Noreen_and_David
Valley City, North Dakota
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We are heading to New England this summer. Plan to spend 4th of July on the harbor in Duluth, then head to the Apostle Islands and then to the Upper Peninsula.
We have about 5-6 days to get to Niagara Falls/Buffalo from the Upper Peninsula(a traveler with us will leave us at that point).
Suggestions as to route and interesting stops along the way would be welcomed!
Full-timing since 8/24/05.
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Noreen_and_David
Valley City, North Dakota
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After looking at some online sites and maps, we need to rephrase our question.
It looks like we will want to spend more than a couple of days in the upper peninsula--perhaps 4 or even 5, leaving us only a couple of days to get to Niagara Falls.....
Where should we spend our Upper peninsula days?
And, since we have only a couple of days to get to Buffalo NY, we are assuming we should go the northern route through Canada and then down.
??
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John&Joey
Northern MN
(Baby it's cold outside)
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Wow, tough questions mostly because I don't know exactly what you're look for. But, I would suggest in the UP stick around what we call the south shore. Meaning along Lake Superior. Lots of options there for things to see.
You have two choices to get to the falls if you don't mind going across the border. You can cross up by the locks and then go east then catch the ferry to Bruce's Peninsula. Which was very scenic many years ago when I did it. Or head down into the lower peninsula of Michigan and cut over at Port Huron. This by far is the more straight forward way to do it.
I would not cut over in Detroit.
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hot rod
muskegon,mi
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Coming from Duluth you can go through Marquette to Munising, see Pictured Rocks, then over to Newberry and Tahquamenon Falls, Whitefish Point, Soo Locks. Then either over to Sudbury and down to Toronto and Niagera Falls or down I-75 to I-69 cross at Port Huron and go through Westminster, Hamilton to Niagera Falls. I've never down the Sudbury route but have done the other a number of times with no trouble. If you were looking to make time and not be stopping for scenery in the U.P. I would still go through Marquette but would turn south at Seney and go down to U.S.2 across the Mackinac Bridge on down to Port Huron. U.S. 2 along Lake Michigan is a beautiful drive and a good road with lots of areas with passing lanes.
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Noreen_and_David
Valley City, North Dakota
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Thank you!
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Cheddarhead
Northern Wisconsin
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For your U.P Portion, My favorites are Copper Harbor, the Porkies and Munising/Pictured Rocks, Whitefish Point and the Soo canal not necessatrily in that order...
In Munising you can do the pictured rock boat tours or the shipwreck tours in a glass bottom boat at shipwrecktours.com. The owner of Shipwreck tours Pete Lindquist is a great guy. I've been diving up there off his boats on three different trips and really enjoyed his knowledge of the area. Pete's daughter Katie is also one of the skippers and she was a great guide as well. Pete has done a lot for the local tourism and will alway have my respect for what's he has contributed to the area and the underwater shipwreck preserve.
Can't help on the eastern leg of the trip although my daughter came across the canadian side in her car a few years back and said it was a nice trip.
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Tripalot
Golden Horseshoe, Ont. Canada
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You will save yourself a lot of traffic woes if you take I-75 south from the Mackinac Bridge and cross at Port Huron/Sarnia, and go through Ontario to Niagara Falls. If you enter Ontario at Sault Ste. Marie,and go via Sudbury you have to go through Toronto and having lived in the area for many years, my recommendation is to avoid it. I haven't checked the mileage, but I think the Port Huron route is shorter. That is the way we always go to the Upper Penninsula. Gas is also cheaper in the U.S. another reason we go that way.
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Noreen_and_David
Valley City, North Dakota
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Terrific advice here.. Thanks.. We have already booked campgrounds in Duluth (right on the harbor--a suggestion given by someone here on the forum) and one on Bayfield and one in Niagara (state park there). After leaving Wisconsin, we are thinking that will travel Marquette, Newberry, Taqueminon Falls, Sault Ste Marie, Mackinac City and then travel down to Port Huron and into Niagara from there. Do you think that just picking up campgrounds on this route without advance reservations will work?
Thank you everyone for your advice.
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DouglasCraw
Summerdale, AL
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If you have the time you may want to stop at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point (north of Paradise off Route 123). It's a bit off the beaten path but would be a detour on your way from Tahquamenon Falls to Sault Ste Marie.
The Museum has some great exhibits including much information on the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 (just off Whitefish Point).
See http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/museum.phtml
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ethierbach
Ann Arbor, MI
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Noreen_and_David wrote:Do you think that just picking up campgrounds on this route without advance reservations will work?
That's prime time for all of us downstate "trolls" (*) to go up north and camp, so I'd strongly suggest reservations. The state parks fill up quickly, as do many of the other campgrounds. There are a lot of rustic state forest campgrounds, and you might be able to find open sites there.
(*) "Trolls" are Michiganders who live below the (Mackinac) bridge.
Enjoy your trip!
-Ed-
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