There are a few places we’ve been that we love and like to go back to as often as we can. The Upper Penninsula, or U.P. in Michigan is one of those places. Our favorite place, Crisp Point Lighthouse, is northwest of Paradise, a very sparsly populated town on the eastern side of the state which becomes less populated the further north you go. Once you cross the Mackinac Bridge, or Mighty Mac, which is a three span suspension bridge that connects the lower Penninsula–or Mitten, to the U.P., the houses get further apart, the towns get smaller and the scenery gets more rugged every mile you go.

About four years ago, Curtis and I camped at the top of the U.P. on Lake Superior at the Two Hearted River Campground, which was gorgeous. While we were there, a ranger stopped by and told us we had to go see the lighthouse. We had no clue what he was talking about but decided we’d go check it out. The 412 road to Crisp Point Lighthouse is the craziest road I’ve ever been on. It goes only to Crisp Point, with a few off-road vehicle trails and driveways along its 17+ mile stretch. The further you go,  the narrower it goes. Oh- and did I tell you it’s sand and gravel? And talk about curves! But once we got out to Crisp Point, we understood.

Crisp Point Lighthouse was built in 1903 and then decommissioned in 1993. You can read the history of it on the Crisp Point Light Historical  Society site and even join to help preserve this lighthouse. They have a Volunteer Lighthouse Keeper Program for members of the Historical Society, which releases the dates to reserve your spot in November for the following year. We signed up last year to work this past weekend, and while it was a lot of work, it was hands down one of  my favorite things I’ve ever done. My oldest son and his fiancée met us in Paradise to follow us up to the lighthouse for our long weekend adventure.

We arrived on Thursday evening,  and we expected to be in 65-70° temps all weekend, with cool nights in the 50’s, but what we actually got was closer to 50° during the day and low 40s and windy at night. We tent camp. It was so cold Saturday night that in our tent, I felt like I was at basecamp up on Everest. We have a 20° double sleeping bag, but it was still extremely cold. I had so many layers on that when I was finally able to shower at our hotel on the way back home on Sunday, I felt like an onion, peeling off all of those layers. But that being said, we hope to do it again next August. When it’s somewhat warmer out. Hopefully. BUT it is the U.P., and the weather is wildly unpredictable.

The Crisp Point Light Historical Society Volunteer Lighthouse Keeper Program is genius. They have built a really nice camping pad with a grill, next to the visitor’s center, with enough room for three tents and a couple of vehicles, or a camper or RV. The only people who can camp at Crisp Point are the Keepers, it is not a campground. The visitor’s center and lighthouse run on solar power and a generator when the solar gets low.  There are two flush toilets, but no sinks since there is no hot water. There is also no trash service out there, so you have to pack out all of your own trash.

Keepers have duties while they are there. The visitor’s center is also a wonderful giftshop, (which you can also shop online) with a lot of unique souvenirs, many of which are locally made. Keeper’s run that shop and visitor’s center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., keep the paths and lighthouse clean and swept, clean, and stock the shelves, take care of the bathrooms, and answer questions from the many people who brave the road to come out. It’s free to go up in the lighthouse, and you can also walk out around the top if you so dare! Donations are always welcome, as it is a non-profit organization that saved this lighthouse from ruin once it was decommissioned in 1993. You can even join the Crisp Point Light Historical Society with a yearly, or even a lifetime membership to help continue to keep this lighthouse open to the public. It does have a working light again, so the tower is closed in the early evening before dusk, when the light comes on.

Once our duties for the day were done, we walked the beach and relaxed at our site. The mosquitoes were like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. That was the only good thing about the wind and cold. The mosquitoes would go away.

I think there’s more mosquitoes here than sand.

Jarrid Miller

We love to look for rocks on the beach. I can spend hours picking through rocks at the shoreline of the Great Lakes. The U.P. is known for, among some other rocks, Lake Superior Agates and Yooperlites, which are rocks that glow orange with a special UV flashlight. We took a few flashlights out to the beach, waited until after sunset, and scoured the shoreline for Yooperlites. We each found some in just a few hours.

Jarrid and Jessie on their first Yooperlite hunt.

Crisp Point Lighthouse is very tricky to get to, but it’s one of the best adventures that you can take up in the U.P.. The beauty of the lake, which is the largest freshwater body in the U.S., is unparalleled. We didn’t meet a single unhappy person in our four days up there. Everyone who came in was so friendly and excited to be there. I told Curtis I wish I could own and run a small gift shop somewhere (he says NO- for now anyway), I loved doing that so much.

I hope you liked this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope it made you add Crisp Point to your travel wish list. I promise it’s worth the drive. Please like and share this post- and subscribe if you want to make sure you don’t miss any. Next week, I’m going to take you on a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina!