Lake Superior Circle Tour - July 2015

[Colin Hughes]

Our trip around Lake Superior covered approximately 3400kms door to door and 15 days. We had a 5:30am start on Thursday, July 16th from our home, located an hour northeast of Toronto, with the plan of getting to Lake Superior State Park in Michigan that day. An hour and a half detour to the east just before Sudbury and a very chatty US Customs Agent (at least ten minutes) meant we didn't get up to the park until late afternoon. All sites were taken and as we were tired from the drive, ended up in Woodland Park in Grand Marais. Not recommended. The night was rainy, windy and the comfort stations were not overly clean.
We packed up the following morning in a drizzle which stopped but the day stayed overcast. After visiting Sable Falls, we headed to towards Picture Rocks to hike the 11 mile Chapel Rock-Mosquito Trail. The trail was great, the scenery amazing.

The rain from the previous evening had made the road into Chapel Rock, which is under construction, extremely muddy. Wet gravel, red clay and more covered the LR3 and our bikes on the back. Surprisingly, there was a Jaguar coupe in the parking lot when we reached it. His drive in must have been fun.
After completing the hike in around five hours, we headed into Munising to check out the falls. We had planned to visit ROAM but couldn't locate the shop. The truck got a good spray off, some grocery shopping was done and we headed to Au Train Campground for the night.

 

[Colin Hughes]

Saturday morning we packed up and headed towards Copper Harbor. A quick lunch at the Sweetwater Cafe, a wander of the main street and a visit to Black Rocks brewery for some suds in Marquette and we continued on our way. Having been told about the great sticky buns at the Hilltop Restaurant in L'Anse, we picked one up - all 1 lb of it! We exited off Highway 41 and took 26 through Eagle River and Eagle Harbor then the Brockway Scenic Highway before arriving at Fort Wilkins for the night. Here we visited with Todd and Carol from TC Teardrops, had a look at their personal offroad trailer, asked a bunch of questions and made the decision to order one. We won't pick it up until next May but it's still exciting to know its coming. All through the rest of the trip, we talked through how we'd do things differently with a trailer instead of a tent.

 

[Colin Hughes]

Sunday and Monday were to be spent in Porcupine Mt State Park. We headed into the park and up to the Lake of the Clouds before traveling to Presque Isle campground. This was a very nice spot, everyone was quiet and respectful. There are three waterfalls here: Newadaha, Manido and Manabezha which we took in on Sunday. Monday, we watched a bald eagle soar up and down the coast as we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Afterwards, we hiked a section of the Lake Superior Trail.

 

[Colin Hughes]

Tuesday we headed for Duluth. As my wife's birthday took place while on the trip, we had reserved a cabin along Highway 61 that evening and also planned to go out for dinner at the New Scenic Cafe. The food here is great and the place is busy! We were surprised just how busy on a Tuesday night. On route to Duluth, we took Highway 13 around the shore of Superior in Wisconsin. Bayfield and the Apostle Islands looks like a great spot to spend a few days. As we were already booked into Duluth, we have made a note to go back at some point in the future and visit this area again.
Wednesday, we started up the coast of Minnesota on Highway 61. Our first stop was Gooseberry Falls, followed by Split Rock Lighthouse, Pallisade Head and Tettegouche State Park before heading up Highway 1 and into Ely. Once again, great scenery. We had a small camping area to ourselves in Ely at the Shagawa Inn Resort. The proprietor was kind enough to loan us a canoe and paddles and I achieved something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager; paddle the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

 

[Colin Hughes]

After driving back down the windy Highway 1, we rejoined Highway 61 and continued north. At Tofte, we hiked the Orberg Loop trail and arrived in Grand Marais mid-afternoon. We were enjoying a coffee at the Java Moose and trying to decide on finding a local camping spot for the evening or heading on into Canada when I found the website for Gunflint Pines. Located about 40 miles up the Gunflint Trail, our campsite for the evening was multi-level. Our truck and kitchen up top, the tent in the middle and the bottom offered a nice sitting area right on Gunflint Lake.
The following morning found us back down in Grand Marais and we wandered around with our coffees from the Java Moose. The Lake Superior Trading Post is a great outdoor store in this community.
We passed into Canada late morning, the easiest border crossing we've ever had. No one in front of us, we drove up, were asked three questions: how long had we been away, how much did we spend, did we have any cigs or booze and we were on our way.
We continued up to Highway 17 and west to Quetico for two evenings. Lots of bugs here, really the first we'd really seen on the trip but the campsite was nice and quiet and we were right on the lake. We hiked the Whiskey Jack and Pines trails down to a secluded beach.

 

[Buddha.]

The Duluth area sure makes for some nice pictures. I think about moving up there sometimes.

 

[Colin Hughes]

The following two days were to be spent at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. On route we visited Kakabeka Falls. We couldn't believe the great campsite we lucked into in Sleeping Giant. A good size, right on the shoreline for swimming and a direct view across to the Giant. Unfortunately, although the site was great, the other campers didn't seem to fully understand quiet time and it stayed loud until at least midnight both nights we were there.
Monday we did the 28km hike and bike to the Top of the Giant. Bike 8km, hike 1km to the Top of the giant Trailhead, enjoy 3km of uphill switchbacks to the top then another 2km to the far end of the top and the lookout. And of course, do it all again in reverse. A workout for sure but the views were amazing. This was the first time on the trip I didn't carry the bear spray and the the first time on the trip we encountered fresh bear scat! Hum.

 

[Colin Hughes]

From Sleeping Giant we headed towards Pukaskwa National Park. Another place I've always wanted to visit. On route we stopped at the Ouimet Canyon. The floor is so deep the sun doesn't hit the bottom in places and there are arctic plants, found 1000's of kms north growing here. Fairly spectacular. We detoured into Rossport, had lunch and continued to Pukaskwa. I couldn't believe how many open campsites there were here. We pretty much had a small section to ourselves. Very windy though. We hiked along the shoreline and there are some impressive views here.

 

[Colin Hughes]

The last couple of days were to have been spent hiking in Lake Superior Provincial Park. We had enjoyed great weather all through the trip but the forecast was now just rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. That combined with the fact we received the news our good friend and neighbor who has been fighting cancer had passed away that Wednesday morning made our decision clear. We'd head home and spend time at Lake Superior Provincial Park next year. We did scout out a few trails and campgrounds on the way through and even just driving the highway, the views along Superior both here and further north through Nipigon and just amazing.
All in all, a very enjoyable trip. Lots of wildlife: bears, deer, elk, eagles, etc but no moose and no wolves howling. Really though, we just skimmed the surface but have discovered pockets and places we want to return to and explore further. We didn't get off the beaten path as much as we had originally planned but we were originally to have done the trip in a hardsided teardrop trailer and not a tent.
However, as of next May, we'll have a TC Teardrop and won't worry about bears and other predators while camping by ourselves in the backcountry.

 

[Colin Hughes]

The LR3 proved to be a great vehicle for the trip. Fuel for the 3500kms was just under $700 including the 30% exchange on US dollars. It averaged 10.9 lts per 100 kms or 22 US mpg's.

 

[BigSwede]

Very nice trip, thanks for the report!

 

[Rattler]

Thanks for the report. I will be seeing some of the same stuff. Maybe we will check out that camping spot up the Gunflint Trail.

 

[takesiteasy]

Looks like a great trip. We are planning a very similar trip later this month and into September. Glad you stopped at the New Scenic Cafe- one of our favorite places to get a bite to eat. Thanks for posting your report!

 

[rkj__]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

 

[Bushcoat]

Looks like a great time. I especially enjoyed the pic of split rock lighthouse.