By John Pepin Michigan DNR MARQUETTE — “On a snow-covered night up in eastern Wyoming, another lazy day, looking for the sun,” – John Denver In the place where I want to be right now, the snow is falling so softly that I can’t hear it, no matter how hard I might try. The ...

MARQUETTE — Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its associated necessary limits on social gatherings, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has canceled the annual winter Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshop. The annual weekend event is held in February at the Bay Cliff Health ...

MARQUETTE — “A lot of water under the bridge, a lot of other stuff too,” – Bob Dylan After pushing on through a jack pine stand, I came around a corner on the sandy dirt road. It was nearly nightfall. The purple and black clouds above were textured and sliced in a series of parallel ...

LANSING — Are you up for a challenge? During Michigan Trails Week (Sept. 20-27), the Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance invite Michiganders to pay tribute to trails and collectively walk, run, ride, hike, bike or paddle 100,000 miles. Michigan is ...

By John Pepin Michigan DNR MARQUETTE — “I love to go a-wandering along the mountain track, and as I go, I love to sing, my knapsack on my back,” – Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller If I could go anywhere in the world today, I wonder where that might be. There’s a lot of places I’d ...

“Here we go again through the same old misery, look into my eyes and it’s easy to see we can’t undo the distance between me and you,” – Marshall Crenshaw — — — MARQUETTE — As I stepped outside the front door, it was immediately noticeable how quiet the nighttime was. It ...

Courtesy photo On the opening day of turkey season, Leo Milkiewicz, 91, of Escanaba was hunting with his son Todd when he scored this tom turkey with a 4 inch beard north of Road River.

“Let’s steal away in the noonday sun, it’s time for a summertime dream,” – Gordon Lightfoot MARQUETTE — While neck deep in Queen Anne’s lace, prickly purple thistles and squiggly vines, along the meandering edge of a cold trout stream recently, I realized that a change had ...

LANSING — The Michigan Mass Timber Summit - postponed due to COVID-19 - is going virtual, and there’s plenty of time left to register. The summit, originally planned for April, is now a series of three web-based sessions from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Sept. 22 and 29 and Oct. 6. It ...

LANSING — If you’re fishing for lake sturgeon and muskellunge this season, don’t forget to register your harvest within 24 hours - it’s required. You can register two ways: online at Michigan.gov/RegisterFish, or by calling the new number at 906-287-0816. “Anglers who register their ...

“Who are these people? What is this place,” Tonio K. — — — The idea of place holds a good deal of intrigue for me. Pick a place on a map, anyplace, and it’s somewhere that something resides. Maybe it’s a place somebody was born or grew up or it might simply be a spot ...

HANCOCK — A state-managed off-road vehicle route between the Portage Lift Bridge and Dollar Bay in Houghton County has been re-opened after work was completed to create an interim bypass trail route. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced the re-opening today after a county ...

Courtesy photo James Pryal, an Escanaba native and a fly fishing guide for Into the Wild Fly Fishing Guide Service, lands a 46.1 inch musky on the fly. This huge female weighing 25-30 pounds inhaled a streamer in fifteen feet of water. After a quick picture, she was returned safely to the water.

“Hey, talk about her travelin’ she’s the fastest train on the line, it’s that Orange Blossom Special, rollin’ down the Seaboard Line,” – Ervin T. Rouse — — — MARQUETTE — The section of road I’m on today used to be a railroad grade. As I move south through these ...

“Somewhere along a high road, the air began to turn cold, she said she missed her home. I headed on alone,” – Bob Seger — — — MARQUETTE — Like people, roads have character and they have souls. Walking along a certain dirt road I know on a summer day I can feel the road ...

Little Bay De Noc: Fishing slowed with the abundance of food available, such as alewife and the hex hatches. Walleye catches were spotty at best, while the mouth of the Whitefish and Escanaba rivers were still being fished the most. The “Black Bottom,” Third Reef and Breezy Point all ...

MENOMINEE — Wildlife biologists and technicians with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources have been tracking reports of a bull elk spotted in the south-central part of the Upper Peninsula in Menominee County. The young elk was reported first by a private landowner June 6, within ...

“On a clear day rise and look around you, and you’ll see who you are,” – Alan Jay Lerner — — — MARQUETTE — The bright afternoon sunshine made me squint, while a warm breeze pushed up dirt from this rocky road, tucked into a wild section of the countryside filled with the ...

LANSING — Grab a fishing rod and enjoy some fine Michigan fishing during the 2020 Summer Free Fishing Weekend. This year, it’s Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14 - two full days when everyone can fish without a license (though all other fishing regulations still apply). During Free ...

“Are you reelin’ in the years,” – Walter Becker/Donald Fagen — — — MARQUETTE — When I was a young kid growing up, I remember my dad had two fishing rods and reels he prized that I wasn’t allowed to touch. One was for plunking worms into streams and creeks for brook, ...