In November 1905, the people of Minnesota saw Lake Superior at its most malevolent. As dozens of ships left Duluth-Superior Harbor in the calm after a violent storm, an even worse storm hit, with blinding snow and winds of more than 60 mph.
Go to story ...A hundred years ago, Grand Marais was a wind-buffeted outpost at the tip of the North Shore, stomping grounds of trappers, loggers and fishermen. The dirt road connecting the village to Duluth often was impassable, and winter provisions had to be brought in by steamer before Lake Superior iced over. But amid the hardship, there was always art.
Go to story ...Do you love to see gorgeous photos of your favorite landscapes, especially when you're sitting in an office cubicle? One place especially blessed with photographers who share their work is Minnesota's dramatic North Shore of Lake Superior, where world-class scenery stretches from Duluth to the Canadian border.
Go to story ...Long before Minnesota existed, Grand Portage was as familiar a name to many Europeans as George Washington. It was the crossroads of a continent, the place where voyageurs laden with goods from Montreal met voyageurs laden with beaver pelts from the Canadian wilderness.
Go to story ...When Lake Superior lighthouses had keepers, there was nothing romantic about life there. The posts were cold, lonely and meagerly furnished on the government dime. The work was physically taxing and repetitive. Through the long nights, keepers had to get up every two hours to wind the mechanism that rotated the lens. It's no wonder many of the early lighthouse keepers were hermits or grouches.
Go to story ...Big, bad Lake Superior. It's big as in vast, with a surface area equal to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire combined. It's bad as in lethal, able to swallow ore boats or pulverize them against the hard volcanic rock that lines its shore. And it's treacherous — like an enraged bull, its crushing waves can turn on a dime.
Go to story ...Up north, all of the snow that brought you great skiing just keeps on giving when spring arrives. That's when it turns into waterfalls, roaring down river gorges and misting awed onlookers. One of the easiest places to see lots of big waterfalls is along Minnesota's North Shore, where dozens of rivers roar down into Lake Superior. Where there's water, there's a waterfall.
Go to story ...In spring, not that many people go to the North Shore to see the flowers. They're small, and the rest of the scenery is big and distracting — roaring waterfalls, jagged cliffs and that mesmerizing inland sea that fills the horizon. If you do look down, you'll find them huddled in cracks on lava flows, tucked along hiking trails and in boggy patches along streams. They're dainty, but many are fairly unusual — butterwort as well as bluebells, rock clematis along with columbine.
Go to story ...When you live in the frozen north, you may as well embrace winter. My idea of fun is to cross-country ski, but for that, Mother Nature needs to bring snow. But alpine skiing, which I also like, requires only some big snow guns. After one wimpy winter, I bought alpine skis. They cost a lot, but I can actually use them, unlike my Nordic skis, all winter long.
Go to story ...For alpine skiers, these are the best days of the year. At least, they are at Lutsen Mountains on Minnesota's North Shore. Started in 1948, the ski hill has the region's steepest vertical drop, the longest runs and the widest variety, plus a killer view of Lake Superior.
Go to story ...The first times I went up to Minnesota's North Shore, I did the same thing everyone else does: See Gooseberry Falls. Take pictures of Split Rock Lighthouse. Hike Oberg Mountain. That's North Shore 101.
Go to story ...On Minnesota's North Shore, it's a happy day when snow is as abundant as scenery. Despite its miles of cross-country ski trails, the western shore of Lake Superior gets only modest amounts of lake-effect snow, because the storms that blow in from the east tend to dump it inland, where the land mass is colder. So if you want to ski, the trick is to head for the hills, ignoring the thinner snow along the highway.
Go to story ...To a novice, Minnesota's Superior Hiking Trail presents a bewilderment of possibilities. There are 310 miles of trail between Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth and the Canadian border. Some are in the city, some deep in forest. Many stretches include spectacular views of Lake Superior, but others (gasp!) are a little boring. People come from all over the nation to hike this beloved trail, and some take three or four weeks and do the whole thing. But there are many ways to hike the trail.
