A lap around Lake Superior

[Ole]

Lake Superior has always intrigued me. I have been around it in a truck but not on a bike. My son had a week off work and our passports were up to date so away we went.

Lake Superior:
largest fresh water lake in the world
over 350 ships lay on her bottom
350 miles east to west
160 miles north to south
deepest point 1,333 feet
average water temp 40F (brrrrr)
large enough to contain all the other Great Lakes plus 3 more Lake Erie's
could cover all of North America in water three feet deep
is large enough to create it's own weather patterns

The guy who bought one of my old bikes went with us. I put 28,000 miles on the Versys I sold him in 2 and a half years now it is up to 40,000 with no probs.
Ready for take off

My son rides a 2002 Honda VTX 1800. I had a VTX years ago also. Mine had 48,500 miles on it when I traded it. We ride.

Our trip lasted 7 days and covered 2200 miles. 5 nights in a tent and 1 night in a motel.
We didn't get as early a start as I wanted so we just hi speed slabbed it to Duluth, MN the first day. Wisconsin Point near Superior, WI has some nice harbor views.

it seems like half of my pics are the same three bikes,,,

We camped on Spirit Mountain above Duluth

Skyline Parkway was a nice above the city ride

Soon Hy 61 took us down to the Lake. It would become an old friend after 7 days

Split Rock Lighthouse on the north shore Minnesota

we explored harbors, boat landings, taconite factory's and anything else that tickled our fancy as I had promised my son there would be no death march iron butt rides like his Dad is used to.

we made many stops along the pond

So basically, we just chilled and rode bikes and drank beer and camped.
This was our theme.

We set up our tents at the Grand Marais MN campground and took a run up The Gunflint Trail. A blacktop road that ends near Canada. It was a fur trapper route.

Grand Marais

up The Gunflint to the lake country

this is Gunflint Lake
the other side is Canada but you can't drive there must take a boat

nearing the end of the 63 mile dead end we spotted a critter

she had no calve with her, wolf must of got him

 

[Hawk52_imp]

Chilled,rode bikes,drank beer,camped it don't get much better than that!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[the Ferret]

Nice! Beautiful territory. Any troubles at all?

 

[Ole]

Hawk, it was a very relaxing week. With great weather.
This is where my Dad and I and two high school buddies put in our canoes in May of 1980 for a canoe trip into Canada. It is Saganaga Lake.

I remember meeting two hippies smoking pot in their canoe on the second to last day of our canoe trip. We asked them if anything new had happened in the world as we had no contact with anyone for about 10 days. They said "dude havent you heard about that mountain that blew up in Washington and buried a bunch of dudes alive?"
no we hadn't heard that and for sure did not believe them for a minute
they was just pot smoking hippies right? what do they know?
Of course as soon as we hit the landing a couple told us that indeed Mt St Helens had erupted and killed 60 people

We got off the bikes at the end of the road Nat Forest campground and just hung
it was 80F up there very warm for late september

a father/son chilling

our campsite was about 100 yards from the big lake
we walked into town for beers and supper

the marina at Grand Marais

Oh Canada in the morning,,,,,

Nice! Beautiful territory. Any troubles at all?

mr ferret the bikes ran perfect no troubles at all
I had enough tools along to do a major engine rebuild and did not even take em out of the bag
of course I take a small air comp and tire plugger on all my trips and have used them on several occasions but not this time
the only prob we had was one shoulder blade pain and one sore hamstring
but the old guy (me) had no issues it was the youngsters who did
I guess my body is used to long rides I have done so many
I know how you guys and gals like pics so I will link some more in here.

A solo to Alaska:
http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/showthread.php?200992-A-little-ride-to-Alaska&highlight=balou

A solo Versys ride out west: (the same Versys in this report)
18 days on a Versys

The long way to Seattle on a Phantom:
A Phantom Ramble

My son and I on a Hyder Alaska run:
Just a few pics

 

[rboe]

Woot! Duluth is my old stamping ground but never made it around the lake. Up the north shore and over to the UP but that was it. Nice pictures! :worship:

 

[Guth_imp]

Cool trip, thanks for sharing so many photos.

 

[hondahoarder_imp]

My wife grew up in Sault Saint Mareie and she is itching to take the bikes up there and do this thanks for the ride report.

 

[the Ferret]

Awesome ride reports on the other forums as well.

I love ride reports .... And mountains

 

[Ole]

Our border crossing into Canada was short and uneventful. It took about 90 seconds. Thunder Bay was fogged in so we hung at a Tim Horton's til it cleared.

The Border

The sun burnt through and the road was never far from Superior

many stops we were on vacation

for the most part we stayed off the dirt but,,,,

Canada was nice

We camped at the city park in Marathon Ontario for $22 and it included a shower!

and free campfire wood

Went in to town for food and beer, no luck on the beer. The Beer Store closed at 6pm and the grocery stores do not sell beer in Canada

our highest gas price for the trip was $1.44 a liter here.

Wawa Ontario must be a goose hunting hotspot
They had several huge goose statues

A sign in Wawa said the record low temp was -66F
today it was a balmy 84F
many little lakes around Wawa

A beautiful day to ride no wind

We got into an area of Lake Superior that had many islands

traffic was starting to pick up as we were getting close to America

 

[HikerToo_imp]

very nice post, love the pics and the comments, I stopped doing long camp trips on motorcycles years ago, nice to see some who still do!
Which wind screen is that on the CB, NC Deflector?

