Copyright M Live Michigan
MENOMINEE COUNTY, MI -- Along the shoreline of Green Bay sits Michigan’s largest Yooperlite, illuminating several feet and making for an excellent photo-op to mark your Upper Peninsula adventure. Rock hounds who have been dreaming of seeing a Yooperlite can’t miss this supersized spectacle within J.W. Wells State Park in Cedar River. You’ll have to make the trip to the Michigan-Wisconsin border, but it’s worth it. Just take it from Yooperlite pioneer and leading expert Erik Rintamaki, who confirmed its the largest Yooperlite in the state. “It’s probably half the size of a VW Beetle,” he said. “It’s massive.” An earlier sunset means your night hikes can start earlier, especially since Cedar River is in the Central Time Zone. To see the glow of the Yooperlite you’ll need a longwave UV flashlight. The Yooperlite large enough to stand on is near the modern campground. The park suggests heading toward the South Loop’s campsite 20, not far from the playground. A second large Yooperlite has been split down the middle further up the shoreline. Rintamaki warns this is more of an adventure as it’s under tree roots. The modern campground is closed for the season, but visiting hours are open until 10 p.m. You’ll need a Michigan recreation pass to get into the park. If you’re up for an overnight adventure, nearby rustic cabins are open year-round for rentals. Check out Rintamaki‘s map below for exact coordinates. Volunteer campground hosts have also shone their Yooperlite flashlights onto the park’s facilities and found smaller Yooperlites glowing back at them from the bricks. These buildings were built in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps long before we had the name Yooperlite. Rintamaki confirmed the first ever Yooperlite in 2017, marking a new mineral in Michigan history. As its founder, Rintamaki had the honor of naming the fluorescent sodalite. Sitting on the beach in the U.P., he decided to give credit to the place it all started − the Yoop. Rintamaki has made sharing Yooperlites his full-time job between his growing social media presence, selling Yooperlite sculptures and his expansive online Yooperlite flashlight business. Although you can find Yooperlites along the shore of all five Great Lakes, Rintamaki offers tours along the Lake Superior beaches he calls home. The hunt is open to all levels of rock hounds, his only rule is that everyone pick up trash during the hunt. There’s a high success rate of rock hunters finding Yooperlites on these tours. Ultimately, though, the greatest treasure for Rintamaki is sharing and enhancing Michigan’s beauty. “It’s getting people out in nature, doing something fun at night that they normally wouldn’t not be doing,” he said. “If I can get every person that goes out with me to pick up one piece of garbage off the beach, river or wherever they’re hunting then I’ve made this world a better place while I’m here.”
