9/15/15 Wisconsin and Minnesota

We have now enjoyed 3430 safe and incident-free miles along the St. Lawrence Seaway rambling west in our motorhome from our easternmost start in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Canada (Thank You Lord!) finishing our St Lawrence Seaway/Great Lakes journey at Voyaguers National Park near International Falls, Minnesota.(our northernmost and westernmost points of our 2015 trip).  Additionally, we traveled 1272 miles in our Jeep Cherokee exploring the local areas from each of our campgrounds. This following portion of our voyager’s sojourn includes our stop along Lake Superior in Wisconsin and then northwest into the 10,000 lakes area of Minnesota.   

Our only camping stop in Wisconsin was in Bayfield on the western shore of Lake Superior to visit the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We camped in an Indian reservation in Red Cliff north of Bayfield (with its Native American casino).  The area is beautiful and the weather could not have been better.  From Bayfield we took a 4-hour boat tour to the outer Apostle Islands since the only way to experience and see the islands is from the water; fortunately, our cruise was on a beautiful sunny day.  Our cruise provided views of most of the islands, as well as close looks at dramatic sandstone cliffs and historic

Devil's Is Lighthouse, Apostle Island Nat Seashore

lighthouses (similar to, but not as dramatic as the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore we saw in Michigan).   The tour of the 21 islands and 12 miles of mainland provided a unique blend of history, culture, and natural resources. Several historic lighthouses shine over Lake Superior and the then-new wilderness areas. All but one of the islands are  not inhabited by people, but are full of bears, deer, and other mammal, which get out to the islands, in the winter, over the frozen ice (as do many ice fishermen).  There are some good hikes on some of the islands, but we just took the boat trip.  We ended up at Devils Island, and the spectacular lighthouse, and came very close to the many sea caves which have eroded into the sandstone cliffs.  

Tourist activities are winding down in northern Wisconsin after Labor Day. We tried to rent kayaks to see up close some of the sea caves on the mainland, but there are very limited tours after Labor Day – the few operating were already booked for the day.  Interestedly, no company would rent kayaks without being on a tour.  So instead of kayaking, we went sailing in Bayfield.  (Bob was quite happy the kayak tours were all full).  We ended up being the only passengers on the 33’ Pearson, made in the 1980s.  Captain Terry was very pleased to have just the two of us aboard.  He said we were “real” sailors (as opposed to the usual tourists) so he just sat back and let Bob do all the sailing;  He enjoyed the ride with us so much, he extended our trip until nearly sunset. Bob was happily at the helm the entire time and had a great time sailing as the winds picked up.  Not a fast sail, but a fun sail nevertheless.   

Split Rock Lighthouse, WI

 

 

Continuing our travel north, we visited Split Rock State Park in Minnesota; it has great scenery overlooking Lake Superior, including Split Rock Lighthouse, billed as the most photographed spot in Wisconsin (we believe it could be).  Constructed and supplied solely from the Lake up a 150+ foot vertical diabase rock cliff in 1910, long before any road to the area and helicopter-supported construction, the lighthouse is one of the prettiest we have seen.    

 

 

Our last stop along the Great Lakes journey was Grand Portage, Minnesota. We camped in another Indian Reservation campground overlooking glorious Grand Portage Bay, Grand Portage Marina (not so glorious but functional for the fisherman who catch walleye, pike and other lake fish), and the Grand Portage Casino which is being remodeled and hugely enlarged – guess those Minnesotans have money to lose.  Grand Portage was so named because it was the landing spot on Lake Superior from which the 8.5 mile portage (trail) allowed canoes, for the first time, to access waters and land west and north of the Great Lakes.  The portage allowed fur traders to get around 22 miles of rapids and waterfalls on the Pigeon River where it flows into Lake Superior.  Once around the falls of the Pigeon River, Voyageurs (French Canadian boatsmen) who worked for the large fur trading companies, could then canoe and portage goods all the way to the Pacific and the Arctic. They linked Montreal and then ultimately Europe with the Canadian northwest.  It was over this route that the Voyageurs first hauled furs (initially beaver furs and pelts and later others as well) east to Montreal to ship to Europe for men’s beaver top hats and women’s hats and high fashion. Goods were returned from Europe to Grand Portage and the Great Northwest of Canada.  These voyageurs and fur trading companies worked closely with the local Indians which helped open up the west to the white man.   



Double Rainbow over RV in Grand Portage

We had planned to visit Isle Royale National Park, accessible only by boat from Grand Portage, but unfortunately, the boat trips had stopped on Sept 5 (before Labor Day).  This was a big disappointment because one of our goals is to visit as many of the 59 US National Parks as possible (since we have been married we have already been to 36 National Parks and all the National Lakeshores and  National Seashores).  We are not confident we will come back up this way just to go to Isle Royal. Instead of Isle Royal, we hiked to three waterfalls; one falls near Thunder Bay Canada (a one-hour drive into Canada from Grand Portage) and the two falls on the Pigeon River that blocked early transit west and north to the thousands of lakes and marshes that form the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota. 

Devils's Kettle from Above

We also hiked to Devil’s Kettle, a very interesting falls (see picture).  The falls splits into two, with the left section falling into a “Kettle”, a pot hole scoured out by rocks in the raging waters over eons.  This particular hole is quite big; the left side of the river flows into an underground river system that no one has yet figured out. Logs, ping pong balls, dyes, GPS transmitters,  etc. have been thrown into it in an attempt to find out where the water goes. But still nothing.  It is believed it goes through a series of underwater tubes and eventually comes out in Lake Superior. Rumor has it someone sent a VW down it in the 60s and it too never came out.  

 

Surveyors test Devil's Kettle (shows how big)

 

While traveling the coast of Lake Superior in three states, we learned a lot about it.  When you look out over the water, even on a very clear day, you cannot see the opposite shore. It is like looking out over an ocean. It is generally considered the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the world's third-largest freshwater lake by volume. The “first nations” (native Indians), called the lake gichi-gami  meaning "great sea.".  Gordon Lightfoot wrote the name as "Gitche Gumee" in his song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".  Its average depth is 483 ft with a maximum depth of 1,333 ft; Lake Erie, by comparison, has a maximum depth of 210 feet and average depth of only 60 feet.

We have seen Lake Superior when there were no waves and flat as a pancake, but also, we have seen it in a very short time period with strong winds develop large, steep waves quickly. Annual storms on Lake Superior regularly feature wave heights of over 20 feet and waves well over 30 feet have been recorded.  (It was such a storm and huge waves that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald.)   The water at Grand Portage is only 40 degrees at the surface, and 10 feet down is only 34 degrees.  During winter, the Lake freezes solid and shipping stops (as in all the Great Lakes). Bottom line, it is COLD.  Many summer kayakers wear wet suits, but if you were to fall in and not be able to get back into your kayak, your time to reach severe hypothermia is only extended to 25 minutes with the wetsuit!   There have been quite a few deaths of healthy, young adult kayakers, which is why the tour outfitters will not rent a kayak without a tour guide (liability issues).   Bob would like to go sailing here, amongst the islands and pretty good anchorages and the daily goods winds, but Linda likes sailing in WARM water, where you can go swimming.

Granite Cliff with Black Shist Inclusions

Bob is loving the geology here; it is quite complex and old.  The rocks of Lake Superior's northern shore date back to the early history of the earth. During the Precambrian (between 4.5 billion and 540 million years ago) magma created the intrusive granites of the Canadian Shield; the heart of the North American continent.  These ancient granites can be seen on the North Shore today. The mountains steadily eroded, depositing layers of sediments that compacted and became sandstone, limestone and shale.  The continent has later risen, creating one of the deepest rifts in the world. Lake Superior lies in this long-extinct rift valley, the Midcontinent Rift. Magma was injected between layers of sedimentary rock, forming diabase sills. This hard diabase protects the layers of sedimentary rock below, forming the flat-topped mesas along the shores, which cause the picturesque  high dramatic cliffs, sea caves and unique columnar formations along much of the coast (Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands for example).  Lava then erupted from the rift and formed the black basalt rock of several of the Lake Superior islands. Finally, during the Wisconsin ice age glaciation 10,000 years ago, ice covered the region at a thickness of one to two miles.  The land contours familiar today were carved by the advance and retreat of the ice sheet. The retreat left gravel, sand, clay and boulder deposits (glacial drift). Glacial meltwaters gathered in the Superior basin creating a precursor to Lake Superior.  Without the immense weight of the ice, the land rebounded, and a drainage outlet for Lake Superior formed at Sault Ste. Marie, which would become known as St. Mary's River.  Sorry for the long geology discussion, but it really can be seen in its entirety here.

On the way north to the 10,000 lakes area of Minnesota, we stopped at the Three Way Continental Divide.  Most of us American learned of the Continental Divide for the US, the line along the Rocky Mountains where the all the water to the east flows east into the Atlantic and everything to the west flows to the Pacific Ocean.  At this particular Three Way Continental Divide in Northern Minnesota the waters flow into three distinct directions:  South to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, east to Lake Superior and ultimately down the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic (the way we have rambled on this trip), and North to the Boundary Lakes and Lake Kabetogama where the water eventually flows into Rainey Lake and the Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. 

We spent a few days in Voyageurs National Park, near International Falls, Minnesota. (yes, there are falls and a hydroelectric dam at International Falls). It was our most northern and most western points on this years RV adventure.  The park's name commemorates the voyageurs, the French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequently travel through the area as discussed above. Our campground was on the south shore of Lake Kabetogama – a walleye fisherman’s paradise.  We had walleye for lunch and dinner –our first time to eat any. The Kabetogama Peninsula, which lies entirely within the park and makes up most of its land area, is accessible only by boat. To the east of the National Park lies the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  Like several other national parks we visited, this is only accessible by boat. 

Bald Eagle after fight in water with 2nd eagle

This time we were lucky; we were able to enjoy a full day boat tour through the park.  Our tour crossed the USA/Canadian international border a dozen times and included a great lunch at a 90-year old fur trader’s hotel. It was the last week of park operation (definitely time to head south).  The area is almost all wilderness, and the wildlife reflected it.  We saw at least 10 bald eagles, several as a mating pair (they mate for life), and juveniles.  The bald eagle has been a comeback success here.  Although we did not see them, the wolves also range here. Linda is still looking for that beloved elusive moose (she has been looking since Maine!).

We have enjoyed our time in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but the leaves are starting to change and the temps are in the 50 and 60s during the day and 40s at night.  We are thankful and truly blessed to be able to make this trip and to enjoy life this way and this great country. We will be heading south in the Central States…first stop Iowa.