We left the Hollister area and traveled toward Yosemite National Park. Along the way we passed through more of the California Central Valley agricultural area with fields of crops, pistachio trees, strawberries, many vineyards, sheep and dairy farms with large cattle pens. After stopping for fuel and supplies and dealing with rough roads and steep, curvy mountain passes we pulled into the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. A long day!
When we last visited Yosemite National Park in September, 2014 we stayed in a campground west of the park which required taking the RV up a very steep curvy road. We chose not to do that again and instead stayed in Mariposa about an hour from Yosemite. Also since the park is at a higher elevation, it is colder in Yosemite with the forecast of snow one night and temperatures in the twenties and thirties.
Our main reason for visiting now was to see the many waterfalls in the park. When we were there the last time, all the waterfalls had dried up from the summer heat and California drought. We were determined to see the waterfalls this time. Ideally it would have been better to wait until May since some of the roads and trails were still closed from the winter snows. But April was the best time for our 2018 travel plans. Another benefit of visiting in April is a lack of tourist traffic and crowds.
It was a little over an hour drive to the park but two road construction delays made the drive longer. It took us all day to drive around the park, stopping often to gaze in awe at the waterfalls and of course take pictures. The recent rains and spring thaws were obvious as we saw high water levels white rapids and gushing waterfalls. Beautiful!
Our favorite waterfall is Yosemite Falls, which has a drop of 2,425 feet and is the tallest waterfall in the United States. The following pictures are taken of the upper and lower Yosemite Falls.
No visit is complete without pictures of El Capitan and Half Dome, both famous Yosemite rock climbing landmarks.
We also watched again the movie about the park at the Visitors Center and took a hike to the amazing grand view of Yosemite Falls. We were able to catch the park shuttle bus back to the car.
Here are several other waterfalls for your enjoyment.
Yosemite is an amazingly beautiful place and I am sure we will return again someday.
After leaving Mariposa we will continue to make our way through northern California on our way to Seattle.
Hoping we left the terrible mosquitoes behind, we headed further south to the tiny town of Aitkin, MN. We settled here for the Fourth of July holiday, glad to be off the busy highways. Our four days went by quickly and since there wasn’t much to see or do in the area, we used the time to do some chores around the RV. We installed extra insulation in the pantry and the upper cabinets to hopefully keep those areas cooler. We cleaned the vents and Bill changed the water filter and ice maker filter. We vacuumed out the tow car, washed it, and Bill applied wax. He also applied 303® Aerospace Protectant™ to the dashboard. He worked hard getting all the dead bugs off the front of the RV. We even managed to get a couple blogs published. It was a busy and productive four days! And on Independence Day the RV park had a golf cart parade.
On Thursday we moved to the Farmington, MN fairgrounds located about thirty minutes south of the Minneapolis/St Paul area.
After settling in we drove up to Bloomington to the Mall of America. The Mall of America is the largest entertainment and shopping destination in North America with 520 stores and more than sixty restaurants. It is four stories, sits on 96 acres and has 12,500 parking spaces. The most amazing thing was the amusement park in the center with a roller coaster, a boat ride as well as many other thrilling rides. After dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp we spent a couple hours walking around the colossal complex.
In the Mall is a memorial to Thomas Burnett who died on 9/11 after his plane was overtaken by terrorists and went down in the fields of Pennsylvania. Burnett was born in Bloomington and attended school there during his childhood years. He was married and the father of four daughters when he died. I found it interesting that a year before the plane went down he started attending church because of a strong sense of foreboding which he expressed to his wife. On the day of the attack Burnett was one of four passengers to storm the cockpit, foiling the terrorists’ plan to crash the plane into the White House or U.S. Capitol. He is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota.
On September 11, 2002 the Mall of America dedicated the Tom Burnett 9/11 Memorial with a plaque entitled “Do Something” and an open door representing the cockpit door with the message “To Deem Life Important and to Act Affects All of Those That Bear Witness…”. The open door also represents a door to a brighter, safer future and encourages people to walk toward the future intent on doing something good, something kind, something noble and something right.
On Friday we had our six month blood work done and got service done on the Honda tow car.
Sunday we took advantage of lighter traffic and drove into Minneapolis and St Paul. Minneapolis and St Paul are ranked first and second by the Trust for Public Land for best city parks in the nation. Minneapolis-St Paul claims to have the coldest average temperature of any major metro area in the lower 48 states and because of this Minneapolis has a continuous network skyway system with enclosed pedestrian bridges that is purportedly the world’s largest. St Paul has five miles of glass tunnels to allow people to go from building to building. About 18 years ago Bill worked for six weeks in Minneapolis in late November, early December and he will never forget how cold it was out on the streets. Especially for someone from Florida!! He used those enclosed pedestrian walkways a lot!
We had quite a lengthy list of places to visit so we got a very early start. First up was Minneapolis which is a large city with many tall buildings. Very different from smaller St Paul.
We stopped by the Minneapolis Visitor Information Center to see the statue of Mary Richards. Who can forget this popular character from The Mary Tyler Moore Show! The statue was given by TV Land to the city. It used to be outside but construction on Nicolette Street forced the statue to be moved inside. We then drove to a nearby neighborhood to see the turn of the century Victorian house shown on the series where Mary supposedly had an apartment. We noticed the private residence is now for sale. There are other locations around the city featured on the show but there just wasn’t enough time to see them all.
We visited the St Anthony Falls Visitor Center Lock and Dam. At one time St Anthony Falls was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. After the falls partially collapsed in 1869, the natural falls were replaced by a concrete overflow spillway. In the 1950’s and 1960’s a series of locks and dams was constructed to extend navigation.
