Circumnavigating Lake Superior

[my3sons]

Thanks for the comments, sorry I can't keep them coming more regular but the wifi has been lacking at some of the marinas we've been in the last few days.
Couple more from Munising:

Sunrise leaving Munising headed to Marquette

 

[Brent Nutting]

Thanks for the comments, sorry I can't keep them coming more regular but the wifi has been lacking at some of the marinas we've been in the last few days.
Couple more from Munising:
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Sunrise leaving Munising headed to Marquette
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Wow, really nice pics. One of my goals is to get our boat up into Superior and make my way to Marquette. Lived in Marquette while going to college and have spent a lot of times around the Pictured Rocks area in Munising.
One day, I will get our boat into Lower Harbor.

 

[my3sons]

Marquette was a great town to visit, rich in history, it came to being because of the discovery of iron ore in the mountains nearby. Here's a few shots of some of the towns architecture.

This ore dock is no longer in use, they dismantled the rail trestle to the top of it in the 70's but there is one just west of town that is still loading lake freighters.

 

[OllieC]

Dang it Mark. I didn't realize you went that direction.
Not sure when you were by Marquette heading toward Munising, if you saw the Au Sable Light House. My wife's Great Great Grandfather was the lighthouse keeper there. Napoleon Bonaparte Beedon. He had one arm and was a salty fellow from what I understand. I guess you'd have to be. This article mentions him while he was in a storm in 1876.

https://www.nps.gov/piro/learn/hist...le-Light-Station-Site-Bulletin-accessible.pdf

 

[Stee6043]

I really need to start buying more lotto tickets....this would be an amazing way to spend a summer. I hope you'll keep sharing!

 

[my3sons]

Dang it Mark. I didn't realize you went that direction.
Not sure when you were by Marquette heading toward Munising, if you saw the Au Sable Light House. My wife's Great Great Grandfather was the lighthouse keeper there. Napoleon Bonaparte Beedon. He had one arm and was a salty fellow from what I understand. I guess you'd have to be. This article mentions him while he was in a storm in 1876.

https://www.nps.gov/piro/learn/hist...le-Light-Station-Site-Bulletin-accessible.pdf

I know we went past it and saw it, I’ll have to look through my pictures to see if we grabbed a shot of it.
Very cool story.

 

[my3sons]

In the Apostle Islands it felt a little more normal to us that we were finally seeing some other boats out on the water. It is said that there are more boats around the apostle Island area than any other area of the Lake. The close proximity of the islands to each other makes for calmer waters and almost all of them have national park service docks available to the public. While there is no real all weather protection available in anchorages, anchoring is popular but you have to watch the weather and be ready to move in the event of wind changes in the middle of the night. Weather wasn't an issue the 5 days we stayed in the Bayfield WI area, which is ground zero for the islands. We stayed at marinas in order to take in as much local flavor as possible.

Devils Island has the most interesting rock structure and sea caves of the Apostles.

 

[my3sons]

We went to Isle Royale after the Apostles. It was a perfect day for the 112 mile run from Pikes Bay Marina near Bayfield to Washington Harbor at the SW end of the Island.

Rock of Ages Light near Isle Royale

We spent 3 days at Washington Harbor/Windigo area. One night at the Windigo dock. It's one of the docks that you are allowed to run the generator at the dock. There is no power or water and generator use is limited (quiet time).

 

[OllieC]

In the Apostle Islands it felt a little more normal to us that we were finally seeing some other boats out on the water. It is said that there are more boats around the apostle Island area than any other area of the Lake. The close proximity of the islands to each other makes for calmer waters and almost all of them have national park service docks available to the public. While there is no real all weather protection available in anchorages, anchoring is popular but you have to watch the weather and be ready to move in the event of wind changes in the middle of the night. Weather wasn't an issue the 5 days we stayed in the Bayfield WI area, which is ground zero for the islands. We stayed at marinas in order to take in as much local flavor as possible.

Devils Island has the most interesting rock structure and sea caves of the Apostles.
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Did you make it to Stockton Island and walk on the “singing sands”?

