Traveling the North Shore: Tips & Tricks

Spring is in the air and it is almost that time of year where people start to venture north to visit the many attractions throughout the north shore of Lake Superior. This has been a favorite spot for my family to spend summer days together so I decided I'd write a blog to inform readers of a few tips and tricks I have found out throughout our journeys up the north shore.

1. Waterfalls... if you love them, drive passed Gooseberry Falls! 

For the longest time, the only waterfall I knew of along the North Shore was Gooseberry Falls. Thankfully I discovered several years ago that Gooseberry Falls is only 1 out of about 130 waterfalls that reside among the 31 plus rivers that pour into Lake Superior. If you want something more quiet and not completely overrun by tourists, with more parking, and better photo opportunities you should continue to head north, right passed Gooseberry Falls, to discover other waterfalls that are just as beautiful and less overpopulated with people photo-bombing your shots. Here is a great book we have used as a guide to discover the many waterfalls along the North Shore! Enjoy!

2.  Understand & Utilize STATE PARKS! 

There are 8 State Parks along the North Shore, UTILIZE THEM! When we initially made our trips along the shore... which mainly consisted of taking a drive to Gooseberry Falls.... we didn't realize the value in the MN State Parks System. The parks provide you with maps to hike a number of interconnecting trails, campsites (back-pack, cart-in, drive-in, camper, RV, cabins), bathrooms, showers, beaches, and other geographical markers/attractions that enable you to discover so much more than 1 waterfall. Each park has a park office that provides souvenirs, maps, check-in/out for campsites, and staff that can help point you in the right direction or answer any of your questions. Campsites can be reserved online by clicking here.

3. PAY THE FEE!

The parks are free to use, but they do require you to purchase a "parking permit" which can range in price from $5 a day to $25 a year, per vehicle. My husband is a disabled Veteran and qualifies to receive a free daily parking permit. There is a simple form he has to fill out along with showing proof of his disability status, each day to receive the new permit. Your parking pass is good for the time period you purchase it as well as for ALL state parks! When you are on the North Shore there is a pretty good chance you will visit more than one State Park in the same day. One last note about parking... if you are also paying for camping I believe that includes parking so you may want to coordinate your check-in/outs with your needs for parking. 

Overall the fee for the amount of entertainment you get is minimal! Where else in the state can you spend $5 for endless amounts of entertainment for your entire family? Pay the fee! Don't pull in and be naive about using the park! This is a privilege, not a right, be respectful! The State Park system in MN is amazing and relies heavily on government funding to pay for the maintenance and further development of the operations. In order to receive any type of funding the state parks need to track attendance of users and the easiest way to do that is by tracking the number of people who pay for parking! Consider it a donation to show your support for MN State Parks! 

4. Weather! 

If you're not from MN let me give you a quick low-down on how the weather works up here.... it can snow, slush, rain, and be warm and sunny all in the same day! Basically you need to be prepared for anything! When my husband and I took our first trip up the North Shore in July 2013 we planned on it being hot and humid just like it was on the Iron Range (where we are from). The North Shore was completely different. It was foggy and damp outside, but it wasn't too terribly hot or humid. When traveling up highway 61 the inland side of the highway was much much warmer than the lake side of the highway. My best advice would be to bring multiple layers of clothing with you so that you can be prepared for any type of weather MN has to offer.

On a side note... there have never been any bad cases of mosquitoes when we have been up there! :) :) :)

July 2013, no bugs, but I went from an insulated rain jacket to a tank top all in the same day! 

I'm sure there are plenty more things to add to this list but this is all I have right now. Time to get back to watching the snow melt to bring forth spring and more North Shore Adventures! 

61 Gems on Highway 61

A few summers ago my husband and I set out on an adventure to view the "61 Gems on Highway 61" described in a book that guides you to all of the tourist attractions along the North Shore. The book starts you out in Duluth, MN and takes you all the way up the shores of Lake Superior to Grand Portage, MN which borders with Canada. We made this trip in 3 days/2 nights and viewed almost everything in the book.

We decided to go on this adventure in the middle of July with about two days notice and we were very lucky to have found two campsites available at two different state parks. The first night we stayed in a Cart-In Site at Tettegouche State Park. I wasn't truly aware what this meant... so I'll give you a little hint... you load up your necessities into a cart with bicycle tires and you pull/push it about a mile from the parking lot to your campsite. It wasn't tough, but definitely something different I had never done before. The second night we stayed in a drive-in site at Temperance River State Park. 

Our adventure started out on Saturday afternoon with Gem #1 the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth. I have driven by this historic mansion hundreds of times and I'm so glad I was finally able to take a tour. Absolutely beautiful! If you are interested you can Google Search the murder mystery that took place at the mansion. 

