Gary-Summer: MN-Caribou

Showing posts with label MN-Caribou. Show all posts

Monday, June 22, 2026

June 22, 2026 - Grand Portage and the Return to Duluth

Title: June 22, 2026 - Grand Portage and the Return to Duluth
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking on a Boardwalk

Trail: High Falls Trail

Trail head:

Destination: High Falls

Distance: 1.1 miles ¹

Trail head: Grand Portage NM Visitor Center

Trail: Mt Rose Loop

Destination: Mt Rose

Distance: 1.15 miles ²

Elevation Rise: 365'

Descent: 358‘

Maximum Elevation: 906'

Minimum Elevation: 698'

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Gooseberry SP Visitor Center

Trail: Gooseberry Loop Trail

Destination: View of Lower Gooseberry Falls

Distance: 1.10 miles ³

Elevation Rise: 226'

Descent: 226‘

Maximum Elevation: 711'

Minimum Elevation: 610'

¹Distance is from various web sites.

²Approximate track from plotting the course on Google Earth

³Approximate track from plotting the course on Google Earth. Also the profile and elevations are based upon one direction of travel.

Description:

Gary the Passenger

I slept well last night, even if I woke up at 3:30 California time. No lightning to report, which is good. I laid in bed until 6:30 Minnesota time. Then I got up. Rachel went out for a run or walk, not sure which. Today we go up to Grand Portage before heading back to Duluth.

We had breakfast at the hotel-I had oatmeal and cereal. The already made pancakes looked a bit unappetizing. We got our stuff packed in the car and checked out of the hotel about 8:30. Rachel drove us to Grand Portage State Park. Along the way there were some interesting sights, including what looked like a front yard to rival Nitt Wit Ridge in Cambria. Some mailboxes or something disguised as various figures. But what really caught our attention were two deer on the side of the road eyeballing traffic, appearing confused. Fortunately, they just stood there, making sure we moved on.

When we got to the State Park, we walked to High Falls-a total round trip of just over a mile on a paved path or as we approached the falls on a set of stairs and boardwalk. There is a bit of lushness to the area which reminds me of a rain forest. This surprises me: in these northern latitudes, which I think more of snow and cold and maple and pine trees.

Pigeon River

Yesterday we saw Caribou Falls. High Falls is has more of what I expected. Maybe it is because of the presentation that we could fully see the falls versus yesterday with sun glaring across the falls and seeing it more from the side. I am glad we did this walk. On the way back I took a side trail down to the Pigeon River.

Canadian side

I should add that across the Pigeon River is Canada. We did not see any Canadians on the other side, but the novelty was there.

Our next stop is Grand Portage National Monument. It is just down 61 from the StatePark. I confessed that about 50% of the reason is to get my National Park Passport stamped. The other 50% is to see it with my own eyes. We had debated about going on a short, one mile hike here, but decided that we probably did not have enough time. We went into the visitor center. Sherri and Rachel talk with a docent while I got my page stamped. Looking through the old stamps, there is a 2025 page which I do not have. Then a eureka moment: I found the 1989 page which I had given up hope of finding. Yipee for Grand Portage!

Stair climbing up Mt Rose

I looked through the exhibits after saying to Jada, the ranger that we probably could not stay for more than a few minutes. When I came out, Rachel and Sherri said we are going on a hike to Mt Rose. Sounds good to me.

Before we went on our hike, the docent recommended we see a video about the Grand Portage. Turns out it went on a brief history of the relationship between the Ojibwe native tribe in the area and the French Voyageurs. From the video the relationship was amicable and mutually beneficial. The relationship was broken only when the border of the United States and Canada was established. The French moved to Canada leaving Grand Portage.

Outstanding in the field

There are two trails up: one from the Visitor Center, the other from the historical village. Since we are at the Visitor Center, we started this one.* It seems that this area uses stairs quite liberally. This trail is no exception. A short distance, we start climbing up and up and up several sets of stairs. The compensation is the amount of greenery around us. I take several breathing breaks on the way up. As we climb, we move to more hillside vegetation. The only animal life we see are some butterflies and mosquitos. I give Rachel my mosquito netting as they seem to like her more than me.