 

[Ole]

very nice post, love the pics and the comments, I stopped doing long camp trips on motorcycles years ago, nice to see some who still do!
Which wind screen is that on the CB, NC Deflector?

Yes. And I am not a rich man. Bike camping trips are in my budget. I could never do this if I moteled every night.


After 2 days in Canada we hit Sault Ste. Marie.It was a very busy border crossing but it was fast because they has all the lines staffed. bing we are back in the USA. Found a campground walking distance from the Soo Locks. Right on the water.

We weren't set up 5 minutes when the campground owner threatened to toss us out. Was she HOT. Our tents we still wet from a heavy dew the night before? So we moved a picnic table from an empty campsite closer to ours so we could lay everything out in the sunlight?
She did not like that one bit. We called her the nazi but not to her face.
I liked the location so we mellowed and didn't yell back at her.

Once the fur quit flying we sat on the river and watched the big ships go to the locks.

these guys had some nice northerns

it cost us $3 to cross this bridge into America

the Locks

We ate and beered at The Antlers Bar
and watched the ore boats go by as doing so it was a funky place
wonder how they got that name?

This ship was full of coal from Sandusky Ohio
As soon as they closed the locks the workers came out of their quaters and started to unlock all the hatchs. They had to unload as soon as they got through the locks on the Canada side at a big power plant.
They were moving fast.

After a few minutes see how much higher he is? opened the upper locks and boom away he went to deliver his load. No pumping of any water just gravity.

he had the 4 barrel kicked in

Ore boats went by all night long. We could hear their engines humming and they blew their horns a lot.

twas a very busy place

coming and going both ways

the old power house all hand laid bricks very intricate like

I would like to go back to that campground and stay longer just to watch the boats go by
if the nazi lady would just stay in her office that would be great

 

[SanPete_imp]

Nice travel report with lots of pics. The Lighthouse pic was my favorite. "The Antlers Bar" What a lovely room of death.

The Nazi lady shouldn't bother you as long as you don't move her picnic tables LOL.

 

[rboe]

When I lived in Duluth I got to go on the Stennis, a 1000'+ self unloader like you show there. Very interesting ship.

 

[Ole]

From Sault Ste. Marie, MI, we just high tailed it to Grand Marais, MI. It was fun in spots

We again picked up the Big Lake at Grand Marais

the restored lighthouse keepers shack

H58 is a great twisty road. It goes from Grand Marais to Munising. It is The U.P.'s version of Deals Gap. Don't miss it if you are in the area.

We then followed the lake to the Keweenaw. A point of land that juts out into Lake Superior. With Copper Harbor at the tip. This was our campsite near Calumet:

It had a dirt bike trail right behind us.

guess the lamp will have to do for a campfire tonight boys

Great views of the lake up in The Keweenaw but it was kinda touristy

The guy that owns this brewery in Copper Harbor is an ADVrider. Alas, he was closed.

would have loved to sample that Smoked Porter

my son knew a guy with a cabin on this lake but he wasn't home either.

Over to Ontonagon for one last view of Superior

 

[the Ferret]

Great pics ole. I have some similar from my last trip up there. Copper harbor was a dissapointment, but the road leading out of there 26? was pretty cool except for the wind blown sand. I love the UP even if there are no mountains.

 

[wildezt_imp]

Thank you for taking the time and sharing this with us Ole... !

 

[Ole]

Great pics ole. I have some similar from my last trip up there. Copper harbor was a dissapointment, but the road leading out of there 26? was pretty cool except for the wind blown sand. I love the UP even if there are no mountains.

I have been bumming around The UP for about 40 years. Different way of life up there very laid back. There are a few good roads but one has to sniff them out. Around Ralph there's a gud one, M26 along the shore up to Copper Harbor is good, US 41 coming out of Copper is good, avoid Brockway Mtn not worth it, the already mentioned H58 out of Grand Marais is good, 550 north of Marquette is short but OK, and there is a TON of good dirt around Gwinn if that is your thing. Our family had a cabin on Golden Lake near Iron River for many years, I don't think there is a road in The UP I havn't done!
The Porcupine Mtns. I used to backpack the porkies in my youth

South Boundary Rd in The Porkies is very twisty.
Don't see many of these left

Near The Porkies

We all had to work soon so sadly we had to head south.
So long lake Superior we will catch you again next year

Our old cabin near Iron River. Looks like the new owner is taking good care of her

Golden Lake where our cabin was. It is full of Lake Trout and do they ever taste good when caught through the ice

Going through Phelps WI it started to rain. Our only rain in 7 days. It lasted about a half hour and we camped in Eagle River WI at Hi Pines Resort. I ve been there before and even got my fav campsite

The red maples were all ablaze in Northrn WI. Canada the leaves were still green. Hi Pines has a bar and pizza joint and since it was near the end of the season beers and pizza were half price. 3 of us beered and ate and watched Ohio State beat Wisconsin for $32 all night! We got lucky on that.

last day was a quick 250 miles home on roads we had all done hundreds of times. So no pics.

The bikes ran great. No one texting took us out. A few close calls with deer but that's everywhere. I only checked my fuel mileage on the CB once and it got 50.2 mpg. It needs highway pegs and I have a plan for that this winter. It was a fun trip even better my son was along.