Ride Around Lake Superior on my GS750L

[Greg O.]

Just one week ago myself and 8 other motorcycles ranging from a brand new Harley Davidson to my 1979 Suzuki GS 750L were completing a ride around Lake Superior. We left on Sunday July 22 from my home in Berrien Springs Michigan, southwest part of the state, to Macinaw City MI. We camped at a great private campground just east of town . Monday we headed to Sault Ste Marie and through Canada customs. That took about an hour, but wasn't to bad. After lunch we headed west on High 17. The sights were fantastic, many small inland lakes and wet lands. Monday night we camped at another private campground at WaWa Ontario, just off of Highway 17. It was a great little private campground and was very inexspensive. Traveling through that part of Canada we found to be rather exspensive, especially with gas at about $1.20 per liter for regular. We were paying over $5 per gallon for premium. Food is also more exspensive. Tuesday we stayed at Sleeping Giant Provincial park. Very nice park, but a little pricey by the time you pay the $10.50 vehichle permit per motorcycle and the camping fee of around $25 per sight. Wed we rode back into the US. We stopped at an overlook, about 50 miles north of Duluth MN , on the edge of Lake Superior, and I mean on the edge. There is a great view from a cliff of about 150 feet high overlooking the lake. When clear a person can see Duluth. We camped that night just west of Superior WI that night. On Thursday we rode up around the Apostle islands. Really a nice ride early in the morning. Very little traffic and very scenic. We had a pretty long ride this day and ended up in Copper harbor MI. I was here when I was about 9 years old and hadn't been back since. Don't really remember the sights from so many years ago, but it was fun going back to that area. I want to go back and explore some of the old copper mines that closed over 100 years ago. We stayed at historic Fort Wilkins State park. Another nice place, but once again vehicle permits for each motorcycle, at least I was MI resident so only cost me $6. It seems to me that motorcycles should be half the cost as an automobile since there are only half the wheels. I guess that makes to much sense for the governments to understand and would cut into their revenues. Thats another topic. Friday we did some site seeing around Copper Harbor then headed toward Tahquamenon Falls State park. (another vehicle permit) Along the way we saw many sandy beaches that were inviting. We stayed at the rustic campground about a 14 mile ride north of the falls. I would highly recomend staying there vs the campground near the falls. It was so pretty and very quiet with no cars, trucks, trains, planes to hear. Saturday we headed south back to lower Mi. We ate lunch in St. Ignace. The 50th anniversary of the Mighty Mac bridge was being celebrated as we were in town, but we were all getting pretty tired so didn't stick around for the festivities. Riding across the 5 mile bridge is a nice experience, almost worth the trip up north just for that.

When we arrived back at my house my trip odometer had turned twice and read 254, in other words the old GS 750 L ran flawlessly for 7 days traveling 2254 miles. I averaged about 42 mpg traveling at speeds of about 65 most of the time. It used about 1 pint of oil. Not bad for a 29 year old motorcycle. The worst part of these old suzzies is the seat. I put on a sheep fleece and a Butt Buffer pad. I would not have made it without. It is 1300 miles just around lake Superior plus the ride from my house and back. This means a ride of around 300 or more miles per day. That does not leave much room for sight seeing. I would like to do it again, but allow more time to stop and see some of the sites. But our primary objective on this trip was riding, and we did alot of that. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home, but I would do it again.

I almost forgot the weather. We had perfect weather. No rain, and not to cold. We had one day in the 90s, and most of the time 60 to 80 degrees. Riding along Lake Superior the conditions change often. One area can be sunny and 82 degrees, then you can ride into fog and 60 degrees or just a cool breeze off the lake. I was the lead bike one day and it started out nice and warm, but got cool as we got close to the lake, so I pulled into a scenic overlook to put on sweat shirt under my leather jacket. I was glad I did, as it was a very pretty beach. We spent a half hour there. 20 miles later we had to take some clothes off as it got warm again. So point is go prepared for all kinds of weather because there is nothing worse than riding when cold and wet.

Greg O

 

[Redman]

Greg,

Thanks for posting the story.

Great that the ol' Zuki had such a great showing.

Dave

 

[bexabarr]

Great story/review... I was thinking of doing a trip around that area, your post will be much help when/if I get around to it. Thanks for the post!

 

[Mike_H]

Nice Story. Let me know next time you go to Copper Harbor. I have Family there, and Used to live there myself...I can show you the stuff off the beaten path.

 

[Greg O.]

Thanks Mike for the offer. We are talking about going up there next summer. We will drive my car or truck up as my wife does not ride motorcycles, and my brother from Fl, who rode with us on the lake Superior trip, will go along with us. I would like to explore some of the old minning areas. I love all the old machinery and buildings from the past. We rode past a huge rock crusher on highway 41 I think it was. It may have been highway 26 along Torch lake. It was a huge machine mounted on a huge concrete base. It looked like an ore crusher to me. I should have stopped and taken a picture, but was in the middle of the pack of motorcycles. Do you know the machine I am referring to?

