North Shore of Lake Superior

From Duluth, Minnesota to the Canadian border!

We camped in Grand Marais, about 75% of the way up the ~150 miles of the Minnesota North Shore of Lake Superior…Lizzy’s 1st time camping in Minnesota (State #41). We visited a couple of unexpected places on the North Shore:

Split Rock Lighthouse, the most photographed place in Minnesota, a 54′ Tower on a 130′ Cliff. After a November gale wrecked nearly 30 ships in 1905, the president of a steamship company led a delegation urging the U.S. Lighthouse Service to construct this rugged landmark. It was completed in 1910, and for half a century oversaw the safe passage of freighters carrying freshly mined ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Grand Portage State Park, where we visited the museum and learned a bit more about the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, on whose land the State Park is located. We also hiked up to see the High Falls of the Pigeon River, Minnesota’s highest waterfall, plummeting 120 feet into a narrow rocky gorge. The Pigeon River marks the boundary between the US and Canada.

Visited 1 new National Park Site:

Grand Portage National Monument (#259), which preserves Gichi Onigaming (Great Carrying Place), the 8.5-mile portage trail that allowed Native Americans, explorers, and voyageurs to bypass unnavigable portions of the Pigeon River. It is part of an ancient transcontinental trade route connecting the Great Lakes to the interior of the continent. Between 1731 and 1804, thousands of men shuttled tons of supplies and furs over the portage from Fort Charlotte upriver, with the North West Company (NWC) depot on Lake Superior, which was the rendezvous point to exchange North American furs for Eastern trade goods. There was a great partnership between the Grand Portage Anishinaabe and the North West Company during the North American fur trade and they co-manage the site with the NPS today.

We visited the Heritage Center, the depot reconstructed in its historic location, and hiked up Mt. Rose. Great exhibits

Grand Portage NM-Ojibwe Village
Grand Portage NM-Canoes…one upper left can carry ~ 4 tons of weight!
Grand Portage NM-View of Depot from Mt Rose hike
Grand Portage NM-View of Isle Royale in the way-back from Mt Rose
Grand Portage NM-View of the Gap through which the Portage Trail goes, from Mt Rose