• Friday-What'sUP September 8 - 09:05 am

Never having been this far east in the U.P., I can't tell you the name of this park on the St. Mary's River, but I can say that if you're a "boat nerd", then this is the spot for you. This shipping lane between Lake Superior and Lake Huron is the international border between the U.S. and Canada for its entire length. Brooke Gubacz was standing near this Michigan border at just the right time to capture a Freighter making its way along. I'll have to rely on one of you Pasty Cam visitors to fill us in on what city that is across the river. It looks like there are a number of bigger buildings there and I'm assuming it's in Canada. Anyone?

Is that Soo, Canada? Nice shot.

Yes that is Soo Canada across the river and a little further down to the right is Sugar Island.

Mary the Soo is where all good Boatnerds go at least once in their lifetime..Many, many attractions there for the whole family to enjoy.Besides the SOO CANAL there is the SS.VALLEY CAMP which is docked there as a museum ship and with tours being available throughout the whole ship one can get the feel of what it was like to have sailed on the lakes for the last 100 years.

Hurrah! Another interesting place to visit the next time we're in UP!

Sue

Sault Ste Marie, Ontario where you can book the Agawa Canyon train north for a full day trip. Take it in the fall for a glorious wilderness trip. But first enjoy the Soo locks.

We were just there visiting with friends this summer. It was so much fun. Sault Ste. Marie, MI. has some fun gift shops and a great restaurant to boot. And of course you get to see the boats coming into the locks and waiting for the water to either empty or fill, depending on which lake they're traveling to. Fun stuff.

Take a cruise on the Soo Line Boat Tour. They take you right into the locks. My good friend Rich Brawley owns the business and has a nice smooth operation.

I live here in the good old Soo... and I live in the new apartment complex West Pier Place. Fortunately, I have a water view, so I get to see all boats as they go through the locks, everyday!! You can even feel some of them, our walls vibrate. Its pretty cool.

We were at the park/ picnic spot next to the Valley Camp when I took that picture. Carole is right.

The train ride sounds nice....I have never heard about the Agawa Canyon...???? Does anyone know the cost and length of the train ride. Sounds like a fun trip. Thanks & God Bless

I have been on the Algoma Central train to Agawa Canyon and all the way to Hearst. The canyon trip is very pretty, especially in the Fall. The Snow Train is also very nice. For more info I posted a link below that should answer all your questions....

http://www.algomacentralrailway.com/index.html

Go to www.agawacanyontrain.com for a look at all the Algoma train tours. The agawa canyon trip leaves around 8:00 am and returns about 5:00pm I bought my tickets the day before. The station is easy to find. Cross the border and take a right turn just ahead. The border guard can probably tell you where it's at. Bring a lunch or buy a box lunch.

I did the train ride about 25ish years ago in the winter. It was very cool. We even got to see a moose. Check it out!

Sault Ste. Marie is my home town. For anyone who has never visited there - it is a must see journey.

Sault Ste. Marie, is the oldest city in Michigan and the third oldest city in the United States,it is located on the shores of the St Mary's River connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron and is only 52 miles north of the Mackinac Bridge in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For boatnerds or historians it is an awesome place to be.

Over Labor Day four of us paddled the St. Marys River from the Soo to Barbeau. It was a great trip and there was lots of ship traffic both upbound and downbound.

The waterway system going in either direction is a very beautiful place to journey on, whether going by fishing boat, tourist boat, kayak or driving the coast out past Brimley, MI. It is a joy each time.

GO DISCOVER THE EASTERN AREA OF THE U.P. THERE ARE MANY BEAUTIFUL SPOTS TO EXPLORE.

Hi
Regarding the Agawa canyon train, if you want to check out the country north of the Canadian Soo there's also a good highway that runs closer to the coast through some very dramatic scenery. We've gone to Lake Superior Provincial Park that way.
http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/lakes.html

Hey, this Soo pic looks all too familiar! Down here in St. Clair county we have a park that looks so much like this scene on the St. Clair River! Just down a ways where our road ends at the big river. ( It would be the same as 28 Mile Rd. for all you Detroit, SE MI troll folks) The river is about as wide and we see the freighters come thru regularly! (Some ship pics in my gallery!) Canada of course on the other side too!
Just to the north aways is one of the huge Detrot Edison plants where we often see the Lee and/or Paul Tregurtha docked!
Dave H. and family knows "our" park well, they have fished there several times!

Russ Emmons, St. Clair county

Russell, do you live in St. Clair near the boardwalk? When I lived in Sterling Heights, we would take a ride over to St. Clair and walk along the boardwalk and wait for the freighters to pass by. Now that I live in Holly it is a bit far to go, especially with the price of gas these days.

Carole; Russ don't live that far from the Boardwalk,the one in Alognac,where you get off I-94 at 23 mile Rd. also known as M-29 on way to the state park.Where we fished often is still north of that.It is a good place to watch Freighters.Saw many pass each other going opposite ways right in that little park.

