Thursday, August 11, 2016

Sault St Marie–part 2

While in the Upper Peninsula (and the upper part of the lower peninsula) my GPS started doing some strange things.  The first time was when I was in Mackinac City and was headed to  St Ignace, which was just across the Mackinaw City bridge – maybe a 15 – 20 minute drive.  My GPS showed 12 hours or so (I can’t remember exactly) and took me way out of the way. Here in Sault St. Marie I was having similar issues.

Below is a picture of when I was at my RV park in Michigan and headed just across the bridge I walked in the previous blog to Sault St Marie, Ontario – maybe a 20 minute drive. 

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The GPS took me all the way across the upper peninsula, Northern Wisconsin, a bit of NE Minnesota and then around Lake Superior on the Canadian side.  A long way to go just to go on a short hike! 

Just one of the joys of technology!!

Well as mentioned, I did go into Canada for some sightseeing and for some Crystal Light.  Last year while in Newfoundland I discovered a flavor of Crystal Light that is not available in the U.S.  So since I was so close to Canada, I decided to stock up.

The Canadian locks are much smaller than the U.S. side and only allow small boats, basically privately owned personal boats and tour boats. 

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The locks are in the Canadian Sault St Marie National Historical Park and included some trails I wanted to hike.  On 2 different days, I walked the trails below.  sault_st_marie_canada4

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One of the trails took me under the international bridge that I had walked across a few days before. 

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One day I toured part of the Upper Peninsula and went to Tahquamenon Falls and a couple of lighthouses.  Since I have blogged about both in years past, I will only post 2 pic from the falls. 

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Close to the end of my time in Sault St Marie, I went back to the locks.  This time I went up the observation platform.  I watched a Soo Locks boat go through the locks.

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A day or 2 before this I took the Soo Locks boat tour.  We went through the  U.S. Locks once and then back through the Canadian locks.

Coming up on the locks -

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The locks opening so we can enter - sault_st_marie_boattrip3

Note the water level - sault_st_marie_boattrip2Notice the water level 10 – 15 minutes later.  It had risen 20 feet!   

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While in the RV park, we could watch the freighters go past.  The freighter below is the longest (according to a freighter expert that I met at the park).  It is 1010 feet long. 

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I learned about several websites and apps that let you know where boats, ships, freighters are.  I loaded FindShip on my phone and enjoyed following the freighters journeys before and after I saw them. 

From here, I headed back to Houghton, MI for the month of July.

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