We came upon the remains of this old structure

An overgrown road led from the structure to along side and beyond the church

A gate tells me the road used to service the church. Although main entrance is up front

Huge grassy area is the old river bed. We saw two trail cams mounted to trees here

Remnants of the old Center Furnace. This one operated from 1840-1912

This part of the trail, a berm separating Honker Bay from Honker Lake, was a tad bit overgrown

LBL Honker Bay

October 17, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 45 °F

This morning we woke to 35 degrees and dense fog. We were socked in until 9am then headed one bay over so I could visit the St. Stephen Catholic Church. This church served German Catholic families in the area from 1900 until 1945. Last year we also visited this church but we did so from a bay south and walked the 3+ miles on Forest roads. It was hot 🥵. This year the temp was 50, great for hiking, and we just plowed our own path thru the woods from the closest bay. Much faster 👍.. maybe half a mile. It’s thought that this Church was overlooked when other structures were being torn down because it hadn’t been in use for 20 years so was on no one’s radar. In 2000 a group of volunteers restored it. After this adventure we pulled anchor and went a few more miles to Honker Bay. There’s a nice 4.6 mile loop trail here with easy shore access. Half way along the trail is a nature center, a few other trailheads and an old iron furnace called Center Furnace. LBL was home to 6 furnaces from the mid 1800s to early 1900s. Most are long gone but this one still has some of the structure intact. All of these furnaces produced pretty blue slag as a byproduct. I have a beautiful blue slag lamp at home from that time period. It’s interesting to see so much blue slag on the ground. Total miles traveled by MB today 7. Moki and I also traveled 7 miles on foot.Read more