HOUGHTON - In the early stages of a 1,358-mile bike trip around Lake Superior, two Northern Michigan University graduates have made their way to the Copper Country.
The two left Marquette Tuesday, and arrived in Houghton Thursday, before heading up the Copper Harbor and Isle Royale for four nights. After leaving Isle Royale, it will be right back down and around into Canada.
They expect to make it around the lake in 25 days, for the simple sake of adventure and to pass on the word of "Save the U.P."
"I've been obsessed for the last five years with adventures, and after graduating, I guess I missed it (the U.P.) too much so I thought, 'What can I do to come up here again,'" said Ben Wielechowski, who has a master's degree in English from Northern Michigan University and now teaches English at community colleges downstate. "So I started planning this trip, and then the Kennecott Mine stuff started to take off this year, so I called (Save the Wild U.P.) and asked if we could do something to work together on this."
Officials with the environmentalist organization didn't waste much time, helping Wielechowski by providing space on their website and helping them to promote the activity.
"They were more than accommodating," Wielechowski said. "It's a great cause, and in my experience, when you do a trip like this, people like to hear about it, they like to learn about it, no matter what you're doing, so this is a great chance for us to tell people about Save the Wild U.P."
Wielechowski said the organization is frantically ramping up its efforts at stopping the sulfide mining in Marquette County, an effort that recently resulted in two of their own being arrested.
"It's frightening to see what could happen, and this is the first one," he said. "Kennecott sets the precedence for how easy it's going to be for companies to come in and do this.
"It's unbelievable how many sites there are around Lake Superior, so close to the water in Canada, Minnesota and Michigan, but not in Wisconsin, cheers to them."
Wisconsin voted to not allow any sulfide mining within the state.
"The region is threatened, and Minnesotans are aware of it too," he said. "There's a projected site near the boundary waters, and a couple organizations have taken up campaigns against that as well."
The trip is also about adventure and is Wielechowski's second tour of a Great Lake. In the summer of 2008 he went around Lake Michigan. He's joined by Andrew Hanson, an experienced biker and fellow NMU alumnus that works at Quick Stop Bike Shop in Marquette.
The two are updating people along the way at savethewildup.org/superior_ride.
"We're just sending updates and highlights, whatever our friends, family and just general public will find interesting," Wielechowski said. "It will be an enjoyable experience and they can experience it through us."
Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.
