noise."The Admiral's Epic Trip Up North, part 2 · 3:24am Dec 15th, 2020
In our previous episode, we we left Admiral Biscuit at Detour Village, having just watched the Drummond Island ferry leave port.
Loaded, in case you were wondering, with several cars, a semi, and two dump trucks.
Now the race was on to catch the Saginaw at Sault Ste. Marie!
For those of you who are looking at a map, it’s maybe not as easy a challenge as it might seem. Sure, my minivan goes a lot faster than a freighter, but she’s got a more direct route (maybe). In some parts of Michigan, there’s a road that follows close along the coast. On the east side of the UP, there isn’t; I’ve got to go inland and sort of zig-zag my way up to Sault Ste. Marie, and then of course I have to get through town, find a parking spot for the van—which should be easy; there’s a pandemic on and so there oughtn’t be all that many tourists—find enough quarters to feed the meters, and then walk all the way to the locks themselves.
Also, it turns out that the observation deck is closed, due to the pandemic. But I didn’t know that yet.
Along the way, I met some slower traffic.
Yes, I know I shoulda cleared off my dash. . . .
I didn’t snap a picture of the guy in front of him. He had the right idea; he was rocking a convertible buggy.
I didn’t mention in the last blog post, but Wilderness State Park was packed, which was unusual for early October. Usually, nobody much goes to the UP after Labor Day . . . some years ago when I took a similar trip up north in September, there were some hearty souls at the various campsites, but it wasn’t terribly crowded. I kind of figured once I got north of the bridge, things would quiet down, and as long as I stayed on back roads where nobody really wants to go, they did. But whenever I’d find a touristy spot, there was a decent-sized crowd, and so it was at the Soo Locks.
To avoid having you too much on the edge of your seats, I didn’t see the Saginaw transit the locks. They have a schedule posted and it turns out I beat her by nearly two hours. Maybe the water route to the locks wasn’t as fast as I thought (and to be fair, it looks closer on a cell phone map).*
I did see a ship in the locks, though. The American Integrity, a bulk ore carrier. She was already departing when I arrived, and I filmed some of it:
I suggest you watch at faster speed; not much happens and I didn’t film the whole ship
Fun ship facts: She was built in 1978 in Sturgeon Bay, WI. She’s a thousand feet long (305m), a hundred five feet wide (32m), and she can carry 75,095 tons (68,038,856kg) of ore through the Soo Locks . . . in fact, she’s the recordholder for biggest ore load through the locks. Her self-unloader can unload 10,000 tons/hour which is fast . . . and it would still take her nearly eight hours to unload.
Once the American Integrity departed, so did I. I set Navi Google Maps to Marquette, which turns out was a mistake.
Up in the UP, cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent. I lost it once I left the interstate in St. Ignace, and knew I wouldn’t be too far out of Sault Ste. Marie before I also lost coverage. While the GPS doesn’t need a cell tower to work, the route planning part might, so it was smarter to pre-load the route.
While I was going to Marquette—eventually—I wanted to take the more scenic coastal route, which is creatively named Lakeshore Drive. And then I wanted to go up through Paradise and Whitefish Point. I’m sure it’s possible to set waypoints on a phone map, but I don’t know how (or how to change from one of a few pre-selected routes), but I did figure in the worst case if I got hopelessly lost, Navi would direct me to Marquette.
Boy, did she. Sometimes she accepted the new route, begrudgingly; other times when you can’t get there without turning around, she advised that I should at every opportunity. And she might have been getting spiteful when I kept ignoring her, because once she suggested I try a snowmobile trail, and later on when I even ignored that, she suggested I just turn where there wasn’t even a road. Bushwhack through the pine trees in a minivan.
Despite her best efforts, I did find Paradise. Strangely enough, I don’t think you can actually buy a cheeseburger there which feels like an oversight. I didn’t see any restaurants offering them, anyway.
From there I continued north to Whitefish Point, which is what Captain McSorley would have been hoping to reach that fateful November day in 1975. There’s a museum there, part of which was closed due to the pandemic, and the parking lot was still full to overflowing.
Lake Superior was calm.
Off in the distance, you can see Ile Parisienne, which is in Canada. Amusingly, on Google Maps it has a single four-star review, which includes the word “secluded.”
On the way back from Whitefish Point, I passed a sign advertising an historic cranberry farm, but I didn’t stop and see that. Didn’t trust the wolf spiders, you know.
Made a right in Paradise, and Navi was finally happy with my choices; I was on the direct route to Marquette. I did consider sticking to the lakeshore, but in fact there aren’t any roads that go through.
Tahquamenon Falls was so popular that there was a line of vehicles waiting to get in . . . I’d been considering stopping there, but decided not to.
Somewhere along that stretch, my van rolled over to a nice, even 150,000 miles, and then I got to Christmas, which I forgot was even a town in Michigan. Not much there except a casino.
I eventually got back to the lakeshore near Au Train, then through more trees then back on the coast as I passed Sand River. There were some turnouts and I stopped at one to get a picture of Lake Superior, and then I eventually made it to the outskirts of Marquette.
Since I wanted to enjoy some of the comforts of modern life, I actually stopped at a hotel this time, an award-winning Econolodge.
And that’s where we’ll leave the Admiral for now! Stay tuned for the next blog post!
*In fact, I just roughly plotted it out on the map, and it turns out that the road route is likely several miles shorter than the water route
Also, as a second aside, the Arthur M. Anderson, who was following the Fitzgerald when she sank, just this year made a run for Duluth Harbor on the anniversary of the Fitz’s sinking . . . several runs, in fact; apparently it took her three tries to line up. Here she is entering Duluth.
