You would not regret it.  

I am on vacation in Manistique today, will be heading to the porcupine mountains tomorrow, and eventually up to Copper Harbor.  Anything you'd recommend seeing / doing in the area?

This.  Saw a bear cross I75 not long back, a few hundred feet in front of me.  Got even with the point he crossed and in the spot he started from was a wolf.  My first thought was 'That's a big coyo - nope not a coyote - wolf.'
The coyotes yip and sing a couple of nights every two weeks or so making their circuit.  I normally only hear the wolves a couple times a summer.

If nearby L' Anse in travels, The Hilltop for breakfast and sticky buns (gigantic cinnamon rolls.)

Also, at least a day's worth of sightseeing and hiking (walks more actually) to the many area waterfalls. Beautiful area.

I'm going to try that restaurant too. I've passed by it several times this summer, but each time I was hauling a trailer and pressed for time.

You're right about it being a beautiful area. My daughter just moved there, so I'll be up that way a lot, it's only 100 miles away. She's north of L'Anse, up Skanee Rd, right on Huron Bay by Snug Harbor.

Well we might have to run into each other at Finns around the bay or Skippers in L'anse (great food, lots homemade). I've got a piece up the shore a bit closer to the point. Beautiful area, not many people up that way on the water.

I see a lot of small tractors with cabs and snowblowers mounted on the front up there, along with the SxS and quads with plows. That sweet Jeep of yours would push that snow a long ways.

A piece of friendly advice on plowing with the ATV. Words of wisdom, if you will, from someone who has plowed snow with a 3/4 ton pickup truck from 1977 to 2017, and with an '04 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon since 2017... and who now also plows with an Arctic Cat Prowler UTV if it's not deep enough to put the blade on the Jeep (I hate driving around with it mounted, so I take it off every time I use it)...  

When you plow for the first time, push the snow as far back as is possible.... then push it back that far again. If you think you're far enough, you're probably about 1/3 as far back as you need to be. If you don't, you'll be out of room to pile it by early Feb. You will likely be adding to that snow pile until late April or early May. I'd start now looking for a used plow for that Wrangler you have.

The problem with plowing with ATVs & UTVs is you cannot stack snow nowhere near as high as you can with a bigger plow vehicle, like a pickup, or a Jeep, with a power angling blade. I can push it up into a pile 6-7' high with my Jeep with it's 6-1/2' wide Western Unimount. With the 3/4 ton GMC & 3/4 Chevy "square-body" trucks I used to use, with the 7-1/2' HD Western plow, I could stack it as high as 8-9', once I got the timing thing down pat. But even with 45 years experience of plowing, I cannot stack it more than about 4-5' with the 700cc UTV. It has a 4,000lb Superwinch to raise the Arctic Cat factory 72" blade,  but there simply isn't the same power to push it as a truck has, and just as vital if not more so... the blade does not have a power angle capability on a UTV. You need the blade to be perpendicular to the vehicle (centered) to push the snow up higher in a pile, otherwise you "slide" off sideways. But a straight blade takes a lot more time to plow than an angled blade, because the snow leaks off the sides. So without that power angling capability on a UTV/ATV, you will be getting off & on, off & on to move the blade more than you'll be just "on".

If you have plenty of space to push it back (I'd say 60-70' from the driveway edge at a minimum) then disregard everything I've just said.

FWIW... I bought the plow for my Jeep off Craigslist from a guy over in Raco MI, which is way over east in the U.P. near St. Saint Marie. He took it off his '02 Wrangler after a few years and sold it to me. Why? because he said by the time February came, it was useless "as mammary glands on a male bovine", or something like that. He was out of room to pile the snow with it by then, and he could get it stacked 6'+ too just like I can. He replaced it with a big John Deere tractor, with a 6' wide- 2' tall snowblower that throws the snow 75', a bucket, and a heated cab.

Y'all use plows...that's cute.

Oh yeah...

Unstoppable, not so much.  This set up gives me a fighting chance in a bad storm and is unstoppable in lighter storms.  Neck whys, it's really not an issue.  I sit kind of sideways in the seat and you're really not craning your neck all that much.

Those blowers work great... as long as you don't live where it's windy. Or, where you need to throw the snow is mostly downwind, with a storm's wind at your back. They're not for everybody.

I tried a big-ass snowblower for 1 winter, didn't work out too well.  My problem was the way my place is situated, with house, garage and pole barn, I have no choice but to throw the snow to the north, or the west/northwest. Guess which way the wind comes from when it snows...  

