2009 – Week 17

August 6, 2009, Thursday:
This morning was as the weather forecast promised. Daisy had her two walks, one with a swim as a treat, before we jumped on our bikes and headed out to see the town of Silver Islet, a 6-mile one-way trip. We took our time in the town and noticed that several of the houses were from the 1870’s, the time the silver mine was operating.

We stopped to talk to some folks and discovered that the wife had lived here all her life, her husband for 33 years and the daughter for all her life. The parents and kids (more than just the daughter we met) had bought a 2nd house and were in the process of fixing a drain that diverted a seasonal stream that flowed under the house when the snow melted. I had noticed that each the houses had a pump and a pipe running out into the beautifully clear and cold water. I asked the couple if that was for drinking. It turns out that they used the Lake water for everything but drinking. Drinking water came from a treated source. I also asked them which island had the silver mine. They identified it by saying it was the small one with trees. I noticed that there were several rocks protruding above the water about 200 feet east from the islet and figured that they were the remnants of the island. The mineshafts were under water. The story is that the mine became filled with water when the barge carrying coal to run the pumps couldn’t get there because the lake had frozen. Another twist is that the real reason was that the barge ran aground and couldn’t get there. Probably there is some truth to both stories. I had hoped to go in the General Store, but although it was scheduled to open at 11:00am, it didn’t. The view looking south towards the US Isle Royale NP and Lake Superior was stunning. I still have not been able to understand why Isle Royale is a part of Michigan rather than Minnesota because it is much closer to MN, and I certainly don’t know why it is a part of the US when it is so much closer to Canada. My guess is that the reason is lost in history, but it may have to do with the route the Voyageurs took from Montreal to Grand Portage MN prior to the Revolutionary War. We left town and headed back to the Campground, both of us thinking that this was a bit of heaven, and we could live here during the summer (about 3 months). We decided to take a bit of a detour and followed some bike trails, hoping we would get more views of Lake Superior, but no luck. Once again, we were happy that we had new bikes with fat tires. We returned to the RV, had lunch. Susie took Daisy for her 2nd swim while I cleaned up. We took showers, dumped the RV and headed east to Neys Provincial Park, a distance of 164 miles. The first 20 miles got us back to the main road. The glimpses of Lake Superior and the islands were awesome. Once again, it is hard to describe, but they reminded us of the Apostle Islands off the north shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the San Juan Islands in Washington State. About half way to Neys, the great scenery became even better. We stopped for gas and put in $110.00 worth. I haven’t done the numbers, but gas must be more than $4.50/gallon. We also bought a 1/2-gallon of milk for $4.50. Get us back to the US! When we reached Neys PP, we discovered that the site had originally been a POW Camp for Germans during WWII and was accessible only by rail at that time. When Susie took Daisy on her walk, she came back with two pieces of news. First, there was a black Newfoundland dog across the way, and it was doing tricks. Second, Queen Elizabeth of England was camped in an Airstream trailer a few spots away. Later when we walked Daisy for a swim in the Little Pic River, Susie pointed her out, but I thought the lady looked more like the late Queen Mother. I think the hat did it. We listened to a talk on trees and came to realize that many of the trees we have been seeing during the last week either don’t grow in the US or if they do, they are right on the border. We were in a boreal forest. No wonder we cannot identify them. The Ranger told us that it should be in the low 40’s tonight. We’ll see. We were told that the water temperature in Lake Superior, except in some of the bays and near the coast, generally stays at 40 degrees F, plus or minus 4 degrees all year long.

August 7, 2009 Friday:
It was 46 degrees at 6:45am so I went back to bed. I got up at 8:15am and took Daisy for a walk. The Queen Mother had left, and I didn’t see the Newfoundland. What I did see we many campsites in which the people had erected large blue tarps as windbreaks, protecting them from the winds off Lake Superior. Daisy and I took our walk, and Susie made a breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs on the theory that a substantial breakfast would hold us for a while. She was right. All three of us took a hike up the Lookout Trail to have a better view of Lake Superior and the boreal forest.

