One of Bob's last bike trips on his list was to travel around the north side of Lake Superior. August 9-14 saw the trip completed. Below are the representative pictures of the trip. 1784 miles with overnight stops along the way in St. Ignace at the Northernaire Motel, then Ironwood at the Best Host Inn. On to Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Strathcona Motel with the last stop in Canada at Jackfish Lake Cottages. From there it was a long ride of 430 miles to Gaylord and the "lovely" Downtown Hotel.
Check back for some captions and a little more info. 8.15.15
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I've left the land of trolls and looking south at the bridge.
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My first sleep in St. Ignace. The owners of this place know the Atkins family from Dansville. Small world.
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Day two and on the way to Ironwood. Stopped in Christmas for lunch. The owner grew up with a guy I taught with in Manistique. Had a good sandwich and a nice visit.
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Castle Rock in St. Ignace. This is for the Redmond girls.
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Now I'm in Minnesota north of Duluth. One of a thousand beautiful views of Lake Superior.
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Statue of a CCC worker at the Gooseberry Falls State Park north of Duluth. This is for you Mom.
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So many great projects came from the CCC. One of the benefits of the sad times of the Great Depression
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This was a nice spot but very heavily visited.
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One view of Gooseberry Falls
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Lots of places to walk on the river bed
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Another part of Gooseberry Falls
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Grand Portage before entering Canada. A very neat place to stop
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The Grand Portage visitor center. A fort and village are below this spot on the lake shore.
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The view of the bay at Grand Portage
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Ready to go to the border!
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Amythyst Bay north of Thunder Bay, ON. I stayed at the Strathcona Motel in Thunder Bay. It was built in 1954 by an immigrant family and their son, a retired teacher, now runs it.
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A footbridge acrose a small gorge to get to Ouimet Canyon view. Had to drive 8 miles in to get to it but worth the ride...on a very bumpy road.
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It was about a 2km walk from the parking lot back to the viewing area and wet...but no bears.
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Ouimet Canyon view looking towards Lake Superior in the distance
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The old Indian rock formation in the canyon
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Another view of the canyon, the lake beyond and Lake Superior beyond the hills
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Got off the highway to check out Red Rock. Not much there other than a mill. Took this picture to show the glass insulators that I've not seen in many years.
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Do you know the book Paddle to the Sea? The little town of Nipigon has this very unique and cool park for kids. I'd forgotten that the story begins in the river here.
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The little park has pods that depict the various stages of the journey in the book.
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Nipigon is a very small town but they did a great job on the park.
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A lifesize rendition of "Paddle to the Sea" carving. We have a small carving made by our old friend, Hugh Clark, from Scottville. I wish Hugh were able to see this.
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One of the views of Kama Bay, the northernmost point of Lake Superior
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A beautiful day with the wild flowers in bloom.
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One more look of Kama Bay.
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The entire north shore of Lake Superior is on Canadian bedrock and the highway is carved out of the rock. This is just one very small shot of so many larger rock outcroppings that had to be blasted.
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Rainbow Falls Provincial Park on the far north shore of Superior. A comfortable walk from the parking area to a couple hundred steps to view the falls from various spots.
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Another shot of Rainbow Falls
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I wonder what Rainbow Falls would look like in the spring thaw?
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Aguasabon Falls and gorge near Terrace Bay. The picture is very deceiving and does not really show how dramatic the walls of the gorge are.
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A little lake between Terrace Bay and the big water. These small lakes are all over the place by the thousands.
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Terrace Bay beach
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Terrace Bay was one of the few place on the Superior shore with a sand beach.
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This and the following pictures were taken with my phone and are out of order. Here is one of a gazillion small rock islands.
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I think this is a shot of Batchawana Bay north of Sault Saint Marie, ON
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Again out of sequence but a view of Jackfish Lake across the road from the cabins where I stayed the last night in Canada.
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A little R & R
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One of my "feasts." Wine, crackers, fake crabmeat.
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My stay for the night
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I had the "newest" cabin. The small building to the right is a sauna. Closed for the summer but available in the cooler weather.
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This shows some info about the gorge shown earlier.
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Another waterfall
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Yet another waterfall.
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At a rest stop outside of Rossport.
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A neat little trail
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Around the bay to the right would be Rossport
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It was a great trip.
