We had one rainy day during our North Shore trip this year.  July 6 promised to be unsuitable for hiking or other outside activities, so Dan and I got into the car and headed inland to Ely where we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunny day.  Although it is a small town (just under 4000 people), because it is in a resort area,  people from the lake areas nearby depend on it for shopping and entertainment, so it has a thriving business district with some interesting shops and restaurants and some unique tourist attractions.

Our first stop was at the International Wolf Center .  At the center, there are large windows looking out into the area occupied by the wolf pack.  To coax the wolves down near the building, the curators put treats out for them.  On this particular day, it was very warm and the wolves had experienced problems with  heat stroke during the previous few days, so the center staff wanted the wolves to swim.  The treats for the day were pieces of food embedded in chunks of ice and thrown into the pond.  The wolves were more than willing to go into the pond to fish them out.  They would carry them to a shady area and start chewing and licking to get through the ice chunk to the prize inside.  There was a curator in the enclosure with the wolves, and she would periodically take the ice chunks and throw them back into the pond.

You could tell that these wolves did not have to hunt for food and that they were confident that they would have plenty to because they did not pay any attention to the curator when she took the treats and threw them back in the water.  They just went into the pond and retrieved them.  The picture is a gray wolf pulling one of the ice chunks out of the water.

After lunch at the Steakhouse in Ely (have the portabella mushroom fingers if you ever have a chance to eat there), we drove a few miles south to Tower, MN, to tour the Soudan Iron Mine.   From the 1880′s until the mine closed in 1962, the finest iron ore in the world came from this mine.  The tour takes you half a mile under the earth into tunnels cut into Ely Greenstone, the second oldest rock type on earth.  Unfortunately, the pictures that I took in the mine did not turn out very well.

We had one more hike during the week.  On Thursday, we hiked trails in the state park at Split Rock Lighthouse.  Split Rick is one of my favorite spots on the North Shore.  We did not go to the actual lighthouse this year.  Our hike did give us this scenic view of it, though.

The lighthouse was taken out of service in 1969, but it is maintained in operating condition.  This year is its 100th anniversary, so the lamp is being lit on the first Friday of every month.  We were on our way home that day, so we did not get to see it.

 Every year in November, a ceremony is held at Split Rock to honor the men who died when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior.  At that time, the lamp is lit, the horn is sounded, and the bell is rung once for every man who perished.  I would really like to attend that ceremony sometime.

In addition to the hiking, we enjoy the visits of the wildlife that lives at the North Shore.  Every year, we look forward to seeing of these little guys.  This chipmunk had a burrow directly across the lawn about 30 feet away from the front window of our cabin.   He would pop up out of his hole and stand there like this looking around for danger.

He did not seem to feel that human beings were dangerous, though.  He would run down his hole if we got within a foot of him if we were up walking around, but if we sat still at the table and put out treats, he would actually climb into our laps on his way to the tabletop to get them.  Dan wanted to try to get him to eat out of his hand, but I advised against that.  I do not think the Chippie would hurt us, but he is a wild animal, and I don’t think it is good for him  to get too chummy with humans.  The next people who stay in the cabin might not have his welfare at heart.  He did come up and sniff Dan’s hand to see if he had more treats at one point, though.

I try to provide treats that are safe for the little critters to eat.  This year, I brought up unsalted peanuts in the shell and hamster treats.  It appears that chipmunks think that hamster treats are quite a delicacy.  Unfortunately, so do seagulls, so I had to be careful when I put them out.  Gulls can also figure out how to open peanuts.

This year, we were treated to visits from some creatures that we have not seen before.  I was working in the kitchen of the cabin one afternoon when Dan started calling me to come into the bedroom quickly.  When I got there, I found this little fellow standing there looking at us through the window.  He’s a groundhog.  I wonder if seeing him means that we are going to have 6 more weeks of summer?  He stood there for quite awhile watching us watch him.  Unfortunately, my picture is not too clear because it was taken through the screen on the window.  Isn’t he a pretty little fellow?

We had one other visitor who appeared during daylight hours the first day we were there and then came back a couple of evenings during the week.  This picture was taken at night through the window of the cabin, so it’s not good.  It’s a gray fox sitting on the bench of the picnic table right outside our cabin.  A fox is willing to learn how to open and eat peanuts, too.  Who would have guessed?  I gave him some turkey one night because I thought he might like that better.  He took it and ran off somewhere, then came back to see if I was going to give him more.    Chipmunks and groundhogs are on the menu for foxes, but I am glad that I did not see him eat any of them!

There are lots of seagulls in the area.  We had one who would come and sit on the picnic table looking in at us as if to ask if we had anything for him.  Apparently many of the animals around that particular cabin have learned that the picnic table is a place to beg for goodies.

That was our trip to the North Shore for this summer.  We are already looking forward to being there with our family next summer!

Dan and I spend one week each summer along the North Shore of Lake Superior.  It’s one of our favorite places.  Most years, our whole family has gone with us, but this year we started an every-other-year tradition so that our kids have time to make other types of family trips.  For the beginning of our week, Dan’s cousin Larry and his wife Ginny joined us.

