2008 Lake Superior Loop: Planning & Itinerary

While staying at a B&B in Northern Michigan a few summers ago, I picked up a coffee table book named "Ten Years on Two Wheels" by Helge Pedersen. The book documented Helge's worldwide travels (250,000 miles and over 70 countries) on a BMW R80 G/S, a bike praised for being a "go anywhere, do anything" type of machine. I spent the evening pouring over every page and my fascination with motorcycle journeys, known as Adventure Riding, began.

After some random Googling, I stumbled across a documentary series called "Long Way Round". The series followed actors Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they rode, also on BMWs, from London all the way east to the Bering Straight and then from Alaska to New York City. Some more Googling directed me to www.advrider.com, a forum devoted to the pursuits of motorcycle journeys -- photo diaries, technical advice, suggested routes, even a group of members willing to open their backyards or homes to traveling riders. The forum quickly reached the top of my time-consumption list and I knew I was hooked. As a recreational rider for a few years, I knew I needed to enter this community of crazy individuals who felt the need to see the world on a motorbike.

I don't remember exactly how or why, but I decided that the Lake Superior Loop would be my entrance into the fold. The lake is relatively close to home, but is still far enough away and a long enough ride for me to consider it a substantial challenge, especially in the amount of time I knew I would have to complete it. Plus, there is a certain element of mystique to Lake Superior -- cold, huge, dangerous, rugged. By surface area, it's the largest freshwater lake in the world. By volume, only Lake Baikal in Siberia tops is. There is a tremendous amount of history surrounding Superior and circumnavigating the lake from coast to coast present a very clear objective, something that I really was looking for in my first trip. Once I got past Duluth, MN, there would be no turning back. I would have to finish the loop. Period.

I had intended to do the trip in the late summer of 2007, but work obligations prevented me from doing so. I knew I had to do it in 2008. Thankfully, I had a brief window between the primary elections on August 5th and later commitments in September. It also turned out that Laura would be leaving for grad school around the same time, and, if I detoured my travels to Toronto, I could attend an old friend's wedding. This time, it HAD to happen, so I put the plan together. I would leave Grand Rapids on Thursday, August 7, head east to Toronto for the wedding, then depart Toronto on Saturday morning, head north along the Lake Huron coast before crossing the border in Sault Ste. Marie to embark on Superior. Based on several recommendations from ADV Rider, I would travel the lake clockwise. This would prove to be a wise choice.

In order to save money and to get as far away from civilization as possible (an important component!), I decided that I would camp each night. I developed the following itinerary:

Nights 1&2 - Hotel in Toronto

Night 3 - Chutes Provincial Park in Ontario