Glensheen Mansion, Duluth, MN

Gem #25 Brought us to Iona's "pink beach" just south of Beaver Bay.The rocks are all a very unique shade of pink. It's amazing how all the beaches of Lake Superior are unique and no two are alike.  

Gem #26 is what started our romance with the North Shore! Split Rock Falls is an absolutely majestic little waterfall that I completely fell in love with... at first site. Hiking down the trail you can hear the river and once you find the magical little waterfall you feel like you found a hidden treasure. I've lived in MN my entire life and never knew that there were so many waterfalls, so beautiful, so close to home. I felt like I was in another country! 

West Branch Falls of the Split Rock River

Gem #29 brought us back to another favorite attraction of ours, Split Rock Lighthouse & State Park. 

Split Rock Light House, Lake Superior

And who wouldn't want to sneak in a picture with Gem #32, Rocky Taconite himself? Interesting tourist attraction.... marking the history of the mining industry in the taconite capital of the world.

Rocky Taconite

We ended our day by taking a visit to Gem #31, the Silver Bay Marina/Harbor where there was a boat lighting festival. 

Silver Bay Marina

We woke up on day#2 in Tettegouche State Park which is located next to the Baptism River. After discovering how much we LOVED the Split Rock River we decided to grab a state park map and hike the Baptism River which is part of Gem #36, Tettegouche State Park. This is also where we started to bounce around the book a bit and our Gem's weren't exactly in the order they are portrayed in the book. 

High Falls, Baptism River 

Two-Step Falls, Baptism River

We decided to spend the rest of the day heading north hoping to make it to Grand Portage and the next stop on our journey was the ever popular Devil's Kettle which is just North of Grand Marais and Gem #51. The story of Devil's Kettle  "mystery falls" is quite unique in that the water goes into a cauldron and no one knows where it leads. Scientists have sent down trackers and they have literally been lost into the earth. Interesting. Side note: I heard from a friend.... don't go in May when the water is high. She hiked all the way to Devil's Kettle and it wasn't even visible because of the high water levels. Speaking of the hike... be prepared to climb about 500 stairs! WORTH IT! 

Upper Falls of the Brule River

Devil's Kettle, Brule River

As we continued to drive north everything was so much more aged, rugged, and you could tell how very long ago this area was inhabited. There was something eary about it including this lone Hovland Dock at Chicago Bay, Gem #54. My hubby decided it was still photo worthy and I couldn't agree more. Needless to say I was ready to hop back into the car and continue heading north because this totally looks like a scene from a horror movie.

When we finally reached Grand Portage we took a short half mile walk on a nice wide paved trail to only discover the tallest waterfall in MN. The High Falls on the Pigeon River are 120 feet tall, loud, and absolutely GORGEOUS! I now have the below photo in a 24x26 canvas in our living room and guests often ask what country that was taken in... when in fact, it was taken right here in Minnesota! The High Falls in Grand Portage State Park is Gem #61 and absolutely positively worth the scenic drive up the shore! One more thing worth mentioning about the Pigeon River is that it is the border of the U.S. and Canada. The cliffs to the right in the below photos are Canada, it's almost like standing in two places at once. When you're up in that direction take a stop at Ryden's Border Store, Gem #60, to get souvenirs of your trip! 

High Falls Pigeon River

High Falls Pigeon River

High Falls Pigeon River

After an adventurous day hiking along 3 rivers we were excited to head south and pull into our drive-in campsite at Temperance River State Park. We spent the evening finding our way around the campground, knowing that tomorrow we would take on the fierce lively temperance river as our next adventure.

Mouth of the Temperance River looking out at Lake Superior

The Beach at Temperance River State Park

After a good night's rest we woke up, packed up camp, and headed to hike the Temperance River, Gem #43 in the book. The hike is very easy, but the trail is a bunch of slippery, rough, wet rocks that could be dangerous if you aren't careful. If you ever get a chance to stop here you will understand why the river received its name, because it is a fiercely tempered twisty river!

Temperance River

Upper Falls on the Temperance River

I have to thank my hubby for taking such awesome photos of our adventures!

This adventure was so much more than we had hoped it would be. We both enjoyed every minute of our hikes to find waterfalls at the end of the trail as well as all the touristy pit stops along the way. We also discovered our love for waterfall adventures and have since purchased another book as our guide to the North Shore called Waterfalls of Minnesota's North Shore, We are thankful we took the advice of a lovely couple we met on the Baptism River and purchased this second book.

The hardest part of any vacation is going home. We decided it would be just fine to continue our adventure down the shore enjoying the scenic views as we drove back towards Duluth to eventually head towards home. This trip was romantic, adventurous, and even somewhat magical!