We haven’t been camping for quite a few years. We kept saying we would work and get the house done “this summer” so we could have fun next summer. But the house wouldn’t get done and we would miss another year of camping. So this year we said forget the house, we’re going camping. Oh, what we’ve missed. We explored the north shore from Duluth to the Canadian border.
We arrived at our campsite at Temperance River at 6:30pm Friday night. The campsite had a raised pad for the tent which was dry but the rest of the site was wet. Kevin put up the tent as I made dinner — a lovely fresh trout from the Wedge. Unfortunately Kevin tied a tarp rope to the picnic table and when he was trying to tighten the rope he knocked the pan off the stove and my trout dinner fell face down into the mud. What does a flexible camp cook do when faced with a muddy trout dinner? She washes the trout off and we eat it anyway. Then that night we discovered that we’d forgotten our pillows and hiking boots.
Andy’s got his ball
The dog was another story. He doesn’t have a clear idea that he is a dog and dogs are meant to sleep on the ground. He was confused, scared, and cold. In order to get him to lay down and go to sleep I had to wrap him in my brand new sleeping bag. Having a muddy, shivering, shedding dog in my sleeping bag made for a long night. Kevin couldn’t get comfortable either. He felt like he was sleeping on a slant. The next morning we discovered a box of candles under his mattress.
Morning coffee
The temperature was so cold we could see our breath in the morning. We still had water in our campsite the next morning. When the sun came out we basked in its warmth and drank coffee. A hummingbird flew into our tent. By mistake I made oatmeal with white pepper instead of salt — rather strange to eat peppery oatmeal with maple syrup.
Wet campsite
We went to the park office and told them about our wet site. So they moved us to one of the four best campsites in the whole park and right on the lake. The park had quite a few no-shows because of the weather. We lucked out.
just down the shore from our campsite
Right at the campsite
Our campsite - mouth of the Temperance River
After we moved to our new site, we decided to hike the Superior Hiking Trail from the mouth of the Temperance River to Carlton Peak. We didn’t bring enough water. By the time we got to the peak we were tired, hot, and thirsty. We were hoping to lay in the wind at the top of the mountain and cool down, but the wind died down by the time we got to the peak. We only stayed a few minutes because of all the gnats. On the way down we saw fresh moose tracks with a calf. The dog had been acting strange just before we saw the tracks. My guess is he smelled the moose. We took a nap when we got back. Kevin woke up to the sound of a crow stealing our bag of Doritos.
Carlton Peak
The Superior Hiking Trail is a national treasure. The trails are well-marked and each entry point along the trail is clearly marked. When hiking over rocky cliffs the trail is marked with stacked rocks. All the campgrounds have trail maps available. This area had received 4-5 inches of rain on Friday morning so many parts of the trial were quite wet. We did get wet feet because we didn’t have proper shoes. We walked over seven miles.
Saturday night I decided Andy was sleeping in the car. Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of Andy’s teeth chattering on the car door. I’m not sure what to make of his shivering. He thinks every river deserves a swim and he doesn’t shiver when he swims in Lake Superior.
Sunday we explored the north shore all the way to the Canadian border. There is one beautiful river after another all the way to Canada — all full of water from the rain. Kevin spotted a dead body draped over a log in the Cascade river. When we first saw it we thought it was a dummy. But after further investigation we decided it was a moose. We think it got washed downstream in the flood.
The Cascade River
See the dead moose?
We went to Grand Portage State Park and learned something interesting. Grand Portage got its name because its a 1000 year-old portage from Lake Superior to the Pigeon River above the falls. From this point you can canoe to the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay, or the Gulf of Mexico and there is no portage longer than the Grand Portage. It’s the beginning of the Boundary Waters.
We could see Isle Royale out in the distance. You can take a ferry to the island for $110 per person minimum. I thought that was pricy. I’ve wanted to visit Isle Royale for several years, but I’d rather go by sailboat.
The Pigeon River is spectacular. The falls were roaring from all the rain. Grand Marias was reported to have had three feet of rain running down main street.
Along Lake Superior north of Grand Marias
The Pigeon River - Canadian border
After the Pigeon River we drove the Arrowhead Trail. I wanted to see a moose. We didn’t find a moose but we did see a deer and a black bear. By the time I got my camera out the bear was gone. What a surprise to see a bear. The forest was beautiful with so much variety. We drove back down the Gunflint Trail.
As part of this trip we researched all the State Parks along the north shore. I am starting a program in the fall for the neighbor kids. Next summer I hope to take them camping along the north shore. We wanted to check the parks to see which would work best for a group of kids. The three lower parks (Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock, and Tettegouche) seemed more controlled and tame. Tettegouche had beautiful campsites in both the lower and upper campgrounds, but I didn’t like hearing the road noise in the lower sites along the lake. Plus there was less shoreline to explore because of the cliffs.
A Tettegouche prime campsite
Of the three upper State Parks (Temperance, Cascade, Judge Magney) only Temperance is on the lake. The other two are on the north side of highway 61. We also looked at a private campground just south of Temperance called Lamb’s Resort. They were great. I told them that we wanted to bring a group of kids camping next summer and they said they would get the local boys to take them up the Temperance River and go cliff jumping. FUN!
We also toured Wolf Ridge. Wolf Ridge is an environmental education center set on 2000 acres of land. Most of the Minneapolis 5th graders go to Wolf Ridge during the school year. They had some good displays and taught some interesting classes. But again, there was something too tame, to controlled, to ruley about the place. I understand they have to be because of what they do. But I want the kids to get a real taste of the untamed outdoors. Where danger maybe lurks. I want a place where I can be alone with no signs telling me to keep my dog on a leash. A place where all I can hear are the honking geese, roaring rivers, and the wind in the trees. A wild place. A free place.
