Sault Superior

The Windsor Spitfires played a double header against the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday and Sunday.  The barn was packed for both games, with standing room only available and over 4,600 people in attendance.  The weather cooperated, staying above zero both days.  My youngest son was first line defence for the Spits both games so I was happy when the Hounds were vanquished by four goals each game.  After the Saturday night game, we headed to Chuck's Roadhouse, which was completely packed, and enjoyed porterhouse steak with all the fixings.

Sunday morning I trekked the John Rowswell Hub Trail in town.  The snow was three feet deep so I used my core muscles to balance on the one foot wide strip of packed snow all along the first kilometer of trail.  If your foot strayed off the one foot strip, it sank three feet.  The topography was typically northern, with lots of rock, cedar, streams, snow and tremendous rugged beauty.  I encountered about seven people and two dogs all told during my hour hike.  The trail is vast, comprising 25 kilometers of trek looping around the city.  It would be an enjoyable walk in the Spring, Summer or Fall where you could go further and see more.

Delta Sault was lovely, with a hearty breakfast and vistas of the ships in the St. Marys river looking across at Sault Michigan.  The river connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron, and there is a 25 foot drop requiring locks for the ships to traverse.  Despite being closed January to March, there are approximately 10,000 ships that pass through the locks in any one year. The old town boasts a refurbished Canal District where I ate at Blockhouse Pub.  The food was fresh and tasty.  The waterfront trail out front of the hotel and the restaurant is nice, albeit short. ​

Sault has been a manufacturing center for over a century.  It has Algoma Steel and Tenaris Algoma Tubes for steel, along with forestry products given the amount of wooded areas in the area.  All of those are shipped out of Sault given the lake's proximity.  The town boasts about 76,000 people and is a main hub for the region. 

The vastness of the largest freshwater lake in the world can be glimpsed about 20 minutes west of town where Lake Superior starts.  Rugged terrain and expansive vistas are common here, along with a sense that only those who like their solitude could survive. Log houses and few people were the norm.  The trail at Gros Cap had views of Lake Superior that were spectacular.  The lake is powerful and majestic with a bit of menace.  The section near WhiteFish Point, which can be seen from the bluffs of Gros Cap on a clear day, is known as the Graveyard of the Great Lakes.  This name sticks because of the over 200 shipwrecks that lie on the bottom there along with the bodies of those who perished that never surface due to the water temperature.

Although hockey brought me to town, Lake Superior will bring me back.  In August, the water temperature rises to 20 degrees Celsius, 68 Fahrenheit, to enable comfortable swimming.  There are some spots along the water, including Pancake Bay and Batchawana Bay, that are on my TO DO list.  Considering that Lake Superior contains 13% of the world's fresh water, it is a critically important spot and worth exploring further.  Perhaps my youngest son will accompany me and he can train by running up and down the bluffs at Gros Cap while I swim.