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Sault Ste Marie and Drummond Island

A5555

Well Known Member
It's been hot in Cincy and I was planning to escape to the upper Michigan cool water. I took a look at the weather on Thursday and it looked good for the weekend so I departed on Friday. I attracted a friend that was also looking for cooler weather, so we were a flight of two. The plan was Sault Ste. Marie motel and the Soo Lock Tour and then one night of camping on Drummond Island. We had never been to either of them so it was new to us. Hey, the Great Lakes hold 20 percent of the fresh water on the planet so we might as well go there.

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A North wind so we were running low on the way up. Tim is in his composite KISS TR-1 aircraft to the left side of the photo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-R_KIS_TR-1

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Approaching Mackinac Island

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We hiked from the airport to an inexpensive Crestview Budget motel in Sault Ste. Marie. A one star but it was better than that. Walking tour of the area Friday evening and up early to continue the walking tour and Soo Lock Tour. I played a game of chess with a guy I met there under the awning. I had a couple beers before but held my own but finally lost. Those guys later gave us a ride around town and I gave one of them, the guy that beat me, a ride in the aircraft.

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Soo Lock Tour

Up early on Saturday for the Soo Lock Tour and then travel to Drummond Island for camping (20 minute flight). You can only reach Drummond by ferry as there are no roads, so the July 4th crowd should be lower and we should have a better chance of getting a first come first serve campsite. If we didn't get one we could have camped at the airport. Also, the Canadian border is still closed so that lowered the crowd. note, we noticed the RV campsites in Sault Ste. Marie were packed.

Hiking downtown early Saturday morning for breakfast, we had the placed to ourselves.

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The lock tour is very good and takes 2 hours to complete. You travel through the locks and get a very good commentary by retired sea captains of the workings and history. A 1000 ft freighter was departing. These freighters mainly haul iron ore, limestone or grain. These are loaded and unloaded by and auger and a gantry system on the ships. The ships are raised and lowered 21 ft through the locks. A section of rapids still exist and here to the North side and computer controlled gates adjust the flow in order not to wash away the fish eggs there.

https://youtu.be/9vST6hVRj2A

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There is a beautiful hydro plant from the early 1900's that has 37 turbines that generate power for the area.

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Camping

Preparing to depart Sault Ste. Marie for Drummond Island. I have found that the airports in Northern Michigan are very friendly and accommodating and inexpensive. In fact the whole trip was inexpensive. We had a taxi pick us up at the Soo Lock Tour Dock and drive us to the motel to get our gear and then drive us to the airport. The charge for that was $9, Tim gave him a 20. The food was also good and inexpensive for the entire trip.

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Departing Sault Ste. Marie. New lock construction can be seen by the brown water. Flying South of Drummond to allow Tim to land you can see the Dolomite mining locations. The runway was listed to be in poor condition with loose asphalt but we found them to be in excellent condition. This was the same for Empire runway at Sleeping Bear. Courtesy car had no plates, don't need them there.

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The campsite was 95% full and we found a location that was one over from the water. I had updated my camping gear to be lighter weight. A two man tent that weighs 4.5 lb and a new Nemo sleeping bag. Tim went with the hammock tent. I tried it and it was nice and very light weight. I may get one of those in the future.

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The water at Drummond is a direct feed from Lake Superior. The average temperature of Lake Superior is 40F but the water is warmer here. The water is cool and clear. When you look at the map you can see that Lake Michigan is back fed from these waters.

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Awe Steve. That last picture got me. I so miss the cool, clear waters of northern Michigan. The second to last one did too - the Edmond Fitzgerald (similar looking ore boat), “ The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down”, a song from my time and my earlier life in Michigan. I don’t like to wish my life away, but I am so looking forward to our two weeks in Charlevoix in August. I have the week in Oshkosh in the middle, so life is good, but a trip to N. Michigan is hard to beat.
 
Home

We came back high and had a tailwind. I made a long descent (300 fpm) that began at Fort Wayne Indiana. It was easy to unload the aircraft. The flight time was a couple of hours. A very nice two day trip. When I returned I found my wife had made lemon meringue pie.

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one more..... on the Canadian side of Sault Ste. Marie I saw a museum that could be good. next time.

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Steve

I envy you my friend.
As I was born and spent the first 7 years of my life in Toledo, I can appreciate the Lakes scenery. My first trip to Oshkosh in '89 we flew to Cable, WI for the AYA fly-in then down to Osh. While in Cable we made several side flights to Madeleine Island, Grand Rapids, MN, and Ashland, WI on the Big Lake. Seems like yesterday. Hope to have a beer with you and do some hangar flying under the Pavilion.
 
Added to the list!

Great Write-up Steve!

If you have not been to Pictured Rocks a bit to the east - It was a nice trip as well! The UP is really beautiful.
 
Great Write-up Steve!

If you have not been to Pictured Rocks a bit to the east - It was a nice trip as well! The UP is really beautiful.

I sent the photos to my wife. I think we will be on our way there. thx.

Michigan seems to be getting all my travel money this Summer. I'm OK with that.
 
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