Explorers looking for a real escape from the predators of progress and development will always be welcomed by the stark, untouched nature of Michigan’s Higher Cape. The great northerly isthmus, while bigger than many states, is home to just over three hundred thousand citizens. Yet the preservation of this great outback is due as much to the populace’s respect for the landscape as to its sparseness.
Most travelers venturing to the remote northerly landscape of Michigan’s higher peninsula must come by way of the great Mackinac bridge, the threatening steel-cabled structure spanning more than two miles of water and connecting 2 completely different cultures. And if the giant conduit isn’t proof of a separation in itself, the first glance from the northern foot of the suspended passage leaves little doubt that the visitor has entered a different land.
The air is at once crisp, clear and quiet. Evidence of civilization is instantly melted away. Freeway signs give no appearance of the distance to the next exit “should there even be one. Words like remote, seclusion and isolation spring unconsciously to mind. Trudging apprehensively onward, it rapidly becomes evident that the narrowing road, and not the dense ancient forest, is the unwelcome attacker in this landscape.
This is Michigans northerly outback, a landscape known only to that Northern US area to the immediate north and south of the U.S.-Canadian border. Untouched by progress, undesirable to the white-collar pursuits of modern urban culture and closely guarded by the states of both states, it represents the only remaining remnant of spotless earth. It is the last resort for a displaced, endangered wildlife and for the world-weary spirit of the human animal.
Although the area has welcomed a few transplanted retirees and nature seekers, it is truly home only to the survivors and descendants of its original settlers : the mining and logging pioneers. Today, the ageing edifices of the region’s first settlements mirror the silent expressions of the aged citizenry, both scary reminders of a glorious history. Now mines and museums serve as monuments to the bygone era of what was once the great dominion of a blue-collar elite.
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