North Shore and Lake Superior

Lake Superior was angry but we were happy

Had the opportunity to travel up to the North Shore of Minnesota and Lake Superior. The purpose of the trip was to attend the Cook County Commission hearing regarding a permit to build a gravel pit and temporary asphalt manufacturing facility off the Caribou Trail near a friend's north country cabin.

The Commission hearing was to determine if an Environmental Assessment Worksheet should be requried for the project. The hearing was on a Tuesday morning.

Jenny and I drove up Sunday to Schroeder to stay a few days at a home on Lake Superior. There happened to be a Winter Storm Warning for the North Shore that Sunday. We decided to go any way, take our time, and, if necessary, stop until the storm eased. Turned out it was bad with snow blowing across the roads but we were careful and made it just fine.

Since the hearing was on Tuesday, we had Monday to "play" in the snow...and there was lots of it everywhere.

Lake Superior was churning with big waves and lots of ice on the shore when we arrived. By Monday it was clear and sunny and gorgeous.

Snowshoeing into Gust Lake

The snow up at the Gust Lake cabin was beautiful. Someone had plowed a good portion of the road so we were able to drive in and park. We put on snowshoes and trekked the rest of the way to the cabin.

Everything at the cabin was in good order. From the cabin we drove down to Grand Marais. Jenny did some shopping and we ate a hardy meal at My Sister's Place.

The house we stayed at in Schroeder was amazing. Right on Lake Superior and with all the comforts. There is a fantastic view of the Lake. We saw deer and I saw an otter (briefly). The sound of the waves is so relaxing.

The house faces mostly east so the sunrises were spectacular but the sunsets were equally beautiful as the entire horizon filled with all the colors of the rainbow.

The Cook County Commissioners agreed to a petition asking for the Environmental Assessment Worksheet...a victory for the cabin and homeowners along the Caribou Trail and Grade.

View from the house in Schroeder

The house in Schroeder is near Temperance River State Park. We were able to walk over and hike the upper and lower gorges of the Temperance River. So incredible with snow and ice and how the river has carved through what was once lava!

We made our way back to the house for a peaceful night before heading back to Minneapolis with much calmer weather.

To see a video of the trip click here.

Boundary Waters 2022

This year's Boundary Waters trip was very different. Our original paddle and portage trip was cancelled. So we opted for a late Fall trip up north to Jenny and Andrew's cabin situated next to Gust Lake just off The Grade.

We had no idea the weather would be as amazingly fantastic as it was. It was very late in the season, and it could have as easily been freezing temps instead of 60's.

Our foursome became a five-some with the addition of Maggie, my cat. Maggie has been to the cabin before, so she fit right in.

Brian cooked awesome meals...meatloaf one night and an incredible frittata another night. I made an apple pie with Jenny's apples. Reading (our normal BWCA activity) and puzzling were always active.

There was an excursion to Grand Marais on Sunday. We collected rocks for a project Jenny was working on. Also, a stop at the local bookstore resulted in several purchases,

I climbed up the mountain the hard way :-)

A hiking adventure at Oberg Mountain on Monday brought us back the big lake - Lake Superior. The park rangers had arranged a "monster" hike along the path. It was very clever and educational.

There were high hopes for northern lights (aurora) as the ratings were very high all weekend. However, no luck seeing northern lights, the stars were out in full force especially with the moon setting very early.

As is my thing these days, I created a video of the trip. Click here to view in YouTube.

Northern Minnesota

A quick trip to northern Minnesota up the North Shore and inland a ways to Jenny and Andrew's cabin at Gust Lake.

A typical northern Minnesota vista

Gust Lake at the cabin

The season up north is about a month behind the Twin Cities so in Duluth and the other towns along Highway 61, the lilacs are still blooming.

I have been up here in June before. The wildflowers and lupines are amazing. (I found out after returning to the Twin Cities that these lupines are not native to Minnesota and are considered an invasive species!) 

(non-native) lupines

(native) wild flowers

With all the rain up here, the rivers and lakes are full. But also the biting bugs are off the charts. Mosquitos and, what I've been told, sand flies are insane. Normally during the sunny part of the day, the bugs are not too bad. That is not the case this year. No matter when you were outside, the attacks were relentless.

Even with the bugs, it is just so beautiful. There are amazing views of lakes, rivers, trees and the sky with puffy or menacing clouds.

