Off we went, into the blue sky day.... and as soon as we reached a few miles north of Sault St. Marie, the sky opened up to a fury of black clouds and pouring rain.

Of course, some folks might have been disappointed and turned around but not us! Rain is PERFECT for rock collecting! You can see the stones much better in the pouring rain! So with delightful songs of joy and glee, we smiled all the way through the rain storm.

Our first stop was Mica Bay. (I'm pretty sure that this is the name of this bay.  If anyone reading this has the official name, feel free to contact me so that I can change it.

Mica Bay has a small spot (just to the west of the bay) that you can pull off on the side of the road.  If you are driving west (out of Sault St Marie, it's going to be on your left hand side).  You can pull in there and you'll find a small path that's going to lead down to the water.  You can travel on either side of the shore - the west side has some interesting smooth rock formations and the left side has tons of rocks to search and pick through.

Make sure that you bring running shoes as the crossing to the east side of the way has a lot of large boulders and it's easy to slip and fall.  You can't see that from the highway.

Here's the view of Mica bay as seen from the highway (as if you were driving)

You can see a picture of it (although it's not a great photo) and the tiny banding that zigs and zags across the stone.  I was whoooooping with delight as it was the first one I'd ever found.  The banding goes right across the top of the stone and then disappears under a darker surface.

If you are on the West side of the bay? I dare you to search for the tiny Amethyst vein that's located there.  I hope it's still there, it was a beautiful spot that had the most amazing purple colours and crystals embedded in the stone.   Here's hoping that future visitors left this stone alone so others could find it.

My first Lake Superior Agate