Benny the Beard Fisher is a 30-foot-long wooden troll sitting along the Manistique River in Germfask. He's one of the most random things you'll find in the Upper Peninsula. Barely advertised. Totally unforgettable. Once you've seen one picture of him, you're already planning the detour. I know I was.
I also knew my son was going to lose it over this one. Benny is basically an engineering project on a giant scale, and engineering is my son's whole personality. We see something like this and immediately start asking how, with what tools, how long it took, and what's actually holding it together.
Where Is Benny the Beard Fisher?
Benny lives on the grounds of Northland Outfitters, a campground and canoe/kayak livery on M-77 in Germfask, near the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. That setup is half the fun. You pay a small fee at the camp store, walk past cabins, campers, and people grilling at their sites, head toward the river, and then, out of nowhere, a giant wooden troll is sitting on the bank like he's waiting for a bite.
Not what you expect to find in the middle of a working campground.
Admission, Hours, and Parking
- Cost: $10 per vehicle, paid at the Northland Outfitters camp store before you walk down to Benny.
- Hours: Daylight hours. Call Northland Outfitters at (906) 586-9801 to confirm before you make the drive.
- Parking: On site at Northland Outfitters, off M-77.
- The walk: A few minutes each way on a short, flat path past cabins and campsites to the riverbank.
- Season: Benny's viewable whenever the campground is open. Confirm the current season before a long drive.
How Big Is Benny the Beard Fisher?
About 30 feet long and 14 feet tall, built mostly from reclaimed wood. His head, hands, and feet were carved by the artist's team in Denmark and shipped to Germfask. The body was assembled on site from cedar planks from a nearby Amish lumber mill, plus local branches and saplings.
Pictures don't do the scale justice. The beard alone is longer than most people are tall.
Who Built Benny the Beard Fisher?
Thomas Dambo, a Danish artist known around the world for building giant trolls out of recycled wood. Benny is one of more than a hundred Dambo trolls in different countries, and by most accounts the first one in Michigan. That international art pedigree is exactly why a quiet U.P. highway stop feels so delightfully out of place.
Is Benny the Beard Fisher Worth Visiting?
If you like weird roadside attractions, unusual art, or anything you won't see anywhere else in Michigan, yes. It's not a long stop and it's not expensive: $10 per vehicle at the camp store. The camp store staff were genuinely great, which made it even better. If you're driving M-77 anywhere near Seney or Germfask and you're into that specific "wait, what is that" brand of Michigan detour, go.
Can You Climb on Benny the Beard Fisher?
No. Climbing is prohibited, and it makes sense once you look closely. Those cedar planks and branches weren't built to hold a kid. You can walk all the way around him for different angles, which is plenty.
My son didn't need to climb a single plank to be completely hooked. Atticus has an engineering mindset. He's always trying to reverse engineer things, and when he sees something like Benny, I can practically watch his brain ticking away on how it was made. I'm told this is what other parents get when their kids look at dinosaurs.
It didn't stop when we left, either. We had to go home and look up other sculptures built the same way online, just so he could keep figuring it out.
What Else Is Near Germfask?
Germfask sits right by the Seney National Wildlife Refuge and makes an easy stop on the drive between Manistique and Newberry, which puts you on the way to two of our favorites. Near Manistique, Kitch-iti-kipi is Michigan's biggest spring, with turquoise water you cross on a hand-cranked raft. Near Newberry, Oswald's Bear Ranch has about 40 rescued black bears, and from there it's a short hop to Upper Tahquamenon Falls and Lower Tahquamenon Falls. You can find more Upper Peninsula attractions on the site, too.
The Verdict on Benny
Benny is the kind of place I love stumbling onto by accident. This time we didn't stumble. We drove straight for him. It's quick, it's cheap, and there's nothing else like it in Michigan. Bring a few bucks for the fee, check the hours before you make the drive, and say hi to Benny for us. He won't say anything back. He's busy fishing.
