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Sunday 27th October 2008 - Lake Superior and Duluth Day Trip

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This weekend's trip took me a little further afield than last weekends trip to various spots around Minneapolis - with the weather getting rather wintery day by day and snow forecast for Sunday I knew that Saturday would have to be the day to jump in the car and do a decent drive to somewhere a bit further afield.

I could do with 6 months here to see everything that I want to, but I only have a 3 week spell out here before I head back home to Germany again, so the list of possible places has been severely narrowed down. One place I was definitely looking to visit was Lake Superior via Duluth which are both a few hours drive North of where I am while out here in Minnesota, and while there to visit a few places along the North Coast of Superior.

Checking the weather on Friday night it showed snow due from about 6pm onwards on Saturday, so to get as far as possible on the North coast of Lake Superior it was an early start to Saturday heading North up I-35 towards Duluth which sits right on the West shore of Lake Superior - the day kicked off really overcast and a little misty which I hoped would clear a little as the day progressed.

By the time I was 40 miles short of Duluth the skies had started turning blue and the mist had all but lifted, so I checked the map and found I was only a few miles from a place called Moose Lake which has it's own State Park, so I made a short detour to the park to start the snapping for the day.

The 40 miles left to Duluth then flew in and within no time I was on the outskirts of the city and heading to the hills West of the city to where the Edger Tower is found, and gives awesome views over the city of Duluth which is interesting in layout as there is the small strip of land that is connected to the mainland via the famous Aerial Lift Bridge (which pics of will come a little later).

Enger Tower itself is an 80 foot tall, 5 story observation tower that was built in 1939 and sits amidst the Enger State Park, which also has several US-Japan themed structures found in it.

From the Enger Tower I made my way back down the hill into the heart of the city of Duluth and weaved my way through to Canal Park Drive where I could get some pics of the Aerial Lift Bridge and around the Canal Park area in general.

From Duluth I then started to make my way North East along the scenic coastal road which winds it's way along the edge of Lake Superior, all the way up to the border with Canada just past the town of Grand Portage.

First stop on the north coast of Superior was the town of Twin Harbors where I found a some old trains and old style station which now doubles as the local museum.

The temperature had dropped a lot since passing Duluth, and according to the temperature gauge in the car outside was managing to hover around 6oC, and with the snow forecast for only a matter of hours away now I started to keep an eye on things a little more as getting trapped up here with the "cheap and nasty" hire car wouldn't be much fun.

Split Rock Lighthouse was up next on the planned stops, which unfortunately was closed due to us being off season, so I had to make do with a few snaps outside the lighthouse and of the surrounding coastline.

With the time now approaching 4.30pm I decided that with the impending snow it would be best to turn tail and start making my way back towards Duluth again via a few places along the way that I had passed on the way up.

Approximately 10 miles from Split Rock I had noticed a small beach area that looked quite cool, so I pulled the car over into a small side road and climbed my way down a hill to take some pics of the beach area.

After the dissappointment of Minnehaha Falls last week (mainly due to them being almost bone dry) I had spotted a signpost for Gooseberry Falls State Park, and decided to have a quick look to see if they were going to provide more wet stuff than Minnehaha. Thankfully the Falls were flowing well, so I grabbed a few shots of the falls which at the main section of the river have three tiers down to the level of Lake Superior below.

The light was starting to drop quickly by the time I passed through Duluth again heading South, so I decided to make a second trip to Moose Lake State Park to catch the light dropping over the Lake.

The weather is supposed to be cold for the next couple of days and then heat up a little again midweek - so fingers crossed it'll be a little warmer next weekend and I can make the most of my final 2 free days in Minnesota to grab some more photographs before heading home again.

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