Raced to the end of the dock to catch this sunset before getting eaten by the mosquitoes

There was a fantastic storm Wednesday night

There were some interruptions of the relaxation with Jenny's work but we didn't let it interfere with our taking in all the outdoor beauty, piling firewood for the winter, and grilling.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Maggie enjoyed the catwalk for running and napping!

Maggie napping in the bottom bunk

Racing across the catwalk

We made it to Grand Marais a couple of times and had great weather while there on the shores of Lake Superior. While deciding between Java Moose coffee and The World's Greatest Donut shop, a seagull opened its bomb-bay doors and let go of a huge dump on my car! I was just so glad we were not outside the car at that moment.

Just a small portion of the seagull bomb drop

We were happy to be along the shore and not under the seagulls

Maggie and I drove back Thursday and had time to stop in Beaver Bay for a short bike ride. I need to figure out a way for Maggie to come along on the bike excursions.

Beaver Bay - top of the bike path taconite plant

Beaver River

Gray Jays

When we came back to the cabin after our BWCA adventure, a Gray Jay family was waiting for us. Gray Jay's are very sociable birds that with no prompting ate right from our hands!

Little video of recent cabin trip

Had another enjoyable trip up north at Jenny and Andrew's cabin. I put together this little video of the trip.

Drove up Sunday in a driving rain. I kept thinking I would get ahead of the storm but never really did. But when I arrived at the cabin on Gust Lake, the rain finally stopped.

I had developed a cold so spent most of Monday lying in the couch falling in and out of naps. Andrew left on Monday so it was Jenny and me and all the cabin neighbors.

Tuesday we went for a bike ride and explored Little Cascade Lake. 

I finally got to go up to the cabin on the hill on Tuesday, July 3. There is a fantastic view from up there. Tuesday night the neighbors put on a fireworks show. There were some big fireworks.

Wednesday, July 4, the weather cleared enough to go canoeing. It was fantastic.

Cabin time

sun rise

sun set

fern cup

Grand Marais selfie

Matching t-shirts

poop eating butteflies

this year's puzzle

Uno up north

Uno was fascinated by the outdoor view

the tree that blocked our way

The last photo is of a tree that blew over in a very quick severe storm. We were headed back to the cabin from Grand Marais. We had to turn around on a very narrow road only to find that another tree had blown over the road behind us. We were trapped but while we were contacting help, someone came and moved the second tree that then allowed us to leave safely.

Weekend up north

The Caribou Trail to the cabin.

Drove up north with my friend Jenny for a Memorial weekend. We left Saturday morning for Jenny and Andrew's cabin on Lake Gust.

There was a memorial planned for Dick Frye, a long long time resident of Lake Gust. Dick died last year. He was a naval veteran and had helped many people build their cabins on Gust. I had not met him but Jenny and Andrew had.

We made it in time for the memorial and heard many amusing stories of Dick and the Gust Lake cabins. The whole group then walked over to the minnow barrel the Dick had set up for everyone to use. Paul, who had lived in a Gust cabin, scattered Dick's ashes around the barrel. Todd, who now lives in Dick's remodeled cabin, had repaired the minnow barrel so it functions again. It is fed from a spring up the hill.

Saturday was a nice day. It had been forecast to rain but it was just mostly cloudy. Jenny had started a new puzzle and was anxious to get to work on it. We spent most of the weekend working on the puzzle.
Saturday night we grilled corn, brussel sprouts and turkey brats.

Sunday was a rainy day. We had planned to go canoeing but decided to go for a walk while it was raining very lightly. We ended up doing a 4 mile hike. It was very nice. We didn't see any wildlife bit did see traces... moose poop, bear poop and moose tracks.

When we got back to Gust Lake road, we ran into Bob and his dog, Gus. Bob and his wife have a cabin. Bob is a talker. It started to rain hard so we retreated back to Jenny and Andrew's cabin and worked on the puzzle. Sunday we grilled chicken thighs and beets.

Monday, Memorial Day, was gorgeous. We got up early and drove with the canoe to Brule Lake and paddled around for an hour. The birds were singing like crazy. It was so beautiful.

Grand Marais

We took the canoe back to the cabin and drove down to Grand Marais. It was an absolutely perfect day on Lake Superior. Jenny bought me a mesmerizing owl carved on a stone. She has bought many pieces from this artist and ordered a piece she wanted for her brother. We ate a late lunch and laid in the sun on the rocky beach. It was fantastic.

