Year 8(!) of the Superior September tradition rolled around again and it was time to get back to The Big Lake (on Twitter, Lake Superior is the GLOAT- Greatest Lake of All Time). Every year since we have lived in Wisconsin, we take a fall weekend trip to explore the Lake Superior shoreline at a different spot. This year, it was time for the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit Sault (pronounced SOO) St. Marie and Whitefish Bay. We even saw Canada (socially distanced!).
We got ourselves together and headed up to the UP on the first Friday of October. It was a nice fall day and we had to stop for some patio drinks at Upper Hand Brewery in Escanaba, MI. The drive north takes us up the full length of the bay of Green Bay, then east along the north shore of Lake Michigan proper, and then north across the peninsula to the town of Brimley where we would be staying on the Superior shoreline. We arrived to our rental just as it was getting dark to check in. Next was a whitefish Friday night fish fry at a bar across the street called the Cozy Inn. Food was great and we caught it just in time before the kitchen closed. Time to rest up for touristy fun and adjust to the temporary return to the Eastern Time Zone.
Saturday morning, we headed east about 20 minutes to the city of Sault St. Marie, MI. Here, the St. Mary's River separates Michigan from Ontario, Canada, and is the only route for ships (Great Lakes ships are called "Lakers" whereas rarer ships coming from sea are called "Salties") to enter or depart the waters of Lake Superior. We started with Original Soo Locks Boat Tours to experience the Soo Locks, the engineering marvel that allows these ships to traverse around the St. Mary's Rapids. Ships have to rise or drop about 20 ft. while in the lock depending on the direction they are heading all based on a gate system and gravity/natural movement of water. Smaller vessels can traverse the locks (including our tour boat), but the big draw are the hundreds to thousand-foot freighters and superlakers that come through the locks, sometimes with only 2 ft. of clearance between the vessel and walls of the lock. The US Army Corps of Engineers has a visitor center and observation platform there where people can watch the ships pass though up close.
Our boat tour moved upbound through the Locks and took a big loop around the Upper St. Mary's River looking at some landmarks including a historic hydroelectric power plant, a new, bigger lock under construction, and Algoma Steel production industrial site on the Canadian side. We then returned downbound through the locks and toured the Canadian side of the river, which Scott commented looked a lot like Europe. Due to COVID travel restrictions, we were not allowed to enter Canada (there is a vehicle bridge over the St. Mary's) without producing a negative test, so we had to settle for a distant view and a few waves to (presumably) Canadians while the tour passed by the sister city of Sault St. Marie, ON. We also had to scramble a couple of times to turn our phones off since we were close enough to ping off Canadian cell towers!
After the boat tour, we had to have lunch at Soo Locks Brewing Company of course and enjoyed sandwiches and brews on the patio. Next we checked out the Soo Locks Visitor Center and watched some ships using the Locks. It was kind of addicting at times to just "wait for one more." It took each ship about 30 minutes or so to navigate through, but it was cool to watch them rise and fall and see the crews working. Rain was in the forecast so we headed to the Museum Ship Valley Camp, a floating museum located right on a retired freighter. Several floors of Great Lakes maritime exhibits kept us busy while it rained pretty hard. A stop at Superior Coast Brewery for drinks rounded out the day in Sault St. Marie. We swung by Superior Pizza and Subs in Brimley on the way back to the rental to take out a pizza for dinner, which was incredible! Turns out it was their last weekend open for the season, so we lucked out.
It rained most of the night and was expected to continue off and on through Sunday. In the morning, we took an auto tour to the west along the Whitefish Bay National Forest Scenic Byway along Lake Superior and through and the Bay Mills Indian Community. We stopped by Point Iroquois Lighthouse, several overlooks and beaches along Lake Superior, and at Mission Hill Cemetery and Overlook above Spectacle and Monocle Lakes. Next was a short walk around part of Monocle Lake and through the campground which was closed for the season. The weather was still iffy so we didn't want to start a longer hike as originally planned. We went back to Superior Pizza for a quick ice cream snack and then back to Sault St. Marie in the afternoon to watch some more ships at the visitor center. I didn't realize there is a fairly large Amish community also in that area of the UP and the drive was scenic through many farms. We took a spin through some gift shops and had dinner at Maloney's Alley Irish Pub before calling it a night.
Monday morning was cloudy but at least the rain had stopped. We packed up and hit the road to start making our way back. Our waylay on the return trip was a couple of stops near Manistique, MI on Lake Michigan- Seul Choix Point Lighthouse (pronounced "Sis-shwa" or "Only Choice" in French) and Kitch-iti-kipi or Big Spring located at Palms Book State Park. The lighthouse, said to be haunted, had closed to the public for the seasonal tours but had some decorations outside for their big Halloween haunted tours later in the month. Very cool (and windy!) spot that we had entirely to ourselves. Big Spring is an extremely clear and consistent temperature pool with a raft (including a glass window on the bottom) that visitors can pull along the surface to check out the springs and the fish and wildlife. Luckily we caught it an off time since it was mid-morning on Monday- it was definitely really unique and worth seeing, but I imagine the lines get very long to load the packed raft with tourists. We even had a few dogs that rode the raft with their people and of course didn't get along with each other in those cramped quarters. We stopped in Escanaba and picked up Dobber's Pasties (pronounced PAST ees- think portable chicken pot pie) for lunch, which we ate at a roadside picnic area on the bay of Green Bay enjoying a more little beach time.
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse
Another great trip to the Yoop and successful Soo-perior September adventure.
*On the lands of the Bay Mills Indian Community, and Odawa and Anishinaabe peoples: https://native-land.ca/