The rocks were a bit slippery, but we reached Lookout 1. We were a bit disappointed because the trees had grown and most of the view was obscured. Since it was a loop, we continued on and about a 1/4-mile later, popped out on to a big rock outcropping from which the view was spectacular. We stayed for a while and then started down. Near the bottom, we came across sand and lots of it. Many years ago, the Little Pic River flowed through the area and left all the sand. Looking back, when we took Daisy for a swim yesterday in the Little Pic River, there was sand on both banks. This is hard rock country, and it must have taken millions of years to grind the volcanic rock into sand. We pushed off and headed south to Lake Superior Provincial Park. After just a few miles in the town of White River, we came across a sign that said ‘It all started here’ with a Winnie the Pooh sculpture and playground. We had to stop! The story is that Canadian Lt Colbourne of the Veterinary Corp was headed overseas to fight in WWI and stopped in White River, ON. He purchased a bear cub on August 24, 1914 and named it ‘Winnie’ after his hometown, Winnipeg. The bear cub became the unit’s mascot until he was to be shipped to France. The bear was loaned and put in the care of the London Zoo on December 9, 1914 for the time he was away. In 1919, the bear was given to the Zoo where it lived for almost 20 years, giving joy to the people and children of the London. Visitors included author A. A. Milne and his son Christopher. As a gift to his son, Milne wrote the story ‘Winnie the Pooh’ in conjunction with illustrator E. H. Shepherd. The rest is history! I cannot image how many little children have had this story read to them over the years. The road to Lake Superior PP moved away from the coast for a while but then came back. We entered Lake Superior PP from the north and all of a sudden the great views were greater and more often. We passed 2 campgrounds, but we wanted to be on the Lake so we checked into the Agawa Bay Campground. We got the last site with electric service and could see the Lake. We took Daisy to the Pet Exercise Area, which included a section of beach, and she swam and swam. We drove the RV back north 5 miles to look at pictographs located on rock faces on the edge of Lake Superior. Lake Superior was calm and so we were able to walk out on a sloping ledge to view them. The Park has placed numerous ropes into the lake so that if you fall into the water you have a chance of surviving. There are numerous signs that start off with 'Numerous persons have been hurt or died on these rocks....."
We came back and had dinner before going to a presentation about The Group of Seven, artists who painted this area in the 1930’s. We were tired and decided to go to bed without doing anything on our blogs. The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain with winds from the west and sea 3-foot seas by the afternoon. We’ll see.

August 8, 2009 Saturday:
The weather service was correct and so we decided to head south to the USA. We crossed at Sault Saint Marie. The border crossing was jammed, but the line moved quickly. We saw one Great Lake boat (empty) in the locks heading west towards Lake Superior and another one (full) heading east to Lake Michigan or Lake Huron. After we passed through US Customs, we headed to the Visitor Center and picked up road maps and campground information before heading south to St Ignace. I-75 is a very straight road through the Upper Peninsula and pretty boring. We checked into the Lakeshore RV Park and had a view of Lake Michigan and the Mackinaw Bridge. We did laundry and headed into St Ignace to have dinner. Susie had a craving for fresh whitefish. We found a small restaurant on the water and then had a problem finding a parking lot big enough for our small RV. The meal was a decadent with raw oysters, broiled whitefish, baked potato and finished off with rhubarb pie a la mode for Susie and apple pie a la mode for me. We returned to the RV Park and did a few things but went to bed as soon as we didn’t feel bloated. I recovered more quickly than did Susie. It rained lightly through the day, and I had hopes that the weather was breaking.


