The UP is home to millions of acres of forest, 12,000 miles of rivers and streams, thousands of inland lakes and 2,700 miles of the Great Lakes coast. But visitors tend to dive into a handful of iconic locations: Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Kitch-Iti-Kipi, and Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, to name a few.
Bridge Michigan wrote about that last year rampant resource destruction, infrastructure strain and overcrowding at Pictured Rocks in the middle of a six-year streak of record years.
That year, Susan Reece, the park’s spokeswoman, said Pictured Rocks received funding to hire two seasonal workers to clean bathrooms and empty trash cans. But this boost falls far short of the need for personnel, let alone for the repair and improvement of the infrastructure, which has deteriorated due to overuse.
Pictured Rocks officials have proposed an entrance fee to cover the rising cost and wear and tear from massive crowds – a common practice in other popular national parks. But the fees would not be introduced gradually until next year.
In the Porcupine Mountains in western UP, record visits have resulted in a similar burden.
Michigan’s largest state park, the Porcupine Mountains, encompasses 60,000 acres of largely roadless wilderness with over 90 miles of hiking trails that wind through thickly forested hills and the rugged shoreline of Lake Superior. The weather can suddenly change. Cellular network is not available.
These properties make the Porkies a favorite with wilderness enthusiasts. But they also make them dangerous to those who come unprepared, said Ron Olson, parks and recreation director for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
And last year, with many newcomers to the forest, the lack of preparation was widespread. People went into the forest without a map, expecting to rely on their smartphones to get their bearings. People wandered rugged trails in flip-flops, leading to accidents. They went on long hikes without rain gear and then got into storms.
At the end of the year, these mishaps resulted in 52 search and rescue operations in a park that averaged about a dozen per year.
“We’re 16 this year,” Olson told Bridge. “Usually it would be one or two at this point.”
Elsewhere in the UP, residents reported jammed cell phone signals and slow internet amid a flood of visitors calling and checking emails. A dramatic increase in mountain bikes on trails near Copper Harbor sparked concerns about accidents and overcrowding in the tiny town.
And while COVID caused a welcome boost in tourism, it also made it difficult for the region to cater to all of these visitors. The Genres of Northland Outfitters are still waiting to receive the boats ordered in October, a delay they attribute to a nationwide run on kayaks and canoes and supply chain issues caused by the pandemic.
“We could do more river trips,” said Donna, “but we have to turn people away.”
Other companies are still struggling to hire enough staff to handle the summer crowds amid a labor shortage that has led many to cut hours, cut occupancy, or cut offers. It is a nationwide problem that is exacerbated in the UP, where some cities are so small that there are simply not enough locals to hire for the peak season, nor homes to lure workers out of town.
State parks chief Olson said his agency has resorted to recruiting teenagers in some cases for jobs that are usually reserved for people aged 18 and over. And yet the summer jobs are only 80 percent occupied, he said.
Across the peninsula, UP travel association’s Nemacheck said, “We are literally going to lose millions of dollars in income because we can’t get enough help.”
The question on everyone’s mind: will it take time?
Nemacheck said he expected word of mouth from people who discovered the UP last year to spawn a new generation of visitors.
Evidence is everywhere that last year’s boom will continue this summer. Even before Memorial Day weekend, which usually starts the tourist season, the campsites in the Porkies were almost full.
The Munising Tourist Park campsite has been fully booked every summer weekend since reservations opened in October, said campsite worker Mary Jo Gariepy. She takes calls every day from people looking for advice on where else to pitch a tent.
“Pure Michigan has done a lot for the UP, but COVID has done a lot too,” Gariepy said. “The whole city was crazy. And I know they will come back. They all said that. “
Rosy Lopez is among them. Lopez joined Yaletzy Alaniz for a long weekend at Pictured Rocks, her first time on the UP.The two are avid hikers, but the natural areas in the Lansing area where Lopez lives are much smaller and fewer.