From 1880 to around 1930, Minneapolis was the “Flour Milling Capital of the World”. Evidence of this can be seen in the Washburn Mill ruins of what was once the largest flour mill in the world located near the falls.
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (a U.S. National Park) protects a 72-mile and 54,000-acre corridor along the Mississippi River from the cities of Dayton and Ramsey, Minnesota to just downstream of Hastings, Minnesota. In the middle of Minneapolis is the St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam.
Overlooking St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam on one side and the mills ruins on the other is the beautiful Stone Arch Bridge. Constructed in 1883, this is a former railroad bridge which crosses the Mississippi River and is the only arched bridge made of stone on the entire Mississippi River. The second oldest bridge on the Mississippi, it is made of native granite and limestone and measures 2100 feet with 21 stone arches. The bridge is now a pedestrian and bicycle bridge and is an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. We enjoyed walking on part of the bridge with beautiful views of St Anthony Falls, the Mississippi River and the Minneapolis skyline.
Next we visited Guthrie Theater because we wanted to walk on the Endless Bridge. This 178 foot long cantilevered structure is neither endless nor a bridge but a steel truss that is counterbalanced by the weight of the building. The Endless Bridge is in the left of the picture of the building. The attraction here is the magnificent views of the city, the Stone Arch Bridge and St Anthony Falls Lock and Dam.
We drove by the U.S. Bank Stadium which is where the Minnesota Vikings play football. The massive stadium is in the shape of a Viking ship. Really neat but hard to get a good picture of the entire stadium from our car.
Next was Target Field where the Twins play baseball. They had a home game today but we were early enough to avoid the crowd and traffic. The Twin Cities will host the Super Bowl LII in 2018 and the NCAA Final Four in 2019.
The Basilica of St Mary, named the first basilica in the United States by Pope Pius XI in 1926, is located here. It was completed in 1915, has a 200 foot high dome and a rose window.
We went by the Sculpture Garden but since we were running out of time and parking was scarce, we snapped a couple pictures of two of the most popular sculptures, the cherry and the blue chicken.
By now it was lunchtime and time to move on to St Paul, the capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis and St Paul is divided by an “S” shape carved by the Mississippi River. It is approximately a six mile drive between the two cities. At 26.2 miles, St Paul has more miles of Mississippi riverfront than any other city in the U.S. It is known as a “City of Neighborhoods” which celebrates different heritages and diversity. After grabbing lunch at a barbecue joint, we headed to the State Capitol building.
The Minnesota State Capitol is a Renaissance Revival Style building, with the second largest self supported dome in the world after Saint Peter’s. It was modeled after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome with the dome inspired by the U.S. Capitol dome. The building is made of 25 different types of stone including 16 varieties of marble from around the world as well as Minnesotan granite and limestone. Construction on the capitol was started in 1896 and completed in 1905 at a cost of $4.5 million. Above the southern entrance is a gilded chariot with four horses representing the power of nature; earth, wind, fire and water. The women leading the horses symbolize civilization and the man on the horse, prosperity.
Near the capitol is the Cathedral of Saint Paul, the third largest churches in North America, seating 3,000 people. It has a 175 foot copper dome and six chapels. The cornerstone was set in 1907 and the design was Inspired by churches in France.
Charles Schultz of the Peanuts cartoon fame, was born in Minneapolis but spent most of his childhood in St Paul where his father owned a barbershop. During this time Schultz and his father were known to purchase newspapers from Minneapolis and St Paul to be sure they saw every cartoon strip printed locally. For five summers after his death in 2,000, artists from all over St Paul designed and displayed renditions of Peanuts characters. In Rice and Landmark Parks as well as throughout St Paul you can see the Peanut characters.
We ended the day with a stop at Minnehaha Regional Park to see the beautiful 53 foot Minnehaha Falls, one of the most photographed sites in in Minnesota. The name Minnehaha comes from the Dakota language and means waterfall. Even though he never visited Minnehaha Falls, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made the Falls famous in his poem, “The Song of Hiawatha”.
Enjoy the following video:
A bronze statue of Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha is located on a small island in the park. The statue was created in 1893 and placed in the park in 1912.
We enjoyed our time in Minneapolis and St Paul, however the two cities, especially Minneapolis, are very frustrating to drive in with many confusing one way streets complicated by construction and road closures.
Next up: Albert Lea and our last days in Minnesota
Minnesota has certainly been cooler and wetter than we expected and things did not change as we moved from Ely northwest to Kabetogama, Minnesota and stayed at the Woodenfrog State Forest Campground. We were there for two nights and both nights it got down into the forties.
After getting settled in our campsite we drove twenty five miles north to International Falls, population 6,400. We were curious to see what the city was like and we were definitely underwhelmed considering it is a key port of entry and supply point for Ontario, Canada. We drove to the International Bridge linking the United States and Canada and were disappointed to see just an ordinary bridge. We didn’t even take a picture. International Falls has a paper mill and there was a bad smell that permeated the area.
Next we visited the Smokey the Bear Park and found a geocache. At 26 feet tall, made of steel and fiberglass and weighing 82 tons, it is the largest Smokey the Bear statue of its kind in the country. It was unveiled in 1954.
We also found a geocache at Big Vic, a 30 foot statue of a voyageur, honoring the French-Canadian fur traders who once navigated the rivers and lakes in this rugged area of Minnesota.
Since we left Duluth we have had to rely on small local markets for groceries. The choices are extremely limited and the prices high. So I was happy to find that International Falls had a Super One grocery store and before heading back home we stopped for some groceries.
Our reason for coming to this area was to visit Voyageurs National Park, the only national park in Minnesota. The park is 218,000 acres with 30 lakes, 1,000 islands and 600 miles of bedrock shoreline between Minnesota and Canada. There are four main lakes in the park which eventually drain into the Hudson Bay. Lake levels are controlled by dams at the international border at Fort Frances, Ontario Canada and International Falls, MN as well as dams at Kettle Falls and Squirrel Falls on Namakan Lake.
