• Date Circle Tour Completed
• Favorite Spot and/or Experience
• Member

August 2005
Seven of us completed the tour on motorcycles. We left Iowa on July 30 and followed the Mississippi to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. The following day we made it to Thunder Bay and had time to visit the falls - should not be missed. Monday to White River. Great views of the lake for the first half of the day. Got to White River in time to take a side trip up Highway 631 for about 50 miles … good cycle roads. Tuesday through Sault Ste. Marie and on to Marquette, Michigan. Wednesday some of the best riding of the week up through Copper Harbor. If you’re on your bike, don’t miss the mountain road. Stayed in Washburn at the Super 8 at the marina right next to a great steakhouse. Apostle Islands the last day could not have been better. Breakfast in Bayfield was the best. Great trip and never took the rain gear out. It doesn’t get any better.
Tim Baar, Pella, Iowa

Completed summer 2005
Bill Milan, Naperville, Illinois

August 2005
My wife and I decided to visit Thunder Bay, Ontario, where we had lived for a short time in 1975-76 and thought it might be fun to pull our trailer around the BIG LAKE. (All this without knowing that you folks even have a club to recognize those who complete this trip.) Highlights: Black Bear crossed in front of us outside Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, kayaked down the Michipicoten River at Wawa, the Terry Fox lookout at Thunder Bay, Duluth, Minnesota, harbor boat tour - outstanding! The great bicycle paths throughout Marquette, Michigan. The Mackinaw Bridge, beautiful beaches and Mackinac Island trip. The incredible scenery all around THE lake and the outstanding weather are certain to bring us back.
Carol & Mel Beatty, Lindsay, Ontario

August 24, 2005
Favorite spot on the Canadian side was Lake Superior Provincial Park. On the U.S. side it was the Keweenaw Peninsula. Everyone was so friendly and nice around the lake. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Lee M. Roche, Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin

August 20, 2005
We left Duluth on August 15 and returned to Duluth on August 20. The trip included 3 generations: My husband and me, our daughters and my parents. We love traveling together and this was a great trip, although if we were to do it again we would take a few more days, because there was so much to see and do we could not see everything we would have liked to. We really enjoyed stopping at the Visitor Centers along the way in Canada. They had a lot of information and very friendly staff. We visited the Amethyst Mine outside of Thunder Bay and we all had fun digging in the rocks to find just the right ones. We fell in love with the white sandy beaches in Munising and can’t wait to go back there one day. We also enjoyed stopping at some of the waterfalls along the way and the most impressive one was Amnicon Falls in Wisconsin.
MariJo Vosika, Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Jim & Sandy Vosika, Cohasset, Minnesota

• Date Circle Tour Completed
• Favorite Spot and/or Experience
• Member

August 19, 2005
It was a beautiful drive. Copper Harbor and the Keweenaw Peninsula was the absolute favorite place. The drive from Duluth to Thunder Bay on the North Shore was the prettiest drive. MacLean State Park was the best for camping in a 25-foot trailer.
Judy & Jerry Dawes, Waterloo, Illinois

August 21, 2005
We traveled for 9 days. Our favorite spot was Seney National Wildlife Preserve.
Sean Prockter, South Salem, New York

July 6, 2005
We went around Lake Superior counter clockwise starting our trip from Belleville, Wisconsin, on June 30. The best days were in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Grand Marais, Minnesota, as far as wandering around, but the scenery was wonderful all around the lake. Waterfalls were great. We stopped wherever something caught our eye, with no reservations or timetable along the way. We were amazed that although we traveled over the holiday weekend, we ran into virtually no traffic at all. The weather was wonderful, which was a blessing because we traveled on our Harley Ultra Classic. This was our first real vacation on the bike for both of us and we are eagerly planning more.
Kurt & Laura Beutel, Belleville, Wisconsin

August 11, 2005 on a 2001 Harley Fatboy
We took a clockwise route and found this to be a much better way as the traffic seemed to be much heavier coming from the opposite direction. We had beautiful weather and very light traffic which made us feel as though the highway was ours. We so enjoyed traveling without helmets in Wisconsin and Minnesota. What we were most impressed with besides, of course, the fantastic scenery, was the friendliness of all the folks throughout the trip. From Michigan we traveled to the Apostles and up the shoreline toward Grand Marais, Minnesota, where we spent the night. That is a beautiful area - nautical and scenic. Every stop was wonderful but I think the one thing no one should miss is a bit out of the way - Kakabeka Falls outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is worth viewing and a highlight of our trip. Another highlight was the Algoma train ride out of the Sault in Canada which goes to Agawa Canyon. That was a scenic ride that disappointed us. Because of the dry conditions this summer, the two major waterfalls, Black River and Bridal Veil, were but a trickle and the only indication of their presence was a wall of slightly wet rock in the canyon. For those who love waterfalls, this would be a thing to see if Mother Nature cooperates. The train ride was a bit long for those with youngsters, so bring something to entertain them because they get a bit restless. We would have enjoyed another few days on the road to hit a few more side trips, waterfalls and lighthouses. We traveled 1,366.5 miles and loved every moment of it!
Shelly Grose & Scot Peterson, Mohawk, Michigan

