Scenic Big Bay is located a half-hour's drive NW of Marquette in Michigan's rugged Upper Peninsula. It was a favorite hangout for Henry Ford and his auto executives and also the setting for the 1959 American courtroom crime drama film Anatomy of a Murder, which was directed and produced by Otto Preminger and in which starred James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, and Eve Arden. The film is based on the best-selling book having the same title that was written by Robert Traver, whose real-life yooper name was John D. Voelker, a retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice, former yooper district attorney, and passionate flyfisher who also penned Trout Madness and Trout Magic. Voelker based this book on an actual murder case for which he was the defense attorney. If you haven't seen the film or read any of these three books by Voelker, I highly encourage you to do so for Voelker writes splendid stories that are packed with as colorful characters from Michigan's U.P. as the region's geographic names are: Yellow Dog Plains, River, and Falls; Hairpin, Halfway Location, Squaw Beach, Big Eric's Bridge, Salmon Trout River and Bay, Hiawatha Water Trail, 40 Foot Falls, Big Pup and Little Pup Creeks, Lost Creek, Blind M35, Dodge City, Gold Mine Road, Dead River Bridge, Big Garlic River, Bulldog and Stag Lakes, Brown Deer Road, Pinnacle Falls, and Bushy Creek Truck Trail (WARNING: one better have a very good 4x4 truck, extra tires and radiators, jacks, shovels, winches and/or come-alongs and a good map to travel on certain parts of this bitchy trail). Several of the movie's scenes were filmed in Big Bay at the Thunder Bay Inn, the Lumberjack Tavern, which was the actual 1952 murder site on which much of Voelker's book is based, and Perkins Park, where the very last scenes of the movie occur. If you've seen the film and decide to visit Big Bay, you will recognize the Lumberjack Tavern and Perkins Park, but much of the original Thunder Bay Inn has been renovated to its original splendor and today offers fantastically-delicious menus and quaintly comfortable, cozy rooms for its guests.
My wife Christine invited me to accompany her to her second Becoming an Outdoor Woman(BOW)action-packed outdoor weekend. This year's BOW weekend was to take place in Big Bay in early June, and Christine was eagerly looking forward to attending it and seeing her outdoor womanfriends again. These BOW weekends and events are sponsored by Michigan's DNR and offer training in various outdoor skills and activities from experienced outdoor women instructors. I readily accepted my wife's invitation and decided that I'd take my GSP Bruno along for I knew from previous experience that there was a catch: Men are NOT allowed to stay at the the women's BOW park or to participate in their scheduled classes and events, such as flyfishing, kayaking, canoeing, GPS orienteering and map reading, trap shooting and archery. "Oh, c'mon ladies, can't you make exceptions for Bruno and me?" "Defintely not!" they responded. Oh, well, I guess Bruno and I will enjoy a men's weekend together woodcock banding in the regions's vast forests and wilderness areas and camping happily at Perkins Park on Lake Independence in Big Bay. Huh, we men shall have some fun outdoors, too!
And did we ever--all of us did! We spent a fantastic weekend of adventure exploring the local wilderness areas, forests, waterfalls, and amazingly gorgeous Lake Superior shorelines, prospecting and flyfishing for trout in the local streams, viewing all sorts of wildlife: cow moose with calves, wolves, deer with fawns, black bear, foxes, bald eagles and various other accipitors, ruffed grouse and sharp-tailed grouse, loads of Canada geese, ducks, and loons, plus bountiful, beautiful brook trout. But, alas, no woodcock! The forests were horribly dry for the region hadn't received any rain or snow in four weeks. Bruno and I searched in vain promising-looking woodcock nesting habitats, but locals told me that the woodcock were likely hugging the riverbanks further south where the forests were wetter.
The nighttime temperatures at Perkins Park dipped into the mid-thirties, but Bruno and I cuddled together to keep one another warm. We happily shared a male-bonding weekend together as did Christine with her female friends.
Michigan's Upper Peninsula may seem like a world and years away for many of you, but for us northern Michiganians, the U.P. is our paradise nearest heaven. Come visit Pure Michigan's Pure U.P. and while you're here, be sure to try our local pasties!
