Monday, September 26, 2022
Autumn in Minnesota is my favorite season of the year...most of the time…but the season can be quite two-faced. One day we have sunny blue skies and warm temps and the next can be gray, windy and spitting snow.
For the past few years we have taken road trips in the fall to enjoy the last few warm days and look at the beautiful colors of the changing season. You can check out our past trips here:
2019: Great River Road
2020: Badlands & Black Hills
Our son and family took a trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior in June and their comments and photos got me to thinking it would make a great destination for this year's fall trip. Although we wouldn't be leaving the state of Minnesota to get there, the journey would be just about as far away from where we live as we could possibly go without crossing any borders. It had been over 10 years since our last visit to that region so it was time to revisit the area.
In researching the trip I decided we would have a road trip theme this year. I wanted to try and find (and photograph) as many lighthouses and waterfalls as possible. If we happened to hit fall colors at their peak, then that would be a bonus.
To break up our lengthy drive, we went as far as our son's house (near the Twin Cities) to spend Sunday night. It gave us a chance to have a nice visit and get several hours of our journey behind us. Monday morning we were up early and headed north.
Our destination for the first night was Grand Marais, much further north than we had been on previous trips. The small town is not far from the Canadian border.
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| Location of Grand Marais |
The city of Duluth (population 86,897) is the beginning of Route 61 that hugs the north shore of Lake Superior. On the outskirts of the city was our first stop, the Lakewood Pump House. The pump house was built in 1897 to provide fresh water to the city of Duluth from Lake Superior. At that time in history, the city was plagued by typhoid fever from tainted water. The pump house was built to draw water from the lake a safe distance from the population, bypassing the local water sources containing human waste...the source of the typhoid outbreak. You can read more about the history of the Lakewood Pump House here.
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| Lakewood Pump House, Duluth |
Although the building was interesting, what enticed me to stop was that the guidebook stated that there was a spigot near the parking area where you could fill your water bottles with free, cold, filtered water fresh from Lake Superior. Unfortunately we explored all around the parking area, but never did find the spigot.
Instead, a picnic table located at the pullout adjacent to the pump house made a convenient place to grab some sandwiches from our cooler and enjoy a lunch overlooking the lake. Afterwards we walked down and explored the shoreline a bit. According to my guidebook, the beach was the location where the 500-foot steamer, Crescent City, ran up onto the rocks during the Mataafa Storm in November, 1905. The crew escaped by using a ladder as a bridge to reach the shore.
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| Beach below Lakewood Pump House |
A new Route 61 expressway referred to as Voyageur Highway has been built running parallel, but more inland, to the original highway. The latter now is referred to as the "scenic Route 61". We chose to drive the older road because it hugged the shoreline with nice views of Lake Superior. But to get to the first waterfall on my itinerary, we had to cut off from the old road and go north to a bridge over the French River on the Voyageur Highway.
The falls are located right next to the road, but to see the falls required walking down a steep embankment below the bridge guardrails. There was no path and maneuvering through the tall weeds was a bit precarious. Yes, I might have tripped a couple of times to get this photo!
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| French River Falls |
What is a road trip without cheesy roadside attractions? Back on old 61 we continued on to Two Harbors where our next stop was to photograph the iconic Pierre the (Pantsless) Voyageur. Pierre began life in the '60s as an advertising gimmick to get people to stop at a roadside motel but over the years Pierre fell into disrepair. Thanks to the popularity of a Pierre the Voyageur Facebook page, the statue was rescued, repaired and moved to his new location. (Although it is still a mystery why he is not wearing any pants!) I thought the story was quite interesting. Bob refused to even get out of the car. 😏
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| Pierre the Voyageur, Two Harbors, MN |
In the town of Two Harbors, we stopped near the iron ore docks to see the Tugboat Edna G. Built in 1896, the tug has a long history including being involved in various rescue missions on Lake Superior. Today the boat is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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| Edna G. Tugboat next to ore dock |
Not far from the iron ore docks we took time to check out a couple of old trains that were on display near the Duluth and Iron Range Depot Museum. We took a little time to look over the locomotives, but did not go into the museum.
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| Duluth and Iron Range Depot Museum |
We pulled into the parking area at Agate Bay where we could look out onto the breakwater and see the lighthouse.
To stretch our legs, we walked the approximately one-mile Sonju Trail that leads from Agate Bay around the point to Burlington Bay. Perfect weather, colorful wildflowers and an excellent view of the lake.
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| The trail goes by the Two Harbors Light Station, the oldest lighthouse in Minnesota. Currently the light station houses a museum and serves as a bed & breakfast. |
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| About 5 miles out of Two Harbors we went through the Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel. Taking 3 years to complete, the tunnel rerouted Highway 61 away from the edge of a steep cliff along Lake Superior. |
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| Iona's Beach |
One vantage point to get such a photo is a pullout on Highway 61...the Madeira Pullout about 19 miles past Two Harbors. This pullout was high above the location where the schooner barge, Madeira, crashed into the cliff and sank in a fierce storm in November 1905. One of the crewmen was able to leap to shore with a safety line and was able to bring eight other men to safety. The first mate went down with the ship. Two days later, the tugboat Edna G. (that we had just seen in Two Harbors) rescued the stranded crewmen.
To get a photo from the lake level, we pulled into the state park camp ground. This photo alone would not be a good enough reason to purchase a state park pass, but we already had our annual pass so it wasn't an issue. I took a ton of photos but kept waiting for the sun to peak out of the clouds to literally "light up the lighthouse!" Eventually the sun did shine through momentarily and I got a few decent pictures.
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| All of the supplies to build the light house and keepers houses came by ship on Lake Superior and had to be hoisted up the cliff. |
By this time we were running out of time and energy. Grand Marais was still a little over an hour away from when we left Split Rock State Park at 5 pm. The remainder of the stops along highway 61 would be left for our return trip two days later.
Our AirBnB was located on 5th Avenue, up the hill from downtown Grand Marais and across the street from the noble looking Cook County Courthouse. The former motel had been converted into several small apartments and made the perfect home base for touring the north shore. (The place was even called Base Camp Bungelows. Some photos from the website:
After moving our stuff into the apartment, my idea of going down to the lake to watch the sunset no longer sounded so appealing. I was tired! I had brought some homemade lasagna and popping it into the microwave made dinner easy, except for the fact that the microwave was on top of the fridge! Not very convenient for the vertically challenged.
A small flat screen TV was in the living room, but there was no cable or streaming service. A small selection of older DVDs were in the cabinet which was enough to keep Bob occupied. The Wi-Fi was just OK, but enough that I could use my iPad.
The owner had provided locally roasted coffee for us...a nice touch! I got the coffee maker set up for the next morning and headed off to bed. Tomorrow we venture even further north!
I thought it was funny that Bob didn't want to get out of the car to see No Pants guy. Your photos, as always, Mary, are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteA quick look from the parking lot was all (and probably more than) he needed of the statue. Luckily he is patient and was willing to let me get my photos. :)
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