Nahma, King of Fishes

(Hiawatha Series #4)

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water.
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
There the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha.

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha’s Childhood

This is an ongoing series of letterboxes themed around Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha. The boxes will be placed at various locations in or near the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Named after Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha, the Hiawatha National Forest is located in the central and eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The forest encompasses approximately 880,000 acres, and receives over 1.5 million recreational visits per year. The forest affords visitors access to white sand, scenic beaches and relatively undeveloped shorelines along three of America’s inland seas — Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. From scenic and historic lighthouses to Great Lakes islands, from spectacular shorelines to the Midwest’s finest winter playland, the Hiawatha National Forest brings to life a myriad of fascinating and exciting natural, historical, and unique recreational opportunities.

Letterboxes in this Series…

• Song of Hiawatha
• Gitche Gumee
• Daughter of the Moon
• Nahma, King of Fishes

Naomikong Point…

The rocky points and bays of the Lake Superior shoreline west of Point Iroquois provide ideal fishing spots for fishermen today as they have for centuries. If you follow Lakeshore Drive west from Bay Mills to M-123, you will catch glimpses of this secluded shore of Lake Superior, but the way to really explore it is to hike. Several hiking trails can be found in the area, but our favorite is by far the hike out to Naomikong Point.

Full of history, this beautiful area gets its name Naomikong from an Ojibwa Indian word meaning “where the breakers strike the shore.” It was an important fishing ground and location of a mission outpost during the 1800’s and, at one time, an Indian Village was located on the shore here.

Naomikong Point itself appears rather nondescript, just a point of rocky land that juts out into Lake Superior, backed by a line of trees. But sitting here on this tip of land, nearly surrounded by the lake, the wind whispering in the trees, waves playfully lapping at the rocky shoreline, puffy white clouds floating carelessly in a azure sky, it is not hard to feel the words of Longfellow’s poem, Song of Hiawatha. It is not hard to forget the bustle of the world around you and truly believe that time has stopped.

Getting There…

You will need to consult a trail guide for hiking directions to Naomikong Point.

Clues…

After a short jaunt through the woods from the parking lot, the trail opens up to Lake Superior at Naomikong Creek. The rest of the trek follows the shoreline around a couple of smaller points and bays. When we were there, we walked a sandbar that ran out in the lake across one bay and had to jump rocks across another. We also were treated to the sight of a Bald Eagle nesting in the tall trees on Menekaunee point.

At the tip of Naomikong Point, a small peninsula stretches to the NW. Just east of this narrow finger of land, several large boulders provide an ideal place to sit and enjoy this treasure of a location. Among the boulders, find the split black one and site 170 degrees to a large black rock, frosted in light green moss. From here, 110 degrees to a white birch that leans to the SW. At the base, find your treasure.

Gitche Gumee

(Hiawatha Series #2)

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water.
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
There the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha.

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha’s Childhood

This is an ongoing series of letterboxes themed around Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha. The boxes will be placed at various locations in or near the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Named after Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha, the Hiawatha National Forest is located in the central and eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The forest encompasses approximately 880,000 acres, and receives over 1.5 million recreational visits per year. The forest affords visitors access to white sand, scenic beaches and relatively undeveloped shorelines along three of America’s inland seas — Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. From scenic and historic lighthouses to Great Lakes islands, from spectacular shorelines to the Midwest’s finest winter playland, the Hiawatha National Forest brings to life a myriad of fascinating and exciting natural, historical, and unique recreational opportunities.

Letterboxes in this Series…

• Song of Hiawatha
• Gitche Gumee
• Daughter of the Moon
• Nahma, King of Fishes

Background Information…

The Northwoods Indians called Lake Superior “Gitche-Gumee,” meaning “Big Water.” Longfellow references Lake Superior by this name also in his poem, The Song of Hiawatha.

Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes. It is 32,000 square miles in area, which is comparable to all of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire combined, and contains 3 quadrillion gallons of water, that is 3,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water! That’s ten percent of the world’s fresh surface water and one half of the water in the Great Lakes. Lake Superior contains enough water to flood all of Canada, the United States, Mexico and South America with one foot of water.