Jenny and me with the finished puzzle.

Monday night we combined our leftovers into a large salad. Yum. We finished the puzzle then played cribbage. We were really hoping for northern lights. The prediction center had said the likelihood was high. It was a clear night but we didn't see any northern lights.

I stopped at Palisades Head on US 61. See photo. Jenny was staying up at the cabin and Andrew was coming up today.

A weekend of mud.

Road trip food. Fritos, jerky and coffee.

a turtle on Brule

Palisades head. This is what Northern Minnesota is made of.

wild clematis in the woods behind the cabin

Labor Day weekend up north

Jenny invited me to her and Andrew's cabin in northern Minnesota. We were joined by her friend from college Karen and Karen's friend Elina. We left super early Friday morning.

Karen and Elina had not been past Duluth so we stopped and many roadside scenes along the way...including a set of giant chairs, a giant voyageur's statue and a giant rooster. I've passed all these sites but never stopped. It was fun seeing things with new eyes. For example, the giant voyageur isn't wearing pants!

little people or a giant chair?

We made it to the cabin around 1pm. The weather was beautiful. Forecasts were for ran during the weekend so we wanted to take advantage of sun and some wind. I bought a kayak sail and really wanted try it out. I thought it would be more fun sailing with someone so Jenny and I got the canoe out on the lake and tried sailing. It kind of worked as long as we went where the wind wanted to go. We couldn't really figure out how to steer. It was fun anyway.

It did rain but it was overnight. The same was true for Saturday and Sunday nights. Lots of rain overnight and beautiful days. Perfect.

Saturday we went to Grand Marais and a hike at W.R. Magney State Park. Grand Marais was busy. Many people taking advantage of the weather and the long weekend. Jenny got Andrew's birthday present from a local artist woodworker. I got Jenny's present from the same guy.

Beaver House, Grand Marais

W.R. Magney State Park is further up the north shore of Lake Superior. It has camping and hoking trails. It also has waterfalls as the Brule River flows down to the lake. One waterfall contains a geological mystery.

One of the waterfalls splits into two streams. One stream creates a normal waterfall. The other stream falls into a hole with no apparent outlet! You can read the story of the Devil's Kettle here.

Devil's Kettle

We stopped back in Grand Marais on the way back to the cabin. There was a lot of food back at the cabin bit not puffed tacos so we stopped at Hughie's Tacos.

Back at the cabin, Jenny started a 750 piece puzzle, Elina read her book, I worked a crossword and Karen did some work she had brought.

Sunday started off cloudy with rain threatening but it blew away and was hot and humid. I went for a run. I was soaking wet from the humidity and running nearly 8 miles. We decided a swim was needed so drove to Crescent Lake and had a blast swimming and frolicking in the cool, refreshing water.

Crescent Lake

And we had lots of fun with our underwater cameras...

Up North

Took a long-ish weekend trip up north to Jenny and Andrew's cabin. I left really early Friday morning in the middle of a big big snow storm! Traffic going north was not bad but the driving conditions were. At one point I could not see if there would be a vehicle in front of me or not. And Interstate 35 was down to one good driving lane. What would normally take about a five hour drive was 7 1/2 hours. But I do take my time and stopped several times for coffee and restroom.

 

 

A lot of ice on Lake Superior. These ice flows were all the way up to Two Harbors.

This is a panorama shot. Click on the image to open to get the full effect.

A telephoto shot of the lighthouse on the edge of Split Rock.

There was tons of snow up north and especially around Jenny and Andrew's cabin. The road had been plowed the week before so we were able to get all the way to the cabin with our all-wheel drive Escapes.

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun is shining through the frosted trees. We went skiing at Lutsen. Jenny and I went on our second snowshoe hike.

And you can see how beautiful the sun set was as the light streaks across Gust Lake.

Lake Superior from on top of Lutsen.

 

Moose Mountain from Papa Charlie's back deck.

Me, Andrew and Jenny on the top of Moose Mountain 

Jenny and me snowshoeing the back trail.

The drive home was smooth sailing. It was raining in Lutsen which cleaned the truck a little bit. There were so many deer along Highway 61...both dead and alive. Also passed two bald eagles that were just standing by the road.