Lakes Superior and Huron

5 July – We walked up to the Buffalo House restaurant at the camp in Duluth where we have been staying and treated ourselves to breakfast while we published the last blog. Along the highway thru Superior and Duluth and onto the scenic road north/east following the shoreline of Lake Superior. We are now halfway around the largest lake in the world! Our camp was at Gooseberry Falls State Park and after lunch we walked to the falls. It is a series of falls with many families climbing on the rocks and swimming in the pools.

We left the crowds and followed a trail to the upper falls crossing the river and down the other side to end up at the visitors’ centre where we were able to get some info on the provincial parks in Canada. At dinner time we had a big electrical storm and some rain.

6 July – It rained off and on thru the night and was still raining in the morning. The drive north should have been spectacular but mist and rain obscured our view of the lake. Our last camp in the USA for a while was at a state park named after a mayor of Duluth. It was still raining so we sat inside until it eased off a bit and then donned our parkas for a walk thru the forest following the swollen river passed some rough waterfalls to a natural feature called the Devil’s Kettle. Here the river divided in two with half the flow disappearing down a hole in the river bed (the spout). It was a great 3 mile walk which at least got us out of “Ernie”.

7 July – The sun shone and we were back on the road north still following the beautiful lake shore to the last place in the USA before crossing the border, the National Monument at Grand Portage. This was a trading post in the 18^th century where the trapper’s furs were exchanged for supplies. The furs were taken by canoe from here to Montréal and supplies were bought back on the return trips. These birch canoes were huge carrying 4 tons and 8 people. Parts of the trading post have been restored and were very interesting with actors playing the various residents. We drove on to the border into Canada and were waved thru without any problems.

We may have been slightly over our alcohol limit however!! At the Canadian Welcome centre we picked up some more helpful info and used the internet. The country changed and we were into hills again. We headed slightly away from the lake to a Provincial park at Kakabeka Falls. The host at the camp last night suggested going here. The waterfall is spectacular dropping 40m and with lots of water as the river is in flood due to yesterdays rain. We were able to access the falls from both sides giving great views.

 8 July – Another great drive skirting past the city of Thunder Bay and back onto the Lake Superior shore with lovely views of the bays. Our overnight stop is at Rainbow Falls where there was a laundry and we could do a wash. The waterfall comes out of a small lake and we followed a board walk passed the rapids and then climbed a hill for views of Lake Superior.

9 July – Lake Superior has a huge effect on the temperature. 10C cooler in the summer and 10C hotter in the winter. This was demonstrated to us today as we shopped in the small city of Marathon on the lake shore, with the temperature about 12C. We continued on to our camp at White Lake 10 miles away from Lake Superior and ended sunbathing on a small beach in about 25C. 

10 July – Friday today, so we decided to stay two nights somewhere in the huge Lake Superior Provincial park. The first camp we came to was Rabbit Blanket Lake, a small camp some distance from L.S. Our site was great overlooking this small lake. We have no idea why it has this strange name. After lunch we followed a short trail along a river. The mosquitoes were brutal!                   A German couple in the next site came back from the hike we will do tomorrow. It had taken them 6 hours and they were exhausted. The weather is still perfect and we sat outside until dark enjoying our great view.

 11 July – We have decided to do our intended hike despite the German couple’s experiences. With our lunch packed and dowsed in insect repellent we set off for the 15km loop trail. The first section was a gentle climb rising 150m and then a series of ridges up to Peat Mountain with some great views of various lakes. Unfortunately there are some major forest fires in British Columbia and the smoke has caused a haze this far east so we could not see Lake Superior. Continuing on along another couple of ridges overlooking Foam Lake in the valley below.

The track then descended to the lake shore where we stopped for lunch. The return track was passed a beaver dam forming a large pond and eventually back to our camp. It was a great hike! It took us 3 ½ hours. So much for the German couples advice! We enjoyed a swim in Rabbit Blanket Lake to cool off.

12 July – We continued on thru the Lake Superior Provincial Park and onto Pancake Bay Provincial Park. This is a huge camp right on the Lake Superior shoreline with a great beach. The weather is really hot now (30C) so we walked down to the beach and spent the afternoon swimming and sunbathing. 

The difference between summer and winter is hard for us to comprehend. Lake Superior was totally frozen over last winter, we are swimming in it today, (water temperature around 22C) and there will be snow here again in September.

13 July – We continued south towards the Canadian/USA border at Sault Ste Marie (nicknamed The Soo). This is the part of the world where Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan all meet. We were stopped at the border for some time as the guards were interested in chatting and for some reason could not find our entry stamp into the USA. They also confiscated our fresh eggs (avian flue). Eventually we were allowed back into the USA and drove to the Locks on the St Marys River. We have been here before with Gareth, Cere, Paul and Lynne in 2008. There is a level difference of 21ft between Lake Superior and Lake Huron so there is a huge lock to allow the freighters to sail between the two lakes. Fortunately one of the 1000fters (the name given to these freighters) was going into the lock as we were there. Quite a sight but the ship moves so slowly it takes for ever! We continued on to Brimley State Park where we had stayed in 2008. It brought back some great memories. The weather has been much cooler today and it rained later in the day. We are now only 20 miles from Tahquamenon Falls where we were 3 weeks ago. We have now done the Grand Circle Tour of Lake Superior. This is a world renowned road trip and has been fantastic!

