Up North

Jay Cooke State Park, Minnesota

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]W[/su_dropcap]e just got back from a road trip, across Wisconsin up to Duluth, Minnesota, at the western tip of Lake Superior. Then up along the lake’s northern shore. Up into the Minnesota Northwoods. Up into Canada, to Thunder Bay. Up to the top of the Sleeping Giant in Ontario’s Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, to an open observation platform 100 meters above Lake Superior’s rocky shore below. Up north.

We hiked, a lot, starting in Jay Cooke State Park, about 20 minutes outside of Duluth. The photo above is from there, the St. Louis River cascading through tilted slate and graywacke that started forming some two billion years ago. We kayaked on Lake Superior near the Duluth Harbor.

Split Rock Lighthouse

We visited Split Rock Lighthouse, built on Minnesota’s North Shore. “A November gale that wrecked nearly 30 ships in 1905 prompted this rugged landmark’s construction,” according to the Minnesota Historical Society. While a lighthouse’s powerful beam gets all the glory, there are fogs, squalls and storms even it can’t penetrate. The photo above shows the foghorn signal building next to the lighthouse that went to work then, until the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1969.

What we didn’t do on our trip was cook, even though every place we stayed had a working kitchen. We’ll be back next week with a recipe.

3 thoughts on “Up North

  1. John, we love the Michigan UP! Such beautiful, remote country. On this trip, we kept seeing signs for the Lake Superior Circle Tour, driving the coastline of the entire lake. I often think I’d love to do that, but it’s 1,300 miles—and that’s after you get to the lake to start the circle.

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