Tues, June 10, 2104 Grand Marais

 Tuesday, June 10

Beautiful morning and great night with no mosquito issues. The view from our spot is wonderful!

We go back into Grand Marais harbor and walk a rocky trail to the lighthouse and Artist’s Point.  The water is very clear.  The rocks are sharp and jagged.  Like several of the towns we’ve stopped at, this is a designated “safe harbor” that boats can seek shelter in if a sudden storm arises.  It has a bit of a seawall and appropriate lights and buoys.  Apparently this happens often, though we are here at the calmest time for the lake and have seen hardly a wave.

Loon in the harbor

As we leave the harbor we fall for “World’s Best Donuts” and admit they were tasty!

We had something called a roly poly, which was like a very flaky croissant with strawberry filling and a dusting of powdered sugar, a Chef’s Special, a Long John and Blueberry Bran Muffin.  Gotta do some hiking after that!  We notice here and have seen elsewhere that the locals have their own mugs.

We passed this little shop which deals in furs.  The little building was filled with antlers of all types.

Next stop is Judge C.R. Magney State Park, named for a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice who did a lot to promote and support conservation in Minnesota.  We hike to Devil’s Kettle Falls – lots of stairs so we get a good cardio workout again!  The water from the Falls drops into a huge hole in the rock (hence the kettle) and there is a pretty play of rainbows the mist. 

colorful fungi along the trail

New ferns in their fresh green are gorgeous

Saw only 3 people on the hike in, but passed lots going on our way back!  Christmas trees everywhere – beautiful douglas firs.

We travel up the road to Grand Portage National Monument.  This is a point where the voyageurs and traders had to portage around the Pigeon River which has lots of rapids and falls.It was an 8 mile hike to Fort Charlotte.  Needless to say, the voyaguers were hired for brawn and endurance, since they also had to paddle the canoes.  The large canoes (Montreals) were 40’ long and held up to 18 people, with between 6 and 14 being paddlers.  They could carry 4 tons!  The smaller, North Canoes, were  24-26’ and had 4-8 paddlers. They were used in the interior rivers and lakes.  Of course there were the smaller canoes as well, used for quick transport in the interior. 

The voyageurs and traders brought all types of goods from around the world to trade for furs.  Tea from China, vermillion, beads, kettles, textiles (60%) and weaponry.  The folks with the furs from the remote areas would come to the fort and trade for those items, usually during Rendezvous which took place for several weeks during the summer.  There were several buildings reproduced, including a kitchen

and Big Hall which were only used during Rendezvous.  Tons of history and information!

We next hiked to the High Falls in Grand Portage State Park.  This was the first of many barriers which made the river unnavigable. Nice trail and very misty from the falls.

This tiny squirrel demanded to have his picture taken along the trail.

We crossed into Ontaria with no issues about 3:30 and got lots of good information from Garrett, who welcomed us with a hearty “Bonjour!”

We headed to the Walmart in Thunder Bay and slept well!

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