 

14 July – It is still cool with some drizzle. We drove south and over the Mackinac Bridge which is huge and crosses the Straits of Mackinac separating the Michigan upper and lower peninsulas. At Cheboygan we had a large shop as we had let our stocks run low. Canadian prices are much higher than USA. We also managed to find a propane dealer and filled our tank. On to the Cheboygan State Park on Lake Huron.
From the beach we can see Mackinac Island which we visited in 2008. After lunch we had a great bike ride along the Lake Huron shoreline.

15 July – A much sunnier day for our drive around the shores of Lake Huron passed some lovely coastal towns. Our overnight stop is at Harrisville State Park with a nice beach. We enjoyed a bike ride back into the village of Harrisville, a visit to a quilt shop and an ice-cream.

16 July – We continued on the road south along the shoreline of Lake Huron. There are great houses with beach frontages on all the available spaces between the road and the shore. We stopped at Bay City State Park and cycled a pathway into the city 9 miles away. The last part followed the Saginaw River Walkway. On the way back we enjoyed a beer at a pub right on the river. It was a lovely warm evening but rain set in at night.

17 July – We drove thru Bay City and inland towards Lansing to stay with Linda and Peter Carrington. The weather is much warmer away from the lake. We are parked up their driveway after a bit of tree pruning. Linda drove us all to a great little pub for dinner. Cere came around for a visit.

18 July – After breakfast with Linda, Peter and Zeus the dog (who thinks he is a horse) Val started the job of washing every article of clothing in sight! I relaxed! It was very humid and eventually the storm came with heavy rain. It cleared and the T- shirts went out on the clothesline. It was great to sit around and do very little. I cooked dinner for us all as it was Peter and Linda’s wedding anniversary.

19 July – This morning there will be the traditional Carrington Sunday breakfast when their daughters and partners join them. We will leave after this and head east to a state park and our trip along the Lake Michigan shoreline.  

Great Lakes

22 June – After the laundry and internet stop at Escanaba, Michigan we followed the lake east with threatening skies to our camp at Indian Lake State Park (not the lake in the Cowsills’ song). We chose a site well away from the taller trees as the forecast is bad. Eventually the sun came out and we tried to dry the washing. We thought the storm must have bypassed us until the ranger came around and warned us of storm and tornado conditions to the south of us for the next few hours, which he hoped we would miss us. (charming!!) We put together a grab-bag of our passports, documents and camera just in case we needed to evacuate to the toilet blocks. The skies darkened but the storm fortunately did not arrive.

23 June – It was windy in the night and still blowing this morning. We drove in cold conditions and some drizzle north across the Michigan Upper Peninsula leaving Lake Michigan and eventually reaching Lake Superior before heading inland again to the State Park at Tahquamenon Falls. In the afternoon we rugged up and walked around the Lower Falls. There are four low falls but with a lot of water going over them. They are tea coloured like the West Coast rivers. Quite unusual. Tomorrow we will explore the Upper Falls as we drive west.

24 June – It was a short drive of 4 miles to the upper Tahquamenon Falls. This was a big water fall (200ft wide and 50ft high) and we view it from a couple of vantage points. We continued west thru mostly forests to the town of Munising where we stopped at the visitors centre. This area is called the Painted Rocks Landshore but the cliffs can only be view from the lake. We decided against a boat trip to see this and further along the road we realised we had made the right decision as we could see lots of fog out on the water.

Our camp was at Bay Furnace State Park We had a nice isolated site so we both had haircuts. Half way thru this it started to rain and I completed them under the awning. After it cleared we walked to the site of a pioneer iron furnace giving the bay its name.

25 June – We followed the coast west along Lake Superior. It is hard to imagine how huge this body of water is. At Marquette, the largest city on the Upper Peninsula, we stopped for fuel and a stock up of supplies. We passed the highest mountain in Michigan, Mt Arvon – 1979ft, really only a hill! It stopped raining and we camped at  a State Park at Keweenaw Bay. We sat beside the lake and enjoyed a read in the sunshine.

26 June – It was a chilly morning with fog off the lake. We headed up a huge peninsula sticking out into the lake. This is mining country with mainly copper mines. The road followed a ridge up the centre of the land and we eventually descended into Copper Harbour right at the end of the peninsula, where we have a booking for the weekend at Fort Wilkins State Park. The sun is out and we are in a great site overlooking Lake Fanny Hooe with Lake Superior 100m away. We hopped on our bikes and road around the park to orientate ourselves.

