About
Welcome to the greatest (it’s the only one) web site dedicated to the beaches of the Great Lake Superior shoreline on the Upper Peninsula! Read below for more information, check out the links on the menu above, and please enjoy this Yooper rendition of Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach,” by my wonderful and talented younger sister. Enjoy!
In the latter portion of summer 2009 I took on a peculiar personal challenge to swim at every public beach on the U.P. shoreline of Lake Superior. 63 beaches later, I consider myself the youngest Yooper expert of beaches. I can name every public swimming hole between Wisconsin and the Sault, and I can describe valuable information about the area, the beach, camping, etc… As I went to each beach I marked their names on a beach-ball and had friends take pictures of me. I took 3 signature pictures at each beach: (1) Shot of me with the ball in my left arm, making the U.P. sign with my right hand and the beach in the background. (2) A close-up of the beach name written on the ball. (3) An action shot of me jumping into the water.
Da UP Hand
Beach Ball
Dive
I’ve also put together a rating system for the beaches in order to rank their characteristics and try to establish what is the “best” beach in the U.P. This website now displays the results of my calculations for all 63 beaches. To my knowledge, no other comprehensive listing of beaches along the UP – Superior shoreline existed as of the date I published my site. Even if such a list does exist, I’m doubt it includes a firsthand account of each beach, documented photography, and helpful information regarding “beach rating” criteria.
This started as a photographical timeline of my Some Beach Tour. Now the site is designed informatively as a resource for U.P. beaches. I will do my best to make notifications of ongoing improvements to the site.
PS – The banner across the top there is Hunter’s Point at sunset.
PPS – I’d like to thank the following friends who helped out by tagging along, shooting photos, or both:
Gowtham – SGOWTHAM.net
My sister Maija
Kristin Moriarty
Brett Hawkins
My brother-in-law Eric Bradfish
Nat Erickson
PPPS – I’d like to thank Kathy for the inner-tube pics at Presque Isle River, and Jacek for the advice outside Ontonagon.
Great information, and your presentation is entertaining! Do you have any recommendations for a photographer considering a field trip to the U.P. for the purpose of shooting nudes on rocky, Lake Superior beaches?
Missed a Beach, Squaw Beach… Perkins Park… Quess where…
You must be talking about Big Bay. I did go there, but with houses and cabins lining the shore I elected to consider it a private beach. There could be an open stretch of shore someplace…
My compliments to your sister!
Well done!
Why is there not a link here to this website from Lake Superior Magazine? Others? Summer will soon be here.
Great website. I also went to Tech so I visited quite a few of these gems myself! I look forward to going back there a few times a year. Thanks!
The Finnish translation for “beach” is “ranta”. The Finnish translation for “sexy man who drives around looking for beaches and takes pictures and sometimes dives into them but more than likely is just at the KBC waiting for his friends to arrive but then he forgot that most of them moved away after college but man were those good times I wonder what happened to all of them I should probably check Facebook” is Nils Stenvig.
This website is FANTASTIC!! You have such good information about all the locations. Its written so that regular people really get a feel for the beach and the area. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! My family took a bunch of notes from this page with us on our vacation last week!!
Thank you for all of your comments Amy. When I went to all these beaches I had a purpose in mind, as I always do. Helping people plan trips and find incredible beaches was that purpose. I really do appreciate getting feedback (especially when it’s good) about my website and I love hearing that people have found it useful. I can still remember every beach from end to end and the memories are vivid enough to imagine myself standing at each and every one.
Hey, great pics and I agree with Amy, FANTASTIC website! I am starting my 4th year at Tech this fall and this summer was my first living in Houghton so I have spent most of it finding a few of the places you have listed.
A friend of mine has recently informed me that he had gotten himself engaged and is trying to decide a place to get married. He does not go to Tech and neither does his fiancee but she is from Minnesota and he is from the L.P. I guess her mom is trying to have the wedding in Minnesota, but his family wants it in the L.P. I told him they could compromise by having it in the U.P. (the Keweenaw in particular). I was half joking, but he took my advice seriously and has now requested me to find him a list of places to look into. They want to be wed next summer around mid July. So. Since I have somehow stumbled onto your site and you are the Yooper Beach Expert, do you have any recommendations for gorgeous yooper beaches to have a wedding at? I have some in mind, but not many, and a lot of the places I like require a hike to get to so those are out because I don’t think the wedding party wants to go to a hike to hear them say “I do”. Thanks in advance! :]
Thanks Kaylee.
I will send you an email with more information, but right now my short list would include McLain State Park, Bete Gris, and Great Sand Bay. I’ll elaborate later…
Thanks for your comments. I hope your friend does have his wedding up there!
Thank you for putting this site together. Lori and I have both been spending hours looking it over, and have found the whole site very enjoyable. We have made a few trips to the UP, and are heading back up soon. You have done a fantastic job putting all this together, and it is a wealth of information placed into a fun format.