Minnesota Northshore

A trip to the Northshore of Minnesota had been on our radar since we visited Duluth back in 2007. We ran short on time so a return trip was needed. We decided to make it our 2015 summer destination family adventure. A neat part is, there is a shortcut” to get over to the northern parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota from the middle of Michigan we decided to try. There are a couple of ferry services that can take you across the middle of Lake Michigan. It can shave some travel time off if you are headed in the right direction. Really though, a ferry ride just sounded like something different and fun to try. We chose the more nostalgic offering available, the SS Badger out of Ludington, MI.

The 410′ Badger started life in 1953 as a railroad car ferry hauling loads between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. That operation ceased in 1990. Luckily, there was a businessman with a vision to start the ferry back up hauling passengers and cars a year later and has been providing an alternative to lake circumnavigation since.

Great Lake Railroad Museum

There was a county campground in Ludington only a couple miles from the ferry dock making for an easy morning departure. The trip over takes 4 hours and put us in Wisconsin early enough in the afternoon. Our goal was to meet up with our friend Cody in his FJ Cruiser, along with his son Dylan, in Mellen, WI. From there we were off to Beaver Lake USFS Campground a few miles out of town. This area of northern Wisconsin is littered with USFS campgrounds and provides many opportunities of for accommodation. The next morning we woke to a light rain coming down. We quickly packed up and ate a light breakfast on the road. Our first destination that day would be Duluth. While there, we paid a visit to the Great Lakes Railroad Museum for our boys to see an exhibit. This should be a stop for any railfan if they are in the area. They have a great display of working and non-working railroad equipment from Duluth’s past.

After a couple hours spent at the museum, we headed north to our yet-to-be-decided destination for the night. Our plan was to just wander once again in hopes of finding one of the many campgrounds that are available along the MN Northshore. Finland State Forest Campground seemed to be a nice facility and was about 6 miles from Silver Bay along the shore of Lake Superior. A nice dinner and campfire provided relaxation before some shut eye up in the rooftop tents. Not long after we climbed in the tents, we were serenaded by a pack of not too far off wolves letting us know they had also recently ate well.

I took a hike the next morning before packing up and heading out, I managed to see a couple whitetail deer and a bald eagle. A thick covering of trees prevented me catching it with the camera. Shortly after, we were off to see some of the area’s sites. The first stop was to check out the abandoned ore dock in Taconite Harbor. The dock operated form the mid 1950s until 2001 when it was shut down. There was a company town next to the dock up until the 1980s when the houses and other buildings were moved and repurposed elsewhere. There is a boat launch to the south of the facility that offers a good view.

The trip was made with very little planning put into it. It can make the trip more adventurous. My wife and I had heard from others about how scenic the shoreline was through this part of Minnesota, so we were going to try to see as much of it as we could in a few days. We ended up using more pavement than we would have liked but we did get to cover a lot of territory. Once on the main road north, MN-61, you can really start to see the beauty of the Lake Superior shoreline. There are a lot of natural landmarks to see such as rivers, waterfalls and hiking trails. A nice lunch was the Temperance River Falls. It was also a nice area to stretch our legs on some short hiking trails that took us down to Lake Superior. Having a couple of youngsters along, they weren’t up for a very long hike. We ended up heading down by Lake Superior to take an opportunity to dip our feet.

Grand Marais and Grand Portage were places on our “must see” list. Seeing Grand Portage was almost to the Canadian border, we decided we might as well go all the way just to say we did it. This far north, there are a several scenic overlooks, one of them being Mount Josephine. This gives quite a spectacular view, including Canada that can easily be seen from here. Grand Marais is known to be the gateway to the Gunflint Trail. This route is a gateway to an even more remote and primitive area of Minnesota, the 10,000 Lakes area and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

We had a quick meeting to determine what we wanted to really see and where we should put our tents up for the night. With that, we decided to put some dirt under our tires and run some of the forest roads. With all the USFS campgrounds littering this area of the state, we figured we would run across one in our ventures to provide a night’s place to stay. We started out by heading out on the legendary Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais. We followed a few different roads heading south off the Gunflint and ran across the Kimball Lake USFS Campground to stay the night. My boy and I even decided to take a dip in the lake. I wouldn’t call it spa quality but it removed a couple days worth of dirt.

This day would be our last in Minnesota before we headed back over to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to meet up with some friends/fellow overlanders out on the Keweenaw Peninsula. We ran a bunch more dirt roads heading south and checked out some other campgrounds for future reference. One more thing that was on our “must see” list was Split Rock Lighthouse. This lighthouse is one of the most popular on the Great Lakes. We spent a couple hours checking the place out with a tour and walking around the different areas of the grounds. This lighthouse was put into service in 1910 following a terrible gale five years earlier that saw several ships and sailors lost in the area on the nearby rocks.

From here we ended up on a lot of pavement trying to get back to Michigan at a decent time to find a camping spot. We pushed our luck a little too much by making several stops to see some other things along the way and ended up with a camping spot at the America’s Best Value Inn in Ironwood, Michigan that night. Of course, it was one of the only places with rooms after searching for a while. Must have been a lot of other campers that pushed their luck too . . .

Northern Minnesota was occupied by various Indian tribes for thousands of years prior to the white man starting to settle here in the late 1600s. Like northern midwest states, fur trading was the original motivation for being in this highly remote region back then. Homesteaders weren’t coming to the area until after 1858 when Minnesota became the 32nd state. Free land from the government gave them a reason to relocate to the area. Jobs in mining and logging were the popular occupations among the many European immigrants coming over at the time. Bob Dylan and Snoopy creator Charles Schultz were from Minnesota.

The landscape is very rocky but yet tree-covered. It is easy to see why iron ore and wood products are still the leading products of the area. Elevations vary from 600 feet above sea level at the shores of Lake Superior up to 2300 at Eagle Mountain. This uneven terrain provides drops for many waterfalls along the several rivers in the northeast Minnesota region.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (it is operated by the United States Forest Service) is known for providing year round activities such as camping, hunting and fishing. The area is popular for paddlesports and ATV/ORV use in the warmer months. Winter activities include skiing and snowmobiling. Wilderness trekking is done a lot with the use of the Superior Hiking Trail (this connects to the North Country Trail in Michigan) and many other various hiking paths.

Northern Minnesota may not be the easiest to get to from many parts of the US but if the effort is made, you will be rewarded with a great experience and view you will not get anywhere else. I would recommend to take a few days and put it on your “to see” list.

If You Go:
Some of the Northern Minnesota is in the USFS Superior National Forest area and requires various types of permits for canoeing, camping, etc. Much the information needed for such can be found at the United States Forest Service website : http://www.fs.usda.gov/superior

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website will also provide information with many of the various campgrounds, waterfalls, hiking trails, etc. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html

Information on the Minnesota Transportation Museum can be found here: http://www.transportationmuseum.org/

Information on the SS Badger’s fares and schedule can be found here: http://www.ssbadger.com/

The Lake Express is the faster alternative ferry from Michigan to Wisconsin: http://www.lake-express.com/

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