About ¾ of the way up, the trail from the village merges with ours. A couple we had exchanged greetings going up as they passed us was coming down the trail after reaching the top. The lady advised us to go down the other path as it was paved and the stairs had railings. We reach the top of the ridge and shortly afterwards reach the end of the trail. We can see out past Grand Portage Island and even out to Isle Royale, 22 miles away. Looking inland, we can see the gap where the Voyageurs came through, carrying their heavy loads.

Voyageurs Gao

After spending 15 minutes at the top, we start down, taking the other trail. Maybe it is not easier, but the footing is better and like the lady said, there is railing. We probably took over an hour and half to do it. When we got to the bottom, we walked a bike path back to the Visitor Center.

Drury Lane Books

From there, I take the wheel for the next 40 minutes. We all agreed the hike was a good use of our time. It takes about 40 minutes to get back into Grand Marias. We had decided on a promising sounding restaurant called My Sister’s Place. I have a Philly Cheese sandwich, Sherri a stuffed burger and Rachel a whitefish sandwich. It seemed like it took awhile for the food to arrive and then they got Racehl’s order wrong. They quickly corrected that. The food is OK, nothing special, a bit disappointing.

After eating, we went to Drury Books, which we saw last night. Rachel had read a review saying it was a pretty woke book store. No one would mistake the selection of books as being of a conservative bent, but to me, it seemed to have a pretty decent selection. They even had a good selection of Dorothy Sayers! Along those lines, while there is a mixture of genders, it seems like female authors are in abundance. The book quality looks pretty good, from the titles I recognized.

We decided to forgo ice cream at Superior Creamery as we are still full from lunch. Rachel drives us down the road to Gooseberry Falls State Park. From several places I have seen where Gooseberry is the highlight of the North Shore. Rachel has seen a three mile trail. When we got there, the Visitor Center was about to close up. But we saw that the Middle Falls is only a quarter mile away on a paved trail. We decided that since it is 5, that would be a good trail to do.

Middle Falls of Gooseberry Falls

We go down the paved path and find more stairs. But we also find an accessibility path around the stairs-well at least for a couple of them. The path has some bumps, I am guessing from tree roots, so we are careful to watch how we are walking. I think there are five different sets of falls as the farthest one is called the Fifth Falls. We come to the Middle Falls pretty quickly.

The Middle Falls are nice and I think would be impressive when they are fuller. Sort of like Yosemite Falls is impressive in the Spring and only leaves an impression of what it was when viewed later on. There is still plenty of water in the creek, just the falls are not thundering. Of course, the Middle Falls is only 25 feet high. I guess it is hard to thunder with that kind of drop

We go on down the trail to see the Lower Falls. We follow a boardwalk down from the Middle Falls. From the boardwalk we can see a bit of the Lower Falls. Only about a 10 foot drop and the view is more of a gap between two banks. But the water flows pretty good. We just cannot get a good view from here. But we spy a bridge and work our way oveer-it is a bit of a convoluted way to this bridge. But it does give us a good view of both the Lower and Middle Falls. Maybe it is the hype or just the wrong season, while these falls are nice, I do not consider them the highlight of the North Shore. Definitely Grand Marais’ harbor is the most memorable followed by the High Falls.

Rachel drives us into Duluth. On the outskirts of town, a deer crosses in front of us. Nothing close, just unexpected. We do talk about future trips. Sherri brings up the desire to do more extended day trips which will require the need for a car. We also talk about how to choose what we are doing. Our family has an awful habit of trying to defer to each other’s wishes rather than expressing our own. This makes for indecision. Maybe some sort of point scoring system where we all put in a strength of our desire for an activity or destination. I probably need to model that.

One thing which we agree on is a desire for ice cream now. We went back to Love Creamery in Lincoln Park where we had ice cream Saturday, Still tastes wonderful. I had a standard mint chip. Rachel was a vegan brownie and I forget what Sherri had.