Go to story ...It took me nearly 20 years of hiking on the North Shore to tackle Eagle Mountain. It's the highest point in Minnesota, but it's not exactly on the shore; it's 14 miles inland, as the crow flies. I was used to tramping along the rocky river gorges whose horehound-tinted waters rivers boil furiously down to Lake Superior; I was used to drama.
Go to story ...At the far tip of northern Minnesota, Grand Marais is a place that people love even more when the weather turns. When Lake Superior storms send giant waves crashing against the pier light, photographers rush to the harbor. Blizzards bring in skiers, and tourists flock to see ice floes and formations. This photogenic village at the foot of the Sawtooth range is a drama queen, a magnet for those who bask in the big lake's chill and revel in its unpredictability.
Go to story ...Most people know Two Harbors only by its spine, Minnesota 61, where a long gantlet of gas stations and fast-food joints tries to reel in tourists speeding up the North Shore. Most tourists never see the massive ore docks, just a stone's throw from a picturesque breakwall, boat launch and walking trail. Or the North Shore's last working lighthouse, a 1892 brick beacon that glows flame-red in the afternoon sun.
Go to story ...By the second week, football and band practice has started at schools, and back-to-school sales are in progress. In Minnesota, everyone wants to go to the State Fair. Not many people are thinking about vacation — which is precisely why it's a great time to take one. The weather is still warm and sunny, the crowds are gone and, best of all, prices drop, usually on the second or third Sunday.
Go to story ...Long before reality shows turned survival into a stunt, there was John Beargrease. With no fanfare and no road, the Ojibwe man delivered the weekly mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais until 1899, using a dog team in winter. Using only four dogs to pull packs of up to 700 pounds, Beargrease could make the round-trip in a few days. His stamina spawned a legend. Now mushers from around the nation come to trace his path, racing each other from Duluth to the Gunflint Trail in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
Go to story ...There's one spot along the North Shore at which everyone has to stop. Its five falls tumble over lumpy floes of ancient lava, filling the air with mist and tumult. Intriguing crannies, created by jagged walls of rock and twisted cedars, turn adults into compulsive shutterbugs and bring out the Indiana Jones in children, who clamber from one precipice to another.
Go to story ...On Minnesota's North Shore, winter opens new avenues for explorers. Miles of hiking trails already follow the gorges of rivers that flow into Lake Superior. But why hike the trails when you can hike on the river itself? A frozen river takes you straight into the scenery - the slot canyons of the Onion, the steep red cliffs of the Devil Track, the waterfalls of the Baptism.
Go to story ...In the north woods, it's easy to fall in love with sled dogs. They're exuberant and adorable but also focused, intense and explosive — sort of like kindergartners crossed with Olympic athletes.
Go to story ...In winter, ice comes with the territory. You can curse it — or you can play with it. Kids know how. Climbers and skaters know how. And photographers adore it. Having fun with ice also is a good way to cope with a winter that drags on, endlessly, into April.
Go to story ...In summer and fall, don't rely on luck to get a reservation on Minnesota's North Shore. In the heat of summer, everyone wants to bask in Lake Superior's cooling breezes. In fall, everyone wants to see the fall colors. On winter weekends, skiers flock in.
Go to story ...In the heat of summer, everyone wants to bask in Lake Superior's cooling breezes. In fall, everyone wants to see the fall colors. On winter weekends, skiers flock in.
Go to story ...Going hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail? You'll want to pack sturdy boots, thick socks, water bottles, maps and rain gear. Oh, and don't forget the bikes. There's a bicycle trail on the North Shore, a nice flat one. It's the paved Gitchi-Gami State Trail, with a 14-mile stretch that links Gooseberry Falls to Split Rock State Park and Beaver Bay and a 10.5-mile stretch that links Schroeder to Temperance River State Park, Tofte and Lutsen.
Go to story ...If you don't know much about Minnesota's North Shore, trip-planning can be confusing. For one thing, it's really the west shore of Lake Superior. People in Ontario don't get confused because they live on the real north shore. Chicagoans do because they call their northern suburbs the North Shore. This pointy corner of Minnesota also is called the Arrowhead Region. Some people call its roads by their names — Sawbill and Caribou — and some by their numbers — County Road 2 and County Road 4.
