the trails along the river. Then we continued home, stopping to get coffee from Camp Coffee on route.

Big Eric’s Bridge and some of the small waterfalls around it. The bridge was built in 1992 and hemlock was used in its construction.

It was a fun trip and a great way to cope with the heat of summer. If you’ve been following my Facebook page, you know I’m not a fan of the heat and don’t really cope well with it. One of my requirements for hot weather camping is having access to a body of water to cool off in. And this campsite definitely provided that!

The Huron River in the summer sun.