Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site

Wednesday we played disc golf at a little course we found. There aren’t too many courses in Canada, so this was a treat.

Afterwards we decided to drive to the waterfront. We missed a turn and found these old buildings, now repurposed.

And this train station, still in use for a tourist train that looks like a great day long excursion but is booked up until August.

Going back to Canal Street we drove out to St. Mary’s Island, which is bisected by the old canal.

We didn’t realize from our map that this was a National Historic Site.

But it is, complete with the Red Adirondack Chairs found in all of Canada’s National Parks.

We walked far enough to see the old canal that now handles just recreational boats. Lake freighters use the Soo Locks on the U.S. side of St. Mary’s River.

We passed the old superintendent’s residence. Nice place!

A bit further were these bridges. The orange structure is the swing dam and bridge. In an emergency it can be swung out so the large steel pieces hang down into the canal and dam the water, keeping it out of the lock. Behind it is a black swing bridge for the railroad and above them both is the international highway bridge.

We found out there were trails accessible beyond the locks, so today we went back and I carried Matey across the walkway on top of the lock gates.

A nice groomed trail leads across the other side of St. Mary’s Island.

A footbridge took us across to Whitefish Island. The bit of river between these islands had multiple beaver dams.

Aside from the path, Whitefish Island is left wild, and as unlikely as it seems between downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, wild animals live here.

This is the only wildlife we saw besides ducks.

And this rabbit is obviously used to visitors.

I did, however, see this bear scat.

And we saw a beaver lodge.

Another path took us behind the beaver lodge.

And we saw several places where they went from water to land.

They were obviously using these places to bring branches back. But, alas, we saw no beaver.

On the far side of Whitefish Island were the rapids, and beyond those the commercial locks.

There was a nice boardwalk along the river. In the distance are the international highway and railroad bridges.

At one overlook we noticed an upbound lake freighter. We only noticed it because it was moving. The superstructure is aft on these ships, that’s it on the left in front of the two stacks and the spire. The ship is white. Then there are some yellow steel rails along the deck and at the front a yellow tower with lights and radar. You can see that towards the right in front of the square building just to the right of the nearest crane. The rest of the ship is below the bank.