I'd be throwing it 40-50' to the north, but most of it was landing 10' south of me... And my driveway area is so wide (60' x 60') right in front of garage and pole barn (which are 90 degrees to each other and only 6' apart at the corners) I had to throw the same snow at least twice.... mostly into the wind. 3 or 4 times if it was wet heavy slop. Those are great for long narrow driveways, like roads. But they suck for big wide open areas, like parking lots.

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The biggest 3 point blower your tractor can handle and a snow pusher on the front is the best setup in my opinion.  If you don't have a cab, get some goggles or steal your buddies snowmobile helmet for the winter.  

Alternatively, you can spray the snow drifts with water, and lift the mess up with the forks and put that at the end of your neighbors driveway for the lulz.

Definitely a down fall, but that chute rotates for a reason.  I blow a long narrow driveway in the middle of a 7 acre pasture with no snow fence or protection.  Often times if the wind is bad I have to drive to the end of my driveway to start and work my way back.  That tractor will easily move through 3' of snow in 4WD and chained, if it's not too wet and heavy I can move through 4'.  

Long narrow driveways is where snowblowers are the absolute best method. Especially if there's no buildings or obstructions on either side. And those same driveways are where plow trucks struggle the most. I plowed a few long driveways that gave me fits by the end of January, when the plow banks on both sides were as high as I was ever going to pile it with a pick-up truck, and 3 full months of snow season left to go. One was a full 1/4 mile long, snaking through oak woods, with several steep hills. I solved it by finding areas in between trees that flanked the road (mostly on a curve), and from early on in the plowing season, I'd push as much snow between those trees as I could, and as far back as I could. A few of those piles under some white pines wouldn't be 100% melted away by mid June. As they were huge, and shaded pretty good. If there was a fence, or a drainage ditch, that ran parallel to that drive, I would've been screwed. A big blower could just throw it back into the woods over any fence or ditch.

Plow trucks are best suited for larger open areas like parking lots. Most of my commercial plowing with a 3/4 ton GMC over the years was parking lots for stores, restaurants, factories, or apartment buildings. A tractor mounted blower might work... but then you have the issue of transporting it from one job to the next. By the time you could load it on a trailer, and unload it at the next job, I'd have that next job already done...and maybe even the one after that. All I need do is push a button to raise the blade and drive away. A 7-1/2' or 8' plow is a whole lot faster in wide open areas than any blower ever could be.

The guy I bought my current Jeep's plow from replaced it with a John Deere tractor just like the one in your prior post. He has a big blower on one end, a bucket on the other, and a fully enclosed cab, with heat. Plow trucks and blowers each have their place. I have a friend with a big commercial plowing business. He has mostly F250 Super Duties and 8' Hinicker V plows for the parking lots... but he also has a 6' wide blower mounted on a Bobcat skidsteer with tracks, for those long road-like country driveways.

eta: I no longer plow for anyone else, just my own driveway, and occasionally my daughter's driveway outside of Watersmeet. Mine is only 150' long, and it's slightly inclined, but it is 60' across at the top... too wide for most snowblowers. My 04 Wrangler Rubicon w/ 6-1/2' Western Unimount plow is way more than adequate. I've been using my Arctic Cat Prowler UTV with it's 72" blade for my own for the last 2 winters, unless it's more than a foot deep. Then I put the blade on the Jeep. I don't like driving the Jeep with the blade on unless I'm plowing with it. It's heavy, and thus it makes the short wheelbase Wrangler 2 dr too front heavy, and it gets real "squirrelly" on icy roads. I leave the blade on the UTV all winter, don't need it after deer season ends anyway. If I need to get into the woods I just jump on a snowmobile.

Yes it will work... but you think mowing your lawn takes up too much time? I spent one winter with no plow truck, just a big walk behind blower. It was around 2006-07, when my 1976 GMC finally died. I decided to just get a snowblower instead of another plow truck. What would take me 10-15 minutes in the plow truck now took 2 hours with the snowblower. A 12" snowstorm meant half a day with the blower vs 30 minutes with a plow truck. And my driveway is only 150' long. Next summer I came across a 3/4 ton 1984 Chevy with a plow... for $400. A friend of my daughter had it, he was moving to Arkansas. It was in rough shape, not something I'd like to drive on a daily basis (I'd bring gas home for it in cans rather than drive it on the highway to the nearest gas station), but it ran, and did the job spectacularly as far as plowing my driveway and "parking lot" went. I used that beast for 9 years! Seems like every winter I'd need to replace another rusted out brake line or worn out radiator hose. But the plow itself needed nothing. I wound up selling the plow, and giving the truck away with it, as it was too much work to remove the plow and sell it separately.

