Middendorf Blog: The Real North Loop

We called this adventure - The Real North Loop Vacation.

Thursday, 23^{rd -}Chaska to Chisholm:

Drive to Hibbing. 169 to 65 thru Mora & McGregor.

Stop at Savanna State Forest to climb Big Sandy Overlook Tower. Park at Sandy Lake Dnr Forestry Department. (3 hrs from Chaska) Fred, Wyatt, and Gavin made it up far enough to know that the top was blocked off. Jacob and I made it up far enough to see over the trees. Mom made it up far enough to almost see over the trees. We all had different comfort levels on the slightly wobbly tower. Made a stop not long after at Fred's for gas, bathroom break, and snacks.

Stop at Hill Annex Mine State Park, Calumet. Saw a bald eagle soaring above the mine pit. Water in the old mining pit looked so turquoise. Noted we should have binoculars - when will we learn?

Drove by Bob Dylan Childhood Home & Hibbing High School - old, but beautiful high school built by the iron ore companies when they moved the town (and old school) to access the ore underneath. Stop at Hull-Rust-Mohoning Mine overlook - amazing large mining equipment on display. Ate at Palmers on their outdoor patio.

Speed Round after supper:

Eveleth: Leonidas Overlook, Largest Hockey Stick & Puck

Virginia: Virginia Bridge View Park, Oldtown-Finntown Overlook

Mt Iron: Old Steam Engine on Locomotive St

Chisholm: Iron Man statue,

Dollar General to get Gavin some clothes since he failed to pack neither shirts nor shorts. So, if you think his clothes are a little odd in the pictures - they were $2.50 each...

Stayed at Chisholm Inn & Suites. Pool closed. Breakfast minimal.

Friday, 24^th - Chisolm - Tower:

After Fred & Jacob made a run to Hibbing to Sunrise Bakery for treats, we left Chisholm enroute to International Falls & Voyageurs National Park.

First stop was at Voyageurs Forest Overlook trail, .5 miles of roots & rocks on a narrow course. Mom joined us for the hike and was glad it wasn't any longer.

Also stopped at Kabetogama Lake Overlook trail for a short, easy hike to see Lake Kabetogama.

Stopped at Ash River Visitor Center in Voyageurs. Saw some boats launching to go fishing and camping. Talked to the a ranger and a volunteer at the park to learn that campsites out in Voyageurs are single campsites so you have your own piece of lake or if you are up for more work you can trek in and have your own lake at one of the in island lakes.

Skipped a stop at Kabetogama Visitors center as there didn't appear to be any good trails or anything more interesting than what we'd already seen at Ash River.

Got to International Falls about noon. Took photos by Smokey Bear in Smokey Bear Park before wandering thru the downtown of International Falls, waving at Canada, and making a pit stop at a gas station.

For lunch we drove out to Sha Sha Resort out on Dove Island. Sat out on the deck and enjoyed the view.

Stopped at Rainy Lake Visitor Center to wander and check out another view of Rainy Lake.

Ice Cream break at Tara Wharf in Ranier before heading down to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. Boarded a bus and made our way to the viewing platform to see dozens of bears enjoying snacks in the "safe circle" of the sanctuary. We saw little ones climbing trees and big ones lounging and picking thru their food. It was pretty warm out yet and with our masks on we decided to get going after about 45 minutes out there. Had it been a cooler night or we weren't required to wear masks we would have stayed to enjoy the bears longer.

We made our way to Fortune Bay Casino by Tower for the night, which was about an hour from the Sanctuary. We looked for better options for supper in Tower, but found none. We went to the casino and got some good pizza instead. The pool was open and only a few other kids in it, so Wyatt enjoyed the pool for a while.

Saturday, 25^th- Tower to Grand Portage:

It was raining when we left our hotel and it was only about 15 minutes to Lake Vermillion –Soudan Underground Mine State Park. This cut down our options for activities at Soudan - we got out our umbrellas and made a quick tour around. Since this was an underground mine, it was a bit different than the others we'd seen - which were all open pits. There was cold air coming up the mine shaft which was cool to see/feel.

We hadn't eaten anything (OK, maybe some granola bars) by the time we got to Ely and we ended up making a quick grab at the grocery store - bologna and rolls and juice (a Jeske tradition that Jacob was too chicken to try, but Gav thought maybe he'd carry on that tradition). We enjoyed "brunch" on our way to the North Shore.

We made our first stop at Illgen Falls Cabin and hiked down to get a view of the falls. Mom made the trip down to the river with us. We ventured a little further upstream without her, but not too far - a total of 1 mile out and back.

Our next stop was Tettagouche State Park to hike to spend about 1 hour hiking to high falls two step falls on the Baptism River. This hike included about 400 steps that we had to go both up and down. The view was best from the bottom of the high falls, but we made the 200 step journey to the top just to make sure. Actually, only Wyatt and I made the trip to the bottom. There were many people in the water at the bottom of the falls and around the edge of the river. Wyatt accidentally tipped over and landed in the water in his clothes, so he cooled off in the river a bit before we made our way back. About the time we made it to the top of the stairs to head back it started dripping and before we knew it it was raining. We got soaked! Luckily mom had made her way to the care minutes before the downpour - she had opted out of this hike and we were all glad for that. We hike about 1.25 miles in the rain before it stopped. We logged over 3.5 miles in all on that hike. We changed clothes before heading out to Temperance River State Park.

