Adventures with Big Blue

[campfire]

Once crossing the border we found ourselves in the populated outer reaches of Thunder Bay, ON. Home to 120,000 people, it is home to lots of civilized stuff that the desolate regions of Minnesota didn't have. Nor would we see any other populous cities until we finished the Canadian leg of the trip (and Sault Ste. Marie isn't quite as large as Thunder Bay).





Home to forestry products. This looks like a pulp mill (but I'm just guessing from the outside).





Like the speed limits, the distance numbers suddenly got bigger, too.



Looking across the bay at the Sleeping Giant.



Ontario's moose looks different than Minnesota's moose.

 

[campfire]

Our destination for the night was Sleeping Giant.





This is another funny sign. Are your dollars confused? If so, go straight (there are no turns available, nor am I sure what sort of confusion dollars can get into).




Terrible shot, but the sign says Marie Louise Lake (campground).








We picked a campsite and set up the tent out toward the tip of the peninsula. Surrounded by Lake Superior on 3 sides, but also shielded by the large mountainous ridge that is the Sleeping Giant.



Visitors.



And sunset on the beach.

 

[campfire]

The next morning we grabbed our bikes and biked out to the bottom of Sleeping Giant.










The trail to the summit was technical enough that we left the bikes and continued on foot.





First glimpse of the cliff face. Wifey was not impressed with my drive to get to the top of it.

 

[campfire]

I don't remember how long the ride/hike was, but this sign reminds me that the super-steep section was 3km.





Some of the trail was cleared, some of it wasn't.



But every once in a while we'd get a glimpse of what we were leaving behind.



Before getting lost in the trees again.




Stats on the hike. We hiked most of the way across the top of the ridge (maybe 1km past the sign?)



The view from the top. The dark band on the horizon is Isle Royal (Michigan). So close, and yet so very far away.






Cliff pics.





Isle Royal again.

 

[campfire]

More pics from on top of the world.




The water is so clean and pretty. It never shows up in film, but it's downright magical looking down at the gleam.








On the way down we were accosted by this little guy.



Here an obstacle had been turned into a marker post.



The lower portion of the trail included toilet facilities.



Kindof.



Back at beach elevation again.

 

[campfire]

Having completed our hike we packed up and hit the road. On the way out we drove out to a neat overlook point. It was a washed-out clay road getting out there, but it was dry.

Here's a map of the campground, lookout point, and Sleeping Giant itself.





Looking down through the floor of the overlook platform.



And the view of the water.



Isle Royal is a bit closer on this side of the peninsula (still about 20 miles away).






I don't remember which bay this is looking across.







The dry dust did a cool job of illuminating the lettering on the tires.

 

[campfire]

After leaving Thunder Bay behind, the road went through many varied terrains. Sandstone. Mountains. Woods. Fog. Clear blue skies. It was a whole lot to cram into just one afternoon.














We followed the road until we arrived in Marathon.



Home to a shuttered pulp mill and not much else.



Pics from packing up in the morning.







So ends day 3.

 

[yellowK20]

Makes me homesick!

 

[yellowK20]

Eckbeck park, the next road down is Vista lane thats the road my grand parents live on.

My grandmother was the "manager" of gooseberry falls park for about 20 yrs.

My stepdad just retired from his head of maintenance and grounds at Split Rock Lighthouse.

i grew ip in In Finland Mn , but went to school in Silver Bay my Dads side of the family is from Two Harbors

 

[yellowK20]

The Temperance river, is so named because it has no sand bar at its mouth .

no bar - temperance . Someone had a sence of humor back then


This is the truck I leave at my Dads in Two Harbors to use when I go home to visit.

83 k10 6.2/700r4/np208/10-bolts with 3.08's and stock 235-70-15's gets about 22 mpg and is perfect for running up and down the shore

 

[Blue85]

View attachment 213504

There was one of these out at High Rock Bay for a while. Didn't get a chance to check it out this year. No idea who built it.

Sleeping Giant is definitely on the bucket list. Awesome!

I just can't call that rig "Big Blue" because it's so small. For me "Farm Truck" is the true name.

 

[campfire]

The Temperance river, is so named because it has no sand bar at its mouth .

no bar - temperance . Someone had a sence of humor back then

Hahaha. I wondered what the history was.

This is the truck I leave at my Dads in Two Harbors to use when I go home to visit.

83 k10 6.2/700r4/np208/10-bolts with 3.08's and stock 235-70-15's gets about 22 mpg and is perfect for running up and down the shore

View attachment 213545

Wow. That's exactly what Big Blue was originally. Just change the trim to blue & silver Sierra Classic. Except that yours has escaped the rust issues that plagued mine. And 22MPG is about right for a road trip in stock form.

I should have waved as we drove past.

 

[campfire]

I did figure out how we missed Split Rock. Since it sits between Gooseberry and Finland State Forest, we drove past it at night. I remember the sun was setting when we left Gooseberry and it was dark by the time we rolled into the campground. So I probably didn't even see whatever signage the lighthouse has. And I hadn't heard of it, so I wasn't seeking it out. Next time it will be a stop for sure.

 

[campfire]

There was one of these out at High Rock Bay for a while. Didn't get a chance to check it out this year. No idea who built it.