Our campground was near the Kabetogama Visitors Center in Voyageurs National Park, one of three visitors centers. The visitors centers are accessible for road, but the interior of the park is accessible only by water. There are many resorts and private campgrounds near the park, but the campsites in the park are only accessible by boat. We advance booked a boat tour since it is the only way to see the park. In the summer the park can be accessed by motorboat, houseboat, canoe or kayak. In the winter it is accessible by snowmobile, snowshoe or cross country skis once the lakes freeze. The Park Service plows miles of ice roads on Rainy Lake for ice fishing and wildlife viewing. Voyageur National Park became a national park in 1975.
When we left the RV Monday morning to head to the boat it was 55 degrees, pretty chilly to be out on the water! Not far from the campground Bill spotted a red fox on the side of the road, but it ran away before we could get a picture.
We boarded the pontoon boat with a park guide and a park employee driving the boat. We were provided with binoculars and a blanket which came in very handy for the next two hours. We toured the park with views of Canada across the water. We stopped at several locations to see bald eagles, birds and a loon which is the state bird of Minnesota. We were amazed at all the bald eagle nests and the guide told us there are many more in the park we couldn’t spot. We saw several fishing boats as well as some houseboats which the guide told us are available to rent from some concessionaires in the area.
We stopped at the Kettle Falls Hotel for lunch. Built in 1913, the hotel was frequented by loggers, prospectors and commercial fishermen. During Prohibition bootleggers took advantage of the hotel’s proximity to Canada and its remote location to smuggle liquor south of the border. Legend has it that a Madam financed the construction of the hotel who later staffed the hotel with the “fancy ladies” who “entertained” the guests. William E. “Big Ed” Rose, a timberman, sold his Kettle Falls holdings to Robert Sloan Williams in 1918 for $1000 and four barrels of whiskey. The hotel and restaurant was sold to the National Park service in 1977 and is operated jointly by the Park Service and a concessionaire. The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kettle Falls got its name from the naturally formed kettles in the bedrock below the falls. The kettles were formed by hard rock being swirled around soft rock over thousands of years.
The hotel restaurant was understaffed and it seemed to take forever to get served lunch. While we waited we walked around the hotel. We noticed the badly slanting floor in the bar area. When the hotel was built the owner wanted it done as cheaply as possible so they did not build a foundation. The clay soil often accumulates water which builds up and can become mushy over time, causing the earth to sink. The hotel floor sank creating a sloping floor for the entire bottom level of the hotel. When the Park Service renovated the hotel in the 1970’s they decided to repair the foundation of the floor but preserve the sloping in order to preserve the uniqueness of the hotel. The original hotel had eighteen guest rooms but since the National Park Service acquired the property and brought it up to fire code it now has twelve guest rooms. It is still being used as a hotel today and they had one room open to visit. The hotel’s original owner furnished the hotel with second hand furnishings or castaway items. It really is a high class hotel…notice the box fan for air conditioning and the fly swatter on the wall. The hotel is not open in the winter because there is no heat upstairs and there are no televisions or Wifi either.
After lunch our guide led us on a short walk to the Kettle Falls Dam. The falls are now under the dam. There is a stake in the ground showing the boundary of the United States and Canada. When standing at the Kettle Falls overlook and looking towards the dam, it is one of the only places in the continental United States where you look south to Canada.
We then boarded the boat for the trip back. While we were walking to the dam it started to lightly rain. We have learned that bright blue skies in Minnesota in the morning does not guarantee a day without rain. It was a very cold ride back even with a blanket and coats. Even though the boat was covered we occasionally felt the rain and the ride back was sometimes rocky. We saw the Minnesota’s state bird the Common loon. By the time we got back we had been gone for six hours, four of which was on the water. We were cold and glad to get back on land and in the warm car. On the way home we saw a doe and her fawn.
We woke up to 48 degrees and a heavy fog on our travel day from Grand Marais to Ely, Minnesota. By the time we were ready to pull out of the campground, the fog had lifted and we saw blue sky.
We headed south and west to Ely, MN. The roads could have been worse, but they certainly could have been better too. We said goodbye to Lake Superior, passing several small waterfalls along the side of the road. The fields of wildflowers were lovely but unfortunately do not show up well when taking a picture from a moving vehicle.
Three hours later we arrived at Fall Lake Campground, a national forest campground in Superior National Forest. Many campsites are not reservable so we got up at 6:30 AM to get there in plenty of time to secure a site, especially since campgrounds fill up very early in the summer the closer you get to the weekend. We rarely get up that early, even on travel days! Our early bird plans got us the worm since we were able to get a pull through site with 50 amp power.
Ely, population 3,400, is located at the gateway of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The wilderness is a million acres of ancient forest and 1,500 waterways still untouched by civilization and is the largest wilderness area east of the Rockies. The best way to experience it is by canoe like the Native Americans, trappers, fur traders and explorers did centuries ago. There are thousands of miles of canoe routes which are linked by rivers, lakes and portages.
The number one attraction in Ely is fishing with access to more than 5,000 lakes, streams and rivers in the area. It is common to see fishing lodges, canoe outfitters, and many boats, canoes and kayaks everywhere. It is said this part of Minnesota has some of the best fishing in North America.
Nicknamed “The End of the Road” because of its extreme north remote location, Ely was first home to the Ojibwe people in the late 1600’s, followed by the first French explorers in the early 1700’s. Trapping and fur trade quickly grew and in the mid 1800’s the gold craze had begun. Even though the region never produced gold, the precious metal iron ore was discovered. Northern Minnesota’s early ore mines helped greatly with the needs of the nation’s steel industry. Ore exploration led to the growth of the logging industry in the region. By the 1900’s recreational activities such as fishing, hunting and canoeing turned the area prevalently into a tourism industry.
