Lake Superior - Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette

 

 

With the locks behind us we traversed the final 15 miles of the St. Marys River and entered Lake Superior.   WOOHOO!  WE DID IT! The Ojibway called this lake “Gitche Gumee” – Big-Sea-Water.  Most of us have heard of gitche gumee if we have read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha or have listened to Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

The northeast winds buffeted the starboard side of Lazy W giving us a somewhat bumpy ride the rest of the way to Whitefish Bay.  At times a drizzle of rain wet the decks.  We were all glad to see the protected, minimalist docks of Whitefish Point come into view.  Captain Frank expertly maneuvered us past the shoal at the harbor entrance and into our slip despite the gusty winds. 

A short walk down the road through swarms of biting mosquitoes and black flies brought us to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.  We were surprised at how many tourists had descended upon this site!  We are in the middle of nowhere!  The museum is dedicated to the fury of Lake Superior, telling the stories of the many ships and their crews who have perished upon its water. 

November is the most notorious month of the year for shipwrecks in Lake Superior.  On November 10^th, 1975 the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew of twenty –nine fell victim to the infamous gales of November.  Two life boats, the largest pieces of wreckage recovered, are on display at the Museum Ship Valley Camp in Sault Ste. Marie.  The ships’s bell is on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad is played on a continuous loop – a bit of overkill if you asked us!

A bronze leaf depicting the Gordon Lightfoot ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Several more of these leaves depicting other songs are on display in a waterfront park in his hometown of Orillia Ontario.

 

We felt we had been duly forewarned of the dangers that could possibly lie ahead so we trekked back to Lazy W – Frank and I started happy hour, Patti and Alan took a nap.

Friday’s cruise to Grand Marais was less than pleasant.  Forty miles of cold, gusty winds – temps in the low 50’s – rollicking waves from every direction, or so it seemed.  I knew I wasn’t the only one counting down the miles until this trek was over when Alan kept asking, “How many more miles?”  We were all glad to arrive at the sheltered harbor of Grand Marais. And luckily for us there were friendly guys hanging out there to catch our lines and reel Lazy W into the dock.

Grand Marais was a pleasant surprise.  There was not one, but two taverns in town.  How to choose, how to choose. We opted for the Grand Marais Tavern on Lake Street.  Not only was the Cudighi Yooper Sausage Pizza an excellent menu choice, but the tavern itself was right next to the Pickle Barrel House Museum!  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (yup, that’s right!) this larger than life pickle barrel was constructed in 1926 and used as a summer home by William Donahey, the creator of the Chicago Tribune cartoon The Teenie Weenies.

 

Leaving Grand Marais

 

Between Grand Marais and Munising lies 42-mile long Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  The name pictured rocks comes from the streaks of mineral stain that decorate the face of the sculpted sandstone cliffs, some of which are 200 feet tall.  The streaks occur when groundwater oozes out of the cracks in the porous sandstone and trickles down the cliff face.  The groundwater carries dissolved minerals painting the surface with beautiful patterns – the reds and oranges from iron, blues and greens from copper, brown and black from manganese, and white from limonite.  Of course, my pictures do not quite capture the beauty of it.

The weather was picture perfect for getting up close to the Pictured Rock formations.  (We deserved a good cruising day after the beating we took yesterday.) The water is deep here and Frank expertly guided Lazy W among a few tour boats and dozens of kayakers so we could enjoy the awesome views.

Grand Portal Rock

Painted Coves

Miners Castle

 

When we docked at Munising Bay Shore Marina and were off the water we were surprised at how warm it was.  We exchanged our layers of fleece and jeans for t-shirts and shorts – had summer finally arrived on Lake Superior?? 

We strolled through town and followed Alan into The Barge Inn.  He thought he was just reconnoitering for later on – Frank, on the other hand, was at the bar ordering drinks for 3:30 happy hour and a game or two of pool.  It would be rude to enter the bar and not order drinks, Alan!

 

I was able to contact Ross and Charlotte (we met them last boating season in Killarney) and they stopped by The Barge Inn for a short visit with us.  It was great reconnecting with them.

Summer was short-lived.  The winds started blowing out of the north late Saturday evening and didn’t stop until late in the afternoon Sunday.  The temperature plummeted and Sunday’s high was just in the 50’s but felt much colder.  The marina gave little protection from the blustery north winds and the boats were bobbing every which way in their slips.  The tour boats to Pictured Rocks didn’t even leave the docks! While we were chilled, our dock mates made the most of the situation and showed us how to sunbathe Yooper style!  And one of these couples even lent us an integral piece to the Weber grill (it leapt overboard at the dock here) so that we could still grill our Cudighi sausages.