All of us like to bike, so we brought our bikes up with us.  Unfortunately, I am very out of shape from spending all of my time at the computer when my classes are in session and I have never been good at biking on hills, so our attempt at a bike ride from Beaver Bay to Gooseberry Falls was not very successful.  Dan and I turned around at Split Rock Lighthouse and rode/walked the six miles back to Beaver Bay while Larry and Ginny continued on the rollercoaster-like hills to Gooseberry Falls.

Dan and I really enjoy hiking and it’s easier for me than biking on hills, so the plan for the next day (July 4) was to hike the Oberg Mountain Loop.  It’s a lovely trail that begins at a point partway up the mountain and takes a circular path around the top.  Unfortunately, the day of the hike turned out to be rainy.  We went anyway.  The picture is Larry, Ginny, and Dan getting soaking wet up at the top of the mountain.  Fortunately, there was no lightening!

The views from Oberg Mountain are breathtaking.  Unfortunately, we could not see them at all.  Between the rain and the fog rising out of the valley, it was difficult to see beyond the edge of the cliffs at the overlooks.  We described what they would be seeing to Larry and Ginny and showed them pictures from other years when we got back to the cabin.

We missed the big 4th of July parade in Tofte because it was still raining, but when the rain finally cleared, we did walk into downtown Tofte to check out the rest of the celebration and in the evening we enjoyed the fireworks display from the rocky lakeshore in front of the cabin.

We got in some sunny hiking at the Temperance River the following day.  The area above the falls at Temperance River is Dan’s favorite place in the world.  We have lots of pictures of the grandkids playing in the water up there in previous years.  I was glad that they weren’t up there this summer, though, because the river was very full and the current was strong.  People do not survive a trip over that falls!  Unfortunately, I did not bring a camera this year.  Take my word for it, though, it’s a beautiful place!

Before Larry and Ginny left, we had to have pictures in front of the cabin.  Here are Ginny, me and Dan – dry this time!  We really enjoyed the time they spent with us!

July 7, Dan and I decided to hike the Devil’s Kettle Trail.  It’s considered challenging because there are 200 steps to get down to the trail itself, which then climbs to a level at least as high as the top of the steps.  The picture is only a part of the stairway.

The adventure begins with a little hike from the parking area across the river and through the woods to the top of the stairs.  Of course, going down the stairs is easy.  When you get to the bottom, there is a lovely hike, mostly uphill, through the woods to the Devil’s Kettle a little over a mile away.  When you get there, you are as high or higher than the top of the stairs.  Dan kept saying that there had to be a way to do the hike without going down to climb up, but I am pretty sure that there was not.  The foliage was very dense and would have been difficult or impossible to penetrate, plus it looked to me like there was a pretty significant gorge at one point.
   
Here’s Dan on the trail.  The area of the North Shore that we visit is in the Superior National Forest.  There are lots of well-developed trails with frequent signs asking that people stay on them.  The Forest Service is working very hard to return the forest floor to its natural state and to let the forest itself return to its natural condition.  You can see several birch trees at the left of the trail here.  They are natural flora of this forest, but many of them will eventually be replaced by pine trees which are the predominant species of the area.

There are lots of beautiful wild flowers returning to the forest floor as well as wild strawberries and raspberries.  On some of the trails, there are signs explaining how the Native Americans harvested these treats at the appropriate times of the year, being careful not to take enough to cause damage to the forest.

Eventually, the trail brings you to a lower falls seen here on the left.  The water below this small falls is calm enough for swimming and there was a family there doing just that.  I am sure they were enjoying the cool water because the North Shore is having an unseasonably warm summer with temperatures in the high 80′s and high humidity.    

A bit more of a hike, or rather a climb, brings you to this view the upper falls (picture on the right).  The rock formation in the center splits the Brule River into two waterfalls.  The one on the left is the Devil’s Kettle.  It’s called that because it disappears into a hole in the rock.  Despite the efforts of many scientists over the years, the path of that part of the river has never been successfully traced.  It’s assumed that it follows an underground path that eventually ends at Lake Superior, but nobody knows for sure.

I love the sight and sound of a waterfall!  There is something really awe-inspiring about  water tumbling over rocks.  There are so many beautiful falls on the rivers flowing into Lake Superior.

Here’s a view of the Devil’s Kettle from above the falls.  You can see how the left branch of the falls just disappears into the rock.  I wonder how deep it goes?  I don’t think I want to make the trip to find out!

The picture below is the view looking away from the falls above the Devil’s Kettle.  It’s fairly similar in appearance to the area above the falls at the Temperance River.  I think  it’s very lovely and peaceful.  I can spend a lot of time just sitting on a rock listening to the falls and looking at this calmer water and the lovely trees surrounding it.

Of course, we had to leave eventually and go back to climb back up all of those steps!  Think about it – the average stairway in a building has 10 to 12 steps, so a climb of 200 steps is the equivalent of 8 to 10 stories!  Shortly after we started our climb, a young girl came by running up the stairs.  She said she was going to run all the way up.  We don’t know if she actually did because we did not want to run along with her to find out.  We were surprised, though, that the trip up the stairway was not nearly as strenuous as we had thought that it would be.

That’s the first half of our week on the North Shore.  The second half will be coming up in a few days.

My favorite memory of summer was running a Kool-Aid stand with a neighbor.  I think we basically sold Kool-Aid so that we could buy more Kool-Aid to sell.  It was fun, though!

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