Go to story ...Every week, a few dozen people join an exclusive club high above Minnesota's North Shore. To get there, they lug all their food and gear 1.75 miles up and down a steep hill. They draw their own water and make their own fires. They clean and then lug their garbage over the same hill. And they consider themselves lucky.
Go to story ...In Minnesota's state parks, the goodies go way beyond hiking trails, picnic sites and fishing piers.
Go to story ...Thirty years ago, dining on the North Shore was pleasant, if a little utilitarian. A meal often came with a view, but most of the menus had the same fish, steak, chops and burgers you could get anywhere.
Go to story ...In summer, when the cities start to sizzle, a lot of people suddenly realize they'd rather be in Grand Marais. This village on Minnesota's North Shore is awash in Lake Superior's cool breezes, and it has everything else a tourist could want — restaurants, shops, galleries, nightlife and scenery. But it doesn't always have enough room for all of the escapees, especially on festival weekends.
Go to story ...When people have been beating a path to your door for more than 130 years, you're probably doing something right. Swedish immigrants C.A.A. and Anna Nelson were accidental hosts in 1886, when they began putting up travelers in their new home at the mouth of the Poplar River, chosen because it was C.A.A.'s favorite fishing spot. More people came, and their Lutzen House became Lutsen Resort. Their children and grandchildren added a gabled lodge, ski hill, pool and townhomes. Then came log cabins, luxury condos, a golf course, a gourmet chef and a spa.
Go to story ...During the heady days of the Roaring Twenties, a group of Duluth businessmen conceived a plan. They'd build a clubhouse, with tennis courts and golf course and swimming pool. And they'd name the whole thing for Naniboujou, the powerful but benevolent Ojibwe spirit who claimed this northern wilderness as his own.
Go to story ...In autumn, crowds of leaf-peepers mob Minnesota's North Shore, looking for fabulous fall color. The last week of September is peak for inland maple forests and in the forests farthest north. The first weekend of October should be peak farther south, and the forests of Duluth stay golden through the second weekend of October.
Go to story ...The skies were leaden and forbidding as Lake Superior slid into view and we descended into Duluth. The wind mauled our hair as we stood alongside the harbor canal, waving to the crew of the Sea Pearl II as it pushed toward Malta with a load of grain. Driving up the shore, we listened to taped stories of shipwrecks: The sidewheeler Lotta Bernard, pummeled into pieces off Gooseberry Falls on Oct. 29, 1874. The steamer Edenborn, hurled into the mouth of Split Rock River and broken in two on Nov. 28, 1905. The Lafayette, pulverized against a cliff near Encampment Island on the same day.
Go to story ...Only tough guys lasted for long around Lake Superior, and Father Frederic Baraga was one of them. The Slovenian priest arrived in 1831 and spent a long and frenetic life canoeing and snowshoeing between Ojibwe settlements in Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan; Grand Portage on the northeastern tip of Minnesota; and La Pointe on Wisconsin's Madeline Island.
Go to story ...In one 19-mile stretch of Minnesota's North Shore, Nature presents a one-two-three punch of incomparable beauty. Just half an hour north of Duluth, Gooseberry Falls State Park presents an eye-popping spectacle of waterfalls, lumpy beds of ancient lava and twisted cedar clinging to rock outcroppings.
Go to story ...Ten thousand years ago, the melting of Minnesota's last glacier transformed a placid beach into a rugged coast. It's a 150-mile stretch of wild beauty, lined by piles of jagged black basalt, cobblestone beaches and the mouths of dozens of rivers, tumbling down from the old beaches of Glacial Lake Duluth. Seven state parks follow their winding gorges, marked by rapids and waterfalls, and the Superior Hiking Trail crosses them on its way from Duluth to the Canadian border.
Go to story ...Thanks to a four-lane stretch of Minnesota 61, tourists can zoom up to Two Harbors from Duluth in 15 minutes flat. The question is, why would anyone want to? There's much more to see along this 19-mile stretch of old 61, a part of the North Shore that has changed little in the last few decades. It's not the fanciest part, but it may be the most genuine.
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