Thanks,

Greg O

 

[Fixxxer]

That sounds like an awesome ride, and one I've been thinking about myself. Probably not in the cards for this year, though. I'm from Bruce Crossing, which you probably drove through/turned onto US 45 in, and I go to Michigan Tech in Houghton. The roads in the Keweenaw are simply gorgeous, as I'm sure you are well aware. I love taking 26 from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor, and if you rode around Lac LaBelle towards Gay you know how beautiful that is as well. Twisty roads and a cool breeze/great view courtesy of Gitchee Gumee. Good thing you went when you did, we had a heat wave last week and it probably would have been miserable just stopping to stretch your legs.

Unfortunately a lot of the old mines are being blasted closed, supposedly for saftey reasons. My housemate is a Geophysics major and he spends a lot of time locating and plundering the ones that are still open in hopes of finding a copper crystal valuable enough to pay for his tuition. He's got some screws loose, but he's a good guy all in all. However, the more mines close, the less he's willing to tell anyone where any of the open ones are, because he's paranoid about attracting attention and getting them closed too.

I'm not sure which machine you're talking about; do you recall what town it was closest too?

 

[Mike_H]

There is a lot of abandoned equipment laying around that area. Hard to say which one you saw. Did you happen to see the old dredge? Its along 26 on the way to Lake Linden from Hancock. I don't even know if its still there, but it started sinking, and was listing pretty good when I was there about 7 years ago. I have some pretty wicked pictures from the inside, that looks like the water is flowing uphill.

Fixxer, good to see another Techie on the site. I got my BSME from Tech in 2000. Next time I'm up, I'll let you know. We'll go study in the Library or sumthin :mrgreen:

 

[U.P.dragracer]

\\/ awesome you took a ride through my old stomping grounds LOL!!!
I lived 13 miles west of Marquette MI you cruised through there on your trip :-D

 

[Fixxxer]

Yep, the dredge is still there... always fun to climb around inside it. Do you remember the old stamp mill across the highway from the dredge? We play paintball in there from time to time, and pray it doesn't collapse on top of us. Someone set up bunkers made out of 55 gallon drums, wooden cable spools, pallets, and the like. Who knows, you might have seen it like that... I think that stuff has been there a long time, because there is graffiti on the wall that says stuff like "Tippmann .68 Carbine," a paintball gun that hasn't been in production since at least the mid-nineties.

 

[Mike_H]

Fixxxer, I Haven't been in that mill. I was in the Mill right in Ripley though, before they shut it down. There was a steam locomotive sitting there, big bastard too. I think they have locked those buildings down pretty good now. Redridge was one of my favorite places to party, but someone bought that property, and threw no trespassing signs up all over the place. I think you can still get out on the Dam, but you can't get get back to the mill remains. All that is left is a smokestack, and the concrete foundations.

 

[Greg O.]

Mike,

I did not see the dredge. I think the machine I saw was along the water so it must have been on 26 north of Hancock. It looked like a rock crusher to me, but without stopping and getting a close look it was hard to tell. I did see some pictures of the dredge you are talking about in a resurant in Copper Harbor where we ate breakfast. Good food.

Another question I have. I bought a piece of native copper from a gem shop in Copper Harbor. Where do they find this copper? Is it coming out of the old mines, or from old piles of tailings, or is it just being dug up from the surface?

Greg O

 

[bonanzadave]

How was hwy 61 between Grand Portage & Lutsen ? Last time I was up there it was bumpy loose gravel. Nice ride ! Did I miss the slide show ?

 

[Fixxxer]

This smokestack and foundations?

I rode out past Redridge Dam to Freida with my friend just this weekend, and took these photos.

 

[Mike_H]

Yup, thats Freida. Would be a great ride. It was always a fun drive in my cage (motorcycles were not part of the picture during my days at tech). The Redridge stack is on the beach, well, stamp sands. There is probably a 20-30 foot drop down to the water, and lots of fun in a 4wd truck.

 

[Greg O.]

bonanzadave,

61 was in very good condition all the way. In fact the only bad road we had was a mile or so about 30 miles east of Thunder Bay. There was road construction and the road was gravel. Just before we went through they watered down the gravel, and it made a soupy mess, which in turn made a mess of our bikes.

Greg O

 

[Jon Kram]

Hey, right through my hometown!! Might have even seen you cruize past work. Nice country around here.... and sorry about the price of gas. Try 118 octane racing fuel. I mix 2/3 to 1/3 premium at $44 for the 3 gallons of racing fuel:shock:

 

[Greg O.]

Jon,

Have you been around the lake? I highly recomend you do since you are right there. Be sure to take the trip up to Copper harbor along the north side of the peninsula on highway 26.

In my opinion I thought the eastern side of the lake was the prettiest, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like all the lakes and wetlands. But it is hard to really pick out the best.

Greg O