2002 Trip: Canada to The Straits of Mackinac

Frosty fog over Rabbit Blanket Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park

Ten years ago on Thursday, October 3, 2002, we started our day at Rabbit Blanket Lake Campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park and ended the day at Straits State Park at St. Ignace, Michigan. We travelled 205 miles that day.

Thermometer on picnic table outside the motorhome

The air turned cold overnight and our morning hot oatmeal tasted really good. I went out before sunrise and took photos of the frost and fog hovering over Rabbit Blanket Lake. We drove further north, as far as Old Woman Bay, almost out of the Provincial Park, about 40 miles south of Wawa, Ontario.

Wanda and Val, out on the boulders along the Sand River

Coming back south, we stopped to explore the cascades along the Sand River. Val got into the act and ventured out on the big boulders along the rapids of the wild river. 

Driving south on the Trans Canada Highway 17 took us back throught the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. On the Michigan side we watched freighters on the St. Mary's River and got to see ships locking through the Soo Locks.

German cruise ship Columbus, headed to Chicago, at the Soo Locks

We watched the German cruise ship Columbus as it was locking downbound while a freighter was upbound for Lake Superior. We saw the Columbus, the Ogelbay Norton, the Roger Blough, and the Reserve -- all in one visit to the Soo.

Roger Blough, 858 feet long, upbound for Lake Superior
on the St. Mary's River, just east of the Soo Locks

Our arrival at a wooded campsite at Straits State Park was later in the evening. This was the night that we saw the Northern Lights about 9 pm. The sky wasn't colorful, but the plumes of light waved and wandered in the night sky.

Tomorrow's Post: Mackinac Island and Home to the Farm

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler