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Driving the Minnesota North Shore
In late February I drove the north shore from Thunder Bay to Duluth to research a historical book on Lake Superior’s early frontier villages. The road from Thunder Bay to the border is second class so one must take it easy. I was curious to see if it was as dry all the way down the beautiful shoreline as it was in Thunder Bay. This proves to be the case. Small creeks are bare and bone-dry. There is little snow and the landscape is brown with winter frozen grass and leafless trees. The terrain looks like it belongs to the first week of May rather than late February.
At Grand Marais the village is bustling although not like the summer season when the streets tend to be packed with tourists. The industrious citizens here and in the stately Gunflint country are busy all year round. The harbor in Grand Marais has little ice and out beyond over open water the faint dark outline of Isle Royale is visible on the horizon. When I stop to gas up the topic of conversation is just how dry it is along the north shore. I see only one or two snow machines in the back of pick-up trucks that do not look like they have been off-loaded in awhile. Fires in the forest are a concern in late February.
My next stop is at Two Harbors and I drive down to the old waterfront to eat a sandwich for lunch. If you have not visited this scenic harbor, do it, you are in for a treat. The old ore docks still stand and there is a lighthouse one can tour. The historic architecture here is impressive.
As I continue on Highway 61 the conditions remain the same, dry and beige-brown. Waterfalls in the state parks are not impressive this late winter. And there are no white tail deer anywhere on this trip. With the lack of snow cover in the bush it seems there is no need for them to be standing on the side of the highway. The water level on Lake Superior is at an all-time low. The cobble beaches are longer everywhere. This is good for agate pickers, but not for vessel traffic where reefs now dot the surface.
At Duluth, the entrance to the harbor is frozen in thickly and there are ice fishermen and skaters about, some of them daringly far out on the snow-less surface. On my second day in Duluth everything changes. A snow hurricane roars in from the south and dumps three feet of snow. For a day many establishments close down. When I depart Duluth four days later almost all the snow has melted although piles still exist in the parking lot at Miller Hill Mall. It’s back to dry on the north shore.
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