Rachel has been doing most of the driving. This is a change since normally I do the majority. But she yielded the steering wheel to me for the last half an hour back to the hotel. We get back there at 6:45. After resting for a few minutes, we pack up for a return trip to Minneapolis tomorrow. We shower and Sherri gets her hair done by Rachel. By 11, it is time for bed.

Background

*I found a reference that the way we went up is the original trail: shorter, steeper and with trails. The way back down is the more recent with a longer ascent/descent.

Extra Photo's

Lower and Middle Gooseberry Falls

Grand Portage Bay

High Falls or Pigeon Falls

Middle Gooseberry Falls

Sherri looking over Pigeon River

Pigeon River

Flower on way to Mt Rose

Grand Portage Island

Lake Superior and Isle Royale

Middle Gooseberry Falls

Lower and Middle Gooseberry Falls

High Falls

Animals

Tiger Swallowtail

Flowers and Plants

Dwarf Dogwood

Dwarf Dogwood

Columbine

Sunday, June 21, 2026

June 21, 2026 - Duluth, North Shore

Title: June 21, 2026 - Duluth, North Shore

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Two Harbors

Hike Info:

Type: Walking

Trail head: Two Harbors Lighthouse Parking Lot

Trail: Agate Bay Breakwater

Destination: New Two Harbors Lighthouse

Distance: 0.71 miles ¹

Caribou Falls

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Caribou Falls Highway Wayside

Trail: Caribou Falls

Destination: Caribou Falls

Distance: 1.12 miles ²

¹Distance is from a plot on Google Earth

²Distance is from a plot on Google Earth

Description:

Happy Father’s Day to me! I am glad to be here with Rachel. The only thing missing is Steven and Andrea. I will enjoy what I have and remember the love the other two have for me.

Two Harbors Lighthouse

I did wake up a bit after 5. Saw that there was no lightning and then just rested for a while, until about 7. Around 8:00 Rachel got up-it was a long day yesterday for her and I am glad she got to sleep in. Of course, it is only 6 California time. We went down for breakfast, then prepared for our overnight trip up to Grand Marais today. Rachel will drive all day today, after all it is Father’s Day. Actually I think she prefers it.

When we leave Duluth, Rachel comments that this is the same road she ran on yesterday. I can see why she was saying she felt a bit unbalanced at the start of the run. The road itself is uneven. As Rachel drives along, we evaluate the gas situation and decide that we should fill up before we get too far-we have half a tank right now. At the edge of Two Harbors, we spot a Circle K and fill up there.

View from top of lighthouse

The new lighthouse beacon

I saw that there was a lighthouse museum in Two Harbors. Since our time with Andrea and Lawrence last March, we have had an interest in these. So off we went in search of a superior lighthouse, that would be a Lake Superior one.

This particular lighthouse is run by the local historical society. I suspect the society may either be in the beginning stages of the museum or struggling to maintain it. The main item is the lighthouse structure itself. Most of the building is an AirBnB and not publically accessible. We go up to the level just below the lense. The stairs are narrow and a significant portion does not have railings. The only view you get is through a couple portholes. There is some information but not really anything worth $26 for the three of us.

Two Harbors new lightnouse

There is also a pilot's house. It is the pilot house from a ship called the Frontenac, an ore boat. It has the pilot’s wheel and a lot more information about the ship and shipping on the Great Lakes. Much more interesting than the actual lighthouse structure.

I am unclear if the lighthouse with the fresnel lense is used for navigation_*. There is a breakwater by the lighthouse with a foghorn-lighthouse at the end of it. This is the actual working one. We walked out to it. It is a nice walk, looking out at Agate Bay on one side and Lake Superior on the other. There are these gigantic loading docks for the ships to get their load of taconite where iron comes from.

