We left Goegbic County Campground around 9 am on Wednesday, August 13th for a 5-hour drive that turned into almost 6 hours due to a fuel stop and three different construction delays on our way to Monocle Lake State Park in Brimley Michigan for a 4-night stay.
We arrived around 3 pm and got set up. That didn’t involve much for me outside since we had no hook-ups whatsoever for this stop at the Monocle Lake State Park in the Hiawatha National Forest Campground. Our fresh-water tank was full and all of our device batteries, fan batteries and RockPal power center were all charged, as well as our propane generator which I set up to run when needed.
After dinner, we walked Bella around the campground loop to familiarize ourselves with the layout and found a trail we intended to hike on later, but ended up not doing so due to rainy weather.
Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie
Special “Thanks” to our friend Kirk (a native of Michigan) who told me about Soo Locks so we could visit it while in this part of the Upper Peninsula.
Thursday morning we made plans to visit Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie (pronounced Soo St. Marie). They have a special hotline number you can call to find out when freighters will be scheduled to come through the locks and when we called it said there was an iron ore freighter named “Indiana Harbor” scheduled to come through around noon that day. Perfect!
The locks were about a 45-minute drive from the campground in Brimley. We left early enough that we could try out a highly recommended place for lunch about 3/4 of a mile from the locks called the West Pier Drive-In. That’s Drive IN, not THROUGH.
I’ve got to tell you, the place looked like a dive joint when we drove up to it a few moments before their 11 am opening time. There was a large gravel parking lot area and a smaller grassy area with picnic tables scattered around it. We backed Voyager into a shady area at the edge of the parking area and a young woman came walking out from the building. We had already looked at the menu on their website and knew what we wanted to order. She took our order and as we waited we saw more and more vehicles pull into the lot. This place is popular!
After about 12 minutes or so, the young woman returned with our order. We paid her and settled back to eat, all the while watching more and more vehicles arrive. Some stayed in their vehicle like us, some took their order to the picnic tables, and some took theirs to go.
It was delicious food with more than generous portions and more than reasonable prices. I don’t know what kind of alchemy they perform in that dive-joint-looking place, but whatever it is it works.
After finishing our meal (or what we could because there WERE leftovers) we drove down to the Soo Lock Visitor Center and went directly to the observation area. The “Indiana Harbor” was still approaching from beyond the U.S./Canada Bridge out in Lake Superior, so we had time to get positioned in order to see it come through the lock. But first…
History Of The Soo Locks
The first lock on the St. Mary’s River (an international waterway that marks the border between the United States and Canada) began operation in 1798 and carried 40-foot long canoes laden with cargo around the rapids on the Canadian side of the river. During the War of 1812, American forces destroyed that lock and for the next 43 years cargo had to be physically carried around the rapids.
Since the opening of the State Lock on the U.S. side in 1855 there have been locks in continuous operation here. Crews at the Soo Locks complete over 7,000 “lockages” during the 42-week-long navigation season (the locks are closed from January 15 to March 25 each year). The locks operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week allowing government, commercial and private vessels to quickly pass between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
Despite changes in machinery and power sources, today’s locks work much as they did 200 years ago. By opening and closing valves, water moves in and out of the lock chamber using only gravity. Over 22 million gallons of water move through the locks every time a boat is raised or lowered.
About Soo Locks
The Soo Locks allow freighters and other ships to navigate between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and international markets. It is an essential transportation link that moves nearly 86 million tons of cargo annually, including 95% of the United States’ iron ore, about $500 billion worth each year.
Over time, vessel sizes increased as the creation of larger locks allowed fewer boats to carry more cargo through in fewer trips. Today, the largest boats, like the “Indiana Harbor” that we were watching that day, are over 1,000 feet long and 100 feet wide.
It takes those freighters about 9 hours to pass through the 63-mile long St. Mary’s River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, navigating a series of tight turns slowly and methodically.
This may surprise you to know (it surprised me) that Duluth, Minnesota in the Upper Midwest is the western-most Atlantic seaport. Yes, Atlantic seaport! From Duluth ships make their way eastward on a 2,342 mile long trip to the Atlantic Ocean through four of the five Great Lakes. And vice versa.
As you might imagine, the Soo Locks have become a popular tourist destination, attracting over 500,000 visitors each year. This year, we were two of those half-million visitors.
Waiting For Indiana Harbor
While waiting, we overheard a woman in the area just below us telling people in her party that she remembered there was a great place to eat not far from the locks with delicious burgers, fries, onion rings, shakes, etc. but that she could NOT remember the name of it. Cindy leaned over the rail and said “West Pier Drive-In, we were just there and it WAS delicious!” The woman exclaimed “Yes! That’s it! Thank you!” We gave her directions and told her to tell them that Cindy sent her, lol.
These freighters move very slowly approaching and going through the lock so we had time to watch some smaller vessels, even personal boats, make their way through the nearest lock. As it turned out, the freighter was going through the farthest lock, so we would not be able to see it as “up close and personal” as we had hoped.