Ely got its name from a rare rock formation known as Ely greenstone which formed more than two billion years ago when lava flows solidified underwater. An outcropping of the Ely greenstone is visible in the town and is known as Pillow Rocks.
We enjoyed the many murals around town showing the rich history of the region.
On Friday we drove to the nearby town of Soudan to visit the Soudan Underground Mine State Park. Our purpose for coming here was to take the underground mine tour. We donned hardhats and rode the mine elevator shaft 2,341 feet underground. We then boarded railroad cars that took us through a 3,000 foot tunnel deeper into the mine. We climbed a narrow spiral staircase to reach Level 27 in the mine. We had an excellent guide who talked about the process of mining iron ore as well as what working conditions were like for the miners. He let us experience the mine without any lighting and then with a single candle. Miners had to provide there own lights and safety gear for many years.
During the gold rush of 1865, one prospector didn’t discover gold but he did discover iron ore which led to the mine opening in 1882. The mine is known as Minnesota’s oldest, deepest and richest iron mine and one of the richest iron ore deposits in the world. The mine is 1.5 miles long and is part of the Vermilion Iron Range along the shore of Lake Vermilion. It is called the Soudan Iron Mine and the ore from the mine was especially valuable because this ore had a high oxygen content that was used to make high quality steel in open-hearth furnaces. Only this Minnesota mine and one other one in Michigan had this high oxygen content ore. In 1962, technology changed and this type of ore was no longer economical. Also the use of taconite pellets made from a low grade iron ore became popular. Due to these two factors, the Soudan Mine closed in 1962. In 1965, US Steel donated the Soudan Mine to the State of Minnesota to use for educational purposes.
It was fascinating to be lowered in an 80-year-old electric mine hoist (elevator) and then travel in rail cars to tour the mine. We really enjoyed our visit and had an even larger appreciation for what working conditions were like for miners in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
After a picnic lunch in the car (cold and windy), we drove back to Ely and toured the International Wolf Center. This is one of the top attractions in Ely and highly advertised. We toured the facility with informative displays and sat in on a program on wolves. We were a little disappointed they only had five wolves at the facility and we only saw three Arctic wolves visible behind glass.
Last year the center received two Arctic Wolves.
Here is what one of the new wolves look like today.
This is a collection of the wolf playing with his stick (animated).
Wolves are big animals.
On Saturday Bill attended the Ham Radio Field Day in Ely. This once a year National Amateur Radio Field Day is held at public locations around the country. The purpose of this event is to showcase amateur radio and allow people to experiment with electronics and radios. In 2016 over 35,000 people from thousands of locations participated in Field Day. Last year Bill participated with a group in New York. Bill really enjoyed his time with the friendly Ely radio club. They entertainment Bill with stories of winter ice fishing and talked about the black bears they regularly feed. One man spends the winter in Arizona at an RV park we are scheduled to visit in November so we will look him up!
Next up:. Voyageur National Park and a boat ride
Ely recognitions:
2016 “One of the World’s 9 Places to Go to Enjoy the Great Outdoors” (National Geographic)
2014 “One of 10 Great Small Towns to Visit” (MSN Living Magazine)
2012 “America’s Most Interesting Town” (Reader’s Digest)
2009 “100 Best Adventure Towns” (National Geographic Adventure Magazine)
2009 “One of the Top Best Small Towns in the Country” (Outside Magazine)
We left Duluth and drove up the North Shore Scenic Drive to Grand Marais, forty miles from the Canadian border. Grand Marais, population 1,351 is a beautiful town situated on Lake Superior. It has a summer vacation destination vibe with small tourist shops, restaurants, a few hotels and tons of gorgeous scenery. There are no fast food restaurants or big stores located in Grand Marais. Like the rest of Minnesota, it is a fisherman’s dream come true.
We stayed at a city campground/marina with beautiful water views. The campground was a short walk from the small downtown area. One day we strolled downtown and wandered along the waterfront. Bill had a great fish lunch at the Dockside Fish Market where you can buy lunch or pick up fresh fish to take home. Bill had fish and chips with what he said was delicious whitefish. The only way to get it fresher was to go out with your own fishing pole!
Tuesday we drove forty miles up to Grand Portal State Park located right at the US/Canadian border. In fact when we turned into the entrance to the park we could see the border crossing just ahead and the welcome to Minnesota sign for those arriving from Canada. The state park, established in 1989, is actually located on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. The Native Americans lease the land to the state of Minnesota for $1 a year.
Our purpose for coming here was to see the High Falls, which at 120 feet is the tallest waterfall in Minnesota. To view the Falls we walked an easy half mile along a beautiful boardwalk through a forest setting.
The High Falls were gorgeous and we could see the Pigeon River which is part of the international border between Canada and the United States. Here, the Pigeon River is twenty miles of a series of treacherous cascades and waterfalls on its way to Lake Superior, making this section of the river completely unnavigable. For this reason a “Grand Portage” was necessary. In this case, the Portage consisted of a 8.5 mile foot path used to carry boats and supplies from Lake Superior to the Pigeon River. It was followed by voyageurs (French for travelers) to Port Charlotte and the boundary waters separating Minnesota and Canada. Through this portage passed all the trade goods from Montreal and furs from the Canadian Northwest. Along this 8.5 mile path voyageurs carried two 90 pound packs as well as their canoes.
