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

August 20- September 6, 2005
I loved the friendliness of the Canadians. They are so willing to talk to strangers. I don’t find that very often in the USA. I like Michigamme area the most because it is less built up. I like being away from the hustle and bustle. We also went up into Copper Harbor. The scenery is just wonderful and peaceful. It was a little heartbreaking to see so many stores that have been shut down, making some of the small towns seem like ghost towns. I think the very best experience was traveling with my dad. He and his friend followed us in their motor home all the way around the tour, so we were able to spend a lot of time together.
David & Karen Jarvi, Grayling, Michigan

1987
It was some years ago (around 1987?), so my memory fails me on some of the details. I was a bus driver for Medicine Lake Bus Company in Golden Valley, Minnesota. On this particular trip I drove for a group of bird watchers (senior citizens) on their 8-day journey counterclockwise around Lake Superior. There were many good memories from the trip, but among those that stand out are: The timing was peak for fall colors. Traveling through Michigan was absolutely breathtaking, as every bend in the road seemed to surprise us with colors more brilliant than those we had just seen. When I lay down to sleep that night, the reds and yellows and oranges were imprinted on the insides of my eyelids. Our group took a full day off from driving to enjoy the Agawa Canyon Tour Train out of Sault Ste. Marie. Again, breathtaking colors. I can still see the canyon in all of its splendor from the overlook I hiked up to with many of the train riders. Magpie Falls out of Wawa, Ontario, was very impressive. The group talked me into taking the bus down a steep hill so they wouldn’t have to walk so far to the falls, and I can still remember the anxiety I felt wondering if the bus would make it back up the hill! Ouimet Canyon on the west Ontario side of the lake was so surprising. I had no idea a canyon like that existed in Canada! Thunder Bay was OK - Fort William was the most impressive site to me. We stayed in some hotel in Thunder Bay with paper-thin walls and I never slept all night because of noisy neighbors. And, of course, the Minnesota North Shore -- Pigeon River Falls, Grand Portage, Grand Marais, Split Rock Lighthouse and park, Gooseberry Falls, Two Harbors and Duluth. Being from Minnesota, I can’t help but feel we have the best lineup of North Shore Highlights. That’s it. I wish I remembered more, such as the names of my passengers. I only remember the first names of the couple who directed the trip - Helen and Boyd. There were many wonderful and interesting characters among that group of seniors, and I can tell you that a number of them kept up a pace that made me aware of how out of shape I was!
Dave Englund, Maple Grove, Minnesota

September 16, 2005
Traveled with my cousin from England, Dennis Wright. Traveled counterclockwise around the lake. The weather was better on the U.S. side. Favorite spot or experience: all the lovely little towns along the way.
John F. Bushnell, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Dennis Wright, England

September 17-23, 2005
Favorite spot and/or experience: The AmericInn in Ashland, Wisconsin, was wonderful. My husband and I had a great time here. Friendliest welcome: Ashland, Wisconsin. Travel the route: In my opinion, clockwise would probably be the best way. We went counterclockwise and the first two days were all driving with very little time for anything else. Length of trip: To do this trip right you should have at least 10 to 14 days. There is a lot to see. We covered 2,047 miles during this road trip. Best High Spot of Superior: Copper Harbor, Michigan, on the Brockway Mountain Drive.
April & Brian Toupin, Clinton Township, Michigan

August 31, 2005
Friendliest area around Lake Superior was in Wawa, Ontario. Traveling around the lake is best done in a counterclockwise direction. The best amount of time to take this trip would be about two weeks to see the sights and not rush. This gives you enough time to visit all of the points of interest along the way. The biggest surprise I got from this trip was the mountains in the Thunder Bay region. Best places to view the lake was from the top of the Brockway Mountain Drive in Copper Harbor, Michigan, and the shore drive west of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Ted Farquhar & Patricia Shaheen, Houghton Lake, Michigan

September 14, 2005
Favorite spot: Katherine’s Cove, Ontario. It was just so calm and peaceful and the water was so clear and pure.
Bonnie & Henley Smith, Holland, Michigan

