Day 41 Pancake Bay to Sault Ste. Marie (The Soo), Ontario

 57.0 miles, 1,720 ft ascent

Today's ride was much shorter than yesterday's, and the weather was good, although rain is predicted for our rest day tomorrow.  We rode about 61 miles into Sault Ste. Marie, the "Soo", and out the back side to our campsite, anticipating a rest day there tomorrow. The "Soo" has a population of 72,000.  It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, and it is a twin city to Sault St. Marie, Michigan in the US.

Rather than walk to a distant washroom at our campsite early this morning,  I chose to use the outhouse/sink combo unit that meets only the most basic requirements.

 

Batchawana Bay along our route, and ferns growing on the sand dunes between the road and the water.

 

 

The Batchawana Bay unobscured by fog or rain!  Happy Day, indeed!

 

 

Thanks to one of our riders, who hails from Wawa, we learned about Voyageurs Lodge and Cookhouse on Batchawana Bay.  They are known for their apple fritters, so we all had to sample the faire.  I believe that our tour member called ahead and alerted the business that we were coming and would be devouring fritters at an alarming rate.  These were still warm when we arrived! Mmmmm! Good!

 

The fritters were so very large, that most of the cyclists ate half and stowed half in their saddle bags.  This particular rider ate the whole 1.5 pound specimen, finding it to be five star rated, and well worthy of its worldwide acclaim.

A fisherman always takes note of other fishermen.  Here is a happy soul with a line in the water of the bay.

While we observed no swimmers, we did see an adult instructing two young people in the skills of kayaking.

We had been warned repeatedly about the demanding climb just before Sault Ste. Marie.  Could this be the one?????

Not a chance!  Below is the one with the bad reputation, and it trumped the first climb altogether!  Doggone those moraines left over from the ice age!

 

 

For lunch in the "Soo" we enjoyed prime rib burgers at Chuck's Roadhouse, a Canadian chain restaurant. As you see from the sign on the counter, these burgers are "Legendary"!

 

 

Canadian Geese are not in the least discriminatory.  It is comforting to know that they are just as bold in soiling public property in Canada, as they are in the the USA.

Since we arrived early, due to the comparatively short ride into Sault Ste. Marie, and we anticipate rain tomorrow on our rest day here, I did a little touristing while riding through the "Soo" to the campground.  The Sault Ste. Marie Canal Historic Sight provided insight about the need for locks in the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and among freshwater lakes, it is the world's largest by surface and third largest by volume.  It holds 10% of the world's surface fresh water.  Lake Superior empties into Lake Huron via the St. Mary's River, its rapids, and the Soo Locks.  Lake Superior is 183 meters above Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, and the significant drop creates the rapids in the St. Mary's River. Here is a depiction of boats negotiating the rapids of the St. Mary's River.

The Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal operated from 1895 to 1959, and along with other waterway improvements, allowed ships to travel between Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan.  The Canadian canal is no longer operating. Navigation to Lake Superior now goes through the locks on the American side of the St. Mary's River.  Both the historic Canadian canal and the operating American locks are shown in the figure below.  

 

 

This figure illustrates, among other things, the depths of all the Great Lakes, as well as the canal between Lakes Erie and Lake Ontario. That canal limits the size of ships that can travel through the Great Lakes to Lake Superior.

It was all in all, a good day, with lots of good food and interesting information to be consumed by the hungry and curious.  Tomorrow we rest here before again mounting our bicycles for further adventures.  Don't for get to return for another chapter in our saga.

Note regarding heart rate yesterday on the longest climb on the Canadian Shield with 700 ft elevation gain:  Near the top of the climb I looked at my Garmin smartwatch and was surprised  to see a heart rate reading if 191 bpm.  Concerned that I might be in A-fib, I backed off on the pedal pressure and, thankfully, the heart rate dropped.  The max heart rate the rest of the ride was much lower.  After recent ablation procedures undergone to avoid A-fib, I have to be careful not to push too hard and chance the A-fib's returning.  I was glad to be catching up to faster riders on that climb, but I will have to be more careful about monitoring HR on climbs going forward.