Western UP
Lake Superior Circle Tour: UP Segment
Sault Ste. Marie → Marquette → Houghton → Ironwood — the 450-mile anchor leg of the full Lake Superior Circle Tour.
The UP segment of the Great Lakes Circle Tour is the best stretch of the entire 1,300-mile loop. This is the guide for driving it: the anchor stops, the detours worth the time, the provisioning gaps to plan around, and the overlook at Brockway Mountain that most people skip. Four days minimum. Five is better.
Route Map
Map shows 6 stops along this route. Tap any marker for details.
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Sault Ste. Marie — Soo Locks
Start early at the Soo Locks Visitor Center. The free viewing platform puts you eye-level with the freighter decks. Boat tours of the locks run through the season and give you the inside-the-chamber perspective. Check the lock schedule at saultstemarie.com to time a big ship.
Overnight StopSault Ste. Marie has solid motel options and a municipal campground. Hipcamp has private sites east of the city.
View Campgrounds →Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
🚗 ~1.5hr drive from previous stop
The 200-foot sandstone cliffs are accessible by trail or by boat. Chapel Falls Loop (10 miles) hits Chapel Falls, Chapel Lake, and a cliff-edge overlook. The boat cruise from Munising adds 2 hours but is the only way to see the full face from the water. Do both if you have the time.
Munising Overnight
🚗 ~0.2hr drive from previous stop
Best base camp for Pictured Rocks. Good restaurant options for a town this size — Eh! Burger and the Dogpatch are both worth it. The Munising Bay is calm enough for kayaks in summer; several outfitters rent them.
Overnight StopCampspot and Hipcamp have strong Munising-area inventory. Book ahead for July-August.
View Campgrounds →Marquette — Presque Isle Park
🚗 ~1.3hr drive from previous stop
The Presque Isle Park loop is 2 miles of one-way road around a rocky Lake Superior peninsula. The Sunset Point overlook is exactly what it sounds like. Downtown Marquette has Northern Michigan University, good coffee shops, and the best grocery stores until you hit Ironwood.
Overnight StopCampspot has Marquette-area sites including the Tourist Park municipal campground on the Dead River.
View Campgrounds →Houghton / Keweenaw Peninsula
🚗 ~2.5hr drive from previous stop
The Keweenaw Peninsula is the optional detour that circle tour veterans say is mandatory. US-41 north from Houghton to Copper Harbor is 60 miles of pure copper country — old mine ruins, Agate Amethyst Shop, the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. Brockway Mountain Drive above Copper Harbor is the highest paved road in the UP.
Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor have private campgrounds bookable via Hipcamp.
View Campgrounds →Ironwood — Black River Harbor
🚗 ~2.5hr drive from previous stop
The western anchor of the UP segment. Black River National Forest Scenic Byway (14 miles north of Ironwood on Black River Road) passes five waterfalls in sequence — Conglomerate, Potawatomi, Gorge, Sandstone, and Rainbow Falls. National Forest campground at Black River Harbor is free or low-cost.
Overnight StopHipcamp has options near Ironwood and Black River Harbor. Recreation.gov covers the national forest campground.
View Campgrounds →Route Highlights
- Soo Locks — 1,000-foot freighters rising 21 feet in minutes
- Pictured Rocks cliffs from the water (boat cruise)
- Marquette Presque Isle sunset loop
- Keweenaw Peninsula detour to Copper Harbor
- Brockway Mountain Drive — highest paved road in the UP
- Black River Harbor waterfalls at the western end
- Sets you up to complete the full Circle Tour
The Lake Superior Circle Tour: UP Segment Guide
The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a 1,300-mile loop around Lake Superior touching Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario. The UP segment — roughly Sault Ste. Marie to Ironwood — is the jewel of the whole circuit: 450 miles of continuous Lake Superior shoreline, lighthouse stops, waterfalls, and the most intact stretch of wilderness road in the lower 48.
Driving the Route
The backbone is M-28 and US-2, two roads that complement each other. M-28 runs through the interior forest between Marquette and Munising — fast, straight, moose country. US-2 hugs the lakeshore from St. Ignace to Ironwood — slower, more scenic, better for photographers. The smart play is to take M-28 west and US-2 east, or vice versa, to see both sides.
Anchor Stops
Sault Ste. Marie: The Soo Locks are the engineering marvel at the east end. Watching a 1,000-foot lake freighter rise 21 feet in a matter of minutes doesn't get old. The Sault is also the last stop for serious provisions before the wilderness sections.
Munising and Pictured Rocks: The mid-route climax. The sandstone cliffs are the most photographed landscape in the UP. Budget a full day minimum; two is better.
Marquette: The UP's largest city. Good food, good breweries, good hospital if you need it. The Presque Isle Park loop road is one of the better sunset drives in the UP.
Houghton / Hancock: Copper Country. The Keweenaw Peninsula is the route's best optional detour — US-41 to Copper Harbor adds 60 miles round trip and is worth every one of them. The Brockway Mountain Drive above Copper Harbor is the highest paved road in the UP and a legitimate hawk migration watchsite in September-October.
Ironwood and Gogebic Range: The western terminus of the UP segment. Black River Harbor — 14 miles north of Ironwood — has five waterfalls accessible by trail and free camping at the national forest campground. A clean finish to the UP leg before crossing into Wisconsin.
The Full Circle Tour
From Ironwood, serious Circle Tour drivers continue west through Wisconsin's North Woods, cross into Minnesota's Arrowhead region (Superior National Forest, the Iron Range, Duluth), and re-enter the UP via the International Bridge. The Ontario section — Highway 17 from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay — adds two to three days and requires a passport. NorthPass covers the UP segment; the full circuit is a separate guide.
Book Camping on This Route
Every overnight stop on this route has vetted campground options. Click through to each destination for full campground listings with pricing, hookup availability, and direct booking links.
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