Native Americans were the first to develop and use the portal from Lake Superior inland for centuries. The Ojibwe called the portage “The Great Carrying Place”. The Ojibwe people frequently traveled the portage carrying birch bark canoes and baskets of fish, garden seed, wild rice, and copper. The two oldest copper sites in North America come from the Lake Superior basin. When the French traders came in the 17th century the Native Americans showed them the portage which they then used to transport goods from large lake canoes to smaller canoes. The Grand Portage was the earliest European presence in the Great Lakes region with the first documented travel along the Grand Portage in 1731.
Next we stopped at the nearby Grand Portage National Monument. We saw an excellent movie on the history of the area, with an emphasis on the Native American viewpoint. The Visitors Center also had interesting exhibits and displays. We then walked down the hill to a reconstructed Ojibwe village and Voyageur Encampment reconstructed based on archeological excavations. The furnishings are in the 1797 style. The settlement consisted of a stockade, great hall, kitchen and warehouse.
In 1763 after the French and Indian War, France ceded Canada to Great Britain and the British took control of the fur trade away from the French. From 1784 to 1803 the North West Company, owned by Highland Scots, ran a very profitable fur trading operation in the Great Lakes area. The company’s headquarters was located at Grand Portage and was the largest fur trade depot on the continent. It was a profitable time for the Europeans as well as the Native Americans. They got along well and traded goods each needed. The Native Americans taught them how to build birch bark canoes and traded pelts and their immense knowledge of the area for glass beads, wool clothing, kettles, axes, firearms and liquor. Some of the voyageurs even married Native American women. Much of the settlement was empty most of the year as the men were out hunting, but every July they held the Rendezvous, an annual gathering when furs from wintering posts in Canada were delivered to Grand Portage.
Hundreds of vogageurs came to the Grand Portage and it was a time of great celebration for the voyageurs as well as the Native Americans. The North West Company shipped fur pelts originating from over 100 trading posts through the Grand Portage. In the 1700 and early 1800’s, fur pelts were used for fashionable clothing. Furs for hats made up more than 65% of all English fur imports. Beaver pelts accounted for over 60% of total pelts traded in one season during the height of the Grand Portage between 1785-1802. The use of beaver pelts for hats severely depleted the beaver population in North America, Europe and Russia. In 1793 alone 182,000 beaver pelts passed through the Grand Portage. Beaver was considered the highest quality fur. The Rendezvous was when the voyageurs received their pay for the past year’s work and once the celebration ended the trappers headed out for another season of travel and trade.
The North West Company left the Grand Portage in 1803 when the new United States claimed the area in a border agreement with Canada. The Company knew possibly doing business with the new United States led to issues of citizenship, licensing and import duties they wanted to avoid. Their leaving the area after years of profitable trade with the Indians led to hard times for the Native Americans in what they called “The Starving Times”.
In the early 1800’s there was an intense and sometimes violent rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Company for business. The two companies merged in 1821 into the Hudson Bay Company.
In 1958 the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe donated the land to the United States and it became a national monument.
On our last morning in Grand Marais, Bill took some great pictures of a sunrise and found a beaver friend swimming in the bay.
On Friday we decided to drive from Duluth on what is called the North Shore Scenic Drive on Rt 61 along the shoreline of Lake Superior. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the drive and the gorgeous scenery.
The Drive is 150 miles long from Duluth to Thunder Bay, Ontario with views of Lake Superior, glacier carved Sawtooth Mountains and Superior National Forest. Along the way we suddenly spotted Bigfoot!!
We decided to only drive 55 miles and work our way back while stopping at points of interest. Our first stop was at Tettegouche State Park where we took a short hike to an overlook with views of Lake Superior.
We had a picnic lunch at Palisade Head, an overlook 200 feet above Lake Superior. We drank in the amazing views while enjoying lunch.
After lunch we found a geocache and Bill found a new friend!
Next we passed through the tiny towns of Silver Bay and Beaver Bay before stopping at Split Rock Lighthouse. The lighthouse, said to be the most visited spot on the North Shore, sits atop a sheer cliff 150 feet above Lake Superior and is one of the best preserved and most visited lighthouses in the country. Split Rock Lighthouse was put into service in 1910. It was built by the federal government because of a disastrous 1905 storm that sank or damaged 29 ships on Lake Superior. This lighthouse was completely built from the lakeside because there were no roads at that time.
This is the light mechanism
In 1969 the lighthouse was decommissioned and deeded to the state of Minnesota. It is a National Historic Landmark. For a fee you can tour the lighthouse, a fog signal building, an oil house, three keepers’ houses, and storage barns. The lighthouse and buildings appear as they did in the 1920’s.
Split Rock is also a 2,057 acre Minnesota state park but the lighthouse is maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society.
Then we drove to Gooseberry Falls State Park so we could hike to Gooseberry Falls. It was an easy hike to the two beautiful falls.
On the way home we stopped at the Two Harbors Lighthouse which is now a bed and breakfast and the only operating lighthouse in Minnesota. Built in 1892, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was a really great day with three state parks, two lighthouses, a beautiful overlook and some amazing scenery.
Saturday, our last day in Duluth, we drove across the bridge to Wisconsin. We wanted to visit Pattison State Park thirteen miles south of Superior, Wisconsin. The park is the location of Big Manitou Falls, which at 165 feet is the highest falls in Wisconsin and the fourth largest waterfall east of the Rockies. It is said to be the same height as Niagara Falls, just a lot skinnier.
We had to walk in a tunnel under the road and then it was an easy hike to the viewpoints. The water flows from the Black River and gets its dark color from decaying leaves and roots of vegetation.
Here is a video below we made of the falls.
After viewing the falls we found a geocache hidden in a tree.
