Well, I'm back from 10 days on the road, most was spent circling the Big Lake. I took 7 days to complete the nearly 1700 miles around Superior, you can cut that to 1100 but then you miss all the good roads ;-). It's known as the Circle Tour but I'm going to rename it the Soaker Tour, it rained, a lot! The first day I went the race track in Brainerd, MN to photograph some of the cars. It rained most of the 125 miles there. After a couple of days there I was finished and left on Labor Day morning. I had a glorious ride to Duluth and on up the North Shore to Grand Marais, stopping for some smoked fish in the town of Knife River and a few other spots along the way just to properly wind down for some vacation time.


Grand Marais harbor, the end of the first day and the end of the
cloudless sky.

The next day the weather begins to threaten a bit but I'm always able to stay just out in front of the clouds. Between Thunder Bay and Nipigon the road is bigger and more heavily traveled, i.e., not as nice a ride. I stopped at a rest stop overlooking St. Ignes Island, this and many other small islands in the area are also called the "Nation of Nirvana," declared so by the local Tree Hugger Society. Then I heard some distinctly un Nirvanain sounds of thunder coming off the lake so I headed off to find some cover for the night. Thankfully I wasn't camping. Schreiber, Ont. was the spot and if I had it to do over I'd keep going down the road to Terrace Bay, Schreiber was, well, adequate. That night it pours.


Watch out for them trucks!!

In the morning it's still raining hard, I pack up and suit up. Before I left home I put a couple of coats of Camp Dry on my jacket and boots, my Darien pants are Gortex and   near new they should be fine, I hope. 110 miles down the road I'm getting a little wet and uncomfortable, my hands, fore arms and a couple of other spots are wet but most of all I'm tired of riding in the pouring rain. I stop in White River and ask the tourist info lady in jest if there's a laundry I can get a cup of coffee at, well, there is! The only laundry in town has coffee, food and movie rentals! I wind up the day in Wawa, Ont. After a few bouts with road construction my bike is covered with mud, I name it the Paris Dakar Edition of the PC 800. The sun comes out that evening but the clouds move back in at night and it pours again.


Sandy beaches near Wawa Ontario.

The Paris-Dakkar Edition of the PC 800. The result of Ontario road construction.

It's not raining in the morning but it looks black to the South, where I'm headed. All day it looks like rain just ahead but by the time I arrive the clouds have moved east I pass thru Sault Ste. Marie and the sun is shining! But it just can't last, while I'm curving around Whitefish Bay I reach Paradise and it begins to rain. Nirvana and Paradise just haven't lived up to my expectations! I reach Whitefish Point and tour the Shipwreck Museum, highly recommended and then take off to get some miles in before dark. The rain has stopped again and I'm trying to make time on Hwy M 123, which Thomas Ongstad from the list has recommended, the road is full wet and I'm having a blast, a very careful blast, but a blast nonetheless. That night I end up in Grand Marais, weren't you already there you might ask, yes and no, this is Grand Marais Michigan not Minnesota. I walk over to the Dunes Saloon from my motel and enjoy some dinner and their local brew from the Lake Superior Brewing Co., 4 out of a possible 5 stars.


Highway 17 cuts thru the Ontario wilderness.

Many, many scenic overlooks and rest stops all around The Lake. This one on Old Woman Bay just south of Wawa, Ontario.

An old fishing boat moored on Batchawana Bay just north of Sault Ste. Marie.

The next day, I hope to make some miles, it's nice country but M 28 doesn't run close to the lake a lot and I go thru a couple of bigger towns so I try not to stop. Once I get to L'Anse on the southern tip of Keweena Bay the rain starts again, this is nothing new to me now. It stops raining before I get to Houghton, another 4 star town with the Library Brew Pub. It's a college town you see and the students can say to their parents that last night they "just went down to the Library". But I want to get farther today so it's on up the Keweena Peninsula. Along the way, the way I went, is the town of Gay, complete with the Gay Bar.

The irony of course is that the patrons are not  gay, but from Gay. Does anyone out there know of a town named Biker? Hmmmm. I stop just as I get back onto M 41 and pull out my ultra clamp attach it to the handle bar and mount my camera and head up 41. This is where it starts to get good, from Delaware to Copper Harbor the road get twisty and curvy, up and down, and all around just plain fun.


Bikecam, M 41 south of Copper Harbor, if you take this trip DO NOT skip this road.
I'm trying to take it a little easy since I'm taking photos at the same time. The film I was using was a little slow for this sort of thing, I didn't get a chance to test this out before I left so we'll have to wait and see how they turn out. I arrive at Copper Harbor with a smile on my face, life is good, even with rain in it.


Sometimes the clouds can be beautiful too. Sunset over Copper Harbor.

The first thing the next day I ride up Brockway Mt. drive, then down M 26 to Eagle Harbor. Now M 26 makes M 41 look tame. The twists are tighter and there's elevation changes that will put your heart in your throat. If someone were to try and go seriously fast on this road they would certainly get airborne in several spots!


Good roads!! This is M 26 just west of Copper Harbor.
Once I get to Eagle Harbor I pull into the lighthouse and walk down by the lake and stand close enough so the spray from the waves crashing on the rocks falls lightly on my face and take a few deep breaths, adrenaline it's great stuff.


Eagle Harbor light house, one of many all around The Lake.
Just a little farther down M 26 is the Jampot where local Monks make and sell jams, jellies, pastries and fruit cake. Don't dismiss this spot as another tourist money extraction shop, this stuff is great, all of it, I recommend the Black Jamaican Rum fruit cake but  not while your riding, it'll get you a DUI for sure. These Monks my be celibate but they're not tea toddlers. I ride on down the peninsula, and thru
some showers, back to Houghton and on to Ontonogon (boy that's fun to say). A couple of stops for some sights in the Porcupine Mountains State Park and I end up in Ashland, WI. for the night. Before I'm done with dinner it's raining, again.


Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains.

It's rained all night and stopped just after dawn. It's cloudy and foggy as I head up Hwy. 13 to Bayfield and the Apostle Islands, this is sailing country. Bayfield is a real nice town but it's gotten too upscale for me. Sailing, these boats 30 feet and up, takes money and sometimes lots of it. There's just too many people with their sweaters tied around their necks.


Bayfield Wisconsin, I saw more bikes in Bayfield than any where else along the trip and they were ALL Harleys. More evidence of the excessive amount of money in Bayfield.

The Bayfield Marina, typical sky for this trip.

I continue  on 13 around the Bayfield Peninsula to Cornucopia, a very small and down to  earth town and marina, but I can't spend much time here because it's raining again! That OK because I need to get home today and Minneapolis isn't getting any closer sitting around here. I ride thru a couple more small towns and hook up with Hwy. 2 just outside of Superior. As I ride thru Superior I can see across the harbor to Duluth where this all started and you know what, the sun is shinning!! Then I turn my bike south away for the Lake for the last time, this trip.


Bikecam, don't forget to wave !

Pictures and trip report by Rick Corwine.
http://go.to/pc800