At the lighthouse, we met a couple from Brainard. We talked for 15 minutes, exchanging information. She noted they had just come from Grand Marias and one of the things they loved was at sunset seeing the sailboats. She made a comment about how common Minnesota is. From a visitor’s perspective, it is easy to see how wonderful a place is. It is too easy to get used to where we live, taking things for granted. To see Fresno or California anew is a real gift. Of course, there is the opposite side of things of being snobbish about your own place.

Caribou River

When we return back to the car, the question is where do we eat? Betty Pies seems like a possibility. But when we go to the parking lot, it is full. So on to the next place to eat. Rachel finds a place outside of Castle Danger called Lake Superior Burger Company. It is attached to a timeshare of some type-at least you can buy into it. I wanted a Philly sandwich, but they are all out of the meat for it. So I have an Imposter Burger with meat instead of whatever is in the impossible patty. This brings joy to Rachel with her father ordering a vegetarian burger without knowing it. Sherri has the Superior Odyssey and Rachel Half Naked Cheese Curds.

There are several places we thought of stopping at, but did not. Such as Gooseberry Falls-we had decided to pass that by since it seemed like it would be crowded. Also some of the turn outs as well. We had thought of going to Illgen Falls, but I mis-read the map and we did not turn. But we did stop at Silver Creek Cliff tunnel. The Githia-Gami trail runs through there and there is a scenic overlook a third of a mile back. The trail follows an old road bed to the vista point. It is well worth the walk as we get a good view of some islands to the east and Lake Superior in front of us.

Sherri&Rachel

A bit later, we come to the Caribou Falls trailhead where we stop. The first part of the trail is pretty nice, then it turns along the river as it ascends to the falls. There are lots of roots on the trail, making for uneven walking-I did stumble once, but nobody knew and I did not fall. The flowers we see; some are familiar to us and some are new. We get to the top of the falls and lookout over them. They are nice, maybe along the lines of Red Rocks Falls outside of Oakhurst.

Caribou Falls

There was another side trail lower down which we took. This goes down to the pool at the bottom of the falls. The emphasis would be on descending. The descent was steep, so the trail builders put in stairs. Most of the stairs had railings, which was fortunate. We got down about half way and could see the base of the falls. Sherri said this was as far as she wanted to go. Rachel and I went to the bottom. There was a lot of glare from the sun which hampered me from getting a good view and good pictures. Going up we took our time, one step after another, catching our breath occasionally. Stairs seem to be the way these trails are built.

Superior Creamery

We get to Aspen Lodge in Grand Marias around 5:45. The room has two queen beds so Rachel gets her own bed. One of the things we wanted to do is to do our laundry. But they are not available. Oh well. Guess we will have stinky clothes until we can get some done.

What to eat? We decided on pizza at Sydney Frozen Custard. This place seems to have everything on the menu. We have a pizza, half pepperoni-for me-and have Spanikopita. It seems like the place may be under construction. Then to top off the day, we go to Superior Creamery

Rachel and her yoga

. This is good ice cream. I have birthday cake ice cream and they have lavender honeycomb.

What can top good ice cream? A good evening scene. We walked a block or two out to Artist Point. There we confirmed what the couple from Brainard said. There are sailboats out in Grand Marais Harbor. If you got the right perspective some of them formed a line pointing to the lighthouse as the end of the breakwater. Many photos are taken. Rachel wants a yoga pose. After several attempts, we got the right shot. The sun does not set in a good place for a picture, yet the darkening evening makes the harbour very picturesque. But with the sun going down, it starts to get cold.

Rachel picks up rocks from around between the road and the water, wondering if they are agates. I tell her that David rejects most of my finds, so I am no judge. But what she is picking up does not look like them.

We got back to the hotel room around 8:40. We are about 15 minutes late for our family Zoom call. But hey, we are traveling and enjoying ourselves. One of the discussion items of the call is about agates. David tries to clarify, but only slightly. The call ends at 9:50-longer than I thought it would. We showered and then off to bed we go.

Background

*Reading the Wikipedia page, it noted that the fresnel lens had been removed and an electronic one replaced it. That one has failed as well and a temporary one is being used now

Extra Photo's