And for those of you who don’t know Great Lakes shipping, compare how small she is compared to, say, the American Integrity.
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Shipping on the Great Lakes is about 70-80% iron ore so there are a lot of bulk ore carriers like the Fitz was or like the Arthur M. Anderson is.
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Also, here is the coastguard recording of the Arthur M. Anderson’s reporting of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald and subsequent communications.
I see that sneaky product placement there!
That bottom picture with the
sealake-grass looks absolutely lovelyYou missed a really good spot I think. Tahquamenon Falls State Park. It's on 123 west out of Paradise. really nice.
well, not much to say, apart from:
1) Thanks! Great lakes indeed looks great (but when they not calm - they become quite dangerous....)
self-insert ...
(Ladoga, as seen by me)
2) this is blog # 707 .... keep it up at least into 1K ? :}
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Ah, is that the term for the on-location pictures with Lyra and Bon Bon?
Are they huddled together for warmth or because that's their natural inclination?
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My dad is from Duluth, still have family up there too. He was riding his bike down by the piers the day the Edmund set sail and the day before. I think he was one of the last few Duluth natives to watch that beast set to the lake. Love Superior though! Great place to go Agate hunting along the beaches and some of the inlets north of Duluth and feeder streams have FANTASTIC trout spots. Mostly Rainbow but hey, I ain't gonna complain.
A lot of that place has changed over the decades, but still find those same old haunts like I used to whenever I visit. Gotta get back up there and drive the Iron Range again. Crazy roads up there!
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lots of coke too.
No. Not that coke. Not THAT one either... although all 3 can ruin your teeth.
Thanks for the continued and continuing story. :)
how interesting. nice photos :)
also hello from the country across the way! (sure I'm probably south of you and far, far westwards but it's still the same country ;) )
wishing you well on your trip abounds
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That is a large part of it, yes. Although it is interesting to compare how much the ships have changed from the Anderson to the more modern bulk carriers like the American Integrity.
The pic of the Roger Blough next to the Philip R Clarke kinda shows how the designs changed over the years (in terms of draft, the Blough is loaded; the Clarke is not).
vmcdn.ca/f/files/sootoday/images/transportation/boats-and-ships/roger-blough-stuck/20160603-boatnerd-roger-blough-salvage-boat-tour-ka-05.jpg
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It’s true!
It was, although photography-wise it was a bit tricky—I’d meant to set Lyra and Bon Bon on a fencepost and then compose the shot, but it was gusty enough that as soon as I let go of them, they blew off the post and into the grass.
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I did consider it, but when I went by cars were lined up on the highway waiting to get in, and given the current pandemic situation, I wanted to avoid large crowds. Last time I went to the UP, I did stop at Tahquamenon Falls. It is a good park, and I do recommend it to anyone who finds there way to that part of the UP.
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When they’re stormy, they’re brutal. And for shipping . . . you can’t run from a storm like you can on the sea.
Ooh, nice!
I shall do my best! Blog 708 is on its way soon!
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It is their natural inclination, but in this case it’s also strong winds. You can’t tell from the picture, but it was gusting briskly.
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Superior’s great. And will kill you if you don’t give her your respect. I’ve never been as far as Duluth, yet, but I aim to get there one day. This yar coulda been the year, but for the pandemic kind of changing around my plans.
I really ought to make plans to run up to Lake Superior some time when there’s a proper gale forecast, if I can get the time off work. That would be a thing to see.
I haven’t gone searching for agates, but I did find a few Petoskey stones later on in the trip; that’ll be in an upcoming blog post.
I dunno about Duluth itself, but a lot of the smaller towns in far-flung places never seem to change all that much. And the roads, yeah. I stuck to the more major roads this time around, but I’ve been on some of the lesser roads on past trips, and they’re something else.
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They also haul grains (not surprisingly); I assume that the big boats offload before the Welland Canal, although I’ve never looked into it.
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You’re welcome!
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Thank you!
Thank you! If you don’t mind my asking, where do you live? Just curious . . . broad geographical area is fine. I’m from Michigan and always have been except for seven months and made a terrible mistake and moved to Indiana.
Nice pictures, I haven't been to that party of the country before. I might have to head there some time.
I just moved so I'm thinking of taking a day trip over my time off for Christmas.
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Much wider.
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I have forgotten that where I live is actually pretty north in comparison to east-Canadian metro areas; whoops!
Either way I live in Vancouver, BC. Pretty beautiful areas around here, 'tis a shame I'm not quite one to appreciate them as much as I could.
Well wishes to you :)
Good to see some blue sky and blue water again, and color in the trees. Great pictures! Looking forward to the next installment.
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You should, it’s nice! And there aren’t a lot of people most of the time, at least if you go to the right places.
If you like snow, the UP’s usually a good place to go and find it.
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Yup, and less pointy.
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Yeah, you’re north of me
Not a lot, but some.
I’ve been to Vancouver, once, years and years ago. Back in the 80s, I think. I liked it . . . if I ever wanted to move out of Michigan, I’d head out that way.
Thanks!
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Thank you!
Right now we’ve got some snow on the ground and more coming, and most of the trees have lost their leaves . . . .
I’ll probably have the next one up sometime around Christmas, with more pictures of trees and Lake Michigan.
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Eh, they’ve always kinda suffered in the pointy department.
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I'm closer, but not that close. I'm thinking the beach. But I do like snow, probably has something to do with never having to deal with it long term. Growing up, I had to go to the snow. It was a whole thing.