There are a total of 83 counties in the state of Michigan. There are only 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula and all but four of them are on Eastern Standard Time, along with the rest of the state. The four counties in the U.P. that are on the Central Time Zone (Wisconsin Time) are Dickinson, Iron, Gogebic, and Menominee.

These are the four counties in the Upper Peninsula with their borders directly in contact with the State of Wisconsin. The Upper Peninsula has about 30 percent of the total land mass of the State of Michigan, and the population of the U.P. is about 300,000 people, and this represents only about 3 per cent of the total population of Michigan. The population of the entire state of Michigan is slightly over 10 million residents.

There are a total of 200 officially named waterfalls in the State of Michigan. Of these 200 beautiful waterfalls, there are 199 located in the U.P., and only one located in the Lower Peninsula. The one located below the Mackinac Bridge is Ocqueoc Falls, in the Northern Lower Peninsula. Of course, the Upper Peninsula is home to Tahquamenon Falls, and it is a great experience to visit both the Upper and Lower Falls in the eastern U.P.

The Upper Tahquamenon Falls is 200 feet across with a drop of almost 50 feet. In the peak of Spring runoff, over 50,000 gallons of water rush over the brink per second. This makes it the second largest volume of water flow east of the Mississippi River in the United States, behind only Niagara Falls! The average flow during the year is reported to be about 7,000 gallons per second. Now that’s a lot of water!

Let’s never forget the monumental fresh water resource we have in the Upper Peninsula. Lake Superior contains 10 percent of the fresh water in the entire world. Lake Superior is also very appropriately named as it contains 3 million billion (quadrillion) gallons of fresh water. The volume of Lake Superior is so huge that you could put the other four Great Lakes (Michigan, Huron, Ontario, and Erie) into Lake Superior and you would still have to add three more Lake Erie’s to fill it up. Also be aware that there are about 12,000 miles of rivers and streams in our wonderful Upper Peninsula.

The Upper Peninsula can also boast about being home to the two oldest cities in the State of Michigan. The oldest city in our great state is Sault Sainte Marie, founded in 1668, and St. Ignace is the second oldest, founded three years later in 1671. Further, the world famous Mackinac Island is considered to be part of the Upper Peninsula because it is located in Mackinac County and it also has the U.P. phone area code of 906.

As we now can enjoy our Spring season leading to our great summertime in the U.P., it is fitting to occasionally reflect upon and appreciate how we have been so blessed with our truly special Upper Peninsula environment.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Jim Surrell is the author of “The ABC’s For Success In All We Do” and the “SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet” books.Contact Dr. Surrell by email at sosdietdoc@gmail.com.