There may be a little bit of Canada in this.
Traveling Companion: None
Vehicle: My 2009 Toyota Rav-4
The northern terminus of I-35 is on the northern side of Duluth. From there, Highway 61* takes you up the North Shore, following the Lake Superior coast all the way to Grand Portage and the Canadian border. At first, it is full of interesting looking homes on the coast. Around the turn of the 20th Century, Duluth had more millionaires per capita than any city in the world due to its bustling port shipping coal, iron ore, and grain to the world. The upper crust must have enjoyed mainy a cool summer evening on the lakeshore manors.
Beyond this, the state parks begin to take over. About every five to ten miles, a river tumbles from the mountains a few miles to the west into Lake Superior. Most of them have some spectacular waterfalls that have carved their ways through some shear walled canyons.
There may be a little bit of Canada in this.
Devil's Kettle Falls in Judge C.R. Magney State Park.
The Brule River splits and half of it falls over the cliff and continues down the river. The other half
plunges into a pothole never to be seen again. It is assumed it goes underground to Lake Superior.
The city of Grand Marais is sort of an artist community and county seat and only real town as far as
I can tell in Cook County. I stopped by their little harbor to commune with the lowness of Lake Superior.
I also had a fantastic walleye sandwich before heading to Temperance River State Park to pitch my tent and
settle down for the night.
I camped about 20 feet from a cliff above Lake Superior and let the sound of the crashing waves help me to
sleep. I woke to see the sun rise out of Lake Superior, and then I went about 100 feet down the coast to find that
the upper and lower campgrounds were split by this:
A short hike upstream leads to some fascinating hidden falls.
These gorges are formed when the grit and sand swirling in the water drill wholes in the rock at the
bottom of the river. Eventually they get big enough that the walls between them collapse. You can see
this in the curved spots in the walls of the gorge.
And I was there early enough so that I had them all to myself.
Eventually you get to edge of Whale Lake and get a glimpse of Eagle Mountain.
At the top, there's a large plaque beside the small marker.
Also at the top were four high school kids from Cloquet who got extra credit from their physics teacher
for climbing Eagle Mountain, but their pencil stick-figure sketch of their friend Maria, who had to back out
at the last moment, probably wouldn't get her the credit. One of them thought I looked like their physics
teacher, but the other three did not agree.
There's no view at the actual summit, but nearby is a very nice view of the forest in their fading fall
colors and lakes left by the retreating glaciers.
On the way back to Minneapolis, I stopped by the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park for another visit to
the state's lowest point.
Then I stopped in Cloquet to see the sun set over the R.W. Lindholm Service Station, only gas station
designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was originally designed as part of his Broadacre City concept.
It was a pretty fun fall Minnesota weekend.
*--US-61 used to extend up through Duluth all the way to Grand Portage and the Canadian border. However for reasons that I have not yet figured out, in 1991, it was terminanted at Wyoming, MN, northeast of St. Paul, with the 200 miles to the north relabeled as MN-61. I would to revisit Highway 61.