This week across the Upper Peninsula it was rare to see a temperature below freezing. A lot of snow and ice melted this week and once again the ice fishing season will be coming to a close soon.

There aren’t many places in the United States where you’re driving along and see a frozen lake that’s full of ice shanties. It’s a rare thing that Yoopers take for granted a few months out of the year. It seems to be a favorite site among tourists and locals alike, to see the small villages of ice shanties.

Ice fishing is rare in itself across the entire United States, what’s even more strange is actually seeing a driveway to drive right out onto the ice. So with that in mind we wanted to conduct a small poll… (please check all that apply).

Have you been on a frozen lake before?

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This photo was snapped by Jen March 8th, 2008. It was her very first trip to the Upper Peninsula. It was also her first time walking on a frozen lake.

We’re always looking for more great photos. Get in touch with us and submit your best Upper Peninsula photos.

8 OT hockey game sees no losers and breaks record for longest game in michigan high school hockey history

The Marquette Redmen and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Eagles played in the second longest game in United States high school hockey history. After playing 8 overtimes in the Division 1 state championship game the Michigan High School Athletic Association called the game, and it finished in a 1-1 tie and a shared state championship.

After 109 minutes of playing hockey it crushed the previous Michigan record by nearly 23 minutes.

St. Mary’s goaltender Ryan Morley-Stockton set the state record for most saves in a game with 58. Marquette goaltender Jon Nezich faced 37 shots. That’s a total of 95 shots on goal, 109 minutes, and only two goals allowed.

However, there is some controversy facing the MHSAA as to calling the game and not pursuing other options of continuing the game the following day. Rightfully, they were concerned about the health of the players, as both teams had players suffering from cramps, nausea, dehydration, and dizziness.

Marquette was only 1 minute and 32 seconds away from winning a solo state championship before Tim Hooker tied the game up, sending the game into an historic overtime, and a record that will probably stand for many decades.

Players from both teams celebrated in unique fashion, posing for photos together, hugging each other, and congratulating each other on the state championship. Both teams came out as winners and will both go down in hockey history.

This is the 5th state hockey championship for the Marquette Redmen.

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With 56 shots on goal the score was still 0-0 between Calumet and Flint Powers in the state championship hockey game. Finally, on the 57th shot of the game, just four minutes into overtime when Logan Rastello scored the championship winning goal, giving the Calumet Copper Kings their 6th state hockey championship at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth.

Rastello’s Championship Winning Goal

“Score! Score! Score! Copper Kings score! Logan Rastello, Oh my God! Oh my God! … Unbelievable!”

There couldn’t have been more drama for the Division 3 state championship game and became the first state hockey championship game to finish with a 1-0 final. (However, there was more drama for the Division 1 championship.)

Rastello scored the games only goal off a rebound on his own shot, scoring the most memorable goal of his life. At 4:18 into the extra period he became a local hero.

On the other end of the rice was goaltender Tyler Junttila, posting the most memorable shutout of his life. At just 5-foot-6 Junttila was one of the smallest players in both the final and semi-final game and one of the most dominant players. Junttila stopped numerous breakaways and scoring chances in the second period as Flint Powers dominated the shots. Junttila allowed just seven goals in the final five games of the season.

Flint Powers gave Flint the closest taste they’ve ever had to a hockey championship, falling just a single shot short of making it come true.

Calumet won the championship on back-to-back overtime victories and finished their season with 18-11-0. The Copper Kings beat St. Mary’s 5-4 in overtime of the semifinal game. The 2005 Birmingham Brother Rice squad is the only other team to every win a championship with back-to-back overtime wins.

Calumet had a record of just 10-10-0 shortly before the playoffs and were underdogs in nearly every playoff matchup. They played their best hockey of the season when it counted.

Calumet coach Jim Crawford has lead the Copper kings to six state championships since 1992.

Calumet Copper Kings Celebrate

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It was the spring of 2001 when three friends and I headed out with cameras with a big destination in mind, we had a mission: find the Big Boy Graveyard. We heard of its existence and even had a nice aerial map to pinpoint it’s location.

To be honest, it was quite obscure. It’s not often you come across a molded fiberglass version of one of your favorite childhood cartoon characters tipped over in the woods — with a big hole in the side of his head. Not to mention there were three Big Boys. It was evident upon arrival that this was indeed a graveyard.

These photos were taken seven years ago, shortly after the Big Boy franchise (headquartered in Warren, MI) filed bankruptcy. There are still a few of them left today, but far and few between.

After posting these photos online seven years ago it didn’t take long before nearly every week someone found them online and e-mailed me asking where the Big Boy Graveyard can be found.

For the disappointment of many I am very sad to say that the Big Boy Graveyard outside of Negaunee no longer exists. The three Big Boy’s have been exhumed and most likely went to a scrap yard. As for the four of us that went there that day in 2001, we never did get to pull off that amazing high school prank by transporting one of these to the middle of the high school football field before the homecoming game.

However, for those of you who love the obscure, an adventure, or perhaps just want to visit the grave of a childhood icon (those shakes ay Big Boy sure were the best as a kid!) there is still hope. There is reportedly a second Big Boy Graveyard in the lower peninsula. And if anyone has information on this we would love to know.

Below you can see the map of the approximate area (the highlighted region) where the Big Boy Graveyard used to be. It was located along Marquette County Road 510 just off US 41, half way between Negaunee and Marquette.

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Time for an Upper Peninsula history lesson…

The State of Michigan has seen 47 governors since 1837 when Michigan was admitted as the 26th state of the union. Of those 47 governors only one has been a Yooper.

