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Rocks and trees and water.
Oct. 20th, 2003 04:26 pm[Updated]
This weekend D and I went up to the North Shore and took pictures of rocks and trees and water and stuff. Gooseberry Falls on Saturday, Split Rock and Tettegouche on Sunday. Lots of hiking, clambering around on rocks, and not falling into the lake. It was extraordinarily relaxing, the weather was better than we'd expected, and the only negative thing was that I didn't manage to acquire the Scandinavian baking book that I saw in the Gooseberry Falls visitor center, because they'd closed a half-hour before we got there on Sunday on the drive back. Luckily Garage & Gentry has it on their website for the same price. yay!
Anyway.
We left Saturday morning at about 8:30, fed the car, ran by the farmer's market to pick up a loaf of bread and two muffins, then headed north. We got to Gooseberry Falls at about noon.
Gooseberry Falls State Park includes a series of waterfalls on the Gooseberry River, right before it reaches Lake Superior. The geology is really cool, because the park is situated on a number of prehistoric lava flows (about a billion years ago or so, give or take) and this does nifty things when eroded by water. The river is pretty low right now, because of the substantial lack of rain, so you can climb around on the falls very easily. Many nifty pictures were taken, and neither of us fell in the river. We didn't see a whole lot of wildlife, because much of it is probably either already hibernating, has migrated south, or sensibly was hiding from the hordes of people. There were a lot of people there on Saturday. There weren't nearly as many on Sunday, probably because it was kind of chilly and windy, and not as sunny. Anyway. We had a lovely picnic (bread, cold cuts, nifty herbed Gouda, watermelon) down by the lakeshore (but not on the Picnic Flow, slightly to the north of it) then wandered around not finding agates and taking more nifty pictures. The colors were pretty cool, better than around here. Mostly pine and birch, with some bright underbrush. Lots and lots of birch, so lots of yellow. A handful of woof-dogs, a couple of yip-dogs. Not a lot of wind, so the lake was surprisingly calm. I think we spent four or five hours there, just exploring and taking pictures and having lunch. The weather was gorgeous, low 70s and sun.
After that we headed back to Duluth on the scenic road, checked into our hotel, flopped for a while, went out for dinner (Grandma's in Canal Park), went back to the hotel, and became comatose. Woke up way too early (I always wake up when it gets light, and I usually wake up around 6:30-7 on days when the alarm doesn't go off at 6), packed up, had a doughnut and juice from the "continental breakfast" in the hotel office, fed the car, and headed back north to Split Rock. We did not stop at the yarn store on the scenic route this time either, even though I pouted.
Split Rock Lighthouse is both a historical site and a state park. The lighthouse is the historical site, with some nifty info about its construction, a restored keeper's house, and of course the tower itself with the lens still in place. As near as I can figure, they light the beacon once a year--at dusk on November 10th, the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and then it is turned off again at 7pm. We explored the lighthouse, the building with the fog sirens (mostly an empty building with info in it, and some maps, and the sirens on the roof), the restored keeper's house, and then we went down to the park and had lunch (bread, soup, cocoa). We investigated the beach, which is mostly pebbles, took some more pictures, then it was off to Tettegouche for more hiking. It was windier, and there were clouds, and it was definitely cooler. Also, it is a lot windier when you are 168 feet off the surface of the lake on a cliff, than it is down on the shore of the lake. Not much, but it was noticeable.
And we ran into Sue's new in-laws. Apparently they run into people they know all the time, so they weren't terribly surprised.
Tettegouche State Park is the least developed of the three parks. There was a massive die-out of the birch trees and some of the pines in 1990 ('s what the sign said) so there were a lot of birch saplines but very few mature trees. The hiking trails are unimproved, and the 0.7 mile distance from the trailhead to the main falls is primarily either up or down, some of it on stairs. The waterfall is worth it, though we didn't go all the way down to the bottom. I certainly wasn't up to it--if we had, I doubt we would have made it all the way back up. Not nearly as many people here, partly because it's hard to get to, and partly because I think it was cold and windy and there were clouds. It was definitely a hike, and I was glad I'd worn my boots even though they aren't really true hiking boots. The second falls, called the Two-Step Falls, are down a lot of stairs. I made it down the first flight to discover more, and decided that I really wouldn't make it back up. D went down, and took pictures, and said it wasn't as nifty as the main falls.
We stopped by Gooseberry Falls again on the way back, to get that cookbook, but they were closed already. So we continued on. In Two Harbors we stopped to buy smoked salmon and prawns (lots of places on the scenic route with smoked fish, not as many on the "express-way" (basically, county 61 and state 61, respectively) and a couple of strips of beef jerky.
We stopped for dinner at Tobie's in Hinckley, and got back home just before 10. Unloaded the car, had a brief cuddle, and then D went home and I went to bed. I am still tired, and the heat is on in the building and that isn't helping either (thermostat says 80). But I am still relaxed and it was a wonderful weekend even though I managed to completely miss![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
envoy's party. Not on purpose, that was just how things worked out.
I will grant that we didn't decide to do this until last Wednesday, when the weather reports suggested that it wouldn't be snowing, but to have every hotel room in Duluth full? Turned out that there was a marathon on Saturday, and then of course all the runners and family and friends were out to dinner on Saturday night....