We heard that the place to be on Sunday night in Munising was back at The Barge Inn for karaoke and bagpipes.  We couldn’t resist!  And we all agreed that between the four of us there would be no singing.  But as soon as we walked through the door, Patti was commandeered by the bagpiper/deejay and enticed to warble a few notes of My Girl.  She set the tone for a great night of dancin’ and shaggin’.  Luckily for the other patrons, there was no more singing by anyone in our group!  What fun!

KAARAOKE!!!

With such beautiful weather we could not resist anchoring out in Grand Island’s Trout Bay for an evening.  The hook set on the very first try.  We launched the dinghy to walk the beach; we played cards; we grilled our Cudighi Yooper sausages; we drank the day and night away.

One last look at Bridal Veil Falls at Pictured Rocks National Seashore before heading to Trout Bay

 

The next morning we set out for Marquette, the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Unlike most towns in the U.P., Marquette was founded not on lumber but on iron.  Once Michigan’s first iron range was discovered in 1844 at Teal Lake, it was clear that a harbor was needed for the transportation of the iron to steel-making facilities. Marquette was selected and to this day, iron ore remains the main commodity handled at its docks. 

There are two massive ore docks dominating the harbor. Iron ore extracted from the mines is transported by rail to the top of the structure, dumped into the 150 ‘pockets’ each with a hinged chute that lowers and then drops the ore into the hold of the vessel docked along its sides.  From 1932 to 1971, twenty-four million tons of iron ore left Marquette via this now decommissioned ore dock in the Lower Harbor.  The working ore dock is further along the lakeshore near Presque Isle State Park. 

Stub of Lower Harbor Ore Dock

 

The elevated steel trestle leading to the Lower Harbor Ore Dock wound its way through Marquette for 70 years. The concrete trestle abutments were removed in 2000 and the right of way from the shoreline to 5^th Street has been repurposed.  Part of the right of way is now this colorful little linear park known as Rosewood Walkway.

Umbrellas over Rosewood Walkway

We made plans to join a walking tour of the Lower Harbor ore dock but so had every other visitor and local resident in Marquette.  We decided to forego being herded like cattle through downtown and opted instead to dine at Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery on Washington Street.  This restaurant came highly recommended by boaters we had met along the way and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at this little bit of New Orleans in Marquette, Michigan. Our waitress explained that Lagniappe is a Cajun word meaning ‘a little something extra.’  Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

All good things must come to an end.  On Thursday, July 20^th it was time to bid goodbye to our best cruising partners, Alan and Patti.  The four of us drove 165 miles back to Sault Ste. Marie where they had met us and left their car a week earlier.  Just outside of Marquette along Route 28 we were surprised to see sand hill cranes feeding in the fields!  Traveling by car gave us an entirely different perspective of the Upper Peninsula.  Without a car we would never have experienced the town of Christmas with its giant-size roadside Santa Claus or known that the town of Newberry had been designated by the state legislature as Michigan’s Moose Capital.  It would have been great to see one!

After re-provisioning Lazy W, we returned the rental car to Enterprise and made plans to leave Marquette.  There is plenty to see and do here and we will have to re-visit the town on our return trip.  We made one last outing after dinner – hiking up the steep hill on Washington Street to attend Thursday’s Music on 3^rd Street.  Bands, musicians and singers performed at bars and on street corners as far as the edges of the campus of Northern Michigan University.  My favorite sign board:

 

 

Lake Huron

We left Beaver Island under sunny skies and the beautiful weather seemed to bring out plenty of pleasure boaters - there were more boats on the water today than any other day we have cruised.  In fact, we even shared passage through Grays Reef Passage just west of the Straits of Mackinac with not one but two commercial vessels – the first we have encountered on this trip.  Before long we were passing under the Mighty Mac, the Mackinac Bridge, and entering Lake Huron. 

The five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge linking Michigan’s lower and upper peninsulas was completed in 1957.  While we had passed under this bridge several times in our previous travels, this was the first time heading eastbound.  It looks the same either way!  J This time we decided to stay in St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula rather than in Mackinaw City on the Lower Peninsula.

The town of St. Ignace is directly across the Straits of Mackinac, at the other end of the Mighty Mac, from Mackinaw City.  Jesuit missionaries, including Father Jacques Marquette, arrived in 1671 and christened their mission here in honor of their founder, St. Ignatius Loyola.  St. Ignace is one of the oldest continuous settlements in the United States.  Since its beginning, St. Ignace has been a commercial hub in the northern Great Lakes – seventeenth century fur trading and commercial fishing, nineteenth century lumber mills and iron production, and now tourism.

