Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This is the oldest town in Michigan, and a gateway to Canada. Our campsite was right on the Saint Mary's River, the shipping channel for the big ships.
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
On our way up to Sault Ste. Marie, we drove along the north shore of lake Michigan. Kay and the dogs had to get their walk on the beach.
Lake Michigan was so blue and calm this day.
Just as we were parking the camper, this big ship came down the channel. What a sight to see. The people in the next campsite said that it was one of the smaller ones.
That is Canada across the river. We never did get into Canada this time. Just was not enough time. Kay said we should have stayed here for at least a week, I agree with her.
This 1000 foot Ship is equal to (Approximately 60,000 tons): 2308 large trucks of 26 ton capacity each. Now that is a lot of stuff. Most of the big ships haul iron ore from the mines of Wisconsin.
The bridge from the USA to Canada, over the Saint Mary's River. The locks are just down river from the bridge.
I put this picture in to help you understand what I am talking about. Where the MacArthur arrow is pointing, is a platform where we were standing to take the pictures. This is a very impressive complex. We spent a lot of time just watching the ships go through the locks.
We are looking at the MacArthur lock gate between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The water level difference is 21 feet. You can see a ship coming into the Poe Lock, which is used for the larger 1000 ft. ships.
Another view of the MacArthur Lock
This is a US Coast Guard ship. Note the guy in the front with the machine gun.
Another US Coast Guard ship.
We drove up the South coast of Lake Superior and found this old light house.
A look at the shipping channel between two islands.
The island ferry between the mainland and Sugar Island. It ran about every 15 min.
This is the back end of a 1000 ft. ship that came up the river as I was fishing in the channel. Boy did the big boy displace a lot of water. It rolled my kayak up on the rocks, but I did not tip over. When I saw the next one coming, I got the heck out of its way, far away.
Over all, our stay here was great, wish we could have stayed longer.
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