August 9, 2009 Sunday:
At 4:30am, the thunder could be heard in the distance, and Daisy scrambled to tuck in under the table. It became worst and between 4:45am and 6:00am, it was flashes and bangs, some very close. It stopped for a bit, but the rains came again. I took Daisy out at 8:30am, after the rain had stopped. Weather radar indicated we had seen the worst, and I saw a bit of blue sky off to the west. We took our walk, and when we returned, all the bad weather was off to the east. I saw 2 Great Lake boats in Lake Michigan. We left the campground just about noon, filled up with gas and tried to buy some 1/2&1/2 for coffee but no luck. We were lucky enough to find a fruit stand with fresh black cherries, blueberries and tomatoes. We crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and found an attraction on the other side.



It a replica of the English Fort Michlimackinac which was located at the same point as an earlier French fort which used by the voyageurs prior to the French and Indian War. The French lost, and Canada was ceded to Great Britain. We walked through there, and it was a good time and the staff engaged the public for their skits. As we entered the site, we saw a group of re-enactors who were ‘French’. Susie talked to one gentleman who told her about who they were and more exciting, the harrowing effects of the wind and rain this morning. Since they were using only the same equipment as the French did, everything was soaked, tents blew away and water poured down the slope, through the encampment, and into Lake Michigan.

We were told that the French, and then the English, had to travel 30 miles to get wood because they had cut down everything closer. Inside the Fort, activities included the firing of muskets and cannon, which frightened Daisy almost as much as the thunder early this morning. It has been a tough day for her. We finally found milk, and since it was late we decided to camp in MI at The Wilderness SP. This park is located on Waugoshance Point of the Lower Peninsula, 10 miles to the west of the Mackinac Bridge. We found a spot on Lake Michigan and pulled in. Next to us was a family from MI who had been there for 10 days. I think that the family consisted of three generations and was headed by a brother and sister whose parents took them camping when they were young. I think there were about 15 people next to us. I wondered if they would be there for the night, but they left a few hours after we arrived. The brother had one of those high-powered ski boats that served at the trailer for taking all the toys home. Because of the rain this morning I image most everything was wet, but no one seemed to care. We had taken Daisy for another swim, and she was happy again. NOAA has thunderstorm warnings until 11:00pm so we’ll see what happens. We decided to spend an additional night here so I went to extend our reservation, hoping to stay in the same spot. Unfortunately we’ll have to move, but we’ll still be on the water. We were told about a shop that makes donuts for breakfast. It is about 3/4-mile from the campground. It opens at 8:00am, and my job for tomorrow is to be there with hopes to get blueberry muffins. The fog enveloped the area around 9:00pm. It is very quiet here now.

August 10, 2009 Monday:
I had my duties to perform this morning so I was up early and took Daisy for her walk, although it was a bit short, I jumped on my bike and pedaled furiously to The General Store to purchase blueberry muffins, but I had misunderstood, they were blueberry donuts. They had not yet started making them, but had an ample supply of plain, cinnamon, chocolate coated, vanilla coated, vanilla coated with sprinkles and probably more, but I was overwhelmed. I bought a cinnamon donut and a cup of coffee and then another cinnamon donut before the blueberry donuts were done. I bought six blueberry and four plain donuts. When I arrived, the bike rack, with spaced for 18 bikes, was empty, when I left the rack was full and with at least another dozen bikes scattered about. I was back at the RV by 9:15am, and we had donuts and more coffee. We sat in our L. L. Bean chairs and looked out over Lake Michigan as the skies cleared. We had to move sites, and we did that just before 1:00pm. We took Daisy swimming and had lunch before jumping on the bikes for what turned out to be a three hour bike trip as far west as we could go. We were still about 2 miles short of the tip of Wougoshance Point and beyond were two other islands, Temperance and Wougoshance. Looking off into the distance, we saw one and then another lighthouse.