This weekend D and I went up to the North Shore and took pictures of rocks and trees and water and stuff. Gooseberry Falls on Saturday, Split Rock and Tettegouche on Sunday. Lots of hiking, clambering around on rocks, and not falling into the lake. It was extraordinarily relaxing, the weather was better than we'd expected, and the only negative thing was that I didn't manage to acquire the Scandinavian baking book that I saw in the Gooseberry Falls visitor center, because they'd closed a half-hour before we got there on Sunday on the drive back. Luckily Garage & Gentry has it on their website for the same price. yay!
Anyway.
We left Saturday morning at about 8:30, fed the car, ran by the farmer's market to pick up a loaf of bread and two muffins, then headed north. We got to Gooseberry Falls at about noon.
Gooseberry Falls State Park includes a series of waterfalls on the Gooseberry River, right before it reaches Lake Superior. The geology is really cool, because the park is situated on a number of prehistoric lava flows (about a billion years ago or so, give or take) and this does nifty things when eroded by water. The river is pretty low right now, because of the substantial lack of rain, so you can climb around on the falls very easily. Many nifty pictures were taken, and neither of us fell in the river. We didn't see a whole lot of wildlife, because much of it is probably either already hibernating, has migrated south, or sensibly was hiding from the hordes of people. There were a lot of people there on Saturday. There weren't nearly as many on Sunday, probably because it was kind of chilly and windy, and not as sunny. Anyway. We had a lovely picnic (bread, cold cuts, nifty herbed Gouda, watermelon) down by the lakeshore (but not on the Picnic Flow, slightly to the north of it) then wandered around not finding agates and taking more nifty pictures. The colors were pretty cool, better than around here. Mostly pine and birch, with some bright underbrush. Lots and lots of birch, so lots of yellow. A handful of woof-dogs, a couple of yip-dogs. Not a lot of wind, so the lake was surprisingly calm. I think we spent four or five hours there, just exploring and taking pictures and having lunch. The weather was gorgeous, low 70s and sun.
After that we headed back to Duluth on the scenic road, checked into our hotel, flopped for a while, went out for dinner (Grandma's in Canal Park), went back to the hotel, and became comatose. Woke up way too early (I always wake up when it gets light, and I usually wake up around 6:30-7 on days when the alarm doesn't go off at 6), packed up, had a doughnut and juice from the "continental breakfast" in the hotel office, fed the car, and headed back north to Split Rock. We did not stop at the yarn store on the scenic route this time either, even though I pouted.
Split Rock Lighthouse is both a historical site and a state park. The lighthouse is the historical site, with some nifty info about its construction, a restored keeper's house, and of course the tower itself with the lens still in place. As near as I can figure, they light the beacon once a year--at dusk on November 10th, the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and then it is turned off again at 7pm. We explored the lighthouse, the building with the fog sirens (mostly an empty building with info in it, and some maps, and the sirens on the roof), the restored keeper's house, and then we went down to the park and had lunch (bread, soup, cocoa). We investigated the beach, which is mostly pebbles, took some more pictures, then it was off to Tettegouche for more hiking. It was windier, and there were clouds, and it was definitely cooler. Also, it is a lot windier when you are 168 feet off the surface of the lake on a cliff, than it is down on the shore of the lake. Not much, but it was noticeable.
And we ran into Sue's new in-laws. Apparently they run into people they know all the time, so they weren't terribly surprised.
Tettegouche State Park is the least developed of the three parks. There was a massive die-out of the birch trees and some of the pines in 1990 ('s what the sign said) so there were a lot of birch saplines but very few mature trees. The hiking trails are unimproved, and the 0.7 mile distance from the trailhead to the main falls is primarily either up or down, some of it on stairs. The waterfall is worth it, though we didn't go all the way down to the bottom. I certainly wasn't up to it--if we had, I doubt we would have made it all the way back up. Not nearly as many people here, partly because it's hard to get to, and partly because I think it was cold and windy and there were clouds. It was definitely a hike, and I was glad I'd worn my boots even though they aren't really true hiking boots. The second falls, called the Two-Step Falls, are down a lot of stairs. I made it down the first flight to discover more, and decided that I really wouldn't make it back up. D went down, and took pictures, and said it wasn't as nifty as the main falls.
We stopped by Gooseberry Falls again on the way back, to get that cookbook, but they were closed already. So we continued on. In Two Harbors we stopped to buy smoked salmon and prawns (lots of places on the scenic route with smoked fish, not as many on the "express-way" (basically, county 61 and state 61, respectively) and a couple of strips of beef jerky.
We stopped for dinner at Tobie's in Hinckley, and got back home just before 10. Unloaded the car, had a brief cuddle, and then D went home and I went to bed. I am still tired, and the heat is on in the building and that isn't helping either (thermostat says 80). But I am still relaxed and it was a wonderful weekend even though I managed to completely miss
envoy's party. Not on purpose, that was just how things worked out.I will grant that we didn't decide to do this until last Wednesday, when the weather reports suggested that it wouldn't be snowing, but to have every hotel room in Duluth full? Turned out that there was a marathon on Saturday, and then of course all the runners and family and friends were out to dinner on Saturday night....
