SPLENDOURS OF GICHIGAMI ABOUND
Lake Superior’s Circle Tour takes in three states and a province
TOR O N TO It might not have the must-do cachet of California’s Highway 101, of South Africa’s Garden Route or of the Rockies.
Yet, a voyage around the world’s largest freshwater lake, the big sea they once called Gichigami, reveals a sublime and in-yourface spectacular natural wonderland unrivalled anywhere. The 2,000-kilometre Circle Tour, done over multiple visits or for the more adventurous in one go, is to be savoured like one of the fine Group of Seven paintings the area north of Lake Superior inspired.
“It’s like every piece of shoreline is different and unique in some way,” says Dan Bevilacqua, executive director of Superior Country.
There are the Ontario city splendours of Sault Ste. Marie or Blues Fest in Thunder Bay. At its most
westerly point, travel Bob Dylan Way through a charming Duluth, Minn., perched above the lake at the start of Highway 61, near the place from where the famed poet-singer hails. In between, find out where a bear cub named Winnie-the-Pooh began his long journey to literary fame, check out the motel where renowned pianist Glenn Gould would get away from it all, or take in the striking monument where a cancer-stricken Terry Fox gave up his one-legged trans-Canada run.
Stop and admire the revamped main street of Terrace Bay, or on the south shore — which the Americans call the north shore — meander through picturesque Marquette or breeze past Christmas on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Mostly, however, it’s about a lake that splits its sparkling waters between Canada and the United States. Indeed, as the largest of the Great Lakes, Superior offers seemingly boundless shoreline — log-strewn beaches, gentle river mouths, pristine sunbathing sands, rock cliffs and waterfall trails — all replete with oceanic vistas. In fact, it would be easy to confuse the greatest of the lakes for an ocean — were it not for its glass-clear water that on serene summer days makes for a bracing, salt-free swim.
At other times, that water can turn ferocious — with steely-grey waves two or three storeys high. Moodiness and power both awesome and breathtaking. Stop and look out over where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a November gale in 1975 just a few kilometres from safety — a tragedy immortalized in song by Canadian singer-songwriting legend Gordon Lightfoot.
Getting a sense of scale is difficult. At its longest, Lake Superior stretches 560 kilometres as the eagle flies, abutting one province and three states. By some counts, if you poured out its water, it would flood the entire continents of North and South America to a depth of 30 cms.
The shoreline of twists and turns that runs to about 2,780 kilometres offers stunning views and unsurpassed magnificence — not to mention stupendous motorcycling or driving territory for the enthusiast.
Everywhere there are surprises, some steeped in indigenous history that traces back as far as 10,000 years, such as the Ojibwa pictographs at Agawa Rock. There is the delight of Old Woman Bay, where river meets lake, or places whose very names are the lure: Rabbit Blanket Lake, Pinguisibi Falls or Kakabeka Falls nicknamed Niagara of the North. Hunt or fish. Walk or cycle. Camp out in well-equipped provincial or federal parks, or stop by at hotels, motels, inns or lodges along the way.The Circle Tour guide can be picked up at tourist information spots or ordered online.