Chase Osborn became the 27th Governor of Michigan in 1911 and to this day remains the only Michigan Governor from the Upper Peninsula.

Governor Osborn was born January 22, 1860 in Huntington County, Indiana. While in his 20s Osborn moved to Sault Ste Marie where he operated The Sault News and in 1889 became the postmaster of Sault Ste Marie.

After losing the nomination for the Republican candidate in 1908, he was later elected Governor in 1911 and served through 1913, and did not run for a second term. In 1928 he was nominated as a candidate for the Vice President of the United States, but was defeated by Charles Curtis for the Republican nomination.

Osborn was a member of several organization that have a strong presence in the Upper Peninsula: Elks, Lions Club, Kiwanis, The National Rifle Association and others. Among various involvements and an author of several books his most notable writing is an autobiography titled The Iron Hunter, published in 1919, which was reprinted in 2002.

Franklin Roosevelt discussed the possibilities of the Mackinac Bridge with Osborn, and although Osborn had a significant role in the Mackinac Bridge, he was never able to see the final product, passing away in 1949, eight years prior to the opening of the bridge.

Although he passed away in Poulan, GA he was buried on Sugar Island, near Sault Ste Marie. Chase Osborn lived to be 89 years old.

How long will it be before we see another Michigan Governor from the Upper Peninsula? Only time will tell!

That’s what I was asked once while on my 50-state Hometown Invasion Tour.

I don’t want to drop any names of who it was, but clearly someone a long ways away from the Great Lakes Region. This adult was someone who I saw as well educated, and I believe any U.S. citizen should be able to answer this question with ease. However, that’s easy to say for those who live only a few hundred yards off the shore of Lake Superior. Throughout my trip I was frequently educated people on the Great Lakes and wanted to share…

Why Lake Superior is the Greatest Lake on Earth, and why it kicks your lake’s butt…

How big is Lake Superior?

• Largest fresh water lake in the world (by surface area)
• Surface area: 31,820 square miles
• Water volume: 2,900 cubic miles
• Shore length: 2,725 miles
• Maximum length: 350 miles
• Maximum width: 160 miles
• Surface elevation: 609 feet
• Average depth: 482 feet
• Maximum depth: 1,332 feet
• Maximum depth: 723 feet below sea level

There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land mass of North and South America with a foot of water.

How Lake Superior compares

• Lake Superior is the size of South Carolina
• Lake Superior is larger than 10 states: WV, MD, HI, MA, VT, NH, NJ, CT, DE, and RI
• Lake Superior is larger than the countries of: Czech Republic, Ireland, Latvia, Croatia, Switzerland, Belgium, Rwanda, and dozens of others
• Lake Superior is 33.6% of the entire surface area and 53.5% of the entire volume of all Great Lakes combined
• Lake Superior is 18.7 times greater in surface area than the Great Salt Lake
• Lake Superior is 2.6 times greater in surface area than Lake Baikal, however, Lake Baikal has twice the volume
• At the deepest point Lake Superior would drown the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the John Hancock Center (The Sears Tower will still stand 398 feet out the water)

Many people near Lake Champlain consider it to be the “6th Great Lake”. Lake Superior is 28 times greater in surface area, and 465 times the water volume than Lake Champlain.

Other Lake Superior facts…

• Gichigami is the Ojibwa word for Lake Superior meaning “big water”
• Many people believe that Lake Superior resembles a wolf’s head (facing west)
• The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the last major ship wreck in 1975
• The surface area temperature has risen 4.5 degrees since 1979
• Lake Superior has been described as the most oligotrophic lake in the world
• Over 300 rivers and streams flow into Lake Superior
• Contains ~10% of all the Earth’s fresh water
• The average surface temperature is 40 degrees
• 1979 was the last complete freeze over
• Produces some of the greatest lake-effect snowstorms on earth
• ~40 miles north of Munising, MI is the deepest point at 1,332 feet
• Annual reports of waves that are over 30 feet high
• At 10,000 years old it is one of the youngest major features on earth (Lake Baikal in Russia is 25 million years old)
• Features over 60 species of fish

So, it’s my turn to ask, can you see to the other side of Lake Superior? I’ll leave it up to you to decide. Here’s a beautiful photo from Clairity to give us some clarity on the subject.

(source: Wiki)

Today we are celebrating leap day! We’re very fortunate that Leap Day falls on a Friday, and we can celebrate with our weekly Photo Friday.

We wanted to celebrate by bringing you a photo that was taken on the last leap day. This was no easy task! Our idea was to search Flickr for a perfect photo taken in the Upper Peninsula exactly four years ago. However, Flickr wasn’t even founded until a few months later.

After some digging and hard work our search found that there was only one photo posted on Flickr that was taken on February 29th, 2004 in the Upper Peninsula. It couldn’t have been a better match, it was a quintessential photo of an outhouse brought to us by Jim Sisko. Now, we can celebrate Leap Day with great exuberance by admiring an iconic Upper Peninsula image, the outhouse.

The Last Leap Day in the Upper Peninsula:
February 29th, 2004

Sadly the photo has been removed from Flickr! But we’re still hunting, for the lone picture taken on the last Leap Day in the Upper Peninsula. If you can find one, pass it along!

An Upper Peninsula winter can be one of the longest and coldest in North America. It’s snowing or blowing on most winter days. But a Yooper is prepared for every occasion and every blizzard. For every winter condition, for every kind of snowfall, for every temperature, and for social events both formal and informal a Yooper has a perfect hat for the occasion.

Yoopers aren’t in it for fashion and style, but for the functionality and purpose of a hat. That’s what makes each of these one-of-a-kind.

Canvas Wildfowl Cap

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