September 2,2023
We left Marquette, after a nice visit, picking up prescriptions, and re-provisioning, and decided we would head for the Portage Canal thought the Keweenaw Peninsula. They were predicting a day of good weather and this would be a long days ride. It’s a nine hour cruise if we go all the way to Houghton- the only major town on the river/canal/lake.
We are always wary of weather changing quickly and leaving us in a bad spot. There is one harbor of refuge to duck into along this section of Lake Superior. It’s called Big Bay but it is open to the north and our winds will be from that direction. We really don’t want to have to stop there.
On our passage we did pass a few interesting sights, first we saw McIntyre Island. My maiden name is McIntyre so this was special to me. We also passed Lighthouse Island which had the prettiest lighthouse constructed of stone. On entering the Portage canal, we spied a lovely old barn, well cared for and still in use.
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| Mc Intyre Island |
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| Lighthouse on Lighthouse Island |
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| Beautiful old barn on the Portage Canal |
We left at 7am and had 1ft wave and crisp weather. We arrived in Houghton at about 4pm. The facilities there are marginal but brand new. There is a town wall with power and water that they charge $50/night (based on boat size) to use. Unfortunately they had put up a cable fence to keep people from falling in but this made it difficult for us to get off our boat. There were no nearby restrooms to use and no showers at all.Luckily for us, our holding tanks were empty and our water tanks were full.
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| Carolina on Houghton Town Wall - Michigan Technological University in the background. |
Houghton is a college town. The Michigan Technological University is here. The town population is 8,386 and the student body at the school is 7,074. We happened to be in town the weekend that the students returned. There were college students and their parents everywhere. We ran into a man we had seen in Marquette on his sailboat. He was local and gave us some great suggestions for places to visit.
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| Antique wall painting in Houghton |
Houghton was a mining town. The Quincy Copper Mine began operation around 1846 but didn’t begin to pay dividends to investors till 1868. The mine operated until 1970 in one capacity or another. The students from the university now use the mine to practice techniques and observe failures. At one time a university class was held in the mine.
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| Piece of pure copper extracted from the Quincy Mine |
We visited the mine and took the tour of the underground tunnels. The ambient temperature in the mine is a constant 43 degrees(brrrr). The lower levels of the mine have flooded due to lack of use and many springs that tickle into the mine. We came prepared. We wore our heaviest coats and our sea boots. We had to take a taxi up to the top of the mountain to get to the mine entrance. The hills were too steep for us flat-landers to ride up on our bikes. Everyone was given a hard hat and off we went into the mine.
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| Haley, our tour guide and a large chunk of pure copper left behind when the mine closed |
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| Cold, dark, and wet! We wore our sea boots and we’re glad we did. |
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Largest steam hoist in the world! Used for running the man cars, bailing cars and |
skip cars carrying the copper to the surface.
After our adventure into the mine, we decided to walk back to the boat. It was only about 1.5 miles and we needed the exercise. Google maps is amazing! It took us right to the staircase we had seen on our way up the hill which lead us right to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge.
The Portage Lake Lift Bridge is a wonder in its own right. It is the widest and heaviest lift bridge in the world. There are four lanes of traffic that cross the upper deck of the bridge. It is a double decker bridge and used to have train tracks on the lower level. That level is now used in the winter for snowmobiles.
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| Portage Lake Lift Bridge |
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| Portage Lake Lift Bridge in up position for the passage of boats |
We had now reached a point where we had to decide if we were going to continue on to Isle Royale or turn back and head to the Soo. We had a hard date in the Soo to fly to Boston for our granddaughters first birthday. Discussions of shortening days, less predictable weather, shorter weather windows,etc. occurred and we decided that we would enjoy another day or two in Houghton then head back toward the Soo.
Bob and I visited the “Birth Place of Professional Hockey”. In 1903-04 the Portage Lake Hockey Club became the first organization to pay its players. They played at Dee Ice Rink or “The Dee” . The building looks like it’s about to fall down but it is still in operation.
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| Dee Hockey Rink |
We enjoyed our time in Houghton and plan on coming back here sometime in the future. Now it was time to make our way back to The Soo and catch a plane to Boston. We would retrace our steps stopping in Marquette, Munising, Grand Marais, and Whitefish.
It was early (6:30) when we left Houghton. We had a beautiful sunrise but when we got to Lake Portage we had thick fog. We could see about twenty feet in front of the boat. Radar and AIS were on and it was still scary! We spent one night in Marquette then moved on to Munising. We got in early enough to book our selves on the Pictured Rocks Cruise that afternoon. I’ll include some pictures but they don’t do it justice.
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| Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore |
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| Look at how clear the water is and such a beautiful color |
The following day we walked to another waterfall in Munising. We weren’t expecting much but we’re pleasantly surprised.
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| Horseshoe Falls, Munising, MI |
We left Munising and continued on to Grand Marais and then Whitefish Point. Whitefish Point is the home of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. I must say, I never seen a body of water so proud of their shipwrecks. Needless to say, we needed to visit. Luckily for us, we ran into Dwayne in the “marina” parking lot and he handed us to complimentary tickets to the museum - as long as we spent money at his wife’s gift shop. Not a problem for us. We rode our bikes down to the museum and were very surprised to see at least 50 cars in the parking lot. We are in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Population 575 - miles from any kinds of services. The museum was wonderful.
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| Bell recovered from the Edmund Fitzgerald |
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| 2nd Order Fresnel “Clamshell” Lens |
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| Newtsuit used to explore deep wrecks |
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| Rudder from an early schooner wreck |
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| Hard Hat drive suit used by early wreck explorers |
I’ll leave you here at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Really worth the trip if you’re ever up this way. We will continue on to Sault Ste Marie tomorrow. I’ll save that adventure for the next blog.
Till then, safe travels.
P.S. I almost forgot. Bob had to take a dip in the lake so he could brag that he’s had a swim in all the Great Lakes.
