Thursday – Saturday, June 29-July 1, 2017
Our tour of Michigan would not be complete without a trip to the Upper Peninsula (UP). We chose Cheboygan SP as our next destination because it was a relatively short drive to the UP from there.
Our plan was to go to Sault Ste. Marie, MI to check out the Soo Locks. Locks allow ships to move from one body of water to another by sectioning off part of a waterway in which the water level can be changed by the use of gates and sluices, which allow for the raising and lowering of the vessels between gates. The Soo Locks allow large vessels to go between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
Once we got to Sault Ste. Marie it was evident that something was going on in the town. Apparently we arrived on Soo Locks Engineers Weekend. There were a lot of people enjoying behind the scene looks of the Locks and various other local attractions. After our boat ride through the Locks Wilson and I walked around town. We went through the Cleveland Hydroelectric Plant (1/2 mile long building) where they had various displays of how the plant worked. They also gave away hot dogs (I did not have one) and bottles of water (I did have one 😎). We also were able to walk across the Locks and walk through the Coast Guard station, which you normally can't do. There were also Coast Guard ships available to tour but Wilson and I were getting tired and we still had to get to Lake Superior.
We arrived at a spot on Lake Superior where Wilson was able to dip his toes into the lake. As mentioned previously it was our goal to hit every Great Lake and Lake Superior was our last.
The UP is lovely but there isn't much going on up there. Think North East Kingdom. It's very wooded and there are long spaces between towns...some of the towns listed are so small that if you blink you miss them. As you may remember from the beginning of our trip last year, I was a bit obsessive when it came to bears. At the campground I did read that the majority of bears in Michigan tend to be found in the UP, which based on the geography doesn't surprise me.
Leave Traverse City SP - 10:48am - 70°, sunny
Rte. 31N►72E►612E►571N►612E►75N►27►23
Interesting Note- Traveled across the 45th Parallel in Gaylord, MI. This is the halfway point between the North Pole and the Equator
Arrive – Cheboygan SP 2:18pm
Miles traveled -120.8
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