Travel with Albion 8/3

Superior is all that I expected , plus more. I love it up here!!  We departed McColl Island around 8 and made our way out through the maize of pine covered Islands and rocky shoals.  The waters like a mirror reflecting tall pines and the white puffy clouds.  The waters clear yet somehow dark.  We moved out into the open sea for our 30 mile crossing over to the mouth of the White River.  This point puts us on the Western shore of Superior, well on our way around. Our heading was 105* right into the warm morning sunshine. The Shores of Superior are by far my favorite place on the Great Lakes. Breath taking. Each port seems to be an all time favorite only to be matched or topped by the next harbor.

 

The crossing was relaxed and quite enjoyable.  The only hazard were a number of floating logs that for some reason were floating vertical with 2-4 feet straight up from the surface They certainly were not lodged in the bottom since the depths were around 500 feet. A unique sight as they did not seem to be moving at all.  The seas were so calm today we brewed up some Lake Superior coffee.

 

The entrance to the white river is very hidden.  All we could see was sheer cliffs and a rocky shore, it felt like we were going to go into the rocks.  I have never seen the mouth of a river on the Great Lakes like this. But we followed the GPS and charts and around the corner out between the large rocks flowed the White River.  We negotiated our way up river 2 miles, this was not an easy route. There were shoals, Islands, and rapids as we snaked and rounded our way up.  We made it up to a pool at the base of a large falls and found a good place to get an anchor hold.  We are alone at this anchorage in a small cover around the corner from the roaring falls.

 

Our maps indicated the Cross Canadian trail was a half mile or so East of our anchorage and crossed the trail crossed the river gorge with a suspension bridge.  So be blew up the dingy, headed for shore and bushwhacked our way up the cliffs in search of the trail. We knew if we kept the sun to our backs we had to intersect it.  We in fact found the trail and hiked to the bridge. What a gorge and bridge. The narrow swinging bridge must be 80 feet above the gorge and at least 100 feet long. The volume of flow down the white through this gorge is  amazing.  The gorge is very long, at least a half mile and there are 2 additional falls upstream.  A good river for a canoe trip. 

 

We made it back to Alboin and after our hiking excursion were quite sweaty and dirty.   So we took a swim in our private cove and had a nice bath. Mark caught a small Northern Pike that was nice but not enough for a complete meal, so he tossed it back.  The mosquitoes are out in full force here tonight. Nice having a cozy cabin to come down into and type today's log...

 

Superior is wonderful...

 

White River Falls

August 2008