September 2005, on motorcycle
We loved camping in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. We had a great meal at the Missing Horse restaurant in Ontario on the highway just before turning into the park. Don’t speed in Canada! The Nipigon Café in Nipigon, Ontario, is worth a stop, too. We most enjoyed the Keweenaw Peninsula and surrounding area of Michigan. A boat cruise of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was great and you learn a lot of interesting facts about Lake Superior. A must stop is the Eagle Harbor Inn on the Keweenaw Peninsula - ask for the fish bisque with asparagus. The Brockway Mountain road just outside Eagle Harbor takes you to the top of lookout mountain (4-mile winding road up) for a magnificent (and windy) view. You end up in Copper Harbor. We circled the lake clockwise and ended our ride with a stay at Country Suites next to the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth. We visited the office of Lake Superior Magazine and bought our Circle Tour pins and some other memorabilia. We were sorry to hear that you have to lose your lovely office space to condos! Thanks for a great magazine!
Shari Otterblad, Maple Grove, Minnesota

August 29, 2005
We started at the Buena Vista in Duluth and ended at Grandma’s Restaurant in Canal Park. We had a lot of favorite spots and experiences. The top of our list of activities was visiting Isle Royale for the first time, hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail up the north shore, canoeing Michipicoten River and taking in all the beautiful vistas of the lake on the Canadian side. We got to see the pictographs, which was very interesting. Because of the fantastic weather, we even swam in Lake Superior, which is something we have only done a couple of times in our lives. My husband, who grew up in Superior, Wisconsin, remarked that it was all like finally getting to know your next door neighbor for the first time. For me, a nature-lover, it was one of the most beautiful trips I’ve ever taken and I loved how the lake provided us with quiet and calm our busy lives needed. I would guess my daughter would rank the campfire and making s’mores as her Number 1 experience. We were also lucky to have a full moon on our trip. We can’t wait to visit the lake again!
Jeremy, Julie & Alyssa Meller, Urbandale, Iowa

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

August 1, 2005
We started the Circle Tour from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. We took the Agawa Canyon Train Tour, did lots of hiking in Lake Superior Provincial and Pukaskwa National parks in Ontario, took a great tour of the harbor in Thunder Bay, made a day-trip out to Isle Royale National Park from Grand Portage, Minnesota, watched a gigantic freighter pull past just out of our reach in Duluth’s Canal Park, took a shipwreck tour out of Munising, Michigan, and ended out our tour at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan. We completed our tour on August 1, 10 days after we started. We could easily have used another two or three days to linger in our favorite spots. Our favorite parts of the tour were definitely the two big parks in Ontario. Lake Superior Provincial Park has wonderful picnic areas and one of the best hikes ever - a moderate to strenuous 1/4 mile down to the bottom of some lakeside cliffs to see Indian petroglyphs. The southern headlands trail in Pukaskwa National Park is breathtaking and pretty easy. Wawa makes a great base for exploring both of these gems. Besides plenty of good lodging, it offers two great places to eat: The Magpie truck stop for that quick breakfast or lunch and the Kinniwabi Pines Restaurant for a special evening meal. The owner and hostess, Grace, is really what makes the place so special, but the food is great, too - try something from her native land, Trinidad. Truly, her welcome and the food here (something for everyone) made this our favorite spot on the entire tour. The Thunder Bay harbor tour was fascinating (a late fall traveler may miss it - check). Seeing a freighter up close in Duluth was a thrill - and we were impressed with all that town has done to showcase its assets. Gooseberry Falls State Park in Minnesota and Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan were lovely, with more hikes to offer than we could manage on this short trip. I was surprised to learn when we got there that it is possible to make a day-trip out to Isle Royale from Grand Portage or Copper Harbor. I’d wanted to do that my whole life. We went from Grand Portage with no advance reservations - the casino there makes a great staging place, with a nice, newly renovated hotel less than one mile from the boat. Next time, we want to try leaving from Copper Harbor so that we can see the other end of Isle Royale, the one with lodging and food service. The whole trip was great. If you’re like us, preferring less-visited, more remote places to those that are well developed for tourists and somewhat crowded, you’ll like the eastern and northern shores of the lake, in Canada, the best. If you’re thinking about bringing your dog, do it! We saw so many, and almost all the hotels took pets. We were sorry that we left ours at home. Remember to bring a rabies certificate from your vet, and note that dogs are not permitted on Isle Royale. Our only disappointment was that very little was open in Marquette on a Sunday night - we ended up eating dinner at a national chain. I’d warn visitors to try to schedule their visit there for a different day of the week, even in high tourist season. We had a great time circling THE Great Lake!
Bill, Peg & Maggie Gluntz, Loveland, Ohio