October 10th, 2020
A trip to the North Shores has been five years in the making. If it was up to Pauline this trip would have been made four years ago (or more maybe), but I have been dragging my feet. My biggest issue with making plans to go north was in regard to traffic. My plan was always to leave town during the middle of some weekday other than a holiday to avoid the traffic.
We couldn't exactly find the right day or time so decided to just leave early on a Friday and expect some extra minutes spent in traffic. Our trip started off smoothly, getting along at a good pace until Forest Lake when we hit a slow down do to what looked liked a minor accident on I-35 north. Three vehicles involved, but everyone no EMS at the scene. Saw some smashed fenders and grills with a few air bags deployed, but no major injuries.
As we continued on, we hit a major snag that routed us off of I-35 through Pine City and north about five miles. This detour took forty-five minutes or more and while it was an inconvenience, we later learned the cause to the delay was the result of a serious incident on I-35. Apparently there was a high speed chase that led to an officer related shooting and the death of a person. It really put into perspective how insignificant the inconvenience was.
We arrived late Friday night, setup camp in the dark, had some hot dogs (and a beer) before heading to bed after 23:00. Pauline woke up early Saturday and let me sleep in, but she took the dogs to watch the sunrise on Lake Superior. I have to admit I was a little jealous, but was nice to get a few more minutes of sleep.
We took our time sipping coffee before getting prepared for a long day hiking. We packed up and left the campsite about 10:00 and headed north for a forty-minute drive to Grand Portage State Park. Witnessed such amazing beauty as we drove the scenic Highway 61. The drive stretched along the Lake Superior shoreline. We stopped on the side of the road to take a few minutes to take in the view.
We arrived at Grand Portage about noon and headed to the waterfall with the dogs. They were a little over excited which made the start of the hike a little difficult. There were a good amount of people (and dogs) on the trail, so the trek was slow.
After finishing the Hiking Club trail, we decided to take the longer narrow trail to the Middle Falls. The trail was a lot of fun as it was narrow and zig-zag through the towering spires of pines mixed with the white paper birch and quaking aspen. The bright yellow clung to the aspen was even richer with the dark green of the pines. After winding through the woods for a few miles we reached the middle falls of the Pigeon River. The tall black granite on the Canadian side of the river, dotted with dark green pines and the bright yellow aspen.
We took some time to sit on the river rocks and take in the beauty while snacking and hydrating. We headed back through the woods, passing some fun people. There was a large Hmong group passing through, smiling and enjoying the hike. We noticed a few of the ladies had flip-flops and plastic ballet flats, but they were trudging through the steep trail with no worries. The man at the end told us he was fifty-four years old and had finally made it to Grand Portage. He was so excited to finally have made it to this adventure after fifty-four years. It was refreshing to see his excitement.
We made it back to the vehicle about 15:00 and loaded our gear into the truck for the quick trip down to Grand Marais and Judge C.R. Magney State Park. We gathered our gear and headed out on the trail to the Devil's Kettle thinking the dogs would be too tired to be naughty, but they proved they still had some energy to burn.
This trail was shorter, but had a lot of people (and dogs) on it as well as a lot of steps to get to the falls. The light was fading quickly and with the sheer amount of people, there was no urge to take time to take the area in. I would like to go back and spend more time just enjoying the beauty without the people. We headed back on the trail with a plan to walk all the way to Lake Superior. Our walk ended about 300 feet shy of the big lake at a swamp and appeared to be unpassable. We returned to the truck happy for the long day hiking.
We stopped at Voyaguer Brewing in Grand Marais for a few pints. Pauline's excitement to see the sunset led us to request rooftop seating and spent our time waiting for our table along the beach that was protected by the breaker. Our table became available just as the sun was setting. We had some warm cheese curds, a few pints of IPA and a pint of porter as the sun set in the west. Not long after the temperature dropped quickly, so we grabbed our check and left.
It was a great first day that we ended at the camper with a burnt hamburger, salad and beer. We were both exhausted from the long days journey. Pauline retired to bed before 20:00 with me following her after some journaling about 21:30.