Back in the C a n a d a

Day 60. Newberry to Sault Ste Marie. 74 mi. 3687 TTD. 1592 feet elevation. Weather perfect

If you aren’t a baby boomer, you might not recognize the title, which is a play on a Beatles song. In any case, yes, I’m back in Canada. Probably the biggest hill I climbed today was actually a bridge that goes from Sault Ste Marie USA to Sault Saint Marie, Canada. It crosses the St Mary’s River, which runs from Lake Superior into Lake Huron.

The river is large enough for the passage of large freighters. It’s a rather long bridge in which there’s no shoulder and no sidewalk, and it is the only way between the countries. Fortunately, there was almost no traffic, and nobody was racing to get to the Border Patrol, so it was quite safe.

The blue dot is me on today’s route. I must have had a really nice tailwind because I was at about 50 miles and still felt great. I was also back at the shores of Lake superior. I realized as I was peddling to the final Eastern edge of the lake, Sault Ste Marie, that I had been pedaling along the shore for about 2 weeks. That is a big lake! For Michigan, it appears to be one of the major sites for tourism. I read that tourism was the number one industry in the upper peninsula.

One other industry I noticed on the upper peninsula was wood stands. Every town I went through, and some places that weren’t towns, someone had a sign up like this one. I didn’t need firewood, but I did need cash, so I started leaving wood and taking the money. I hope that is okay. There weren’t any instructions on any of them.

I stopped at a state park for some snacks/lunch and used the flush toilets, which are always a treat. Especially when you’re worried about poison ivy and ticks in the woods. State parks are free in Michigan if you’re on a bicycle.

Then I said goodbye to Lake Superior or at least the shore for the last time as I pedaled off to Sault Ste Marie. It is nice to have road along the shoreline as the route because it’s generally flat. It was an easy 10 or 15 miles into Sault Ste Marie. However, I did have to backtrack a couple miles when the GNBR route ended at the edge of what appeared to be a marsh with no discernible trail. Having previously nearly died crossing a marsh, I quickly retreated. Thankfully, it was only a mile or two back to a way around.

Tomorrow, it’s down along the St Mary’s River and then the shores of Lake Huron.