Where along Lake Superior is Whitefish Bay Scenic Byway and Point Iroquois Light Station?

After concluding our self-guided walking tour of Mackinac Island, we returned to Mackinaw City and headed north on I-75 across the Mackinac Bridge. The bridge is about five miles long. Did you know that the waters of Lake Michigan are on the west side of the bridge and the waters of Lake Huron are on the east side of the bridge?

We drove north as far as the lower edge of Sault Ste Marie where the Soo Locks are located. Both of us had been to the Locks on separate trips, so we retraced our route south on I-75 to Michigan 28, where we turned west into some more scenic country. This was new territory we had never seen before. We were about to explore along the waters of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Shortly thereafter, we turned north on 221 toward Brimley. This took us to the waters of Lake Superior, where we turned left around Whitefish Bay and followed the Scenic Byway to the Point Iroquois Light Station and Lighthouse.

Point Iroquois Light Station  with Lake Superior behind it.

Point Iroquois Light Station taken from Lake Superior side.

Local ties made it a home, not just a station. Keepers and their families gardened, fished, hunted, cut firewood, and picked berries, besides maintaining the light and fog signal. Along with neighbors, they fought forest fires and assisted mariners in distress. After late fall storms, they even walked the beach searching for wreckage and frozen bodies.

Lake Superior is a Blue Highway. The lake connects place to place, people to places, and people to people. Though its waters are fresh and crystal, Superior is a Sea. It breeds storms, and rain and fogs, like the sea. It is cold in mid-summer like the Atlantic. It is wild, masterful, and dreaded as the Black Sea.

Coastal landscape formed by ice, water, and wind. These two promontories, Point Iroquois and Gros Cap on the opposite shore in Canada, stand like the pillars of Hercules, to mark the foot of the mighty Superior, a lake which may not be deemed another Mediterranean.

The original people of Whitefish Bay were Anishinabeg.

You can double click on any of the pictures to enlarge them and read more, and escape to return to the blog.

Local ties made it a home, not just a station.

Lake Superior is a Blue Highway that connects
place to place, people to places, and
people to people.

Coastal landscape has been formed by ice,
water, and wind. 

According to Henry Schoolcraft,
in their language, the Ojibwe, called Point Iroquois
"Nau-do-we-e-gun-ing," which means
"Place of the Iroquois Bones". 

Original people of Whitefish
bay were Anishinabeg.

We enjoyed walking along the Lake Superior side of the Point Iroquois Light Station. This structure built of wood had a stairway off the back overlooking Lake Superior.

Deck made of wood with stairway overlooks Lake Superior.

We were fortunate to view a big ship on Lake Superior.

Saw beautiful fence of rocks as I took this ship on the Lake.

Close-up of ship 

Lush greenery on our path

Picnic area overlooking Lake Superior with Canada on opposite side.

Beyond that, our road tee'd at Michigan 123. We followed Route 123 north along Lake Superior to Paradise where we looped around on Route 123 and went to Tahquamenon Falls State Park, the subject of my next post.

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