Tuesday, July 7

#1 Soo Locks - unfortunately no freighters coming through
#2 The hatch at the top of Pt. Iroquois Lighthouse - I climbed thru it...
#3 Iroquois Point Lighthouse
#4 Driftwood at Whitefish Point - can be a wild place
#5 Whitefish Point Lighthouse
#6 Tahquamenon Falls - Upper Falls
#7 Tahquamenon Falls - Lower Falls out on the island (we rowed out)

Another cloudy day, but it is supposed to improve at some point. It is also still cold….at least to us although I think it feels delightful with a jacket and fleece!! Drove up to Sault Ste. Marie to see the locks and we missed the ships coming through and there were no more in sight. We walked around the information center about the locks and watched the movie and then went out to the observation decks to see the locks…as there were no boats coming through, it was interesting but not terribly exciting. Kind of wanted to take a boat cruise through the locks, but only if there was a ship coming through so we opted out of that and left "Soo" as it is called and headed for Whitefish Point where the shipwreck museum and an historic lighthouse is located.

On the way we stopped at Iroquois Point Lighthouse and there is a small museum there and you can climb the lighthouse tower….about 90 steps up a metal spiral staircase thru a small metal hatch onto the lighthouse floor with a great view of the lake. Too bad it was cloudy, the colors in the water would have been really spectacular had the sun been shining. Jerry took dogs for walk along the beach and boardwalk. A nice stop.

It was a nice drive to Whitefish Point and I opted to do the Museum and the lighthouse tours. It is a rather wild spot of land with sand dunes and lots of wind!! The museum was most interesting, but rather sad as well as there has been so much loss of life on the lake. At our next stop you can actually take a glass bottomed boat ride to view some of the shipwrecks. Included in the museum tour was entrance to 4 buildings, including the lighthouse which was unique in that it was set up as a duplex as there were 2 lightkeepers stationed here to keep the lights burning around the clock. One unique feature was a covered bridge walkway to the lighthouse tower from the housing side. The house features have all been recreated to be like it was in the early 1900’s with the help of the granddaughter of one of the long term keepers - 30 years….I can’t imagine as there is nothing here…..and winters must be brutal.

On the way back from Whitefish Point we went to Tahquamenon Falls…hitting the upper falls first. It is supposedly the second largest falls east of the MS River…not a huge drop - maybe 50 ft. but wide falls w/ brown water from the tannic acid in the soil and plant life. At the lower falls, which kind of gently cascaded over stairstep rock formations we rented a rowboat and rowed out to the island. The dogs were with us and it has been a while since they have been on the water. They were steel rowboats and very heavy…Jerry was wondering why we were not making more headway….IT was a nice walk around the island and then we rowed around the falls a bit more when we were done with the walk.

Stopped at a local fish house on the way back - in fact it is called "The Fish House". Got appetizer of fried clams then Lake Superior fresh whitefish. I got the fried and Jerry got his broiled. It is a VERY mild fish - in fact Jerry thinks it has no flavor, but I enjoyed mine very much. Back to St. Ignace around 9:30.