On our way to Temperance River State Park we crossed over Cross River and got a peak at those falls. The boys weren't too game to hike again so soon, so Fred and I made the hike to the upper, middle, and hidden falls of Temperance River. It was cool to hike over the old river bed and imagine where the old falls had been. There was a bridge down towards lake Superior that we drug mom and the boys to after our hike. The boys went down to the waters edge and we enjoyed the views of the rapids and a peak at Lake Superior.

We stopped in Grand Marais for supper at Sydney's. We had pizza and gyros with our shakes and Sydnamis (think Blizzards with custard) while we sat on the rooftop deck with views of Superior.

To avoid early in the day crowds at Judge C.R. Magney State Park we added this stop at the end of our day. We spent about an hour hiking to Devil’s Kettle Falls on the Brule River. Again there was about 200 steps we got to go up and down to enjoy all the views of the falls.

We stayed at Grand Portage Casino for the night. Mom and I tried to find a laundromat in the area since the hotel had none, but we had no luck. Our rooms had views out onto the foggy Lake Superior. Very cool. Fred, Jacob, and Wyatt enjoyed skipping rocks down a the lake for a while. Gavin had had enough outdoors for the day.

Sunday, 26^th - Grand Portage to Duluth:

We started our day at Grand Portage state park to hike the Pigeon River to the High Falls. Such a nice trail - paved and boardwalked. Mom went with us and said the 1.3 mile roundtrip was certainly worth it!

We made another stop in Grand Marais to try the "World's Best Donuts". Actually we stopped because I wanted the boys to go out on the pier to notice the temperature difference, but they got sidetracked playing on the big rocks that they didn't quite get out there. Mom and I grabbed "breakfast" - trying bismarks, twists, cake donuts, long johns, and the Skizzle - fry bread sprinkled in sugar, super yummy!

Next stop was Cascade River State Park to hike the .5 mile loop - we parked down by the campgrounds, so our hike was a bit longer than expected and didn't exactly loop. We were beyond the bridge and the boys had ventured down to the rivers edge when they decided then to rock climb their way back to the trail. Luckily all 4 made it up without incident. Yikes!

We were going to stop in Lutsen to have the boys ride the Alpine Slides, but as we got there it started raining and they didn't know when they'd open the slides back up once it stopped.

We stopped in Tofte for a late lunch at Coho Cafe - Jacob had delicous walley tacos.

We made a stop at Ray Berglund wayside rest to see the cascades on the Onion River. You climbe stairs above the rest stop and walk along with a pretty view of Lake Superior until you have to hike down towards the river. It had just rained and the trail was steep, so I bowed out and headed back to the car where mom and Gavin were waiting. Fred, Jacob and Wyatt continued on.

The boys wanted to swim and we thought Black Beach Park in Silver Bay would be a great spot, since we wanted to stop and see the Black Beach anyway. I could not believe all the cars parked by the park. We found a spot to park and made our way to the beach, that wasn't very black where we were and not as warm as I had read it might be due to the "black" sand. So, we continued on.

We made a stop at Beaver River falls to see the falls/rapids there. It had rained there too, so hiking was a bit muddy and slippery, but it wasn't far, so OK. There wasn't a good way to get to the river and didn't look good for swimming, so I had disappointed boys and we continued on.

I remembered being down a the lake's edge at Split Rock State Park, so we stopped there and enjoyed Pebble Beach - all except the biting flies that it. Though the water was very refreshing, the boys enjoyed some time in the water. I picked some rocks and mom read her book for a while.

Our last State Park stop of the day was at Gooseberry Falls. We checked out the lower, middle and upper falls while the boys mostly swam around/got wet again. Lots of people at the middle falls - they are so cool. The upper falls though are beautiful too and there was no one up there - not far from the other falls.

We couldn't pass Betty’s Pies on the way to Duluth and they had an outdoor window and picnic table, so it was a perfect spot to enjoy pie.

By the time we got to Duluth we needed a little more substance, so we grabbed BK for supper. We had spent about $36 on pie, and then about $18 for supper. That's how we prioritize!

We stayed at Duluth's Country Inn & Suites North. The boys enjoyed the pool and slide for a while. Mom and I got some laudry done as those clothes were still wet from the day before and some were running short on clothes.

Monday, 27^th- Duluth to home:

After a bagged breakfast at the hotel we made our wa to Jay Cooke State Park. There is a swinging bridge and falls/cascades not far from the visitors center. Mom ventured down to the swining bridge and then headed back to enjoy her book on a hidden bench. We wandered around a while to see what we could see. The shore of the St Louis River has very cool rock formations, so the boys enjoyed climbing around on them. When we were ready to leave we couldn't find mom. We searched for her for about 10 minutes (seemed longer) before finding her on her secluded bench over looking the falls. I did have thoughts of how I was going to tell my sisters I'd lost our mother.