An Idiot’s Guide to Minnesota’s North(er) Shore

An Idiot’s Guide to Minnesota’s North(er) Shore

My wife and I took a trip last week. We went “up north” as we Minnesotans like to say. To much of the United States, Minnesota is north enough. To them, I say we took a trip “up norther.” The actual destination was the North Shore. It’s the region of Minnesota that makes the coastline of Lake Superior (of Great Lakes fame) or, as I like to call it, Lake Siberia. IT IS COLD! Even in mid-July, it is very cold. But, first, we had to get there.

First stop, Lake City. (Okay, the actual first stop was a gas station in Rochester, but who wants to read about that?) We stopped for lunch in Lake City, which isn’t anywhere near Lake Siberia. The lake for which Lake City is named is Lake Pepin. While Lake Pepin is a great lake, it isn’t a Great Lake, so we just stopped there for lunch.

There’s a little coffee house in Lake City called Rhythm & Brew. It’s on Chestnut St. We parked the car and headed out to find Chestnut. We went left. We ended up on a mini-tour of Lake City--passing businesses and parks and streets. Finally, we found Chestnut. We followed that until we found Rhythm & Brew. Well, what do you know? If we had simply looked to the right when we got out of the car, we would immediately have seen the Rhythm & Brew sign. But, no, we had to go left. (Darn liberals!) Oh and, Rhythm & Brew is a quaint restaurant with personable employees and lots of neat stuff on the walls. Y’all stop by sometime.

Then off to Duluth we drove: which was a lot shorter drive than we had anticipated. It was a fun drive, too. If you ever want to have a fun and relaxing drive “up norther,” take some back roads and small highways. Stay away from the interstates. Oh, and there is one more thing. What was that again? Oh, yeah! Have your spouse do the driving. Now that’s relaxation!

So four hours later, we’re at Canal Park in Duluth. First stop: a restroom! After that, grab a bite to eat. Take a couple of pictures of that bridge going up and down. Walk to the lighthouse and back. Visit some local tourist traps…er, rather…shops. Have picture taken by a big boat. Marvel at how steep the streets are in Duluth--thanking goodness for not having to try to stop going downhill during a snowstorm on one of them.

Then it is off to Two Harbors.

Two Harbors gets its name from the two harbors that are located within Two Harbors. I don’t remember what they are called, but they are harbors all right. One harbor is used every day, loading taconite onto large ships and sending the ships on their merry way across the frozen tundra called Lake Siberia, er, Superior.

That harbor was also used to send Stephanie and myself across the frozen tundra, too. We took a boat tour of the area. That was fun except for the frostbite. We were able to see a young eagle on Encampment Island. That was almost as much fun as listening to the boat’s captain talk about how fun it is to see a young eagle on Encampment Island. You’ve got to love a guy who loves his job.

After the tour ended, and we thawed out, Stephanie told me we’d best go back to the hotel to change our shoes. When I asked her why we’d have to change our shoes, she reminded me that you don’t want to hike in sandals. Makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I had not packed hiking shoes for I am an idiot. I knew there was to be hiking; yet all I brought were sandals. We made a quick jaunt to Pamida for some shoes. They don’t have much at Pamida, but I found some shoes.

Then we made our way to Gooseberry Falls. Before I go any further, I must tell you that what “falls” at Gooseberry Falls is water. No need to fear. Gooseberry is just a name; what falls is just water.

There are five parts to Gooseberry Falls. There are the Lower Falls, the Upper Falls and the Fifth Falls. That’s three. Turns out the Lower Falls are actually the Lower Fallss as there are three, three, three falls in one. The Lower and Upper Falls are pretty close together. It’s upwards of a mile to the Fifth Falls. We decided to take that hike. Good thing I brought my shoes.

There are varying degrees of path when you hike to the fifth falls. Part of it is paved. Part of it is boards. Part of it is dirt. Part of it is a patch of intertwined tree roots (or, as we Minnesotans pronounce the word, roots). As we traversed up the path, I kept telling Stephanie it was a good thing we bought shoes for me, as we could have never made it in sandals. Finally, we were at the Fifth Falls. Turns out that the Fifth Falls also has a bit of a swimming hole as proven by the kids swimming in the swimming hole. Yeah, good thing I bought and wore hiking shoes.

So we took pictures of and climbed the Fifth Falls and started our trek back to the Upper and Lower Falls. On the way back, I noticed some kids across the river were heading to the Fifth falls, each clutching towels and wearing swimsuits. Good thing I bought and wore hiking shoes.

We took pictures of and climbed the Upper and Lower Falls for a while and then went back to the hotel. By the way, there appears to be only one hotel north of Duluth on the Norther Shore. Plenty of cabins, but only one hotel. That’s where we stayed. (No applause necessary, thank you.)

The next day, we decided to go to Split Rock Lighthouse and the Split Rock State Park. More hiking, so more opportunities to wear my hiking shoes.

Well, not at the lighthouse. There is a grand total of 200 feet to walk as you tour the lighthouse, all of it paved (except for the Gift Shop, which is carpeted). Anyway, we took the tour. There are some fascinating facts about Split Rock and other lighthouses--none of which I’ll tell you here. I will say that Lighthouses and shorelines are wonderful things to see and watch, and if you see a watch near the Split Rock Lighthouse or shoreline, please pick it up and send it to Stephanie. She lost her watch there. It wouldn’t be such a big deal, but she hates to, um, waste time.

So that was our trip up north(er). If you ever go there, maybe you can use my experience to prepare yourself. Remember, dress warm, bring an extra watch, look both ways before searching for Rhythm & Brew, and

For goodness sake, bring hiking shoes!

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