Nautical History and Natural Beauty

It's cold, windy, and showery as we drive through Paradise to Whitefish Point.There are a number of things to see here. This is the shore of Gichy Goome from the poem Hiawatha and has earned the ominous name "Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast". In all the Great Lakes there are 6,000 wrecks, but Lake Superior has the most.

First was The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It is the only one of its kind dedicated to the perils of maritime transport on the Great Lakes. It is fittingly located at Whitefish Point, Michigan, site of the oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior. As you enter the museum you hear the haunting legend of the Edmund Fitzgeral (sung by Gordon Lightfoot). Throughout the museum gallery visitors we saw dramatic shipwreck. Artifacts and exhibits tell stories of sailors and ships who braved the waters of Superior and those who were lost to her punishing waves.

One of these ships was the well known Edmund Fitzgerald. On November 9, 1975 in calm seas they left western Lake Superior out of Superior Wisconsin. With a full load of 29,000 tons of taconite pellets destined for Detroit. The 729 ft vessel with 29 crew had made their last port of call. On November 10 they encountered stronger than predicted winds. Less than 29 hours after leaving port they would be twisted and torn in the cold deep waters of Whitefish Bay.

The bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald is displayed in the museum as a memorial to her lost crew.

Walking by the Whitefish Point Lighthouse, which is one of the oldest on Lake Superior built in 1849, we headed for the Bird Observatory. This is one of the leading observatories in the country. During April - June they track migrating birds and see 15,000 - 25,000 raptor type birds during this time.

From here we walked the white sand beach back to the lighthouse and sat on an old piece of driftwood and enjoyed the rolling waves and thought about what we had seen in the museum.

Next stop was the Upper Tahquamenon Falls. The Upper Falls is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. 50,000 gallons of water per minute rushes over the 200 ft long, 50 ft drop. We walked down the 95 steps to the viewing platform. The water actually looks golden when the sun shines on it due to the tannins leached from the Cedar, Spruce, and Hemlock in the swamps drained by the river. There is a large amount of foam in the falls due to the very soft water churned by the action of the falls. This has been it's trademark since the days of the pioneers. We walked back along the nature trail and stopped at Camp 33 named for an old logging camp that used to be on the river. Each camp had a number identifier.

Back at camp we talked about the day. We really enjoyed the nature trail hike and we wish the weather would break. Seems funny to be wearing Polar Fleece in July!