 

[my3sons]

No, we missed the oportunity. It was leave Pikes Bay a day early to go to Julian Bay or stay and walk the Brownstone Trail. The wife likes to walk.

 

[my3sons]

From Washington Harbor we went to McCargoe Cove for few days. Hiked the Minong Mine trail, dinghied from our anchorage to the dock at the campground and heard about how the people we met brought their boat over to the island on the Ranger III and were camping and fishing for 4 days. Then to Tobin Harbor and finally to Chippewa Harbor. We spent 11 days On Isle Royale.

shafts from Minong Mine. Mine was active in the mid 1800's. There were "copper camps" small towns on the island built to mine the copper.

 

[my3sons]

Anchorage at McCargoe

 

[my3sons]

Tobin Harbor

Hiked to Suzy's Cave

And to Lookout Louise. Could get a cell signal out of Canada up there. Found out that nothing new was happening in the world.

Dinghied over to the sea plane dock and walked over the hill to Rock Harbor and watched the Ranger III come in with a new load of back packers, campers and lodge guests. Saw first hand how that family from michigan we met at McCargoe got their fishing boat over to the island.

Pretty much all the goods that come to the island comes on the ship, the only ship owned and operated by the NPS. Even the diesel fuel that is sold at Rock Harbor is pumped from the Ranger III's own tanks.
Isle Royale is the nations least visited national park. But is the number one revisited park.

Enough civilization, back to the boat. See the moose calf on shore?

They hung around for a little while

Got a glimpse of Bullwinkle too.

 

[my3sons]

Chippewa Harbor

Chart plotter data can be a little vague for some of the narrows and bays which requires a bow watch. The water is nice and clear, so clear that sometimes the boulders and rocks appear shallower than they really are, causing a false alarm

We had a few days in the 80's. Was wishing to jump in but too cold for us, 49-55 degree water mostly. We did get to go in at McCargoe, it was a nice warm 60 degrees back in that bay. We saw a tee shirt somewhere in the UP that said "Lake Superior, no salt, no sharks, no feeling in your feet" Yep, pretty much.

Can't have Bullwinkle without a little Rocky

 

[my3sons]

Small sampling of some of the Island's Flora. Wild flowers were everywhere.

 

[Stee6043]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite threads here on CSR!

 

[Three Seasons]

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome Lake Superior adventure. Our son graduated from NMU in Marquette MI, It is so beautiful up there.

Safe Travels,
Pat

 

[my3sons]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite threads here on CSR!

Thank you, glad I can share.

 

[my3sons]

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome Lake Superior adventure. Our son graduated from NMU in Marquette MI, It is so beautiful up there.

Safe Travels,
Pat

It is a beautiful area. We met several younger people that went to school in the U.P. and have taken jobs up there and several that are curently going to school and are staying the summer, not going back home, and working at summer jobs. They love it. They all have mountain bikes, paddle boards and kayaks. LOL

 

[my3sons]

A few shots from Copper Harbor. We really were surprised by Copper Harbor, thinking just a little place to fuel up, go out to dinner and catch up on e-mail after being out on the island for 11 days, and it turned out to be a thriving, crowded, beautiful place filled with young and old vacationers. And no cell signal.
There are several campgrounds in the area bringing in people to mountain bike, kayak and just relax. Every motel we walked past was no vacancy and restaurants were packed.
Population less than 100 (in the winter) and there were twice that many in one restaurant the night we went out.
The town's people got together and said NO to cell service back when they were about to get towers and they still don't have it. Oh well, what's another day or two.

I guess when the town is that small, what else do you need?

It's not much to look at, but the brews were good and it's billed as Michigan's northern most brewery

Now we've had the boat to both ends of US 41. Next winter when we're in Ft Myers and I'm driving down Cleveland Ave/Tamiami Trail, I'll remember this.

Thursday entertainment in the park

The morning sun shining on the Copper Harbor State Marina the day we left. Very small but huge on cleanliness, updated facilities, has loaner bikes (which we put to use) and possibly the frendliest harbor master we have ever met.