This state park was very pretty with 80+ handcrafted stone and log buildings and structures built in the 1930’s by the CCC. We really enjoyed this park, as well as the three Minnesota state parks we visited the day before, all possible because of the hard work of the young men of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps).
We enjoyed our six days in Duluth. There were lots of things left to do. Until next time!
Lake Superior facts:
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the country, bigger than all the other Great Lakes combined. It is 350 miles long, 160 miles wide and has a surface area of 31,700 square miles
It contains 10% of the world’s fresh water with a volume of 440 trillion cubic feet
Average depth is 439 feet, with its deepest depth at 1,333 feet
Average water temperature is 42 degrees
There has been over 350 shipwrecks with more than 1,000 souls lost
Last time Lake Superior completely froze over was 1997, it was 90% frozen in 2013
We left Waxhaw and traveled to Hendersonville, NC located in the western North Carolina Mountains between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains. Hendersonville is twenty-two miles south of Asheville and fifteen miles north of the North Carolina/South Carolina border.
While in Hendersonville we enjoyed meeting Bill’s friend Alan, his wife, daughter and granddaughter for dinner. Many years ago Bill and Alan’s family attended the same church in Orlando, FL and Bill and Alan were leaders in the same Boy Scout troop.
Bill and I enjoyed exploring Hendersonville. Inside the Hendersonville City Hall were very nice statues of General Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk (11th President and born in NC) and Andrew Johnson (17th President and born in NC). Johnson was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who stood with the Union and did not join the Confederate States of the Union. He became President when Lincoln was assassinated.
The Hendersonville County Courthouse, built in 1905, has atop its copper dome a six foot statue of “Lady Justice”. The statue is the Greek Goddess Themis, goddess of divine justice and law. She does not have a blindfold and is holding a sword in her right hand and scales in her left. It is believed this is one of only three statues of Themis in the United States without a blindfold. The blindfold is meant to show that Justice should be impartial.
We drove to Jump Off Rock which has a scenic overlook of the Blue Ridge and Pisgah mountain ranges. There is an Indian Legend about Jump Off Rock which says that over 300 years ago a young Cherokee Indian Chief fell in love with an Indian maiden. They would often meet on top of the rock ledge. When the Chief went off to war, the maiden promised him she would wait for him at the rocky ledge. When she received news he had been killed in battle, she jumped off the rock. Her body was found by tribal hunters below. Indian legend says that on moonlit nights you can see the ghost of the Indian maiden on Jump Off Rock.
Another day we visited DuPont State Recreational Forest. Many scenes from the movies “The Hunger Games”, “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Max” were filmed in this park. We hiked to High Falls.
We also hiked to Triple Falls.
Scenes from “The Hunger Games” and “The Last of the Mohicans” were filmed at Triple Falls.
The days are warm and the nights cool. We still are not seeing much fall foliage to our disappointment.
Thursday we left Niagara Falls and headed to our last stop in New York State. Along the way we passed around Buffalo. This city gets its electricity from Niagara Falls and was the first city in the country to have electric street lights. The traffic around Buffalo was pretty heavy even though it was past the morning rush hour. We arrived at Letchworth State Park near Castile. This park was not originally on our planned itinerary. We had actually booked a different state park. But when we were in Seneca Falls I happened to read that Letchworth State Park was voted the most beautiful STATE park (not national park) in the United States in a 2015 USA Today Reader’s Poll. So of course we had to change our plans and visit this park.
Also known as the Grand Canyon of the East, Letchworth State Park is 14,350 acres of magnificent beauty along the Genesee River. Tens of millions of years of erosion wore away rock forming river valleys. Glaciers buried areas of the valleys under masses of sand and gravel. Three deep winding canyons are from the Genesee River detouring around the blocked sections of riverbeds. Each year the river cuts deeper into the cliffs, with some cliffs 600 feet in height.
To call it the Grand Canyon of the East is definitely a stretch, but there is no denying the beauty of the seventeen mile Genesee Gorge, the thick forests and the three large waterfalls.
The state park once belonged to the Seneca Indians. In the mid 1800’s William Letchworth purchased 1,000 acres of land and deeded it to the State of New York in 1907 to preserve the land for future generations. Letchworth felt strongly about preserving the Native American history of the Seneca people and Genesee Valley. On the park property is a restored Seneca Indian Council House, the statue and grave of Mary Jemison, and the cabin Mary lived in.
Mary was born in 1743 on the ship “William and Mary” while her parents were en route to America from Northern Ireland. They landed in Philadelphia and Mary and her parents were part of a group of Scots-Irish immigrants who headed west to settle on the frontier. They settled on territory that was under the Iroquois Confederacy. One morning in 1755 at the beginning of the French and Indian War, six Shawnee Indians and four Frenchmen kidnapped fifteen year old Mary and her family. Mary’s family was killed and she was sold to the Seneca Indian tribe. A Seneca family adopted her and she grew up there. She fully assimilated into the Seneca culture, married and moved to Seneca land in what is now Letchworth State Park. She chose to remain with the Senecas her entire life. The Seneca Indians honored Letchworth with the Native American name “Hai-wa-ye-is-tah” meaning “he who does the right thing”.
There are three major falls in Letchworth State Park, the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls. There are short hikes to each fall. Western New York is under an extreme drought so the falls were not as magnificent as they could have been. I would love to see them under normal conditions. In some of the pictures in this blog you can see how low the water level is in the Genesee River.
Middle Falls in the middle and the Upper Falls is in the distance
The Upper Falls is 70 feet high and a horseshoe shape.
The Middle Falls is the largest of the three falls at 107 feet high and 285 feet wide.
The Lower Falls had two ways to view the falls. There is an easy way and then a hike that involved 127 steps down and of course 127 back up. And of course we chose the hard way!