I don’t know the names, but I am hoping Todd Johnson can help as he has raced the Chicago-Mackinac Race numerous times. The one closest to shore was a large bulky structure (probably abandoned) that reminded me of Fasnet Rock off the coast of Ireland and the other was a tampered cylinder painted with alternating red and white spiral stripes. We continued on our ride and talked to a fisherman and wife. We continued on a track that sometimes was fit for a truck, other times only fit for hiking or biking and sometimes questionable for anything. We came up 2 teenage boys who were looking at a map, and when I asked if they knew where they were one answered “sort of” in a questioning voice. They didn’t have a map so I gave them ours and pointed them off to the west. It would be about 6 miles before they returned to the Campground. We assume they made it because there has not been any call for volunteers for a search party. We returned to the RV and eventually moved our chairs to the beach. Daisy was very annoyed, as she wasn’t permitted there. The winds grew and the skies darkened so we went back to the RV, and I prepared for the worse while Susie took a shower. When she returned, I took my shower, after which we had dinner. We ate indoors as there were intermittent rain showers. I actually rained hardest as the sun set, very visibly, in the west. We are moving on tomorrow, but I still may need to go for donuts! Wilderness SP is full to the brim, again.

August 11, 2009 Tuesday
The sky was overcast when we awoke, and I took Daisy for a short walk. We packed up the RV and headed to The General Store for our morning fix of donuts. Susie selected what she wanted, and I told her that was not enough. She was astonished when I told her we had consumed one dozen the day before; said it wasn’t possible! Well we did, and the storeowner confirmed that I had bought a dozen. Susie was fascinated with the donut-making machine. I told her she could have it, but she would need to buy the store and the waterfront home.

She is pondering how she can live here and also a wanna-be Wyoming cowgirl during the same season. We drove west to the coast and the town of Cross Village, weaving in and out and absolutely confusing Gabby Garmin. From there we drove south on MI119 and traveled through the ‘Tunnel of Trees’ that ran almost to the very upscale town of Harbor Springs. The houses along the north portion of this Tunnel were tucked into the woods and often had wonderful views of Lake Michigan. The further we traveled south, the bigger and more ostentatious were the houses. Michigan may have trouble with its economy, but you would never know by the lavishness of the houses, the size of horse farms and the number of golf courses. We stopped in Petoskey to get more AAA TourBooks and CampBooks. Of course, this being Michigan they didn’t have any tour books of this state but told Susie we should come by tomorrow as they should be delivered by then. No thanks and off we went south along US31, along the coast of Lake Michigan and then Grand Traverse Bay to Traverse City, bought a lightweight down comforter, as we are now in warm weather, found another AAA Office to try again and ask where we could get our oil changed. The lady gave us a few names, but none had tall enough doors. Finally one of the spots where we stopped gave us the right info. While the RV was being serviced, I went across the street and bough BBQ sandwiches and baked beans for lunch (at 3:00pm). Most of our chores done, we headed north on MI22 and MI201 to Leelanau SP for the night. The skies had begun to clear so our moods improved. Driving north along MI22, we passed the Traverse City Yacht Club and saw a fleet of Lightnings lined up on their trailers. This looks like a nice place to sail. The Park is on the tip of the peninsula with Grand Traverse Bay on the east and Lake Michigan on the west. A lighthouse was built there in 1852 and then relocated in 1858 because the light was visible for north and southbound shipping, but not east or westbound. The light was only moved about 200 feet. If you think you’ve heard this story, so do we but right now cannot tell you where. I do know that at Point Loma in San Diego, the original lighthouse was built on the water’s edge of the Pacific Ocean, but another had to be built on the top of the hill because the fog on the ocean surface obscured the original one. This is not the story I remember, but maybe it will to come me a bit later. We tucked into a campsite facing the water, but the shore is too far away. The rules don’t allow Daisy to go across the shoreline because of nesting birds, especially the endangered Piping Plover. The Piping Plover is an endanger species and there are only 63 breeding pairs in the US. Susie noticed that in the three hours we’ve been here, the Park Ranger and the County Sheriff have driven through. We wondered if there have been some problems here. I measured the distance from this Park to Door Peninsula in WI, and Lake Michigan is 70+ miles wide. Tomorrow we are heading south to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for two nights.

