The Fourth Coast: Exploring the Great Lakes Coastline

by Mary Blocksma

Beginning at the St. Lawrence Seaway and extending to Minnesota, the North Coast is the longest of the US coastlines. Blocksma, author of Reading the Numbers and Naming Nature explored the 5,000 miles of this northern coastline to bring us the most interesting, compelling and unusual finds along the Great Lakes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always had a soft spot for people (by which I mostly mean "authors") who keep their expectations realistic, who find joy in a cup of coffee and a muffin, and can be cheered up by sighting a bluebird or amusing grafito or the sight of two elderly people holding hands.

Mary Blocksma is such a person, which is a good thing, because we're locked up in close proximity with her over a two month road trip. Starting where the St. Lawrence Seaway enters Lake Ontario, she proceeds without haste along the US shores of all five Great Lakes, giving her attention to birds, butterflies, fishing-boat captains, hotel owners, retirees, horses, shoreline cliffs, sand dunes and whatever else floats up.

No great epiphanies here, no major discoveries, just a pleasant time getting rained on, drying off in the sun, admiring a spider web and chatting with a park ranger. Stuff like that. Some books are shots of adrenaline. This book is a balm.

[Nick Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the part about wisconsin 🧀🦡

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary drives around the Great Lakes in a van for a number of months and interviews people she meets, finds out about the business in the area, takes boat tours, visits fisheries, goes to pow-wows, camps in the state parks, etc. I loved this book -- wish I could take off 3 months to do something like this!

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cozy, interesting travel log. Lots of fun characters and stops along the way. Author is a wonderful narrator, honest and engaging.

[Connor White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, what else can I say? I expected to love this and I did. Makes me want to travel the other lakes, after being so close with Superior.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book would be a fun accompaniment to a road trip I took recently in which I too visited all of the Great Lakes, save Lake Erie. In a summer in the early '90s, Mary Blocksma took a solo camping road trip, hugging the coast from the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Boundary Waters, stopping at a variety of interesting places along the way, including Niagara Falls, Mackinac Island, and Isle Royale and encountering a lot of local eccentrics. However, she limited herself to the American side which definitely leaves a lot of the culture of the lakes out. I enjoyed her unplanned structure, as she drove from place to place just letting the journey develop by itself, seeing who she would meet and exploring the various natural landscapes, urban and wilderness, that can be found across the "fourth coast." She writes, for the most part, of the day to day activities of the three months she spent traveling and includes a lot of notes on the places she visited and reviews of various travel books. On the other hand, she does not go into too much detail on any one location, sticking mostly to preliminary impressions. Also, the account is now quite out of date and a lot has now doubt changed since its writing; even during the accounts, it is often mentioned at how quickly the shorelines are being developed in many towns and regions and are probably quite different today. Still, I enjoyed this leisurely travel account and it was nice compliment to my own trip.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly interesting travelogue about the Great Lakes, from the St. Lawrence Seaway to Minnesota, but only on the American side, (which is sort of like doing half the job.) Blocksma could have included more interesting historical information, but does visit several New York towns along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario.

[Duane Bowker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Travelog of the author's adventures around the great lakes in her van, which was equipped with a mattress and cook stove. Sounds like she had a lot of fun and met some interesting people along the way.

[Judi Mayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book since both my family and myself lived along the Great Lakes. This author a librarian, took the a'circle tour' of the lakes and wrote an interesting book about her experiences and impressions along the way