As we were trudged back up the 127 steps a lady in front of us suddenly stopped and called out to Bill for help. There was a big black snake stretched across the steps. Those who know me know I am terrified of snakes. Terrified. I hung back while Bill went up and waited for the snake to move. Mr. Snake took his good old time moving but eventually started slithering up the natural wall. Bill told me to go ahead and just not look to the left. I went up those last 50 steps so fast I don’t even remember climbing them! Bill managed to snap a couple pictures of him before he slithered under some tree roots at the top of the wall.
There is a nice footbridge down at the bottom that takes you from one side of the gorge to the other. We stopped by a statue of a CCC worker. We owe so many thanks to these young men who worked so hard in state and national parks all over the country so we have such wonderful parks to enjoy today. The stonework steps and walls they labored to put in is amazing, not to mention trails and buildings and picnic tables. The list goes on and on.
We also met a new friend!
Middle falls taken at night
After dinner we drove back to the Middle Falls which is illuminated at night. There was a huge full moon over the falls. What a beautiful, peaceful setting.
We have certainly enjoyed our time in upstate New York. Even with a drought the waterfalls have been magnificent.
The Adirondacks were beautiful and we loved the history we stumbled across in Seneca Falls. On the downside, it is an expensive state to visit. Even the state park campgrounds are pricey, the gas higher, and we paid about $75 in road and bridge tolls. But we would like to return again, perhaps later in the fall when the leaves have turned. But not too much later in the year as the temperature got down to the mid 40s one night at Letchworth!
Next stop: Pennsylvania as we head south
Picturesque Seneca Falls exceeded our expectations and we would have stayed a couple more days but we had reservations at Four Mile Creek Campground about fifteen minutes from Niagara Falls. It was an easy drive and as soon as we got settled in our campground we drove to nearby Fort Niagara.
Originally the fort belonged to the French and was built in 1726. It was expanded to its current size in 1755 because of increased tensions between the French and English. The fort played an important role in the French and Indian War and fell to the British in 1759 during the Battle of Fort Niagara. It served as a British base during the Revolutionary War and was ceded to the United States in 1783 at the end of the war. The British recaptured the fort during the War of 1812 and held it during the remainder of the war. After the war ended they gave it back to the United States. It is now known as Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site and is a National Historic Landmark. It is said the fort is haunted by a French soldier who was beheaded there during a duel and he wanders the grounds looking for his head. The paranormal claims have been investigated by the “Ghost Lab” on the Discovery Channel and on the Syfy series “Ghost Hunters” in 2011.
We also found a marker that indicates that WW II prisoners of war were kept here.
Our campground is located along Lake Ontario and we have a lovely view of the lake from our campsite. On a clear day you can see the Toronto skyline across the water.
Of course our main reason for coming here was to see the mighty Niagara Falls. Monday morning we left bright and early for the short drive to Niagara Falls State Park. There is no charge to enter the park but you do have to pay $8.00 a day for parking. Niagara Falls is America’s FIRST state park, established on July 15, 1885. There are few words to describe the power and beauty of the majestic falls where 750,000 gallons of water PER SECOND flows over Niagara Falls. Today we visited the American side of the falls and can see across the water to Canada. Our first stop was the Observation Tower which provided us with a view of both the American and Horseshoe Falls.
Next up was a ride on the boat, Maid of the Mist. The boat takes you right to the base of Horseshoe Falls where it hovers for several minutes while we are sprayed with water and feel and hear the thunderous falls above us. But first we have to pay admission where we are handed a poncho to wear before boarding the boat. The ride was short but it was exciting to be that close to the bottom of the falls and we could only gaze in wonder. It was hard to get pictures because it was so wet we had to place the camera in a plastic bag to keep it from being ruined. Between the water and the heavy mist it was hard to get pictures but I think Bill did a great job as always. In some of the pictures you can see the boat we road on down below.
We walked on some stairs near where the boat let us out.
Next we wanted to do Cave of the Winds, but first we had quite a long walk from one side of the park to another. For those unable to walk there is a shuttle to take you around the park for a small fee.
The walk was a wonderful way to see the falls and park. We walked across a pedestrian bridge onto Goat Island. There we walked to the overlook to view Horseshoe Falls which is on the Canadian side. We walked past a memorial to Nikola Tesla, an idol of Bill’s. This is where the first hydroelectric power plant was made and used to provide electricity to Buffalo NY.
We viewed the American falls from Goat Island.
We then bought tickets to our next attraction, Cave of the Winds. Here we were given another poncho, water shoes and a bag to put our own shoes in. We were then taken 175 feet down in an elevator where we walked along a series of steps and boardwalks at the base of the Bridal Veil Falls.
One location was called “Hurricane Deck ” where the power and wind from the thundering falls simulated a hurricane. It was really fun and despite the ponchos we both got wet. One amazing thing is every November the walkways and boardwalks are removed so they do not get caught in icy waters in the winter. In the spring they are rebuilt for summer tourists.
We finally took a view of the Horseshoe Falls which has one side in the USA and the other in Canada.
After a walk back over the pedestrian bridge to the parking lot, we were tired and hungry. We grabbed a late lunch. On the way home we stopped by Whirlpool State Park where we walked down to an overlook of the Niagara Whirlpool on the Niagara River and the Niagara Gorge.
Tuesday we drove across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. The view of the falls is prettier from this side because you have more of a direct view of both the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. The Horseshoe Falls is located on the Canadian side of the river. Another difference is when you look at the falls from the United States you look across the water at Canada. The Canadian side is very touristy with hotels, casinos, a ferris wheel etc. When you stand in Canada and look across the water at the American side you are looking at Niagara Falls State Park with plenty of trees and green space. Much more appealing!
