• Wednesday-What'sUP July 18 - 10:35 pm

When you head up to the top of Brockway Mountain Drive, you're mostly awed by the expansive view, but Rachel Schreiner saw the beauty that abounds ON this summit. Coloring the highest scenic roadway between the Rockies and the Alleghenies are pale orange Wood Lilies, pretty pink Wild Roses and deep orange Hawkweed. Just a few of the wildflowers decorating this lookout.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the mountain referred to here today, E. Neil Harri zooms in on a bird's eye view, heading from a southerly direction toward Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor. If you'd like to take a closer look at Neil's photo, you can see the full size photo here: The Big Picture.

good morning to all in gods country.going to be U.P. in a couple more weeks.see you soon.

What bright, beautiful colors!

In the full size picture there can be seen a pathway leading from the parking lot, downhill and off to the left (West?). Has anybody taken that path? Where does it go?

Beautiful pictures!

I like the pictures of the flowers. Was wondering if anybody has pictures of the yellow Hawksweed.
I always enjoy Neils pictures, and his closeups are fantastic. Must be nice to combine two things that you enjoy as he does.

nice pics. This is the first time I've seen Brockway from this direction.

Didn't a car go over that cliff quite a few years ago?

The path appears to go the the cliffs edge? Or am I looking at the wrong one.

Thank you, Neil, for my new wallpaper. Beautiful shot!

There was a car that went over cliff many years ago. I was a young guy the last time I climbed to the bottom to see it.
It is the trail along left side if pic. The wreck is spread out along the hillside. The engine is separated from the frame.
I remember we couldn't even guess the make of car.It is a tough climb, both ways and the bugs were pretty bad down in the lowlands.

I have never seen that view before, have lots of pictures of that area.

What's wrong with the bridge cam?

I love pictures of flowers--any kind of flowers

My Grampa and I used to call the Orange Hawkweed "Indian Paitbrushes". Boy, they sure made some pretty bouquets. They used to grow in the field right next to the buttercups.

Ooops, Typo. That word is supposed to be Paintbrushes. See what happens when I type to fast.

Love the flower pics. The late Lady Bird Johnson would have approved! I always enjoy Neil's photos as well.

Hope to get more close-ups of Michigan's beautiful wildflowers. I've seen yellow hawkweed (it has another name, too, doesn't it?), but it was too shady to get a shot. The many wildflowers we have everywhere in our country need to be protected, always, for the future generations. Some of the most interesting I saw were the pitcher plants in bloom in the eastern U.P. in a swampy area.

The car that went off Brockway was a mid 50s Olds. The people got out to take a pic of a porkypine (sp?) or a wood chuck. They didn't put it in Park so...over it went. I went up there as part of a school safety patrol picnic, from LLHS. So about 6 of us went down to the car to look it over. What a mess it was. It was a brand-new car when it went over.

There were (are?) several cars down there over the years, going back even to the 30s!
As a teenager in the mid-50s several of us made the descent down. I remember well there were several car remains in one area. One had slid down backwards and was still relatively intact. As I recall it was a black 40s model Olds. Another had obviously gone down end over end and was disintegrated. It looked like several had done this! The ones that still had a shell had Porcupines living in them! We thus didn't go in them or even close! Debri was everywhere! Rumors were that 1 or 2 had been pushed over for the insurance and that 1 or 2 were just junkers that were pushed over for the "thrill" of the sight! I imagine over the years lots of the debri was picked over by scrap junk pickers, or just rusted away. Perhaps the county cleaned up much of it (?) Another rumor was that a tow company went down with a long cable and hook setup and winched 1 or 2 up! (?)
Early 50s to mid 50s "Hydramatic" Olds had no "Park". They used Reverse with the engine shut off and /or the parking brake.

Hey Mooselover, Are these the ones you mean? They are also called "Canada Hawkweed" and found throughout Michigan

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What are the bluish-purplish ones behind the yellow ones in Russ Emmons' photo?

Marianne: Those are New England Asters. They range throughout Michigan. We get scads of them around here in late summer/fall.

I took this photo I believe over in Macomb county at the new WC Wetzel State Park/SGA last Sept.

Russell,

Yes, these yellow flowers are the ones I've seen blooming in July. I also love the lupines that "escaped" cultivation years ago and now live as wildflowers. (How do plants escape? They plan and plan, and then one night they sneak under the fence?)

Beautiful flower pictures.