Took a quick Lake Superior circuit...

[Molasses]

Left midmorning last Thursday, came back while it was still daylight on Saturday.  5th time around the lake, 4th on the bike, 3rd solo.  

Had a good time, hope nobody minds terribly if I share.

Important!  READ the part in the red banner directly below before opening the link underneath!!!
I've got it password protected to keep out the general run of the Internet, but since this is the VRCC and not just any and everybody, it's "LetMeSee", exactly as what's between the quote marks:

http://s137.photobucket.com/user/Molasses_photos/library/Lake%20Superior%20Circle%20June%2025-27%202015?sort=6&page=1

The titles and comments on the pictures and video mostly tell the story, but I will add:

LadyDraco, I apologize for never once taking a picture of the bike without luggage on it.  Thought about unloading it for one shot and just couldn't work up the motivation to do the work.  Besides, it's absolutely filthy.  

Once again, the ride on the Canadian side was mostly awesome.  There are the same few sections that are dull and it is very most definitely road construction season up there.  But.  Love riding the rest of it, through the combination of rocks, trees, water and curves, along with the way the ratio of those 4 elements changes all the time.  

Once back in the US, I'd heard that the road between Grand Marais, MI and Munising was now paved (last time I went there was...5 years [?] ago and it wasn't then), so headed up 77 instead of taking 28 straight to Munising.  Yup, H58 between the two is blacktop and a whole lot of fun, especially on the 2/3 or so closest to Grand Marais.  Grand Marais, MI is a great place that I've really enjoyed visiting in the past and I hope it stays this way now that it is no longer at the end of a 48 mile round trip on a mostly boring road.

In WI, Hwy 13 has road work on it practically from the moment it comes off of Hwy 2 outside of Ashland and continues to at least Washburn.  Relieved to discover that Cty Rd C between Washburn and Cornucopia (cutting the yuppie enclave of Bayfield out of the equation) wasn't messed up, although there was some sort of bicycle event travelling the opposite direction.  I tried to be good   and hold speeds down, but something about that road and all those sweeping curves brings out the   in my right wrist.  Cty H, running down to Hwy2 at Brule from Hwy13 after it leaves the shore has finally gotten so bad that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without a good offroad suspension and/or a desire for a closer relationship with their local chiropractor.

Later all.

[Wizzard]

sounds like a nice trip! The album is password protected.  ???

[Molasses]

sounds like a nice trip! The album is password protected.  ???

Hence the part in red with the password in it just above the link.   

[HayHauler]

Thanks for sharing with us Molasses.  That was a great trip.  How long did it take you?  Did you sleep under the tarp over the bike, or was the tent in the background for you?

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Wizzard]

my bad,, thats what happens when you read this stuff whilst working.  Thanks for posting.

[Molasses]

Thanks for sharing with us Molasses.  That was a great trip.  How long did it take you?  Did you sleep under the tarp over the bike, or was the tent in the background for you?

Hay  
Jimmyt

As for the length, left mid-morning (around 9:30 AM) Thursday and got home before sunset on Saturday (maybe 7:30 PM).  I was stopped and setting up camp around 6:00 PM both nights, back on the road between 7:00-7:30 both mornings that started from camps.  I'm not adding up hours, just calling it 3 days.

The tent was for me.  This was the tarp's inaugural trip.
  
On previous trips I dragged a bike cover along, which took up roughly 1/2 as much space as one of the two duffle bags in the garbage bags strapped on the bike.  

Found this tarp and immediately started scheming.  It fits into the one duffel bag along with the camping gear and I've toyed with the idea of sleeping under it alongside of the bike.  I think it's do-able, but I'm glad I didn't try it this trip, as the skeeters were horrific the second night (Newberry, MI-no pics, sorry) and would've eaten me alive if I'd have been under the tarp with open air access.

[Molasses]

my bad,, thats what happens when you read this stuff whilst working.  Thanks for posting.

No problem and it did need to be pointed out more obviously than I did in the original post.

[cookiedough]

thanks for sharing, brings back memories of going up there some 12+ years ago staying at a cottage along lake Superior shoreline in Grand Marias MN area, very nice up there with tons of waterfalls and scenic beauty. 

Would love to go back up there again and hike, etc. taking it all in again in 1 week or longer. I still remember the that huge Canada waterfall I think named the Little Niagra, and I think, not sure, that long outcropping was called Sleeping Giant across the lake??  Also remember Hwy 2, or was it 1,  that went to Grand Marias to Ely MN which was one of the longest, winding 50 mph roads I have ever been on.  That road got so back and forth driving it with my truck that I literally got sick of the left/right hand curves all the time, but did achieve my best ever mpg at 22 with my V8 truck at the time.

Oh yah,  also remember the HUGE skeeters that were out at night and deer flies (biting flies of some sort) that literally were so vast and huge they almost carried you away was also up there in June. 