One of the best places for an awesome view of Lake Superior is from the Spectacle Lake Overlook. High up on a hill just outside of Bay Mills, MI, the Spectacle Lake Scenic Overlook is located across the road from the Mission Hill Cemetery, which contains the graves of many of the area’s early settlers and Native Americans. The overlook provides an outstanding panorama of Spectacle Lake, Lake Superior, the entrance to the St. Mary’s River, and the Laurentian Hills in Canada.

Getting There…

Heading west on Lakeshore Drive through the town of Bay Mills, watch for the Veteran’s Memorial located along a small lake on the south side of the road. About 1/2 mile further up the road, you will see the sign to Mission Hill Cemetery/Scenic Overlook. The road is very steep and narrow — probably not a drive you would want to do in the winter. Follow the road as it winds up the hill, with a sheer drop-off on the right side of the road. Reaching the summit, across from the main entrance to Mission Hill Cemetery is the scenic overlook, complete with a hitchin’ rail for your horse.

Be sure to bring the camera and enjoy the awesome view of Spectacle Lake, Lake Superior and the Hiawatha National Forest before setting out to find the box.

Note… There is no railing at the overlook and the trail to the box is very narrow and follows the edge of the cliff — you will probably want to leave young children and pets in the vehicle for this one.

Clues…

1. Follow the way of the otter 22 paces to a leaning dead tree
2. Proceed 24 paces to Lance looking at the lake
3. Half as many paces to a two-trunk oak
4. 200 degrees to the undercover box

Whitefish Point Light

First lit in 1849, the Whitefish Point Light shares honors with that at Copper Harbor for being the first lights on Lake Superior. It stands guard over the entrance to Whitefish Bay, sometimes the only shelter to be found for a ship trying to escape the fury of the lake. Whitefish Point is known as the “Graveyard of Ships” as more vessels have been lost here than in any other part of Lake Superior. Raging northwest winds, building up over 160 miles of open water, create waves of unbelievable proportions. These violent storms and wild waters erupt with a suddenness that often catches sailors unprepared. The mountainous waves strike harder and more often than any ocean wave. The waves come roaring in from two or three different directions, ricocheting off the shores and returning with even more intensity. These monstrous storms, of hurricane force and duration, strike with all the ferocity and brutality of any ocean storm.

The very first ship known to sail on Superior, the sixty-foot trading vessel Invincible, perished in gale-force winds and towering waves near here in 1816. Many other vessels have suffered the same fate. Some were big, well-known ships such as the Edmund Fitzgerald, and their destruction made headlines across the country. Others were smaller unknown vessels, but every loss was tragic. Hundreds of vessels, including the famed Edmund Fitzgerald, lie on the bottom of the bay and its approaches. The lighthouse marks the end of an 80 mile stretch of shoreline known as Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast. This light has shined onto the big lake unfailingly for nearly 150 years, except for the night when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down.

At 4:30 p.m. on November 10, 1975, as the Edmund Fitzgerald struggled towards Whitefish Bay, forty-eight miles to the south, the light and the radio beacon at the remote navigational station at Whitefish Point suddenly clicked off. The Fitzgerald, already crippled by non-functioning storm damaged radar, was now without homing capability from the automated system at Whitefish. The Fitzgerald was left to fend for itself in unbelievable weather conditions.

To many lake sailors the light is more than a navigational marker, it is a welcoming call from home. The Whitefish Point Lighthouse is a remarkably modern and functional structure. This is especially notable when you consider that it was built in 1861, the beginning of the Civil War. A steel cylinder some eighty feet tall, it is supported by a skeletal steel framework. The iron skeleton with a very wide base gradually narrows to support a central steel cylinder. The narrow cylinder in turn supports the octagonal parapet and lantern room above. A red dome caps the lantern. This design was intended to take stress off the building during high winds.

