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Trip beta for Lake Superior tour?
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We're considering taking the first two weeks of August to circumnavigate Lake Superior clockwise. What would the locals recommend? Trad and sport lines ~5.11+, cool waterfall hikes and beach reading spots, singletrack, opportunities for caloric ingestion, etc. Palisade Head looks like a great time. What else? Thanks! |
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PM’d ya! |
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Go out for a day trip with a guide to kayak along and in the sea caves at Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands. Or hike on the trail above them. |
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Dani, thanks for the novella! Andrew, that sounds like a great time, thank you! |
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Ouimet Canyon near Thunder Bay and Agusabon Falls near Terrace Bay are fun stops. I'm not saying the food will knock your socks off, but the serendipity cafe in Rossport is a neat little spot in a cozy little town. If you stop anywhere to hike on the north shore I would highly recommend Pukaskwa National Park. It's stunning. Any of the pull-outs in Lake Superior Provincial are worthwhile as well. But if you go, Orphan Lake and the stuff around the Agwa Bay pictographs are my favorites. Be sure to stop at the Alona Bay pulloff and gawk at the 300' cliffs on private property that would make for some epic climbing if they were on crown land. Don't know much about the rope climbing, but if it you're interested in boulders feel free to reach out for some beta. As far as ropes go, I've never reached out to him myself, but there is a guy who develops a bunch of rope (and ice) climbing near Batchawana Bay. He's got a Facebook group under the name Batchawana Bay Rock Climbing and an Instagram too. Some of the stuff he puts up seems like pretty fun adventure climbing. |
Will O wrote: Great beta, thank you kindly! Two out of three members of our crew are looking forward to swimming ...   |
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You should be able to find everything you’re looking for in between Duluth and Grand Marais. Really good single track trails, waterfalls, beaches, and palisade has some really good trad climbing. |
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I always make sure to stop at the Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais on my way back from Isle Royale. |
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Palisade: • Laceration Jam • Gun Fight • Poseidon’s Adventures (really thin lead) • Mr. Lean • Rapproachment is a good warm up with easy anchor set up to get a feel for the area, not super classic though
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Clockwise from the northern mitten, I75 north to the UP and take a left. I’ll throw out a few suggestions, and feel free to just dump them as you see fit. On US 2 headed west from the bridge there is a fish market on the south side of the road, stop there and buy some smoked fish. Excellent lunches till its gone. From there hit PRNL, driving the south boundary road form Paradise. Do the “Circle tour” as a day hike: Chapel beach TH-Mosquito Beach, Chapel beach return to TH loop. Camping spots on the “beach” can be sometimes found west of Christmas FYI. Hit up Silver Mtn for a day of climbing if you haven’t been on the drive west. Copper Harbor and Keweenaw spots should be seen as well. Good sunsets and treats at the Jam Pot on the west side of the tip. Good camping out by the old launch pads put past Copper harbor if your rig can make the muddy back roads. The Black River harbor is a cool spot to do a quick visit on the border, then west to the Apostles. If you have a sea kayak, it’s a cool spot, or take the ferry to the big island and pick blueberries on the east side. Before then tho, the waterfalls on the Black and Copper Peak are worth the walk, and a really big drill core is cool to see at the DOT rest stop in Hurley. Post Apostles, dive through cornucopia while headed west and there is another smoked fish shop in Port Wing on the north side of the road if its still open. Beach sleeping opportunities before the Brule as well. A bit south before Duluth, Pattison st. park has a cool waterfall, then head north through Duluth. Best breakfast intown is the Duluth Grill, and a cool burger stop is Fitgers. Then north to PHead for at least 2 days of climbing if you have never been. IMHO, it’s the best climbing in the Midwest south of the border! Lots of waterfalls, and hiking opportunities on the north shore, a water slide in the Beaver River ect, google is your friend here. There are places to commando camp, but mostly not. I slept in the Tettagouch parking lot a bit, plus wifi! Save your time for climbing in Tbay and further north!!! Get the new guidebook that Aric just finished ordered today, and start picking routes from Squaw bay to Kama bay and OB. He has camping info (some parks, some on the beach, some free, ect) and most routes are not on MP. If you have never been up there, it will blow your mind the lifetimes of rock available. Spend at a week in this zone climbing and camping. DM me for my fav on the water spot by Kama Bay to camp (free and on the beach). Opportunities for FAs, some multipitch and lots and lots of single pitch trad and sport. After that, its worth a trip out to Sleeping giant, and then driving east to Marathon, WAWA, Montreal River, ect. One of those towns is the home to Winnie the Pooh (I won’t tell you where, but find it!) and another town a giant loon if I am remembering correctly. Hiking or boating in the Puk would be super cool (I have yet to do it myself) and there are hand built saunas in the area and out in the islands in places like the slates, if you can find them (google). I never rock climbed in Batchawana or Montreal River area (only ice) but the photos never got me super inspired to make the drive personally. You can get a guidebook or two from Sean P. if available, or search MP and the Canadian sites for the beta there. I personally would spend most of my time climbing at PHead (2 days) and then the Tbay to Kama/OB areas. That would be the best. Note, bring a head net for the bugs, and camping is free for Canadians on crown land, not Americans….get a camping permit before head up if you care, otherwise play dumb I guess |
Double J wrote: Early season in the Yoop has got us dialed! Last week on the Sturgeon, we got more ticks than the Kor-Ingalls route page. This is all fantastic info, much appreciated. I'm very glad you mentioned Tbay, because the MP page doesn't have much.  |
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CLIFF DR , best choss around |
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For food, recommend sven and ole's pizza in Gran Marais and the German place (also lodging) in batchawana bay, if they are still open. Best beaches I found are in the UP. Brockway mountain has some pretty great MTN biking if I recall correctly. |
Dr Worm wrote: When was the last time you were at Sven and Ole’s? Don’t think it’s an option any more. Hasn’t been for years |
Mark Pilate wrote: We walked by it today and it looked very open! We went with Fisherman's Daughter instead (Angry Trout was full) and were very satisfied with the whitefish. Also, a contributor to this thread recognized Juniper at Palisade yesterday and said hello! Always cool to meet MP'ers in real life. As the picture attests, Juniper prefers crags that are accessed from below ...  |
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Grand Marais resident here - Sven and Ole’s is still kicking. Can’t say I’ve tried it though since it’s so expensive and I’m on an intern stipend… |
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Oh hey! Love fisherman’s daughter! They’re our next door neighbors at the folk school. Fun running into you at palisade head yesterday! |
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Well OK then, Sven and Ole’s still lives. Last times I’ve been up since Covid, it’s been closed and the website seemed to confirm it was “offline”. You chose wisely in my book tho, Fritz. |
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Back home again after 1300 miles of coastline. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!      |
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Nice trip! Where's is the photo with the mountain bike taken? That the trails near Lusten, MN? |