High Speed ferry with its distinctive rooster tail approaches St. Ignace

We dodged several high speed Star Line ferries whisking tourists to nearby Mackinac Island and gingerly made our way to our slip at St. Ignace City Marina just as the winds stirred things up.  Despite those ill-timed winds, Captain Frank expertly docked Lazy W and two young dock hands helped secure us in the slip.  Of course, this tie-up was not quite to the captain’s satisfaction and so we began the process of re-tying.  All was going well until the wind pushed Lazy W’s stern away from the dock, taking out the piling which was still securely fastened to our stern line (the captain can tie a hitch!) but uselessly bobbing in the water!  OOPS!!! Frank and another helpful boater wrestled the heavy piling onto the dock and secured the stern line to what we hope is a sturdy cleat.  We noticed later that some other docks were also missing a piling or two and that made me feel better.

OOPS!!

St. Ignace is a long way from the maddening crowds of Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City but we found plenty of entertainment during our short visit there.  Wednesday night brought a local folk duo to the marina gazebo.  Thursday afternoon a farmer’s market set up on State Street and a wine tasting featuring Michigan wines was hosted by The Pavilion Marketplace.  After a dinner of whitefish fingers at a local restaurant, we listened to Rum Boogie, a three-piece band playing an eclectic mix of Motown, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffett and Willie Nelson.

Rum Boogie

As we listened, I noticed Ross and Charlotte walking the dock to their sailboat – we met them last season on the docks of Killarney – and we stopped by for a nice chat.  We hope to meet up with them again when we stop at their hometown of Munising on Lake Superior.

Sunset at St. Ignace Municipal Marina

From St. Ignace we scooted around the back of Mackinac Island thus avoiding the high-speed ferries and made our way to the sheltered water of Les Cheneaux, “The Channels.”  What was once the travel route of explorers and fur traders is now a vacation wonderland of the Upper Peninsula.  The thirty-six islands here are heavily wooded with cedars and studded with vacation homes.  Many of their fixed docks are underwater – a visible reminder that the water levels in the Great Lakes are up this season.

This home on Dollar Island is now completely surrounded by water in Les Cheneaux

The waterway is narrow and marked by buoys that demanded our close attention. The small towns of Hessel and Cedarville have marinas catering to small boats and specializing in the care and maintenance of wooden boats.  We saw several of these beauties zipping along the many sheltered bays of Les Cheneaux.

Our first anchorage of the season was a success!  The anchor chain unrolled smoothly and the anchor caught on the very first drop in Government Bay.  The following morning the generator fired up giving me hot shower water and Frank his steaming coffee.  And the winch performed smoothly and the muddy anchor released easily.  The day was off to a good start!  We were on our way to Drummond Island.

De Tour Reef Light

Boat traffic along De Tour Passage

De Tour Passage is part of the shipping channel that leads to the St. Mary's River and Sault Ste. Marie.  There always seems to be a freighter in view and today did not disappoint.  By 1PM we were securely docked at Drummond Island Yacht Haven after a particularly ugly arrival that rattled the crew of Lazy W.  Why does the wind get gusty just as we arrive at a marina?!?!?!

  

After two days in Drummond Island where the Captain spent a full day shining up Lazy W, we cast off the lines on a dreary overcast morning and began our cruise up the St.  Marys River to Sault Ste. Marie.  Patti and Alan would be meeting us (by car) at the George Kemp Marina in a few days so it was time for us to get a move on.

The seventy-five-mile long St. Marys River connects Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  Our cruise today would cover the southernmost 40+ miles from Drummond Island to Sault Ste. Marie.  Near Lime Island we passed the southbound freighter Algoma Strongfield and shortly thereafter we spotted our first bald eagle of the trip.

 

Boat traffic along the St. Marys River

 

As we entered the upbound channel of the St. Marys River near Neebish Island we were stopped by a Michigan DNR officer inquiring about our lack of visible state registration numbers on Lazy W.  We knew as a Coast Guard registered vessel home-ported in Virginia that these registration numbers are not required – he didn’t!  After radioing his supervisor, he now knows that five states do not require state registration numbers – and Virginia is one of them.  He apologized for the inconvenience and sent us on our way.

By 1PM Lazy W was gulping down diesel at the fuel dock at George Kemp Marina in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

                   Said a youngster of Sault Sainte Marie

                     To spell I will never agree,

                     Till they learn to spell Sault

                     Without any U

                     Or an A or L or a T.

