Minneapolis, MN to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

After a few days of planning, blog updating, resting, eating, and bike fixing at Rich's place in the Roseville suburb of Minneapolis, the time arrived to hit the road for the ~1,600 mile homestretch.  There were a few route options through the Great Lakes, but I long (since Wyoming?) had it in my head to go through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Manitoulin Island, Ontario,  places I heard are beautiful and both looked interesting on a map.  The route turned out not to have the best roads for riding, but I discovered some beautiful places indeed.

My last night in Minneapolis Rich invited me to join him at a friend's annual block party, somewhere on the south end of the city.  The live band,  dancing in the streets and happy people left me with the impression Minneapolis is a good place to live.

Pete and Rich rode me out of town.  Having guides to do the navigating, especially in cities, is a treat!

Having some riding company is also useful for landmark pictures.  Here I am at the St. Croix River crossing into Osceola, Wisconsin, where Pete treated me to DQ pineapple milkshake and french fries before saying farewell.

Moo.  Many a dairy farm in WI.  Living up to the cheese hype.

The riding in WI is excellent.  Most of the back roads are paved, very low traffic, and in good condition.  There are some nice rolling hills, about 2,700' of climbing per 100 miles.   

Warmshowers host, Kyle, who I stayed with in Rice Lake, just returned from a trip down the west coast of the US.  Kyle has a trailer he can tow a canoe with so he can ride up stream, stick his bike in the boat, and paddle home. He also has   surfboards in his garage. Did you know you can surf on the Great Lakes?

I left Rice Lake expecting a slight chance of rain, but got a pretty steady rain most of the day, which expanded the already swollen rivers and streams.  The thunderstorms I mostly dodged when riding into Minneapolis hit this area hard, with heavy rain and winds strong enough to take trees down. This was the start of a change in the weather, a stretch of cold wet riding.    I got wet at least a little bit, and a few times very wet, every day for the next 2 weeks.

I arrived in Butternut, WI happy to have a roof over my head for the night with Warmshowers hosts, Dan and Jeanne.  Later that week was the birthday of their daughter, Katy, and they agreed to host me so long as I didn't mind participating in the birthday dinner.  Above is Dan and Jeanne with Katy, son in-law, Paul, and granddaughters, Elena and Sydney, with birthday cupcakes. A special treat for me with a delightful family.  Dan and Jeanne are retired dairy farmers and now spend their time on the lake, brewing very good beer, campaigning for democrats (trying to make Scott Walker go away), and... 

...rendering bear fat in the garage. Yum! They are not hunters, but Black Bear hunting is a popular activity in WI, MI, and Ontario, and a hunter friend was happy to pass on the fat.  Dan and Jeanne say it makes excellent shortening for pies.

Passing through Iron County toward the UP. From Butternut Lake I was planning to ride into the UP and find a place to camp in the Ottawa National Forest, but the forecast the next day was heavy rain, 30-40 mph northeast wind (the direction I was headed) with temperatures dropping and staying in the 40s.   I wisely decided to find a Warmshowers host, so I could have a roof over my head that night, which meant a much shorter ride and another night in WI.

That WS host turned out to be an unusual one, the North Lakeland Discovery Center (NLDC) www.discoverycenter.net, in Manitowish Waters, WI.  The NLDC is a nature center with a beautiful lake, trails, cabins and lodge, where they hold everything from weddings to outdoor education programs.  And guess what?  They let cyclists stay for free!  They even let me stay  a second night to wait out the storm.  Luckily, the day I arrived was warm enough to take a dip in the lake, just before the cold front came through.

A not so grand entrance into the UP of Michigan.  The rain and wind stuck around for a bit in the morning, but cleared in the afternoon.  The sun came out, but the cold temperatures remained.  Unfortunately, Michigan isn't nearly as good for riding as WI is.  Speed limits seem ridiculously high on some back roads and there are often no shoulders.

My next planned destination was Houghton, MI to check out the Keweenaw Peninsula.  From the NLDC, the ride to Houghton is about 130 miles, so I wasn't going to make it in one day.  Azael, the director of the NLDC, recommended I make a stop at the Porcupine Mountains State Park (AKA the Porkies) on the south end of Lake Superior.  That turned out to be a great recommendation, and offered some of the best views and climbing I did in MI.  Above is the view looking west from the Lake of the Clouds overlook.