Do they still have that long, rickety expansion bridge over a long drop ravine/cliff a few hours into Canada from Grand Marias that you can cross for a fee?  We saw it some 12+ years ago and didn't feel that it would hold us looked darn near broken down, plus at the time was not a good idea with a 2 and 5 year old.  Am sure it would be swaying and unsafe for adults, let alone little kids. 

Would love to go back up there again now that the kids are old enough to remember it. 

[CajunRider]

Awesome photos!!!

PM sent.    

[Gary]

Looks good from here, great shots thanks for sharing. Another area on my list of yet to be seen.

Personally I think the travel gear/luggage adds character. 

[Molasses]

<snip>
Do they still have that long, rickety expansion bridge over a long drop ravine/cliff a few hours into Canada from Grand Marias that you can cross for a fee?  We saw it some 12+ years ago and didn't feel that it would hold us looked darn near broken down, plus at the time was not a good idea with a 2 and 5 year old.  Am sure it would be swaying and unsafe for adults, let alone little kids. 

Would love to go back up there again now that the kids are old enough to remember it. 

From the description, you probably mean this place:
http://eaglecanyonadventures.ca/

I've been up the road that heads towards it a couple of times, but it was to go to Ouimet Canyon, instead:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouimet_Canyon

[cookiedough]

I think eagle canyon was same place, but do not remember much, if at all, that much water in the canyon, plus some 12+ years ago that bridge didn't look that well built/safe.  We waited to find someone first to walk across the bridge, but no one was there to attempt it first.  Plus, at 20 bucks per person,  we didn't want to blow 100 bucks in an hour or so.  Those were the days when you didn't need a passport to get in/out of Canada, just asked you questions about firearms and fish/wild game.

Zip line looks cool though.  My daughter just got back from Costa Rica high school Spanish class trip and did a huge series of zip lining thru the jungle, the longest one being 1 mile long and near 60 mph speed. 

[BobB]

Thanks for posting this.  A few riders in another club I belong to are trying to get together to do the Lake Superior Tour yet this year.  That's a 1500+ mile road trip and I hope to join them.  I have not as yet done it, but some others have.  The fact that they are willing to go again is a testament to the ride...

[Hooter]

I think Michigan is under-rated. We have some beautiful country in both the upper and lower. It is a good place to ride but, we all know if you live in a state you usually take a bunch of it for granted. The upper lower and the upper alone are great places to see. Thanks for sharing.

[Kep]

Mrs. Kep and I are doing a 5 day trip in August for my birthday (55) to Mackinac Island..we are traveling up the East side of Lake Michigan , returning on the West side of Huron...I have "Google Scouted" the trip and it looks beautiful. I'll make sure and give a full ride report..with pics !

[BradValk48237]

I have lived in Michigan all my life and there are very few paved roads that I have not been on in the las 40 years of riding... But somehow manage to find a new one once in a while....

58 from Gran Marais to Munising used to be a snowmobile trail in the winter... it was a Blast! Now if they could pave it all the way to Paradise it would be great......

I did the same trip about 12 years back..  and we did make the trip all the way up to GM....

People don't always realize it, but it takes 10 hours (or More) to go from one corner of the state to another... as in Detroit to Ironwood almost 600 miles

The trip I took from the Detroit area to the Soo.. then around the lake and back was about 1600 miles if I remember right.

Upper Michigan (north of Clare) and the UP have lots of great rides..... South of Clare it might as well be Ohio....( its a joke !!!)

Brad

[cookiedough]

MI and upper WI are surely wonderful wildnerness at it's finest, as well as upper MN into Canada.

I get a somewhat chuckle out of the IL flatlanders coming into the rolling farmlands of southern WI where I live always stating what a beautiful countryside we have around me.  I think having lived here all my life it is pretty ordinary though as compared to other states have visited. 

[gregk]

Nice to hear somebody else thinks a lot of this road trip,it kind of majacal. Done it 5 times on the bike an once in the car. 1400m for me here and 1st time was a 3 day then we kept finding more things to see and we made 5 day trips after that. I have not been around the lake for about 16 years now but never will forget all the beauty.   I passed out a bunch of maps years back but if some one wants to go I think you can still get them and its the only map you'll need. Its called The lake Superior Circle Tour Map.   Ha ha I surprised a couple of people once from Thunder Bay that were from their tourism office at a show in Minneapolis, and they wanted me to take over for them because I knew more than they did.
I couldn't get your pics to show up but I have a pretty good feeling they are great.

[Crackerborn]

A trip I will now have to take before the snow flies. The River Road trip has started to become a yearly tradition for me and I am not a traditionalist when it comes to riding. I was considering a Lake Michigan circle but this looks like more fun than another trip to places I have already been (several times). Now, where did I put my passport?