Lake Superior Circle Tour

Connected to Duluth by highway bridges, Superior occupies the Wisconsin side of the Twin Ports harbor. Fairlawn Mansion and the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center are legitimately excellent. Pattison State Park, 15 miles south, has Big Manitou Falls, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin at 165 feet.

Bayfield is the most beautiful small town on the Wisconsin shore. The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, 21 islands with red sandstone sea caves, six historic lighthouses, and pristine boreal wilderness, is a legitimate contender for the most beautiful stop on the entire Circle Tour. The sea cave kayaking is the best in the Midwest. Allow an extra day here.

Ashland sits on Chequamegon Bay with excellent birding and an impressive outdoor mural project documenting the town's history across eight city blocks.

The Ironwood/Bessemer corridor straddles the Wisconsin-Michigan border and is the gateway to the Black River Scenic Byway, 11 miles of Ottawa National Forest ending at Lake Superior with five spectacular waterfalls. Copper Peak Ski Flying Hill is the only ski flying facility in the Western Hemisphere.

The Pigeon River forms the US-Canada border at this crossing (open 24 hours). Grand Portage State Park, immediately south of the border, contains High Falls of the Pigeon River, at 120 feet, Minnesota's highest waterfall.

Grand Portage is where French voyageurs and Ojibwe traders built the greatest fur trade depot in North America. The National Monument preserves this history impeccably with a reconstructed 1797 fur trade post. Grand Portage is also the Minnesota terminus for the Isle Royale National Park ferry.

Grand Marais is the most charming town on the Minnesota North Shore, an active artist colony and gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. North House Folk School is a nationally recognized institution teaching traditional northern crafts. The Angry Trout Café serves the best local fish on the entire route.

The Cascade River drops through a narrow basalt gorge in multiple falls before entering Lake Superior, one of the most concentrated and accessible waterfall experiences on the Minnesota North Shore.

Lutsen Mountains is Minnesota's largest ski resort and a four-season destination. Nearby Temperance River State Park has one of the most unusual geological features on the North Shore, the river flows into a series of carved basalt potholes and disappears into a crevice directly into Lake Superior with no visible mouth.

Tettegouche is the finest day hiking destination on the Minnesota North Shore. High Falls on the Baptism River is Minnesota's highest waterfall. Shovel Point is one of the most dramatic cliff overlooks in the state. The suspension bridge view over the Baptism River gorge is unforgettable.

Split Rock Lighthouse, built in 1910 on a 130-foot cliff above Lake Superior following the devastating 1905 Mataafa Storm, is the most photographed lighthouse in the country. Decommissioned in 1969 and meticulously maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society. The November 10th annual lighting ceremony on the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking is one of the most moving public events on the Great Lakes.

Gooseberry Falls is the most visited state park on the Minnesota North Shore and deservedly so. Five separate waterfalls cascade through the park, ending at Lake Superior. The visitor center is excellent and the walk from parking to the first falls is short and accessible for all mobility levels.

Two Harbors is a working port city with colossal iron ore loading docks and Minnesota's oldest Lake Superior lighthouse. Burlington Bay is consistently rated the best Lake Superior agate hunting beach on the North Shore, arrive after a storm for the best selection.

You've made it, approximately 1,300 miles around the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. Duluth deserves a celebration meal. Pick up your Lake Superior Circle Tour Stamp Certificate if you collected stamps at participating locations along the route.

The Canadian Sault Ste. Marie is larger than its Michigan counterpart and home to two uniquely Canadian experiences you cannot have anywhere else on the route: the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, a full-day wilderness rail excursion into a canyon accessible only by rail, and the outstanding Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

Lake Superior Provincial Park covers 1,550 square kilometers of rugged Canadian Shield. The Agawa Rock pictographs, ancient Anishinaabe rock paintings on a sheer cliff face at lake level, are among the most sacred Indigenous cultural sites in Ontario. Old Woman Bay is one of the most photographed beaches in the province. Moose and wolves are regularly seen roadside.

Wawa marks the northernmost point of the Lake Superior shoreline you'll reach on the tour before turning east. Instantly recognizable by its giant steel Canada Goose, it's also a critical refueling stop, fill the tank here.

