Anyone ever done the lake superior circle tour. Looking at possibly going over the 4th of July weekend. Biggest question I have is what type of riding should I expect. Trying to figure out the miles per day, but I also want to figure out seat time. So what would be an average type speed I could travel at. I'm similar with the UP of Michigan and northern Wi. Is the Canada road part similar to those roads. Thanks for the time. Also if you have suggestions on places to see along the way that would be helpful as well.
Ozzy

 

I did it a couple years ago. We went the last week in August and rode in the rain the 4 days straight.


I stayed at Duluth then headed north into Canada, figuring one night in Canada and then the next night in Souix St Marie. It is slow going for sure. I should have allowed 3 days of riding for that distance. We did not stop at a lot of things because it was raining so much. Speed limit is mostly 50 KMH if I recall correctly and there really is a lot to see and do along the way.


I am thinking of going back in 2018 and doing it again, this time hoping for better weather and planning.

 

Did that trip last year over the 4th of July starting out in Kalamazoo. We left on a Friday and were back the following Saturday. We stayed a couple of nights in the UP one of those in Copper Harbor! Highly recommend going up that direction. From Copper Harbor we went across RT 2 into Wisconsin and up to the Apostle Islands and over to Duluth for the night. The ride up the north shore of MN. is really nice..lots of nice state parks with waterfalls and the Split Rock Lighthouse not to be missed. We stayed at the casino right before going into Canada for the night. When you get to Thunder Bay go west about 30 miles to Kakabeka Falls a must see! Just north of Thunder Bay is Quimet Canyon which is really cool to see. Keep an eye of for the signs not marked real well. The roads are great and the scenery even better on the north side of Lake Superior. We stayed in White River for the night (home of Winnie the Pooh) I recommend you have reservations while in Canada as towns are few and far between and not a lot of hotels. We got the last room they had. From there we headed over to Wawa and down 17 to the Soo. 150 miles of pure bliss. Just gorgeous!!! We headed east from there and came down on the east side of Lake Huron and thru Port Huron to home. Great trip for us a little over 2000 miles in 8 days. Never felt hurried and had good weather for the most part. Be prepared for any weather as Lake Superior can change it in a second.

 

Favorite ride. always a ride to look forward to.

 

My wife and I did the trip last year mid July. Like it was mentioned in an earlier post, get hotel reservations before hand. Every where we stayed was booked and we seen dozens of bikes looking for a place to stay. Make sure you have rain gear and cold weather gear. We left White River with the temp at 42. By noon it was in the 80's. But it is a great ride.

 

Wife and I did the circle tour last year, very good ride, I used the Circle tour website for the hotel info and the miles per day, we made better times than they show and stopped a lot. I really liked Grand Marias Mn, really nice little town. We had reservations in Canada but didn't make any in the US, only place we had issues finding a room was Duluth, which I didn't expect since we were there on Saturday, expected mistakenly that Duluth wasn't enough of a travel destination that a room would be hard to get on weekend, not that much biz travel on weekends, but we had a hard time finding a room.

 

We also did the ride last year. Left the Rice Lake area and the first stop was Grand Marais, then to Nipigon, Wawa, Sault St. Marie, Marquette, Washburn and then back to the Rice Lake area. The circle tour web site has a lot of info. I booked all the motels before we left and glad we did. Nipigon and Wawa area has limited rooms and where full which left people searching for a room. The road in Canada was excellent. Thinking around going back this year and spend more time on the south shore.

 

I haven't done it myself but my brothers have and a brother in law have a few times. They think going counter clockwise is the best as most of the sites to see seem to be on the north side in Canada and it's easier to pull in and get out of in that direction. Food for thought and I'm sure others will chime in.

 

Rickl........I think you mean clockwise??

 

No I meant counter clockwise. What was told to me is that in Canada most of the pullouts are on the north side of the road.