The surrounding buildings were once home to the Coast Guard personnel stationed at this light and responsible for its maintenance. Automated by the Coast Guard in 1970, the Light Station no longer has a resident keeper. Appropriately, the dwelling now houses the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, a group of divers researching the wrecks, opened the museum in 1986. This is the only museum dedicated to shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.

The lighthouse and museum are open from May 1st until October 31st, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (open Friday and Saturday only in November). The museum is very informative and interesting, and well worth the cost of admission. There is no charge to visit the lighthouse grounds.

Getting There…

Follow M-123 north through the town of Paradise, about 11 miles to the end of the road at Whitefish Point.

Clues…

Follow the narrow cement path from behind the observation tower. When you meet up with the wide, sandy path, follow this down toward the water. The beach at Whitefish Point is one of the few places you can find concentric banded agates, so watch the stones as you walk! Follow the water’s edge in a northwesterly direction past several rows of old wooden pilings that extend out into the water. Once you reach the last row of pilings, locate three pines growing on the ridge at 170 degrees. Standing on the back side of these pines, see a red-tipped post in the woods at 260 degrees. Following this same directional line, you will find a double-trunked pine, just a few steps beyond the post. Find the box hiding under a dead branch at the base of the pine.

Point Iroquois Light Station

The Point Iroquois Lighthouse stands watch where Lake Superior begins its treacherous rush into the St. Mary’s River. The Ojibwa Indians massacred a group of invading Iroquois warriors at this location in 1662, giving the point its original Indian name. It was noted by the early explorers, but did not become significant until the St. Mary’s Falls Ship Canal opened in 1855. Ships passing from Lake Superior into the canal came close to Point Iroquois, through a narrow passage between the sandy shores on the American side and the reefs on the Canadian side.

The Point Iroquois Light was first illuminated in 1857 and its Fourth Order Fresnel lens shone over one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world: the entrance to the St. Mary’s River and the Soo Locks. Point Iroquois became busier with each passing year, and the personnel and facilities required to run the station grew accordingly. In 1870 the house and tower were completely rebuilt, and in 1902, a two-story rectangular brick house was added to the residence to provide housing for the assistant keeper at a total cost of $18,000. There was a group of children at the station and the government sponsored a school at the point. The children of local fishermen also came here to school, so the point became a meeting place for local residents.

The lighthouse, now a part of the Hiawatha National Forest, rests on a bluff above Lake Superior; wooden walkways lead to the beach; and the shore here is littered with unusual driftwood and banded agates. The large two-story house is white, with a red roof sloping over all the gables and additions. The attached brick tower, also white, is topped with a black parapet and lantern room. The conical tower is 16 feet in diameter at the base, stands 51 feet tall to the lantern deck and 65 feet high overall. Visitors can climb 72 steps spiraling to the top of the tower for a remarkable view. The panorama, needless to say, is impressive, as you can see almost the entire coastline of Whitefish Bay and miles out into Lake Superior, including any freighter that happens to be passing by. The historical society has renovated the interior of the house, and antiques and memorabilia have been arranged to show what life was like during the heyday of the lighthouse. Informative displays fill several rooms, and the gift shop sells lighthouse themed souvenirs and a wide variety of books on Michigan’s nautical and natural history.

The museum, gift shop and tower are open from mid-May through mid-October. Hours may vary, so call ahead if you are planning to tour the lighthouse.

Getting There…

Take the M-28 exit from I-75. Following the signs to Brimley, follow M-221 north. When the road ends in Brimley, turn left onto Lakeshore Drive (6 Mile Road). Continue west through the town of Bay Mills for about 7.5 miles to the lighthouse. Lakeshore Drive runs along Lake Superior for about 40 miles between Brimley and M-123 (the road to Paradise). It is a beautiful drive any time of year, and well worth the extra time.

Clues…

Behind the necessary building, find a clearing to the East. Walk in that direction along the treeline on the north. Just beyond a 4-trunk oak, see an orange-tipped stake straight ahead. Turn into the woods and find a fallen log (are trees square?). Find the letterbox inside the decaying wood.