Wednesday 14th June – Lake Superior – the re-visit!

We had hoped to have an activity day with no driving at all, boating & biking instead, but it was windy and overcast this morning.  As we didn’t have our full hook-up we had to move to empty the RV tanks in any case, so we decided to take the short drive into Sault St Marie itself with the added benefit of being able to get to the post office to send off some correspondence.

We were all a little disappointed – the location doesn’t live up to its romantic-sounding name!  It was a much larger, industrial town than expected with a population of approx. 75000.  No one felt the need to stop to explore further, so we continued on to the shores of Lake Superior for Simon’s parents to have a look, us having visited the western point of the lake back on 9^th May in Wisconsin. 

The lake looked grey and choppy- definitely not boating conditions!

The Eastern point of Lake Superior on a grey day.  The most colourful part of it was this rock art on the shore.

We tried to gain a better view over the lake by walking onto a headland but were met with ‘No Trespassing’ signs.  We then attempted to drive to a better location but this ended on an un-made track to nowhere.  Looks like that view of Superior was the best we could offer today!  Having agreed we would do the ‘shorter’ of Simon’s two routes, we will not be heading any further around Lake Superior. I’m sure there are some more picturesque sections of the lake many miles north but we no longer have the time or the petrol money to explore further north!

Somewhat underwhelmed, we headed back to the campsite.  Simon managed to guilt the staff into giving us some free firewood after they had messed up our booking.  This then looked somewhat pointless when it started raining, but we took the opportunity to have some lunch, and spend some time relaxing on the RV before…… the sun returned! 

Seizing this great opportunity, we got Steven Sea Eagle out for the first time in ages to show the Newmans how much fun using the kayak is.  Simon made the decision about crews – he thought that Ray and I should hit the water together first as the ‘more adventurous’ amongst us, apparently. The river was really quite choppy for us heading out which made for hard work but we persevered until we reached a much calmer section of river for a more relaxed paddle. 

Ray and I working against a strong current

We powered through to find ourselves in calmer waters.....

There were plenty of beaver dens about…. But no live animals seen.  We had no idea how long we were out for as neither of us was wearing a watch.  When we got back I think Simon had been panicking that we’d got lost or sunk and then he wasn’t interested in going for a paddle, so I swapped with Ann so that she and Ray could have a go together.

Ann and Ray making it look easy....

They were even synchronised.... some of the time! Not sure if the video ruins the appearance....

The sun stayed with us into the evening and we had a lovely time with another BBQ and camp fire.