Sleeping Giant is definitely on the bucket list. Awesome!

I just can't call that rig "Big Blue" because it's so small. For me "Farm Truck" is the true name.

Sleeping Giant is worth the trip. I know it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's a pretty drive and an excellent hike up to a spectacular view.

"Big Blue" is the name that came with the truck from the previous owners. I haven't bothered replacing it because the truck is indeed blue (it's now bluer than it was with the original two-tone paint). It is a big truck compared to other vehicles that they have. At the time the owner was driving the 1/2-ton and a Cherokee. In that context it makes sense. As my DD is also small, it also makes sense in my driveway. Parked next to the Maiden, it doesn't make much sense.

"Farm Truck" is something that a random stranger shouted at Silver Lake last month. So it's also not a name that I chose, but it sure is sticking well.

 

[yellowK20]

[QUOTE="campfire, post: 3688987, member: 74771Except that yours has escaped the rust issues that plagued mine[/QUOTE]


I cheated , mine came from New Mexico and 6x,xxx miles when I bought it from the original owners son .........the son was in his late 70's

 

[campfire]

I cheated , mine came from New Mexico and 6x,xxx miles when I bought it from the original owners son .........the son was in his late 70's

That's ok in my book. I pulled this rig out of a barn in Iowa. Unfortunately for me it hadn't been parked in that barn for its whole life. I replaced the bed because 2 of the rear crossmembers had rusted to the point that they were no longer present. The random holes throughout the body didn't bother me (and I never did fix the holes in the front rocker panels), but I didn't want the bed falling off the frame.

If I ever buy another rig I will strongly consider shipping one in from outside the rust belt.

 

[AgDieseler]

The quantity of photos in this thread has surpassed 'mosesburb levels'. I love it.

David

 

[campfire]

The quantity of photos in this thread has surpassed 'mosesburb levels'. I love it.

David

Hearing that makes my day, man. I don't think it's true (at this moment his thread has more than twice as many posts as this one, and his use of photobucket means that he can fit more pictures in a single post than I do). But it's still neat to hear the comparison. Mosesburb's thread is what brought me to this forum, and it is also what inspired my camping truck build (slow as it may be). He's done some neat stuff.

The comparison would also fall flat on its face if his thread was up-to-date.

But yeah, pictures are why this thread exists.

 

[campfire]

We got up on Day 4 and trekked back toward the USA border. This area between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie is desolate. In the 625 miles between Duluth and the Soo, Thunder Bay is the only city, and there aren't a huge number of tiny towns along the way, either. Not many places to buy groceries or spare tires. The closest thing I can compare this to (aside from the similarly desolate section of Ontario lining Lake Huron) is our trek across Montana from NW corner to SE corner. We spent all day and were still inside Montana when the sun set. But that was a shorter route, and along the way we found farming towns and groceries and we could have found a replacement tire without too much effort. Here there was no such infrastructure. We had no issues, but I'm not sure what we would have done if the fuel pump had failed.

It became monotonous enough that we didn't take many pictures. How that for weird?



We did find the Yellow Brick Road.



Trees, rocks, and water. This section from Marathon to Wawa came inland instead of following the coastline.



One of the largest tiny towns that we encountered was White River (population 607). We rolled into town and encountered flags. And food. And diesel fuel.



And Winnie The Pooh up in a tree.



Turns out that White River is his hometown. We've learned some peculiar things on our expeditions, yes we have.



The pooh pictures and the little lighthouse picture and the pictures of camping in Marathon are the only non-scenery picture that we took in the 450 miles between Sleeping Giant and the Soo. We both felt that there just wasn't a whole lot to see.





We've since learned that we missed several lighthouses along the route. If we do this route again we'll pick more stopping points instead of tearing through all of Ontario in barely 1 day's worth of driving.

 

[campfire]

Coming into the Soo.




Last chance for overpriced gasoline (no, we didn't buy any).



The Canadian side of the Soo Locks.




We had a little bit of time, so we sat and watched the tour boat working its way from Superior back to Huron.



The building next to the Canadian lock. Wedged between the lock and one of the 3 hydroelectric plants here at the St. Mary's Falls.




We then headed across the border back to the U.S. of A. Last piece of Canada (next to the bridge) is the Hard Wok Cafe.



I'm thoroughly tired of the camera focusing on the dirty windshield instead of the cool stuff outside the cab.



Climbing up the International Bridge.



Looking down at the Canadian side.



The second hydro plant and the St. Mary's Falls.



Heading back up to clear the American Locks and the freighter traffic that they involve. The train crossing on the right is a neat lift bridge next to a neat draw bridge. I wish I had some pictures of it in various positions.



Self-unloading freighter locking down to Lake Huron. I think this is the freighter Kaye E. Barker, but I could be mistaken.



Speed limits with small numbers again.



Another freighter locking through the Poe Lock.


Welcome to Michigan. A lengthy interview happened between these two pictures. We had no snags either way, but it was significantly easier to get into Canada than it was to get back home.



CBP also occupies this significant building at the checkpoint. Part of me wonders how they use so much real estate in the checking of passports.





Home sweet Yooperland.