Copper Harbor, the end of the road

Keep driving north and eventually the road simply runs out — and where it runs out is Copper Harbor, the northernmost town in Michigan, sitting at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula on the shore of Lake Superior. It’s a tiny place, well under two hundred year-round residents, but it has a distinction travelers love: this is the northern end of US-41, the highway that runs all the way down the country to Miami, Florida, almost two thousand miles away. There’s a sign marking the spot, and it’s a popular photo. (For what it’s worth, Copper Harbor sits farther north than any point in the state of Maine.)

Getting here is half the reward. One way in is US-41 through the woods; the other is M-26, which hugs the Lake Superior shore past Eagle River and Eagle Harbor. But the showstopper is Brockway Mountain Drive, an 8.8-mile ridge road built during the Depression that climbs to about 1,300 feet — some 700 feet above the lake — with pull-offs that open onto enormous views of Lake Superior and the forest. On a clear day you can see Isle Royale, fifty miles out. It’s regularly called one of the finest drives in the Midwest, and it earns the title.

Once you arrive, there’s plenty: Fort Wilkins, a restored 1844 frontier army post; the old Copper Harbor lighthouse; world-class mountain-bike trails; and the ferry out to Isle Royale National Park. It’s a long way to the end of the road — but that’s exactly why people come.