A Trip to the East Coast

A Long Drive for a Small Boat

May, 2011

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After picking up our new dory, we crossed over Lake Champlain in a howling wind. I did not feel particularly comfortable driving a small, light car with a largish boat on top that wanted to act like a kite. We boogied as rapidly as we could to the west, crossing back into Canada. We stopped for lunch at a provincial park called The Chutes. It got its name because they used to have some big wooden chutes to float logs over the waterfall and on down the Aux Sables River. The chutes prevented the logs from getting all jammed up in the falls where it would be too dangerous to free them up.

There are no chutes left, but here's a pointer to one that was rebuilt in a different place, the Hawk Lake Log Chute.

The Chutes


Chutes	Chutes

Below the Chutes


Dona and Max on one of the Bridges at The Chutes	Dona and Max


More Chutes	It is a Gnarly stretch of river!


Chutes	Chutes

Chutes

We continued on to Lake Superior, where we spent the night at a skinny state park sandwiched between the road and the lake. We put our new "Hunky Dory" into the lake to christen her, and enjoyed a wonderful sunset to the calls of loons. It doesn't get much better than that -- there weren't even any mosquitoes! (at the particular instant...)

Dona and our "Hunky Dory" on Lake Superior


Dory Dona Lake Superior	Dory Dona Lake Superior

Loons on Lake Superior


Morning Fog on Lake Superior	Camp Spot on Lake Superior

Lake Superior was gorgeous, and it really made me want to spend a summer and fall sailing around up there exploring all the little islands and coves. I guess I need another lifetime...

Lake Superior

We continued on through Lake Superior Provincial Park, wishing we had more time to stop and explore. We stopped at Agawa Rock and hiked down to see the pictographs painted on the rocks at the lake shore. It was pretty easy to imagine early Americans making their way along the shore, camping here and painting on the rocks.

There was a great chockstone precariously wedged far out in the slot we were hiking down; I wouldn't want to be underneath it in an earthquake...


	Agawa Rock Trail


Agawa Rock Chockstone	Agawa Rock Chockstone

Lake Superior at Agawa Rock
Pictographs are on the Rock Wall at Left


Agawa Rock Pictographs -- Fish?	Agawa Rock Pictographs -- A Canoe, a Snake, and some other Beast


Agawa Rock Pictographs -- A Horse and Other Stuff	Agawa Rock Pictographs -- Canoes?

We enjoyed seeing a few birds on the hike out.


Xxx Bird	Downey Woodpecker	Downey Woodpecker

We continued on around the north shore of the lake, stopping to check out some great beaches and rivers along the way.


Lake Superior	Lake Superior


Lake Superior	River flowing into Lake Superior

When we got to highway 11 we turned north, heading for the town of Jellicoe. My paternal grandfather had a fishing resort up on Partridge Lake and I wanted to see it again. I hadn't been back there since I was a little squirt. Mom had given me instructions, but unfortunately all the good maps were still down at her house. The instructions were wrong, and we got there late in the evening, and none of the few people we talked to had any idea where Partridge Lake was. One of them would point one way, and the next one would point the other way. Our instructions were "about seven miles west of Jellicoe," but it was really about seven miles east. Dang. We found a place, and took some pictures, but it was the wrong place. Maybe I'll get back there again before I die; who knows?


Not Grandpa's Place on Not Partridge Lake	Not Grandpa's Place on Not Partridge Lake

The country up there is flat. Really flat. Exceedingly flat. It's easy to see how the early european explorers used canoes to travel all around that country. It's not easy to understand how they navigated, as there are few landmarks you can see from very far away. But at least all water flows downhill, and maybe it didn't matter too much if you were just exploring... It also looked like a place where the mosquitoes could drive you absolutely crazy. We didn't have too many of them, but it was still pretty early in the season.


Not Grandpa's Place on Not Partridge Lake	Not Grandpa's Place on Not Partridge Lake but hey, it was pretty at sunset!

Then it was back down to Lake Superior, where we went hiking up Sleeping Giant and spent the night at another great park.

Sleeping Giant


The Sea Lion Rock near Sleeping Giant	Sleeping Giant Creek

As a sailor, it was comforting to me whenever I would see a lighthouse on one of the islands in Lake Superior. Lake Superior is notorious for its storms, and the rocky shoreline is pretty unforgiving. Any help to navigation would be pretty welcome, just about any time.

Lighthouse on an Island off Sleeping Giant

Lake Superior "Beach"

Our hike took us past a great little bay called "Tee Harbour;" once again, I wished we were on a sailboat.

Campsite at Tee Harbour


Snowshoe Hare	Woodpecker Tree	Woodpecker Tree	Pond on the way up

As we got higher, we could look down on Tee Harbour. There was a sailboat coming in past the island with the lighthouse; what a way to spend a gorgeous spring day!

Sailboat passing island with lighthouse

Tee Harbour

But we had our own great way to spend the day, hiking up a mountain for a great view.


Dona on the way up Sleeping Giant	Dona on top of Sleeping Giant

The Cliffs of Sleeping Giant

With all that hard rock up there, they have boatloads of cracks. It seems like just about everywhere we went there was a big crack to look at. They were all cool, and I never got tired of them.


	Sleeping Giant Chimney

Last Views of Lake Superior

After Lake Superior, we were out of scenic wonders. It was a long way across North Dakota and eastern Montana until we finally saw some more mountains and felt at home again. But along the way we passed through some kind of a time warp. It was scary, and we were glad we were zipping by in a fast vehicle.