Thunder Bay–Our 1st Stop in Canada

 

From Duluth we headed north where we crossed into Ontario at Pigeon River. 

         

We were welcomed to Thunder Bay at the KOA campground where we stayed.

         

Fort William, the original name of Thunder Bay, was the largest fur trading post in colonial North America.  It was operated by the Astor family under the name Hudson Bay Company.  We visited Old Fort William portraying the settlement in times past.

         

                             

         

We also visited Kakabeka Falls, the second highest waterfall in Ontario, and a beautiful area. There were two large viewing areas with boardwalks for easy access. 

                

           

         

         

We also enjoyed bicycling in an area along the lake near downtown, beginning in Marina Park.  We passed by a nice restaurant where we ate dinner with Rod (Yankee RV Tours) the evening before.

         

         

We visited the former Thunder Bay train station where we stopped on our trans Canadian trip on the Canadian Pacific around 1977.  It’s well maintained but “train-less” – no passenger trains stop in Thunder Bay now.

         

                      

We went in a gallery next door to the former train station which had an elevated outdoor area great for observing the sights:  oncoming freight trains, a bagpiper, and skateboard/BMX plaza at Marina Park. 

         

                         

         

Looking opposite the train tracks – toward the lake – we could see and hear the bagpiper who played periodically during the afternoon.  He walked back and forth in a small area as he piped.

         

                              

The 25,000-square-foot state-of the art skateboard/BMX plaza at Marina Park really caught our attention, and we watched the riders circle the wall and fly out of the “pit” for quite a while.

         

         

Our next destination was Mount McKay Scenic Lookout.  Mount McKay, towering 1,000 ft. over the city, is the most outstanding feature of Thunder Bay's landscape. .    

         

Half way up - at the end of the road - is the scenic lookout with a viewing scope and skyline walkway, offering  an excellent view of the city and harbor,   Located on the Fort William First Nation Reserve, McKay was originally known as "Thunder Mountain" and is used by the Ojibwe tribe for sacred ceremonies.

         

         

We enjoyed Thunder Bay and all there was to see and do there.

Duluth

 

We have been looking forward to our visit to Duluth since this trip started. There are two reasons. First because it is a special place to our friends George and Jan who raised their family here. We are actually staying at a campground at a marina that was formerly George’s yacht club. Secondly, because we enjoyed our previous visit so much in 2009.

Here’s a shot of Irene taken from the Lake Head Boat Basin where we stayed. You can see Duluth’s famous land mark, the vertical lift bridge, in the background.

            

Here is a similar shot that includes the Lake Head Boat Basin as well.

            

This is our view from inside the coach.

            

Duluth is historically a shipping port on Lake Superior. Wheat and timber from the western states as well as iron ore from mines to the north were brought in by rail and loaded on lake freighters for shipment to various markets around the world. Much of the iron ore went to the auto industry in Detroit.

Here is one of the lake freighters coming into the port of Duluth underneath the vertical lift bridge.

              

The day after we arrived the wagon master had arranged a motor coach tour of Duluth. We went up on top of the mountain overlooking Duluth and George got these long shots of Duluth and the vertical lift bridge.

  

  

We biked Duluth’s water front trail. We had hoped to repeat our 15 mile ride on the Willard Munger Trail south of Duluth, but rain caused us to cancel our plans.

Ashland, Wisconsin–City of Murals

 

We stayed at Ashland City Park (Kreher Park) in Ashland, Wisconsin, which is on the shore of Lake Superior.  The campground is spacious and open with good views of the lake – and a bicycle trail goes past it.  It was a great location for us!

         

The eight-block Main Street business district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the background for an interesting walk through Ashland’s history as seen through the eyes of mural artists Kelly Meredith and Susan Prentice Martinsen.

         

         

Thirteen murals depict people and events from Ashland’s past. 

           

         

In the late 1800s, Ashland, Wi was one of Wisconsin's largest cities and a major Lake Superior port.  Now the mural is all that’s left of the ore dock.

         

         

The end of the logging era and other economic changes took its toll, and in the latter part of the 20th century, Ashland was a depressed area. Tourism is helping Ashland rebound.

            

The people depicted in the murals are real people who lived in Ashland.  Many are painted from photographs.   

During our “mural tour” of Ashland, we were fortunate to come across one of the artists busy at work on a new mural near the railroad station.  Irene enjoyed talking with her about the murals.

         

             

While not on the National Register, this 1926 Ford Model T Coupe that was parked in front of the Ashland Historical Museum, was another reminder of the past that we saw in this interesting town.

         

Ashland is bike friendly – we toured the murals by bike – and it also has trails that run beside the lake. 

         

Leaving the lake, trail goes beneath the highway to reach the downtown area.

         

We enjoyed exploring Ashland and enjoyed our campground at the lake’s shore.  And we enjoyed seeing the peaceful sunset over Lake Superior.

         

A Good Ride at Marquette

 

While at Munising MI we noticed that not far away to the north in Marquette, Mi there is an interesting bike trail along the waterfront. We partnered with friends Brian and Cindy to visit Marquette and ride the trail. At the northern end of the trail we wound up at Presque Isle Park where we road the wooded loop trail at the top of the hill.

                    

                    

Returning to Marquette we had lunch downtown at Elizabeth’s Chop House where we had a nice view of the lake from their rear deck. We all had the same thing, the prime rib sandwich which was great.

          

After lunch we walked around the downtown area and enjoyed the street festival that was going on before returning to camp in Munising.

         

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore: A first

 

The highlight of our stay in Munising, MI, was a boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the first of four national lakeshores. The Pictured Rocks are sandstone cliffs rising 50 to 200 feet directly up from Lake Superior. The cliffs begin just east of Sand Point and stretch for about 15 miles. Mineral seepage creates the colors. Red and orange are iron, green and blue are copper, black is manganese, and white is lime.  There are also a number of waterfalls.

            

When we visited this area in 2009, it stormed and then continued to be very windy.  The boat didn’t run until the last day we were there, and there were still whitecaps on the lake then, so we decided not to go.  We were really pleased to have lovely weather with little wind for the boat trip, and we enjoyed it tremendously. 

            

Soon after leaving the dock we passed caves formed when the softer rock near the lake eroded, followed by colorful striped cliffs.

           

           

There are three other national lakeshores in the US National Park System:  Indian Dunes and Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan, and Apostle Islands on Lake Superior.  We’ve been to all but Indian Dunes.

Miner’s Castle is one of the outstanding rock formations.  It can be seen from the lake and visited by road. (Note observation deck on top left).

           

We passed many interesting rock formations and colorful rocks on the cruise.

           

           

           

           

The Flower Pot:

                          

The boat entered a small circular area where we were quite close to the cliffs.  At this point we headed back to Munising.

           

On the return we saw more colorful rocks – one area with the blue of copper.

              

Amazingly, this tree is growing on top of rock and is sustained by its roots going back to land on the left.

      

We enjoyed the boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and so did the other Yankee RV Tours members.

           

           

Kayakers enjoyed exploring the lakeshore and cliffs as well.

           

As the boat returned to the dock, it detoured by the old light station, not in use now but still standing guard at the entrance to the harbor.