A small Ontario highway town with a surprisingly famous connection, the real bear that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh was a black bear cub from White River, purchased by Canadian soldier Lt. Harry Colebourn in 1914.

Pukaskwa (puck-ah-saw) is a rare true wilderness park, no road system, accessible only on foot or by boat. Day hiking from the park entrance near Marathon gives an excellent taste of the wild Canadian lakeshore without requiring full backcountry gear.

Nipigon sits at the mouth of the legendary Nipigon River where it enters Lake Superior. The world record brook trout (14.5 lbs) was caught here in 1915. The Trans-Canada Highway bridge here is the only land connection between eastern and western Canada.

Thunder Bay is the largest city on Lake Superior's north shore and consistently underrated as a destination. Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (the mesa visible from town that looks like a reclining human figure) is one of Ontario's finest parks. Kakabeka Falls is 130 feet and stunning. Fort William Historical Park is one of the best living history experiences in Canada. The Terry Fox Monument is deeply moving.

'The Porkies' is Michigan's largest state park at 59,000 acres and one of the last large wilderness areas in the Midwest. Old-growth hemlock and yellow birch over 500 years old. The Lake of the Clouds overlook is one of the most photographed spots in Michigan. Sixteen rent-able wilderness cabins book out months in advance. Don't rush this one.

Small Lake Superior town at the mouth of the Ontonagon River, historically significant as a copper rush gateway. The Ontonagon Boulder, a 3,700-lb mass of native copper that sparked Michigan's copper frenzy, is documented at the county museum.

The Keweenaw Peninsula juts 50 miles into Lake Superior and is one of the most remarkable and undervisited corners of the Great Lakes. A billion-year-old volcanic copper deposit was mined here from 1840 to 1968, producing more copper than any region in American history and building an entire industrial civilization now preserved as Keweenaw National Historical Park. Brockway Mountain Drive at Copper Harbor is the finest scenic drive in Michigan.

L'Anse and Baraga sit on Keweenaw Bay, a protected arm of Lake Superior with excellent walleye fishing and deep Ojibwe heritage. The Shrine of the Snowshoe Priest is one of the most dramatically sited monuments in the UP.

Marquette is the cultural and economic capital of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a college town (Northern Michigan University), a mountain biking destination, and home to some of the finest Lake Superior shoreline accessible by car. The iron ore loading docks are visible from everywhere in town. Presque Isle Park is one of the best free urban parks anywhere in the Great Lakes.

Pictured Rocks is the defining image of Lake Superior, miles of multicolored sandstone cliffs rising 50 to 200 feet directly from the water, carved by waves into arches, caves, and columns streaked with iron oxide (red), manganese (black), and copper minerals (blue-green). The Pictured Rocks Cruises boat tour is the single best activity on the entire Circle Tour. Budget two full days. The H-58 scenic drive from Munising to Grand Marais (42 miles) is one of Michigan's greatest drives.

The Upper Tahquamenon Falls, 200 feet wide and 48 feet tall, is the largest waterfall east of the Mississippi outside Niagara Falls. The amber tea color comes from natural tannins, not pollution. The Lower Falls are a cluster of cascades you can row a rented rowboat between. Fifteen miles north, Whitefish Point has the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum (Edmund Fitzgerald exhibit) and Michigan's oldest active lighthouse.

Whitefish Point sits at the eastern gateway to Lake Superior, where every freighter heading to or from the Soo Locks passes within a few miles of shore. The waters here have claimed more than 240 ships, including the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which lies 17 miles NNW in Canadian waters. The combined site of the 1849 light station (Lake Superior's oldest active lighthouse), the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, and the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory makes this one of the most underrated stops on the entire Circle Tour. Most generic Circle guides skip it. Don't.

Sault Ste. Marie is Michigan's oldest city and the engineering gateway between Lakes Superior and Huron. The Soo Locks allow massive ore carriers to transit a 21-foot elevation change, watching a 1,000-foot laker navigate the 800-foot lock chamber from a boat tour is genuinely spectacular. Use the MarineTraffic app to time your visit with a large ship transit.