After getting a few pictures in daylight we grabbed dinner and waited for it to get dark. At 8:30 PM they illuminate the Horseshoe falls with multicolored lights. We were a little disappointed that the lights were not deeper in color. It was really hard to get a decent picture with the darkness, moving water and mist.
This is chart that show how the Horseshoe Falls has receded over the years because the rock wall face underneath crumbles.
It was going to be a long walk uphill back to the car in the dark so we paid to ride the Inclined Railway (funicular) back up the hill. After driving back across the border into the United States we arrived back home.
We enjoyed our short time at Niagara Falls and will next head to our last stop in New York State.
Thursday morning we left the Adirondacks and headed west to Seneca Falls, population 6,700. We thought it was going to be a short three night stop on our way to Niagara Falls without much to see or do. Boy were we wrong!!
We camped at Cayuga Lake State Park near beautiful Cayuga Lake, one of the longest of the Finger Lakes. During the past million years, glaciers covered New York state. As they moved through river valleys they carved deep troughs with steep sides. When the glaciers receded about 10,000 years ago, water filled these troughs, creating eleven Finger Lakes. Cayuga Lake is thirty-eight miles long and 435 feet deep at its deepest spot. Cayuga Lake is named after the Cayuga Indians, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois in New York.
I was looking through some literature about the area and came across Watkins Glen State Park about thirty minutes from our campground. I read that in 2015 it was voted the third most beautiful state park in the country in a USA Today poll. All the reviews I read talked about a gorgeous 1.5 mile (three miles roundtrip) hike with 832 steps and nineteen waterfalls. We both love waterfalls so even though the 832 steps seemed a bit daunting, we decided to give it a try. We headed out early Friday morning. On the way to Watkins Glen we came across a plaque in the small town of Waterloo. We had no idea that Waterloo, NY was the official birthplace of Memorial Day, with the first ceremony held in 1866. Some of the interesting things we just happen to stumble across is amazing to us. We drove beside Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes and the deepest lake in the state.
We didn’t realize that the town of Watkins Glen is renowned for auto racing and is considered the birthplace of American racing. Since 1948 Watkins Gen has hosted international automobile car racing and in 2015 was voted the best NASCAR track in the country in a USA Today Reader’s Poll. The town has an International Motor Racing Research Center with 5,000 square feet of racing history. From April through September they host NASCAR sports car and racing events. This weekend was the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix and as we drove down Main Street they were getting ready to close off the street for a parade. To our dismay we discovered that even though the state park was open, the parking lot was closed. We asked where we could park and they said our only option was to find a parking lot or side street parking, which seemed highly unlikely on a parade day in a tiny town. Across the street from the park was a restaurant and Bill decided to go inside and ask if we could park in their restaurant parking lot for a few hours. I told him there was no way they would allow that on parade day. We pulled into the lot and I stayed with the car while he went inside to ask. He came back a few minutes later and said the owner said no problem and refused to take any money. Yeah!!
We grabbed our walking sticks and headed over to the entrance. We had an idea what was ahead when we saw a beautiful waterfall at the entrance. This park certainly lived up to its #3 best ranking. Everywhere we looked there was beauty. We were apprehensive about the steps but they were nice stone steps put in years ago by the CCC and easy to climb. I had worried they might be uneven and slick, but no problem. The hike on the Gorge Trail was not tiring at all because we were constantly stopping to gaze in wonder and awe at the beauty. We followed the gorge trail as it wound over and under waterfalls.
At the end we walked up the last of the stairs which were steel steps called “Jacob’s Ladder”. Once at the top we could either walk back down the 832 steps or take the easy “Indian Trail” back. We chose the easy hike and once we were back to the car we put our hiking gear away and decided to go into the restaurant for a late lunch. We thought it was a small way to thank them for letting us park in their lot. Bill had lunch and I had a big slice of fresh blueberry pie! On the way home we took a different route and followed Cayuga Lake seeing wineries along the lake. On Saturday we decided to spend our last day in Seneca Falls exploring the small town and finding some geocaches. First we stopped by the town Visitors Center which had a fantastic museum detailing the history of the town. European settlers first moved to the area and began farming. In the 1820’s the construction of the Erie Canal changed Seneca Falls to an industrial and shipping center. We were surprised to see all the items designed and manufactured there from water pumps, TV picture tubes to wooden rulers. Seneca Falls is the birthplace of the Women’s Rights Movement led by resident Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The first women’s rights convention was held here on July 19-20, 1848. Today there is a Women’s Rights National Historical Park, established in 1980, in the middle of town. We stopped by the park, saw a film and looked at the exhibits. Amelia Bloomer, for whom bloomers were named, lived in Seneca Falls. She didn’t invent bloomers but wore them and promoted them in magazines. Our last stop of the day was at the “It’s a Wonderful Life” museum. In 1945 Frank Capra stopped by Seneca Falls to get a haircut on his way to visit his sister. It is said that he was so taken with the quaint little town that it was his inspiration for the fictional town of Bedford Falls in the famous Christmas movie. There are several similarities between Seneca Falls and the fictional Bedford Falls, including they are both mill towns, had a grassy median down Main Street, homes of Victorian architecture, a large Italian population and a toll bridge. The free museum opened in 2010 and is full of memorabilia from the film that fans have donated or loaned to the museum. We were the only visitors there when we stopped by and enjoyed talking with the guide who obviously loves the movie. He said he has lost track of the number of times he has seen it. Every year in December they celebrate with a parade and all sorts of events. This year will be a big celebration since it is the 70th anniversary of the movie.The guide so enthusiastically described the upcoming celebration it almost made me want to brave the snow to attend. Almost, but not quite!
Yes, tiny Seneca Falls far exceeded our expectations. We could have stayed a couple more days but Niagara Falls was calling!