Then I bought the Wrangler, put a plow on it. Then the UTV came along, put a plow on it too. I still have the blower, now I just use it for the sidewalk to the front door, and making a path to my firewood pile.



If your driveway isn't lined with obstacles (like trees or a fence) then a plow will do just fine, as long as you're smart with it and plan way ahead.



It was a very light snow year. I'm on the southern edge of the lake effect snow belt, but snow fall total up by my daughter's place in Watersmeet wasn't much different than here. I only put the plow blade on my Jeep 3 or 4 times, never even went to her place with it. The UTV handled most of it with ease. My big plow piles usually didn't completely melt away until mid May. Last spring they were gone by mid April. Last winter was the first in years that I didn't need to shovel snow off my roof (now there's a whole new topic you'll need to learn about!). I was turkey hunting by Watersmeet  in last week of April, and snow was all gone there too.



Soon it'll be ice fishing, snowmobiling, firewood season,  for 6-7 months.... and 15 hours a week moving snow. And... it's also roof shoveling season.



Bugs? What bugs....

Did you know there's a town up in Alger County named "Slapneck" ?

Wait until you see your first "snow spider"...

One thing I noticed about my daughter's new home 15 miles north of L'Anse. Almost every place I pass driving up to her house from L'Anse in those 15 miles, has an old beater-looking plow truck in the yard, or driveway off to the side somewhere. As they all are sitting there now in August, covered in birdshit and spider webs with the plow blades still attached (like my 84 Chevy did all summer too) I believe they're just a dedicated snow removal beast also, instead of them having a snowblower. My daughter noticed that too... so she's looking for one for herself. Her driveway in L'anse is about 600'.

I like the places that leave a small Toro snowblower on the roof, pro level stuff right there!

Slapneck, doesn't really exist anymore but I have friends that live off Slapneck Rd.  I'm about 2 miles outside Chatham.

Slapneck and Chatham, MI

Was bummed when the Munising newspaper folded, love those old school papers. On their heading it said "The only paper that gives a damn about Alger County". It was also very oddly sized, in a bigger way, I always assumed for wrapping fish.

Yep, I tried to find it on google maps, but it's not there anymore. I still have an old Rand McNally road atlas that does have it ... that's where I first saw it.

LOL... I do that. I've got an 18" electric Toro that I got for free. It was only 1 year old, quit working, Toro gave him a new one on the warranty. I wound up with the non-working one, from the small engine shop dumpster. Took me about an hour to fix it. I had to pull the motor out and clean the brushes. Motor got wet then it sat, the brushes got corroded. Cleaned them with emery cloth, good as new.

That was 5 years ago. I wore out the drive belt in 3 years, so I bought a 3 pack of them online. I have an outlet for the heat cables in the gutters, on the wall between the house and attached garage, at roof level. It's pretty much in the center of the house/garage combo. There's nowhere up there I can't reach with a 50' extension cord, and that little beast throws snow 30' or more. My roof is only a 3/12 pitch, so walking around up there is easy. I was a roofer for 20+ years in my younger days (and I installed my shingles myself almost 20 years ago) so I don't worry one bit about damaging the roof. As long as I go downhill, the roof will be fine, the rubber blades can't lift a shingle.  

Yeah that was a bummer I liked that little paper.

One of them muthafuckers got me yesterday, right under my chin. They must have a nest in a pile of old 10' long 2x6s that used to be my deck boards (I rebuilt it 5 years ago, used recycled plastic decking). I was rummaging through that pile yesterday looking for good boards to build a work table for outside my garage, that I can leave outside under the roof overhang... when I must've disturbed a nest. Heard a buzz, next thing I knew was it felt like someone grinding a cigarette butt into my skin. I don't even know what kind it was. Yellow jacket or bald-faced black hornet (both are common here). My plans were to burn that pile of mostly rotten lumber anyway, this winter, once I got through with my tables ... this is the 3rd one I've built, other 2 are 10' x 4' "picnic" tables without seats that I built for use when my granddaughter had her wedding here on my land. Now it's getting burned ASAP, while those little fucking bastards are still alive to "enjoy the warmth".

