Lake Superior Revisited

Well I guess I ought to post an update on just a little of what I've been up to since last winter. Since the snow has melted, I've done quite a bit of biking, hiking, and exploring the local region. I have been on a few road trips this summer but to nowhere particularly interesting. To remedy this lack, about a month ago I decided to head off on a camping road trip to Lake Superior. I had a long weekend off, and the weather was forecasted to be hot at home - a strong incentive to head to the natural air-conditioning of the North!

I was able to drive all the way to Hayward, WI my first night after work. Hayward is the center of "The Northwoods" region in Wisconsin and home to the freshwater fishing museum (as seen above), national logging championship competitions, Al Capone's vacation hideout, and the very first Famous Dave's BBQ. I soaked up logging and fishing kitsch by eating buckwheat pancakes for breakfast at an outdoor lumberjack camp on a lake the next morning.

After breakfast, I headed to Bayfield, WI on the south shore of Lake Superior. I arrived in time to take a ferry out to Madeline Island for the day. The cold water of Lake Superior is such a beautiful and unique color of blue. It's temperature doesn't get much above 40 degrees even in the summer (natural airconditioning). It felt glorious to be able to wear a sweatshirt on the ferry in July!

Madeline Island was laidback, historic, and beautiful. It was settled in 1693 making it one of the earliest European settlements in the interior of North America. There is an interesting historical museum that I spent too much time at on the island (when the weather outside was so beautiful). The above photo is of sailboats in the bay at Big Bay State Park. I enjoyed walking on the sandy beach with pine trees coming right down to the sand. As I was driving back to the ferry, a full grown black bear ambled across the road right in front of my car - something I thought about with each "bump in the night" later that evening while in my tent!

The next day I drove west along the south shore of Lake Superior. The apostle islands (above) with their sea caves, sea kayaking, and wilderness camping were right off the coast. Next year, I definitely want to go sea kayaking there. I also want to try to take a dog-sledding trip there this winter. After making it to the west end of Lake Superior, I then headed northeast up the north shore stopping at all the state parks with their waterfalls and rocky beaches until I arrived in Grand Marais, MN.

From my base in Grand Marais, I headed further northeast to historic Grand Portage at the very northeast tip of Minnesota. This is the site of an 8.5 mile portage that the fur trading Voyageurs (initially French and then employed by the famous British Northwest Trading Company) had to take around an impassable waterfall. Other than this one stretch of walking, the Voyageurs could travel by canoe from Montreal all the way to the Pacific Ocean or the Arctic Ocean with just a few smaller portages in between. To protect the route, a trading post/fort (seen above) was built where the trail emerges onto the shore of Lake Superior. Evidently back in the 1700's furs from what would now be western Canada were as valuable as gold. Control of this vital fort and trail traded hands from the French to the British and then eventually to the US. Today the canoe route of the Voyageurs through the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness marks the Minnesota portion of the international border of the US and Canada.

This is Pigeon Falls on the Pigeon River (the impassable portion of the Voyageurs route). The cliffs on the left belong to Minnesota, to the right is Canada. The river is easier to cross downstream (and unguarded I might add). After hiking to the falls I went across to Canada (at the official border crossing). I drove up to Thunder Bay, Ontario where I got a glimpse of the Sleeping Giant through the fog. This landmark is a long peninsula across the mouth of Thunder Bay that really does look like a giant sleeping on his back with his arms folded on his chest. It reminded me of Father Time from the Silver Chair. After driving around Thunder Bay for a while, I returned to Grand Marais, MN.

The following morning I got the treat of cool dense fog coming off the Lake over Grand Marais Harbor (as above). As I sat on the rock and concrete breakwater eating a donut from "the World's Best Donut Shop" and enjoying my iced blended mocha, the foghorn from the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater would bellow its warning every couple of minutes. Otherwise the only sound was an occasional seagull cry and the gentle slap of water on rock. The fog eventually began to lift, and I eventually had to start the long trip back home. But for the moment it was nice to relish in the cool Lake Superior environment (90 degrees and humidity awaited back home).

So after this trip, I don't know whether I enjoy Lake Superior more during summer or during winter. It is good to live close enough to get many more chances to decide.