The American
Feeling Superior Why Americans heading home to do a serious bike tour should consider skipping north of the border. Words and pictures by Ian Kerr
D
ue to the extremes of weather that Canada produces, it is sometimes easy to forget that when the lower part is not covered in snow it has some superb biking roads that combine good riding along with spectacular scenery. Not only this, but it is liberally spread with lots of historical sites and buildings, so you can experience the great outdoors with a healthy dose of culture to go with it. To get some idea of what is on offer to the motorcyclist I headed across the ‘pond’ to the north of Ontario and started my journey at Thunder Bay, which nestles on the shores of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake. Here I picked
Comfy as a feather bed... Ian enjoys a well-deserved rest
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up a Kawasaki KLR 650 trail, or ‘Dualsport’ bike, from Excalibur Motorcycles for a quick tour of the north (Canadian) side of the lake. Roughly the size of Ireland with a shore line roughly equal in miles, Lake Superior forms part of the boundary between Canada and the USA, and a complete circumnavigation normally takes two weeks at a reasonably relaxed pace. Despite having just a week to cover the northern route, I spent a day soaking up the local culture and exploring many of the offroad trails, which included a disused section of the old Trans-Canadian railway. Before leaving for Sault Ste Marie on the border with Michigan, a run out along the ‘Sleeping Giant’ peninsula gave me another chance to test the dual capabilities of the bike and get a different view and perspective on Thunder Bay. A brief stop in Red Rock in a spectacular lake cabin once owned by the local Paper Mill saw me tackle the longest leg of my trip, to Wawa and a look at the gold mining industry. Although the
Trans-Canadian Highway 17 follows the lake’s shoreline, giving you continued spectacular views, it was easy to dive off into the small towns like Rossport and Marathon for a closer look at the shoreline, or into the many small parks just off the highway. Overnight in Wawa was once again spent with views to die for after a spectacular off-road ride to the Rock Island Lodge, right on the lake’s edge, from where they run many waterbased courses. A relatively short hop via a quick look at the Pictographs in the Provincial Park saw me arrive at my destination in Sault Ste Marie. In the 1920s this was the landing point of an Englishman, Graham Oates, and it was here he started his ride from Aurora to Ariel on his unusual sidecar outfit adapted to run on railway tracks. Sault Ste Marie is also home to the Bushplane Museum, where the history of forest fire fighting can be seen. The following day was spent on the Agawa Canyon train seeing some of the most spectacular rugged scenery anywhere in the world, before taking a short flight down to Kingston to catch up on Canadian history. A change to a ‘full dress’ Harley from the local dealer, Motosport Plus, gave me lots of luggage-carrying capacity for the next leg of my tour, starting with a look at the very impressive Rideau Canal and its lock system. An overnight stop in Merrickville saw my route to Wellington in Prince