                                      ---Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

 

Sault Ste. Marie is Michigan’s oldest city. Aboriginal tribes from all over North America gathered here over 2,000 years ago drawn by the wealth of fish and fur along the rushing water of the St. Marys River. They called the area Bahweting, Gathering Place. The French and the British recognized the strategic importance of the river and often fought over the area in the 1700’s.  In 1820 the Treaty of the Sault was signed turning over control to the United States.

The twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario sit on opposite sides of the St. Marys River.  (Sault is French for waterfall.) The two cities are joined by the International Bridge that has spanned the river for over 50 years.  The St. Marys Rapids form a 21-foot natural barrier along the only water connection between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes. Along the American side of the river are the world-famous Soo Locks built over 150 years ago to allow large vessels to safely traverse this 21-foot drop in elevation leaving Lake Superior. On the Canadian side the smaller Sault Canal Lock serves the needs of smaller recreational boaters travelling to and from Lake Superior. 

The American Soo Locks (MacArthur, Poe and Davis Locks) have been operated by the federal government since 1881 and are among the busiest locks in the world.  Dating back to 1855, iron ore started moving through the Soo Locks from Minnesota’s Mesabi Range eastward to the steel mills.  Today, more than 11,000 vessels carrying up to 90 million tons of cargo pass through the locks each year.  Most of this cargo is either iron ore, coal, grain or stone.  Visitors to the Soo Locks can get an up-close look at the lock operations from the observation platforms adjacent to the MacArthur Lock.

Freighter fills the Poe Lock

Tower of History in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

 

George Kemp Marina and Museum Ship Valley Camp from the Tower of History

 

Adjacent to the George Kemp Marina is the Museum Ship Valley Camp.  (Frank enjoyed ogling her triple expansion steam engine and coal-fired Scotch boilers.)  Housed inside the massive cargo hold of this retired 550-foot long Great Lakes freighter are displays showcasing shipwrecks, lighthouses, local maritime history and the perils of life on these lakes.  While the Valley Camp is massive, she pales in comparison to the newer ‘footers’ plying the lakes today – they are 1,000+ feet long!

Triple expansion steam engine!

 

Looking out over the deck hatches from the wheel house of Valley Camp

 

 

Patti and Alan arrived on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.  We re-provisioned the boat at the Local Walmart and wandered thru downtown Sault Ste. Marie before enjoying dinner at Karl’s Cuisine.  From our dining table we watched a ‘footer’ approach the Poe Lock.

 The Pub Runners a trio of Irish lads from Gaylord Michigan were the featured musicians for Wednesday music in the Lock Park.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate but the Ramada Inn Ojibway agreed to host the musicians and listeners in their ball room.  The Pub Runners were great especially the electric fiddler.

Approaching MacArthur Lock

Happy 43^rd Anniversary to us!!!  Early Thursday morning, July 13^th, with some healthy trepidation, we approached the locks.  Soon we were cleared to enter the MacArthur Lock.  It was a dreary morning with no other boat traffic to contend with.  The lock line handler threw down two lines for us to wrap around Lazy W’s cleats and we were then given a gentle lift up to the level of Lake Superior.  The 21-foot upbound lock-through was uneventful and we continued on our way along the St. Marys River.

All alone in Mac Arthur Lock

Fayette, Manistique and Beaver Island

On June 30^th we left Sister Bay – Goodbye, Wisconsin!  Goodbye, cheese curds! Goodbye, Central Time Zone! – and set our sights on Fayette, Michigan. We wisely bypassed a cruise through the infamous Porte des Morts Passage (also known as Death’s Door) separating the Door Peninsula from Plum Island.  As we approached the entrance to Snail Shell Harbor on Big Bay de Noc, our cell phone screens alerted us with the dreaded words – ‘searching for service’.  We had arrived at the ghost town of Fayette and cell phone service was no more.

Dolomite cliffs at entrance to Snail Shell Harbor

Fayette is located on Snail Shell Harbor on the southern side of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In the mid 1800’s, transporting raw iron ore from the U.P. to the foundries on the lower Great Lakes was tremendously expensive.  Fayette Brown chose this site close to the Escanaba ore docks for the Jackson Iron Company to erect a blast furnace to smelt the ore into pig iron, which was more economical to ship.  From 1867 to 1891, the Jackson Iron Company employed 500 people here.  They used hardwood from the forest for fuel and limestone from the bluffs for purification of the iron ore.  During the 24 years the company was in operation, Fayette was a prosperous company town.  However, in 1891 the smelting operation shut down due to a decline in the charcoal ore market and the town was abandoned.  Today visitors can walk through this well-preserved ghost town and wander among twenty of the original structures.