Yous got any snow up der yet?  Getting close.

My man!

ALL OF SATANS SPAWN MUST BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of gas torches flaming on in the marinas during the shrinkwrap season

Rule of thumb regarding mowing grass. If it takes you more than two hours to mow, you need a BIGGER mower.

Rule of thumb regarding snow removal. If it takes you more than two hours to move snow, you need Arizona.



On another note, looks like out of stater's are buying up damn near anything in the U.P. eh. Off grid, seasonal access (no access 5 months a year) properties are selling for $1500 an acre.  Good GOD, the local townships are loving that revenue generation.

If your roof is 45 degrees (6/12 pitch...means it rises 6" every 12") then you're in luck. That's the perfect setup for using an Avalanche tool. I can't use mine on my house, but my pole barn is a 5/12 metal, and it works great on it. I also bought the 2 piece handle extension kit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXrtHJScI9o





You're way ahead of the game now. I was here 27 years before I got all 3 (didn't have the ATV/UTV w/ plow until 3 years ago... had the plow truck and blower from day 1 )

My daughter bought her 62 acres, with off-grid cabin (whole cabin wired for Kohler propane fueled generator... which was included) and an oversized garage, surrounded by Ottawa Nat'l Forest on 3 sides, for $49,000. She's had it 3 years now. It was on the market for 4 years, started out at $79K. It's not swampland either, all 62 acres are high & dry, mostly aspen, white pine, & maple.  Gogebic County plows the snow on her access road, right up to her driveway, so it's open all year (she goes there to snowmobile). There's still "deals" if you look. Down side to it, and why it wasn't selling? No plumbing, no septic, no bathrooms... there is a 6" drilled well, and a "two-holer" out back. She was an "out-of-stater" (MN) when she bought it, but she just moved up to the U.P., near L'Anse. She grew up here in Vilas County WI, right across the state line from her off grid cabin near Watersmeet.

My wife works at one of those marinas... shrink wrap season doesn't start until after Labor Day. She's still booking the reservations for winter storage.

33 degrees up from horizontal? Or 33 degrees down from vertical? j/k  

Horizontal and vertical are 90 degrees apart, 33 degrees up from horizontal would be a 4/12 pitch, and 33 degrees down from vertical would be an 8/12 pitch. 8/12 it works for sure. 4/12, probably work... but depends on if there's any obstructions where you'll be standing. My pole barn roof is a 4/12, walls are 10' high to accommodate the three 8' high overhead doors I ordered when it was built.... so pickups & vans fit easily. It works on mine, but I must stand about 15' -18' from the wall to use it, and there's nothing in my way except one oak tree trunk, and that's an easy work-around. Do you have that much space to work?

Like long range shooting, or just sighting in a scope, it's all about the angles. To put it simply, just imagine a straight line, parallel to roof's pitch, and where that line hits the ground. Because the handle on the tool is a straight line and is used parallel to the roof line, where the line intersects the ground is about 3' - 5' beyond where you'll be standing when you're using the tool (because you'll be holding it about chest or shoulder level, not at ankle level, shortens the distance). The steeper the roof, the closer you'll be. The more shallow the roof, the further you'll be. Wall height factors in too. Will the handle be long enough for the tool to work parallel to roof as designed, at that estimated point where you will be when using it? On my house's 3/12, I'd be standing 25' away from the wall on the 1 story side. My house is built on a hill, with a "walkout basement". On the 2 story side, I'd be standing 50'+ away.... I'd need a tool handle 75' long.  

If I was retired I'd move to the UP in a heartbeat.  It seems it would be difficult finding quality decent paying work in the area depending on your job field.  What does she do for a living?

She works remotely online.  Insurance claims related. Never leaves her house for work,  so she can live anywhere there's decent internet. Being able to live in the U.P. , and still make "big city" money, is exactly why she sought out her current job. Been with this employer for 13 months. She's done that same work since graduating college in 2006, but in an office. She started working at home when covid hit, and liked it. So she looked for, and found, a permanent at-home job doing the same thing she's done for 15 years. She was 6 hours away from her off-grid cabin ..now she's 90 minutes away.

In the best Michigan.

Grew up in the Houghton/Hancock area. Did my six in the Navy.  Now I'm stuck as a troll for at least another seven years.

Getting close to time to seriously look for something on da UP to retire.