Pure Michigan

The Great Lakes

Gift of the Glaciers

 During the last Ice Age, glaciers up to two miles thick pushed across the Upper Midwest. 

The immense weight of the ice carved deep basins into the earth. As the glaciers melted, 

water poured into the basins, creating the Great Lakes.

   

Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes with over 3800 miles of shoreline and almost 30,000 island.

   
Lake Huron - High water on the trail

   
Trail friend                                                                    Wind across Lake Superior

Violent storms on these lakes make them dangerous for ships. During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden

vessels were lost. Each of the lakes is rimmed with lighthouse, many built during the 1800’s in an effort to reduce

the number of ships and lives lost through collisions, groundings, and breakups. 

   
Tawas Point                                                                          Forty Mile Point

   
Fresnel lens

The 40 Miles Point Lighthouse houses an automated Fourth Order Fresnel lens with a light 

signature of three seconds on and three seconds off.

   
Iroquois Point                                                                                  Whitefish Point

The Whitefish Point Lighthouse, near Paradise, MI, is at the site of Lake Superior’s first lighthouse, 

guarding over ships that round its point.
 

Icebreaker Mackinaw

Largest icebreaker ever used on the Great Lakes.

Decommissioned in 2006.

By keeping the Great Lakes shipping lanes open under the harshest winter conditions during World War II, the 

Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw made it possible for iron and copper to be transported to wartime factories in the lower Great Lakes.

   
US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw WAGB83                                            Six powerful diesel engines

Jim as a “Coastie”

 

The Straits of Mackinac

Lower Michigan is connected to the Upper Peninsula (UP) by Mackinac Bridge, one of the longest and possibly windiest 

suspension bridges in the world. At least that is what is felt like to us as we traveled at 20 mph across its 5 miles.

   
Mackinac Bridge                                                           Slow in the wind

Soo Locks

At Sault Ste. Marie 

Early travel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron was hindered by the rapids and 24 foot drop in the St Mary’s River connecting these lakes. Four locks on the US side and one lock on the Canadian side now bypass this barrier. With up to a 25 foot draft, ships as long as 1,000 feet carrying more than 72,000 tons of cargo pass regularly through the Poe Lock, the largest of the four locks. The Army Corp of Engineers operates and maintains the entire US facility.

    
Approaching Soo Locks                                                                        Ready to rise

   
Ready to leave                                                         More than 20 feet under water

 

Our travels now continue through the remote UP of Michigan.

 

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