Exploring Eskers at Gros Cap

An esker is a long winding ridge of sand or gravel.  The term "esker" is derived from the Irish word eiscir (Old Irish: escir), which means: "a ridge or elevation, especially one separating two plains or depressed surfaces."  The term was used particularly to describe long sinuous ridges, which are now known to be deposits of fluvio-glacial material. Most eskers are argued to have formed within ice-walled tunnels by streams which flowed within and under glaciers.  After the retaining ice walls melted away, stream deposits remained as long winding ridges. Eskers may also form above glaciers by accumulation of sediment in channels or crevasses near the tops of the glaciers. Eskers tend to form near the terminal zone of glaciers, where the ice is not moving as fast and is relatively thin.

We definitely encountered eskers as we hiked the Gros Cap Loop Trail today.  "Gros Cap" means "Large Cape" in French, and that is what this promontory was.  Gros Cap is the terminal point of a long ridge of granite that rises above the confluence of the St. Mary's River with Lake Superior.  It offers spectacular views both of the Lake and River, and of Michigan across the river.

This hike is listed in many resources as not to miss in the area of Sault Ste. Marie - and we were not disappointed.  The online documentation for the trail is good, with an excellent map and useful guide published by the Voyageur Trail Association, the mission of which is to coordinate the building and maintenance of a continuous wilderness-style hiking trail from Sudbury, Ontario through Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay, a distance of about 750 miles paralleling the rugged Northern Ontario shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  The trail and terrain reminds us a lot of the Appalachian Trail in its more remote locations.

We started our hike from the end of Second Line Road in Gros Cap Village, above Sault Ste. Marie.  At the parking lot there, Lake Superior's placid waves lapped against the shore.  As we looked over the lake, we noted the Cape and were informed that we rock!

Here we encounter the Gros Cap Loop Trail, about 1.3 km up the side of the escarpment:

Kathy encountered many wild blueberries along the way, and she couldn't pick all of them.  She offered some to David who profited unmeritoriously from Kathy's gathering efforts:

The trail boasts side trails at four levels, permitting excursions along the lakeshore, and at various levels above it, to lookout points.  These overlooks are favorite sunset and sunrise viewpoints for locals.  As we climbed Gros Cap, we took the advice of our trail guid and explored the third side trail out to a promontory, a lower cliff.  From here, we could see the beach (in this photo below and to the left of the pier) where we had first looked up at this cape:

At this promontory, Kathy found a concrete marker with some urban grafitti:

Looking north along the shore of Lake Superior, we saw nothing but trees and cliffs:

We eventually climbed our way to the height of Gros Cap, which was marked by a marker and explanatory sign.  From here, we could see across Lake Superior, north, south, west and everywhere:

We continued on the loop where we met the trailhead for the Tom Atkinson Side Trail.  Hiking up that, we found our intended route - the Walls Lake Trail.  Here, Kathy points the way:

We didn't have enough time to hike the full Walls Lake Loop, which was very enticing, as it contained a tour of a half dozen lakes nearby.  But we did make it to the Twin Lakes.  Here is a photo of the northwesternmost lake --

-- and the southeasternmost lake:

Something that has intrigued us is the apparent lack of wading birds in this area, despite the large number of lakes.  We don't know whether the reason is that there are so many lakes that the wading birds tend to stay in more remote environs, or whether there is something lacking in the food chain in these lakes.  Certainly the bugs were plentiful, and we had to employ many mosquito and gnat defenses to keep the hike enjoyable.  However, as Kathy noted when she signed the trail guide, the payoffs were worth the price paid feeding the mosquitoes.

By the time we had climbed to the top of Gros Cap, we had realized that the lower part of the trail was lined with Thimbleberry bushes!  While thimbleberries have a slightly later season than blueberries (and blueberries are just at their height), nevertheless, the thimbleberries are starting to ripen, and we found more than a handful that were bright red and ripe enough to snarf:

Here's Kathy asserting spotter's privilege to taste the thimbleberry she found:

Picking and tasting the ripe thimbleberries reminded us of our backpack to Arrow Lake in Glacier National Park, where we encountered unending fields of thimbleberry bushes (and thankfully no grizzly bears).

After visiting the Twin Lakes and revisiting the thimbleberries, we hiked back around the return leg of the Gros Cap Loop Trail.  We encountered the trail register and Kathy dutifully registered us:

By the time we returned to the shores of Lake Superior, we had logged 5 miles - not a long hike, but lots of up and down and practice for upcoming backpacks.  We were hot and sweaty, and the lake water helped cool us down as we soaked our feet:

On the way home, Kathy spotted a garden farm stand, staffed by a local Italian woman, who filled Kathy's bags up with canned antipasto, homemade farmer's cheese, Italian vegetable pastry, beets, and other scrumptious farm delicacies.  Arriving back at our RV, we felt we had garnered a bountiful harvest for our RV treks!