Lake of the Clouds

At the overlook I met Viktor and Crystal. Viktor is from Cleveland, a roofer for money and a photographer for passion. His photos are worth a look: www.flickr.com/photos/58487532@N06.  Crystal is a student in Marquette.  They invited me to join them for dinner: pasta, seaweed, mushrooms, and fish, along with hot tea, cooked up on a Coleman stove.  Good company and a pleasure to have a hot meal as the temperature dropped in a hurry that evening.

I thought about camping in the overlook parking lot, but there were a few people around and it seemed a difficult place to stay out of sight. So after dinner I rode down the hill in the dark and eventually found a picnic area just off the rode next to Lake Superior.  The sign said no camping, but I didn't think anybody would notice or bother me.  I was right.  Sunrise came early and temperatures in the morning were close to freezing.  The cold temps and proximity to the lake left everything  damp, including my matches.  So for the second time when I really wanted a hot cup of tea, I was unable to get my stove started. 

Good morning Lake Superior

The ride to Houghton was a cold spitting rain overcast kind of day, so I stopped at Krupp's mini mart to warm up and have a Pasty, which everyone told me I must try.  They are basically a big empanada with veggies and meat, and were a popular food for miners in the late 1800s, now a bit of a tourist attraction.  I went up to the counter and asked for a Pay-stee, not noticing the sign that said, " NOT Pay-stee, It's a PASS-Tee".  Oops.  I was not overly impressed with my Pasty and I felt like I had a brick in my stomach afterwards. Maybe it was the carrot cake dessert that put me over the edge?

At Krupp's I parked my bike next to 6 ATVs on the way in. (There are ATV trails all over the place in WI and MI.)  These folks were from MN out for an ATV adventure.   They occupied all the tables inside, so I asked if I could join them.  We got to talking and one of the guys ended up buying me my pasty and dessert.  I always appreciate kindness and generosity of strangers, but especially when it comes from burly folks on ATVs wearing camouflage and Carhartts.

Then I arrived to Houghton, MI to  more kindness and generosity, but from fellow outdoor enthusiasts of the cycling, hiking and skiing persuasion.  Above, Sandy, Arlyn and Grommet, my WS hosts in Houghton, which is the gateway to Copper Island, the north half of the Keweenaw Peninsula.  

Houghton and the Keweenaw turned out to be a surprisingly awesome place.  Houghton is home to the MI Tech University and has a vibrant college town feel.  The area is hilly, and gets 200-300 inches of snow per year, thanks to the lake-effect snows and cold temps.   This makes the Keweenaw a recreation haven summer and winter, with excellent cross-country skiing and mountain biking, as well as some supposedly decent downhill skiing.  The vertical drop is limited, but the snow and terrain is apparently pretty good.  Some day I would like to go back for some skiing at Mt Bohemia, a no snow making, no grooming, expert only ski mountain an hour drive north of Houghton.

Riding route 26 along Lake Superior.  No shoulder, high speed limits, but very nice scenery and generally patient drivers.

Aryln and Sandy invited me to spend a couple nights so I decided to leave my bags at their place  and do a day ride around the Keweena.  Here I am on top of the Brockway Mountain overlook, the highlight of the ride.  Pete from Minneapolis was the first of a few to suggest this route.  A nice climb with probably one of the best views in the Great Lakes.

No joke about the steep hill. I got accustomed to those nicely graded roads in the West, rarely steeper than 10%.  I would guess Brockway Mt Dr. into Copper Harbor is in the 15-20% range.   

The view of Copper Harbor provides good reason to slow down and take in the scenery.

I left Houghton on a cool windy morning and was feeling tired from the long hilly ride the day before.  I didn't anticipate heavy rain, but that is what I got, and headwinds.  I didn't average more than 10 mph the first half of the day and was starting to wonder if I would make it to Negaunee before dark. I found a middle of nowhere veterinarian office with a roof overhang just big enough to keep most of the rain off me and my bike while I ate something and put my rain gear on.  

