Soo Locks Visitor Center

What a great day! A beautiful park surrounding the Visitors’ Center. You can go in the observation deck, have a picnic and look at the models and watch a freighter go through the locks. There are public restrooms. Metered parking out front.

I’m only giving it 4 stars because I couldn’t bring my dog to the viewing platform otherwise it’s a great experience, haven’t been here since I was 7-8 and my mom was still alive. Found a killer food truck, Motown Nate’s, only a few miles from the visitor center, the brisket tacos and brisket mac and cheese were amazing but look at those fries, huge hand cut fries, they were so good. I highly recommend Motown Nate’s in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan.

Check out the displays inside then head observation decks. The announce ships arrivals or you can use an app. We saw the tourists boats and a 1000 footer go through the locks. Bring change for the parking meters.

An engineering marvel that allows the huge ships to easily go from lakes Michigan and Huron to Lake Superior! We got to see a 1000 ft ore carrier going through the locks while we toured! The app “MarineTraffic -Ship tracking “ shows you where the ships are located nearby as well as there destinations!

Amazing place to visit! It’s mesmerizing to see how the locks work. The Visitor Center has schedule that you can check when ships will be coming through the lock, so you can coordinate your time to watch it. The whole process for a large ship is about 40 mins, and you can watch from the stand.

Astounding the volume and size of these "Footers" that traverse the Soo Locks. The observation desk gives an up close viewing encounter of the transition from Lake Superior, 22 feet lower, to the St Mary's River. The rich history and growth planned for the locks as a vital water highway for the global economy and scale of volume moving through the locks each day is just staggering! The staff from the Army Corp Engineers made the experience very informative and fun, relating the size, life, and experience of the sailors on the "Footers" during the 42 week operating season. Edwin J. Gott imaged here was up fitted with new more efficient engines producing 19k HP and at one point held the record for the largest weight transported at over 74k Tons of cargo. Cargo varies between Iron ore, grain, and Coal throughout the Great Lakes regions.

Nice view for incoming ships and the staff are very knowledgeable if you have questions.

I recently visited the Soo Locks Visitor Center at 312 W Portage Ave, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI I had been there before and didn't remember how nice it was. The grounds are well kept and the information on all the different aspects of the Soo Locks is explained here. There is also a lot of information on the Great Lakes and how they all work together to provide an enormous waterway system.