We’ve recently completed a circle tour of Lake Superior, and we had a great experience. One surprise in our journey was the shipping traffic on the Great Lakes. I knew shipping on the great lakes was a thing, but I had not considered how we might learn about it or experience it during our journey.

Fairly early we began to see ore docks used to load mining ore onto lake boats. We first saw half-dismantled docks in Marquette, but also saw functioning ore docs as well. We never ended up seeing a ship being loaded, but the docs were very clearly still in operation.

We arrived in Duluth to discover the obvious hub of activity around it’s active ports on both sides of the Michigan / Wisconsin state line. The large ships enter port by traveling under the Aerial Lift Bridge, which we visited in our stroll downtown. Right next to the bridge is a Maritime Museum with all sorts of neat displays about shipping on the Great Lakes. This museum is free, and was great for us adults but slightly boring for the kids. In the museum was information about when ships would be entering or leaving the port, directly under that awesome bridge.

Our timing was not excellent, and it just wasn’t convenient to be in place to watch a huge ship pass. We did enjoy the bridge with a walk under it and across it, and we did get to see the bridge raise to let a few small sailboats under it.

The huge discovery in Duluth was that big boat watching was a thing. We soon headed up the North Shore in search of adventure, but I remembered the shipping.

As we traveled the Trans Canadian highway on the final few legs of our Superior Circle Tour, I was contemplating my goals for Sault St. Marie. The shipping traffic on Lake Superior must pass the 15 foot drop at the rapids of the Saint Mary’s river. My research revealed a viewing platform perfect for lock observation. Before I talk about the locks, let’s talk pronunciation.

Sault is an old French word for Rapid. I’ve been pronouncing it like ‘salt’ ever since I discovered it on the Ticket To Ride board game, but it is actually pronounced ‘Soo’. The spellings are actually used interchangeably up here, but it is pronounced the same way in either case. Sault Saint Marie translates to “Rapids on Saint Mary’s River”, which is a pretty darn accurate description of the place.

When we got here, the viewing platform was very obvious. Parking along passage avenue is metered, so bring quarters. The platform is really an ideal place to watch the locks in operation. I visited twice, and enjoyed a few ships each time.

The real trick to enjoying lock operation is to know when ships will be at the locks. The easiest way to discovery this is to call a magical phone number  [ (906)635-3224 ] where the day’s passages are available on a recorded message. The times are given in ‘military’ time, so 0423 is 4:23 am and 17:12 is 5:12 pm. Jot down the times that seem to match your schedule best and plan for those. Clusters of ships can make for a fun viewing experience as well.

The other way to learn about the ships is by viewing a real-time map of all the great lakes shipping boats. This will tell you about each boat, including it’s size. Visit the awesome BoatNerd site and keep an eye on the boats. With some fiddling, you can get it to estimate travel times to the locks, and you can look up information about the boats passing by.

While watching boats travel the locks was extremely interesting, these mammoth ships are also impressive all by themselves. Our campsite had a great view of the boats going up and down the river, and we also enjoyed just sitting out and watching them go by!

SAMSUNG CSC

Knowing a little about the procedure can help make the experience more exciting for both adults and kids. I really loved it! Ships and Physics and Stuff!