We had a quick look at the fort and will spend some time there tomorrow. It was a warm night and we sat outside until it got late, not dark, that does not happen until around 11:30pm

27 June – As there is a laundry in this park we cycled to it. While Val did the washing, I sent some time cleaning. Near lunch time we cycled back into the town of Copper Harbour for a look around and to try one of the pasties famous in this area. The last time we had a pasty was in Cornwell, England where they also mined tin. The pasty was designed to allow the miners to have lunch underground without washing the poison from the mining off their hands. They throw away the end crust. The pasties were good but the Cornish ones were better. Back in the park we went to the site of Fort Wilkins. This fort was established around 1860 to protect the copper miners etc, but the Indians were not aggressive so it was abandoned when the Civil War broke out. It was only manned for 4 years. The fort has been preserved and today there were actors acting out various roles. It was all very interesting and the various characters carried on a conversation as if they were in the period. Our neighbours left us some firewood so we will have a camp fire tonight.

28 June – We left Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbour and drove the coast road around Lake Superior thru Eagle Harbour and Eagle River, a beautiful drive. Leaving the Keweenaw Peninsula we headed west thru more forest and small towns into the Ottawa National Forest and a small forest camp at Lake Marion. The sun was out, and with a great view of the lake, we sat out side and read. I decided to take the opportunity of easy access to the lake to wash the outside of “Ernie”

Just as I started the clouds came over and down came the rain. In an hour the rain stopped and the sun came out again. Unfortunately the mosquitoes also suddenly appeared!

29 June – I finished the washing of “Ernie” before we got back on the road west out of Michigan and back into Wisconsin again. There are lakes everywhere in this area and in the small towns there are many boat sales and marine suppliers. After a few attempts we found another forest camp at Sailor Lake. These forest parks are great. They have no facilities but each camp site is huge with the usual fire ring and table. They are also cheap. (US$12) Again we had a great view of the lake but after lunch the usual afternoon storm brewed up sending us inside. This storm was an electrical storm which seemed to pass right over us. The usual mosquito invasion followed the rain.

30 June – After another drive west we planned to stay in another forest park but we could not find a suitable one. It is drizzly so we settled for a small camping ground at an unnamed lake. The sun comes out from time to time but it is still cool around 16C. The camp had internet which was a bonus and we skyped Linley and Ron.

1 July - We are going west on the “77” for the trip today. A great drive with more forests. The trees have changed now and there are less deciduous trees and more pines. At Danbury we crossed the border from Wisconsin into Minnesota. The country changed and we passed a lot of small farms before arriving at our State Park at St Croix. The weather warmed up and we sat outside for quite a while in T-shirts. We have not done any walks or bike rides lately so we set off for an 8km walk along a snowmobile track and the St Croix River. The ranger had warned us of ticks that were a problem in the park. We stopped half way and I discovered about 20 ticks climbing up my legs. They are like small hard backed spiders about ¼” in size and climb up your legs from your boots. After some mutual grooming we managed to get rid of most of them but had to stop frequently on our return hike to clear them again. Most unpleasant! Back at “Ernie” we stripped off and completely cleared ourselves of the ticks. Surprising where they had got to!! Fly spray on our boots and hopefully we will not have them again. It was a lovely evening and we sat outside watching the sun set.

2 July – A quick dash along the “I-35”, interrupted by a stock up, to our pre-booked camp at an RV park 9 kms from Duluth and Superior. These two port cities, Superior in Wisconsin and Duluth in Minnesota, are at the western end of Lake Superior. This is the 4^th of July weekend and Friday is a holiday thus the need to book. This is a huge camp and we had to bike around to explore it all.

3 July – The camp is slowly filling up. We set off on our bikes along the Munger Trail, a paved cycleway that goes 70 miles between Duluth and Hinckley. Our aim was less ambitious however, to go the Jay Cooke State Park about 10kms down the trail. It was an easy ride to this park where there is a swing bridge across the St Louis River. There are rapids either side of the bridge as the river flows thru an area of slate rock. We walked either side of the river and had lunch with a great view of the rapids.

Back at the camp we walked up to the restaurant/bar for a drink and the use of the internet. We have managed to contact a camp within walking distance of an LPGA golf tournament in a couple of weeks in Michigan.

4 July – “Happy 4^th!” This is the greeting you get around here today. It is a short drive to Superior where we found a park at the middle school and joined the crowd waiting for the parade. Luckily we took our chairs as the parade lasted about 1 ½ hours. At the head of the parade are the veterans, even two from WW11, then the various services organizations followed by all the community groups and the college marching band, with baton twirling majorettes and a pipe band. It all got a bit strung out thus the long duration.

Great entertainment though. We walked back to “Ernie” for lunch and then rode our bikes into the centre of the town where there was a car show. Plenty of big muscle cars and many classic yank tanks of the past.

There was even a few English classics including a Ford Perfect, my first car, but tricked out as a dragster. Back at the camp we got a bundle of firewood and had a great fire filling the time until the fireworks at 10:00pm. The camp turn on the display which was spectacular, very professional and lasted for about 15 minutes. Hate to think what it cost but a great way to finish Independence Day.