The video for this post shows a time-lapse scene of the water level rising in the nearest lock for boats coming through from the Lake Huron side while the level in the farthest lock is lowering for the “Indiana Harbor” as it transitions from the Lake Superior side to the Lake Huron side. While the freighter is in the lock you cannot see the actual water level, but there is a white dot on the bow of the freighter and if you watch it closely you can see it lowering as the water level decreases.
Afterward we went to a gift shop across the street from the Visitor Center and Cindy found a Michigan hot pad or pot holder to add to her collection of said items from different states we’ve visited. On the way back to the campground we passed a horse and carriage on the highway that came from a nearby Amish Community.
Tahquamenon Falls
Cindy booked us in the Monocle Lake State Park in Brimley because it was fairly close to Tahquamenon Falls, which our daughter-in-law Wendy (also a native of Michigan) recommended we see while visiting. Thanks Wendy!
Friday morning we left around 7 am for the hour and 15 minute drive, hoping to see some moose out having breakfast along the route, but no such luck. However it was still a nice, leisurely and scenic drive.
The Tahquamenon Falls are a series of waterfalls that are found on the Tahquamenon River not far from where the river flows into Lake Superior in the northeastern Upper Peninsula. They are the largest falls in the state of Michigan.
When you see our photos of the falls you will notice that the water is brown-colored. This is from the tannins that are leached from the cedars, spruce and hemlock trees in the swamp from which the river drains. The extremely soft water that is churned by the action of the falling water also causes large amounts of foam. This coloring and foaming has earned them the nickname “Root Beer Falls”, and you can see why in our photos and video.
Lower Falls
The falls are divided into the Upper and Lower Falls. We visited the Lower Falls first, arriving around 8:30 am and finding them almost completely empty of people, which is how we like it.
The Lower Falls are about 4 miles downstream from the Upper Falls and consist of five smaller waterfalls that cascade around an island. As you can see in our video, that water crashes down and around the island, creating continuously rushing water and lots and lots of foam. The sight of white water coming over a waterfall and then seeing the brown coloring from the tannins is a mesmerizing vision.
If you’re especially brave you can reach the island by rowboat using the basin below the Lower Falls. I imagine it would be quite a ride. But instead we made use of the foot bridge that was constructed in 2022 to get to the island. As you walk across the bridge, you can feel the power of the river and the falls beneath you while you look at the towering trees and blue sky above you.
Upper Falls
The Upper Falls consists of a single, 200-foot wide fall that drops about 48 feet. Again, the tannins and softness of the water create a view of white, brown and foam that, even from a distance, exhibits a strange kind of beauty.
The Tahquamenon River drains as much as 50,000 gallons of water per second through the Upper Falls, making it the third most voluminous waterfall east of the Mississippi River. Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls are first and second, respectively.
One of the viewpoints was closed for construction and the other required taking 181 stair steps down and those same 181 stair steps back up. It was probably not the wisest decision, but I decided that, in spite of my left knee still hurting pretty bad, to go ahead and walk down and back up. Even Cindy found the steps challenging. BUT the view was good and it’s probably not something we’ll ever see again, so it was worth it.
Cindy and I found that we preferred the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls. There was much more to see, as far as waterfalls go, and a greater diversity of scenery on the Lower Falls. The Upper Falls biggest claim to fame is that it is 200 feet wide.
Hobblin’ and Waddlin’
Walking back toward the entrance I mentioned that with my knee I felt like I was hobbling along and Cindy said she felt like she was waddling along, so we decided from now on we would be known as Hobblin’ and Waddlin’ and we laughed quite a bit over that new name.
We decided to have lunch at the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery and enjoyed a nice lunch and dessert before driving back to the campground, but on the drive back we stopped at two more places.
The Shallows
Along the Whitefish Bay Scenic Byway, which hugs the shore of Lake Superior, there was a stop called “The Shallows” that we decided to pull into. It gave us our closest view of Lake Superior and gave Cindy the opportunity to put her hand in the water so she could say she touched the waters of Lake Superior.
Point Iroquois Lighthouse
Also along the Whitefish Bay Scenic Byway and only a mile from our campground, was the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. We had originally planned to hike the trail from our campground to the lighthouse, but decided that since rain was forecast for the following day we should probably go ahead and see it then, rather than possibly not get to do so the next day.
Plus, we had walked enough at the Falls to last a couple of days, lol!
We toured the lighthouse home, but decided that walking up to the top of the lighthouse was just not worth it that day. It would have been a nice view and made for some good photos and video, but we’re getting old, don’t ya know?
Storms arrived around 11 pm Friday night and continued through the morning hours of Saturday, so we spent the majority of Saturday recuperating from the previous day’s hike around the falls.
Sunday morning I was up early to repack the back of the truck before leaving for our next stop. Since we won’t be needing the generator for the rest of the year it was stored farther back now. Plus, Cindy needed some of her clothes in one of the tubs and I was looking through the tubs for my Superman T-shirt for our upcoming visit to Cleveland, which I STILL can’t find!
This was a busy, fun-filled stop and we have more of those coming up over the next few weeks.
Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons
FINALLY! I missed your blog. I love all the history you add to your stories. And I love Hobblin and Waddlin!
Thanks Princess!
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