“Highway 61 Revisited”

Grand Marias Minnesota, July 22 – August 5, 2021

Steve and I thought before we started our travels that we would see some beautiful unexpected places. Grand Marais was one of those places. The city lies on the coast of Lake Superior in Minnesota on what is called the North Shore on Highway 61. Above the city are the Sawtooth Mountains mountains. The city had a bunch of outfitter stores because outdoor sports flourish here. The city also had some quirky local stores and cool restaurants. This is another area without chain stores. The Beaver House (fishing store) with the fish incorporated into the building was my favorite. I also loved the book store called Drury Lane with an advertised visit from the Muffin Man (No – I am not kidding). Overall, we loved the whole vibe of Grand Marais.

We had a great spot at the Grand Marais Recreation area across from a cobblestone beach right on Lake Superior. Ziva loved the spot.

Since we were in an area with lots of hiking – that is what we did. We hiked and hiked and hiked. Our first hike was up the Pincushion trail. After hiking to the top we were rewarded with a spectacular view of Lake Superior. (It was a little hazy because of wild fires in Canada).

We hiked the trail at Judge C.R. Magney State Park which had two great waterfalls – Devils Kettle and Upper Falls. The water from Devils Kettle drops into a hole and experts are unsure where the water ends up. The speculation is that the water joins the river about two miles downstream, but who knows? A mystery!

We drove the Gunflint trail(a 37 mile scenic road) and stopped for a hike on Caribou Rock Trail. This trail was super rocky and at times we had to climb hills of rocks. We stopped at the Hungry Jack Lodge and had a great lunch overlooking West Bearskin Lake.

We hiked a trail at Cascade Park and viewed incredible waterfalls.

We drove up to Grand Portage which is located on the border with Canada and visited the Grand Portage State Park. We even saw the border crossing. At this time, Canada was not allowing US. citizens into the country. Oh Well! We hiked to a massive waterfall called High Falls. The waterfall is on the border with Canada. It was spectacular!

We also went to the Grand Portage National Monument is a recreation of the Northwest Company’s headquarters that was the gateway for fur trading. The monument had contained a heritage center and fort. The fort had re-creation of a warehouse, kitchen, great hall, lookout towers all surrounded by palisade (Ok – it is a fence – but it sounded better). We spoke to several reenactors who spoke about the gardening, making birchbark canoes, and cooking. We learned a lot about fur trading and Voyageurs. Voyageurs are the unfortunate soles who carried the furs from inland to the fort. They worked very hard for very little money. We also learned that during this time, the poor beavers got the very short end of the stick. The park was well maintained and worth the trip.

Of course, we went to the local brewery call Voyageur Brewery. Yes, it was named for those poor unfortunate fur carriers. The food and the beer was excellent. We spent two weeks here and had a great time.

“Highway 61 Revisited” by Bob Dylan