In all my traveling around Lake Superior, the furthest east I have went is either Copper Harbor on the American side or Nipigon on the Canadian side. I have always wanted to see what was beyond that so I decided after visiting Wisconsin, I would do the whole Lake Superior Circle Tour.
I headed off to Duluth to sleep that night at the Wisconsin Welcome Center.
The next morning, I woke up and had a quick look around.
Getting an Anytime Fitness membership was one of the best things I could do. Besides being able to work out, there are a ton of them I can take a shower at when I’m on the road. I went to a Duluth one to get my morning shower.
I topped off at the Holiday gas station where I35 starts. This is where I will complete the full circle. I also stopped here before when I did my border-to-border drive.
I got a steak and egg burrito for breakfast.
Then I hit the road to start my journey.
I was going counter-clockwise so I went past the welcome center I stayed at.
Lake Superior was constantly in view on the drive.
I was going to go to Saxon Harbor, but the road was closed due to the rains washing it out. I had to take a royal leak so I ended up at another Wisconsin Welcome Center on the Michigan border this time.
In the UP, things got a little hillier.
Eventually, I made it to Hancock. I stopped at Pat’s Foods, like I did the times before.
I bought a pasty since they’re a delicacy in the UP.
I ate and enjoyed the awesome view.
I then drove to Copper Harbor and parked in the same spot as last time.
I went on the dock. The views were pretty great!
It was a bit windy and the waves were crashing in the distance.
The boat was also rocking.
When I was walking back off the dock, I was able to get really close to a seagull.
I then drove to the end of Highway 41.
I didn’t attempt to drive down the seasonal road like last time.
There appeared to be a mountain bike race, so the last thing I wanted to do is dodge a bunch of bikes.
Then again, the race may have been over.
When I started going further south, I saw some scenic views of the lake.
I noticed there were a bunch of old cars that must have also been doing the Lake Superior Circle Tour but in the opposite direction.
Later in the day, I had to take another leak. Michigan has a ton of roadside parks that the old school outhouse pit toilets.
There was a walkway to view the lake.
Since this was up in the hill a bit, the views were pretty good.
I found a modern rest stop to park for the night and sleep.
It even had modern technology problems on the weather information computer.
The first day was a pretty long drive. I basically scaled the whole South Shore of Lake Superior in a day. I ended up about an hour out of Sault St. Marie before I decided to stop for the night.