Scott and Sophie Love to Travel

While Sophie and I have been to the north shore of Lake Superior several times, we had never spent more than a couple days there at a time. This past September, we decided to give it a more thorough investigation and came away more impressed than ever! With our camper in tow, we explored the entire shore from Duluth to the Canadian border.

Jay Cooke State Park

Our first stop was Jay Cooke State Park, which is just south of Duluth. It is famous for its historic suspension bridge that spans the rocky St. Louis river gorge. In addition to nice hiking trails, the park connects with the Howard Munger bike trail, which we rode all the way to Duluth and back. On our way back, we stopped to climb up Ely’s peak which gave great panoramic views. Halfway up, we came across a grove of bigtooth aspen trees that had turned brilliant orange already – our first glimpse of fall colors.

Tettegouche State Park

Our next stop was Silver Bay and nearby Tettegouche State Park, where some trees were just starting to change colors. The park provided quintessential north shore views: dramatic conifer-clad cliffs, deep blue Lake Superior waters, steep waterfalls and rushing rivers. In some parts, we noticed the water looked like root beer and learned that it is due to natural tannins. We thoroughly enjoyed hiking in the park, then headed to the little beach near our campsite in Silver Bay for a swim. The water was cool and refreshing. We sat on the rocky beach letting the last rays of the setting sun dry us off. We were content – just like the smiling rock we discovered lying between us in the photo below, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. An interesting rock formation flanked the beach that Sophie thought looked like a lion.

Cascade River State Park

Just past Lutsen is another gem: Cascade River State Park. As its name suggests, the river tumbles for three miles towards the lake through a series of basalt ledges making interesting waterfalls and pools. In addition, there is an awesome hike through birch (how beautiful are those pink trunks!), spruce, and cedar forests to a magnificent valley lookout on a rocky outcropping. Some trees in the distance were just starting to turn their fall colors on – lucky us!

Grand Portage

The vistas get more dramatic as you near Grand Portage and the Canadian border. Grand Portage State Park is right on the border and features the highest waterfall in Minnesota – High Falls, which you can reach via an easy walk from the parking lot through an impressive forest. We were particularly smitten again with the large, mature birch trees. High Falls and nearly twenty miles of other falls and rapids made river travel here impossible for Native Americans and fur traders. Thus, the “Grand Portage” was developed – a 9-mile trail bypassing the falls and rapids to the inland waterways. The first French traders arrived here in 1731 giving French names to many places in this region.

A few miles south of the border, Grand Portage National Monument features an excellent museum and reconstruction of the original fort that was once the hub of the beaver fur trade and the summer headquarters of the North West Company. It was fascinating to hear about the history of the partnership between the Native American tribes of Ojibwe, Cree and Assiniboine, and the French Canadian Voyageurs who would travel back and forth to Montreal. We learned so much about the fur trade – and why beaver pelts were so prized. It’s because the inner fur of the beaver pelts is highly waterproof, which made it ideal for waterproof felt for all those fancy Victorian hats in Europe.

There were some very impressive canoes on display as well. Each spring, canoe brigades loaded with a new supply of trade goods were dispatched from Montreal. The largest canoes (called Montreal canoes) were up to 36 ft (11m) long, 6 ft (2m) wide at the middle, and could hold 4 tons. These birchbark canoes were surprisingly light and strong, and could reliably cover the 1,500-mile (2414 km) journey in 6 to 8 weeks. We learned so much visiting this monument – it truly was one of the highlights of our trip! To conclude our visit, we took a little walk to the top of Mount Rose behind the fort for one last view of the fort and the Grand Portage divide.

Judge C. R. Magney State Park

We camped at Judge C. R. Magney State Park, home to more waterfalls and the mysterious Devil’s Kettle waterfall. It is an interesting phenomenon with a lower and an upper waterfall. The upper one splits in two and one side disappears into a deep kettle! No one has been able to figure out where that water goes – items thrown in it never appear downstream. We ended the day with a walk along the shore of Lake Superior, full of beautiful rocks.

Two Island Lake

We decided to camp one night in the Superior National Forest in order to be closer to Eagle Mountain. The campsite was about 15 miles inland from Two Harbors off of a gravel road. Our site was incredibly picturesque. It was situated on a private wooded hill next to Two Island Lake. I explored the quiet lake’s little islands by paddle board while Sophie prepared supper. We enjoyed watching a peaceful sunset from the shore.

Eagle Mountain

Eagle Mountain is the highest point in Minnesota. It is within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and we had to fill out a registration pass when we entered the trail to hike there. The hike is about 7 miles there and back from the trailhead. The elevation at the highest point is 2300 feet. We found the hike picturesque and interesting. Lots of rocks and roots on the trail, so we were happy to be wearing hiking boots. The trail goes through moss-covered forests, some wetlands, along a lake shore, then turns to climb the mountain. The views into the boundary waters near the top were beautiful – only lakes, hills and forests as far as the eye could see.

Bear Head State Park, Ely

We took MN Hwy 1 from the north shore to Ely for our final camping stop on this trip at Bear Head State Park. We visited the international wolf center in Ely and did some shopping in the neat shops there. We went paddle boarding on Bear Head Lake and enjoyed a nice hike in the park the next day. It was very pretty and gave us a little taste of the boundary waters without roughing it in canoes and tents.

The weather was spectacular this past September, and we were fortunate to visit this magical part of Minnesota when the crowds (and mosquitoes!) were gone for the season. The only thing that could have been better were the fall colors, which peaked a couple weeks after our trip. But, we won’t complain!