For all of you wondering what the buildings are in Ontario, I remember there being a couple big banks and a •••••• over there. Also, for those of you who don't know, the drinking age is 19 in Ontario, so there are several night clubs in the Sault for all the US college kids to patronize.

About 80 miles north of Sault St Marie, Ontario, there is a provincial park called Lake Superior Provincial Park. It is one of many Provincial parks in Onatario. I hate to say it, but in my opinion, it has the UP beat in every area of beauty! There are mountains that make the Porkies small and rivers that are spectacular! I encourage everyone to check it out! Plus it's a side of Lake Superior you don't often get to see.

My husband Nate is on is way up there right now for a canoe/kayak trip.

Apparantly, I cannot use the common word referring to a center for gambling.

Mary says: Not that the word you used (c-a-s-i-n-o) is a "bad" word as such, but if you recall back to the days before you had to register to post a message on the Pasty Cam pages, we were deluged with hundreds of spam messages referring to g-a-m-b-l-i-n-g (among other things), so we "marked" them hoping to thwart the spammers. Finally we had to resort to a "registration system" instead. :->

I had a boatnerd's dream back in October, 2005 when I took a boat tour of the Soo Locks. The Poe Lock (don't say it too fast) was out of commission and that is the only one that could accommodate the thousand footers, so guess what? The Soo Locks became log jammed with about a half dozen thousand footers at one time. The Soo Locks boat tours pulled up right next to each of them, including the Paul Tregurtha, the biggest ship on the Great Lakes. For a boat nerd, that was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Carole: No, we live inland from the river a few miles in farm country. The park I speak about is the small East China Twp. park about half way between St. Clair and Marine City. The similarity of it to Brookes photo here is remarkable!
We have been to the St. Clair and Algonac boardwalks though. We live about equal distance between St. Clair & Marine City and do most of our shopping there! Love to see the big ships come through and also love to see the Ducks, Geese, Swans, Terns, Herons etc. on the river! One of the nice areas here in Trolland that somewhat compares to the UP! :)

I thought about all of these posts on PastyCam as we were driving
along the St. Clair River on our way to visit the relatives in
Northville and Plymouth yesterday. We enjoyed our picnic lunch by
the boardwalk in St. Clair as we waited for the freighter we saw
passing beneath us at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron to
appear. No luck. Maybe it stopped somewhere in between. We
enjoyed a walk near the muskrat marshes near Algonac and pulled
off into farming country not far from New Baltimore to buy the best
corn we have ever eaten from a small farm stand.

I would recommend a trip to Sault Ste. Marie for anybody that hasn't been there. It's a very nice town. It reminds me a little of Marquette.
I get a real kick out of watching the ships go through the locks. Almost close enough to touch! The boat ride through the locks is a lot of fun too. The Valley Camp museum is great too. Seeing the lifeboats from the Edmund Fitzgerald is kind of spooky. Find a restaurant with broiled whitefish and your trip will be complete. Where else can you get a meal where the check gives the price in U.S. and Canadian dollars?

I'm with you on that Greg. I love both of the Saults. My son sailed
on one of the tall ships from there several summers ago. He
appreciated the thrill of passing by the freighters and viewing the
meteor showers during the month of August. I took the tour boat
through the locks and had a chance to see where the trains take
the ore from Marquette. If you have a chance, have dinner at the
Ojibway Hotel where you can watch the boats lock through while
you are dining. We did that one Christmas and especially enjoyed
the Christmas trees on the decks of the freighters.

pulled
off into farming country not far from New Baltimore to buy the best
corn we have ever eaten from a small farm stand.

Kosk; I have pulled into that same stand many times to buy the best corn I ever eaten!

Kosk:
Glad to hear of someone visiting and traveling thru our little corner of the Great Lakes! Hope you had a nice ride! Where did you get to walk the "Muskrat Marshes"?-- The DNR pulloff & trails at Pearl Beach across from "Cheers"? The freighter you missed may have docked in at Marysville where there are many plants, or maybe even just across in Canada where there are also many plants & refinerys.
Yesterday (the 8th) PM we were at the little park I mentioned above for a short while. Not many birds, ducks etc., no ships going up & down the river but just up aways at the Detroit Edison plant the Paul R. Tregurtha was docked!

Tim H: I had my boatnerds dream last November! While standing under the Blue Water Bridges in Port Huron, suddenly out of nowhere came the Edward L. Ryerson! It passed under the bridge downbound just feet away from us! Never thought I would ever see that one! Did get some photos!

OK you guys, just where exactly is the roadside stand with the corn? I'm sure I've been by it but haven't bought the corn---we grow our own!

Russell,

We take that ride several times a year. I love going through the
little towns and of course love watching the boats on the river.
I bet you're right about what happened to "my" freighter.

I'm afraid I can't give a better description of where that roadside
stand is. Somewhere near New Baltimore--off to the right--
there's a hand printed sign advertising corn, tomatoes, and I think
cucumbers. They had other stuff as well--including home baking.