July 4, 2005
We were in our motorcoach and camped at several locations around the lake. Most memorable was the one when we stayed at Mirror Lake Campground which is about one hour north of Thunder Bay. My grandson and I fished from a canoe one evening and caught several fish, but most memorable was that we could still see by natural light at 10:50 p.m. As a matter of fact, he caught his first smallmouth ever at that time. While we were doing this, Ruth and Alaina were going through an amethyst mine and picked up many treasures. Great trip!
Dennis & Ruth & Alaina & Andrew Sellers, Pennsboro, West Virginia

• Date Circle Tour Completed
• Favorite Spot and/or Experience
• Member

August 3, 2005
We loved it! Our favorite part of the trip was the drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay. We thought it was so pretty. Our kids didn’t play video games or watch a movie - they were too busy trying to see a moose or a bear. We did see a dead moose outside of Batchawana Bay and a bear at the airport in Marathon. We also saw a wolf standing on the side of the road. The kids and we LOVED the Great Lakes Aquarium and the Shipwreck Museum. We also loved the feel of rocks at Pebble Beach. The road up to the Panorama Amethyst Mine was very bad with a 29-foot trailer on the back, but the mine was great! They even allow dogs! We got T-shirts in White River (Winnie-the-Pooh). My favorite beach was the one at Whitefish Point … the saddest location, but the nicest beach. Kelly and I and the dog all swam there. My husband says the friendliest place was Indian Point campsite near Duluth. We just loved this vacation. We saw Kakabeka Falls and took the Chi-Chi Maune, too. I would actually love to move to the Kakabeka Falls area.
Kevin & Debbie & Tyler & Kelly Manning, Sarnia, Ontario

July 17, 2005
Six of us rode motorcycles around Lake Superior from July 13-17, around 1,870 miles. It would have been nice to take our time traveling around the lake, but we had to go back to work. It was a great trip! The weather was hot but the scenery made up for it. High Points: Duluth, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, south shore of the lake, maritime history and all of the nice people we met. We hope to tour all of the Great Lakes soon. Thanks for the memories!
Bryce & Pam Juhl, Fort Dodge, Iowa
Dan & Karen Peterson, Britt, Iowa
Paul & Karen Pergande, Crystal Lake, Iowa

July 20, 2005 on our Harley Springer
Highlights of the trip include Bayfield, Copper Harbor and the gorgeous drive from Wawa to Batchawana Bay, Ontario. We stayed at Silver City (AmericInn), Two Harbors (AmericInn), Red Rock (Red Rock Inn), Batchawana Bay and Big Bay (Thunder Bay Hotel). There was a low point: the road MI-58 between Grand Marais to Munising suddenly lost pavement and converted to dirt road for more than 30 miles. Dangerous to a street bike traveler. We had great weather, exciting scenery and a great time. This was the first trip of any length for my wife on a motorcycle. We are in our 50s and she had kidded me beforehand that we might not be married by the time we finished. Well, she would sign up in a heartbeat to do it again.
John Feistel, Richfield, Wisconsin

July 2, 2005
I went around the lake with my grandparents. We traveled June 28-July 2. My favorite part was going to see the birthplace of Winnie-the-Pooh. We camped in a tent the whole time. For three nights we slept right on the shore of Lake Superior. It was windy and cold, but we stayed warm in our sleeping bags.
Aly Majeski, Dennis & Karen Doran, Willow River, Minnesota

Summer 2004
I would advise taking 2 weeks to see everything. Clockwise was the way we went, and I would recommend it. Going clockwise means that on the day you pass the north tip of the lake, you can plan your trip as to see the sun rise and set on the lake the same day - a feat that few lakes can accomplish like this! For me the biggest surprise was how different the Ontario shores were from the Minnesota shores (which I had seen many times before). I wish I could have had time to see Pukaskwa National Park in Ontario - though we did see some of Lake Superior Provincial Park. The friendliest welcome was definitely in Wawa. There, when we were unable to get firewood anywhere, a local gave us some of his own so we could have a campfire! Our favorite view was from Grand Marais, Minnesota, where we captured some great early morning photos.
Lee & Ingrid Parsons, Crystal, Minnesota