By time I got to L'Anse Bay the  weather turned around. The rain stopped and the sun appeared. Once I turned east toward Marquette the wind was at my back and I made up some time.  When I got to Negaunee the day continued to improve. Marybeth (pictured above) owns and operates the Midtown Bakery and Cafe, and also hosts cyclists.  She found out about Warmshowers through a couple cyclists she met passing through towns, and she is quite the host.

Marybeth's house, above the cafe, is beautifully decorated and like staying in a fancy B&B.  She even has a steam shower! And she makes some tasty food. I got to make myself an absurdly large sandwich (all ingredients pre-prepared in the cafe kitchen) to accompany a bowl of homemade chili, and cheesecake for dessert.  For breakfast a muffin and tea was all I could eat, so I was sent off with at least a couple thousand calories of baked goods. The peanut butter chocolate bars were my favorite. No surprise. This is not what I was expecting in a small old iron mining town with a lackluster economy.  If you are in the Marquette area, Negaunee is only ~10 miles west, and Marybeth's cafe is worth a visit. 

From Negaunee I rode into Marquette, a nice looking town, home to Northern MI University, located on the south side of Lake Superior.   I stopped at their food co-op, per the suggestion of Cyrstal, bought some old bananas and rode out of town on the scenic bike path in route to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  This stretch of bike path is definitely better than the road. 

As expected,  that wonderful bike path becomes less wonderful (gravel) not far down the road. As I mentioned, MI has some ridiculously high speed limits, even on their bike paths! This is a flat gravel bike path with a posted speed limit of 35 mph.  Not only is that speed near impossible to ride at, but would also be incredibly unsafe for a mixed use path.

Lunch break with a lake view and picnic table. 

Miners Castle Point at Pictured Rocks National Park.  I decided against the Pictured Rocks boat tour as it was fairly pricey and I heard mixed reviews. Instead I decided to ride into the park and try to do some hiking.  Unfortunately by time I got to Miners Castle and walked around the sun was setting.  So I came back in the morning to hike to Miners Falls, which was a bit underwhelming.

As I was riding at a snail's pace out of Miners Castle Point trying to decide where to sleep a young guy rode past me on a fat tire bike.  Given how few people were around, this was a surprise. It took me a couple seconds to realize I need to talk to that guy!  I caught up and asked him where he was heading.  That guy, David, lived about 5 miles down the road and was out for a beach ride after work (an engineer at the Munising papermill).  With no time to waste, I asked immediately if I could camp in his yard. He seemed bit reluctant, but said yes.  He turned out to be great company, and even started up a bonfire and brought out a couple beers.

Clearly this is not a good picture, but I took it to remind myself about one of my favorite parts of riding in the UP: apples.  They grow like weeds!  Many of them are sour, but an equal number are sweet and not too many worms. The first tree I saw I loaded up my bag, only to find that free wild apples were in abundance through North Ontario.

Since I had camped at David's instead of further into the park, and getting a bit tired of the crappy weather, I took the direct route (route 28) across the UP toward Sault Ste Marie instead of going up to Grand Marais and Whitefish Point.  Route 28 isn't very good for riding.  There is often no shoulder and high speed traffic is high.  Very flat, and there isn't  much to see other than trees. Nothing against trees, though.

Before Sault Ste Marie I stopped at Manistique Lake to stay with Warmshowers hosts Jan and Gary (above with the Naperville IL bike route sign).  Jan reminded me of my mother, as she liked to talk. Gary was the cyclist and also a runner.  I asked about the Olympic torch hanging on the wall and turns out Gary was a sub 2:30 marathon runner and ran in the Olympic trials once.  I think Gary and I could have talked about biking and running for hours.

I managed to avoid any heavy rain on the ride back in to Canada. Above is the ride over the bridge from Sault Ste Marie MI to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.  I camped out that cold night at the Velorution bike shop, the closest I have ever slept to a Wal-Mart (next door). They have a campground, with bathroom and shower for touring cyclists.   In the morning both of my tires were flat, from tire wire I probably picked up from the ride over the bridge.  The nice folks at the shop let me use a stand and a floor pump. Best place I have had to fix a flat so far.  And those were the last flat tires of the trip!