The Superintendent's house

The workshop and hotel

The company store

Two power boats and three sail boats docked for the night within sight of the ruins of Fayette. We hoped for a clear cloudless night for star gazing.  It didn’t happen. L

The furnace complex in the early evening light

Onward to Manistique, the top of Lake Michigan.  Our 48-mile run on July 1^st was perhaps the chilliest of the season.  While winds were relatively calm in Snail Shell Harbor, out on Big Bay de Noc the winds were strong and gusty.  Luckily, the waves were not a problem and the cruise, while uncomfortably chilly, was smooth.  We arrived at Manistique Municipal Marina via an ugly docking maneuver – we will blame it on the wind and the river current and the unknown depth of the submerged something-or-other forward of our spot on the river wall.  Enough said about that!

A parade in downtown Manistique was just ending upon our arrival at the marina, but a small 4^th of July art/craft fair was in full swing at the adjacent park.  American flags fluttered in the now calm wind; farm tractors were available for the kids to climb aboard; BBQ and sno-cones were hawked by several food trucks; the smell of freshly popped popcorn wafted through the air.  Ah, small town Americana!

Manistique Living Waters Memorial sculpture – dedicated in 2015 the sculpture in the shape of the Upper Peninsula celebrates the generations of people and businesses, past and present, who have been the stewards of the resources of this community.

 

There are plenty of places in town to purchase legal fireworks and many of the Yoopers (a proud moniker of the residents of the Upper Peninsula) were shooting them off prior to the official fireworks display.  The intermittent boom from these early revelers mixed with the sounds of the dueling bands – one playing in the park and one simultaneously playing under the tent just a few hundred feet away at the Mackinaw Trail Winery and Brewery!? The rain that began at dusk did not seem to dampen the spirits of anyone along the riverfront. By 10:30 the rain was a mere drizzle and it was finally dark enough for the official town fireworks extravaganza to begin.



Waiting along the Manistique River for fireworks to begin

We awoke to a brisk 49⁰ morning and decided to stay one more day in Manistique in hopes that the wind and rain would subside.  While the town was a hub of hustle and bustle yesterday, July 2^nd it was deserted.  Even the boaters in the marina had left and we had the place all to ourselves. 

Manistique Municipal Marina from across the river at Trader Bob’s – nothing much happening at either place!

Next stop - Beaver Island on July 3^rd.  We had a delightful 43-mile cruise to St. James Harbor where the water is so incredibly clear you can see right to the bottom.  We were last here in August of 2002 – not much seems to have changed downtown since then. 

Entrance to St. James Harbor with Emerald Isle ferry arriving from Charlevoix - as seen from our dock at the Municipal Marina

Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan and has a year-round population of about 650 hearty souls.  The Emerald Isle ferry brings crowds of summertime tourists from the mainland to enjoy the serenity of the island and its crystalline water.  The municipal marina hosted plenty of transient boaters on this 4^th of July weekend.

At 11am the residents had staked their claim to the best spots along Main Street for watching the parade that would not start until 2pm!

After a quick stroll through town we launched the dinghy for a cruise around the harbor.  As we were returning to Lazy W we were buzzed by one of the float planes that was about to land in front of us!

The 4^th of July parade drew every resident, transient boater, tourist and cottage renter to Main Street at 2:00.  Led by the sheriff’s car, a contingent of proud local veterans and other jaunty marchers joined a few floats from Central Michigan University and the Chippewa nation, three fire trucks, several ambulances and one bag-piper.  When they all got to the end of the parade route, they turned around and did it again!  The day ended with a small  boat parade and a fireworks display over the harbor.
 



The float by the Friends of the Ferries

There is a strange historical note to Beaver Island’s past.  In 1847 a renegade Mormon named James Strang arrived here and proclaimed himself king of all Beaver Island.  The resident Irish and Native American Chippewas were none too happy.  Declaring yourself king can also irk the U.S. government – he was tried for treason and other crimes in 1850.  Strang was acquitted and later elected by his Beaver Island constituents to the Michigan legislature.  In 1856 a band of angry men assassinated him as he was on his way to meet the captain of the USS Michigan docked in St. James Harbor.  His shooters were brought to the mainland where they were hailed as heroes and set free.  Soon after a mob drove the remainder of his followers off the island and so ended the first and only kingdom to exist in the United States.