Michigan's Upper Peninsula

On an out-of-the-way peninsula in northern Michigan known as “The U.P.”, stands Mt Bohemia—home to the nation’s only triple black diamonds, 300-plus inches of annual snow, lake trout pizza, and Yooper hospitality. Paul Gemignani and company return to his home county in search of legitimate Midwest freeriding and introduce us to The Last Place on Earth.

It can seem as if getting here is an endless journey; the remote highway that leads you north to the U.P.  (“youw-peee,” to a genuine Yooper) weaves through dense hardwood forest that extends as far as the eye can see. Whether from Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee or Madison, it takes a solid eight hours—give or take a few—to reach the strip of land jutting out of the top of the U.P., also known as the Keweenaw.

It’s hard to describe just how removed from the rest of the world one feels when in the U.P., but there is one thing that makes the drive worth it for a rider from the Midwest: Mt. Bohemia…

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