August 12, 2009 Wednesday:
It was a bit warm and very humid. There was no wind on the water. We had a breakfast of coffee, donuts and bananas. What a combination. Susie worked on her drawings and a bit later told me that she had heard there was a meteor shower last night. We missed it. We left the SP around 11:00am and headed south along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula. We passed by the boarding school where her sister Priscilla spent 2 years and decided to stop by. The school has been relocated and has been focusing on ‘special needs’ students. We continued south into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore and checked into the D. H. Day Campground around 1:30pm. This campground doesn’t take reservations so we needed to be here a bit early. After lunch we jumped on our bicycles and headed to the historic town of Glen Haven and the Maritime Museum at Sleeping Bear Point, which features the U.S. Lifesaving Service and its history. We had seen different types of lifeboats previously, but the most amazing piece of equipment was a metal watertight container that a person needing rescue from a stricken ship was placed and sealed inside. The container was then pulled to shore, and the container pulled back to the stricken vessel. Another person was place inside and the procedure repeated for a long as needed. As I think about it, I’m not sure I know have the last person was rescued. This container was about 7’ long 2.5 feet wide and 1.5 deep. Susie said I would have perished, as I never would have fit through the access port. This was very effective and in 1851, 201 persons were rescued from a stricken ship off the coast of NJ. If it took 10 minutes for the container to make a round trip, t would have taken 35 hours to rescue all 201 people if nothing had gone wrong. This procedure was eventually replaced by the breeches buoy. There was a demonstration of the breeches buoy, and the visiting children managed to save Raggedy Ann (women and children first) and then Raggedy Andy.

The Captain of the ship elected to swim ashore and was lost. We then went to the Cannery Boat Museum where numerous old boats, sailing, rowing and powered were stored. The newest were about 50 years old. We returned to the campground and were going to bike into Glen Arbor for some ice cream, but the road traffic was heavy and fast. Eventually we ate dinner and then took Daisy for a swim in Lake Michigan. Now I want to tell you the legend of Sleeping Bear. Many years ago, a forest fire in what is now Wisconsin forced a mother bear and her two cubs to swim across Lake Michigan. The mother bear made it and climbed the sand dunes to wait for her two cubs. They did not make it, and so the gods created a dune for her and two islands (North and South Manitou Island) for the cubs. There is a large dune in the park, which marks the spot where the mother watched for her cubs. The erosion of the shore is such that the Sleeping Bear Dune is expected to fade away in the near future. Tomorrow we are headed south to take a bike ride on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive before heading south to the Platte River Campground. Platte River has more amenities than does D.H. Day and fills more quickly.

2009 – Week 16

July 30, 2009, Thursday:
We awoke this morning with mosquitoes wing to wing on the RV windows and screens. The good news was they were on the outside! Daisy and I escaped and took a long walk, and when we returned, we closed up the RV and headed to the Katetogama Lake Visitor Center. We decided that we would not spend a 2nd night in the Woodenfrog Campground and managed to get one cup of coffee down before leaving. I went into the Visitor Center to make sure we were on the list and to pay the bill, but no problem. The tour was scheduled to leave at 11:00am, but suddenly the skies darkened, and the rains came. The tour boat was another pontoon boat, and the Captain had some reservations as to whether we should go. He couched his concerns by saying we wouldn’t want to go if we couldn’t see anything. Good point, but being a sailing curmudgeon, I watched as he had the Rangers get radar information from a local site. It showed the storm cell moving south and lo and behold, by the 10:45am, the skies had started to clear. With the side curtains down, there was no way we would get wet. However, the engine exhaust swirled back inside through the stern opening. It affected a few passengers, including Susie. Of course it didn’t help that we were the last to board and in the seats furthest aft. She was able to move forward to an empty seat. We were about a 1/2-hour into the tour, the rain had slowed, and the port side curtain was rolled up. The folks (me included) on that side had a great view. Once again we saw numerous bald eagles, cormorants and seagulls but this time the Ranger told stories about the different animals. We heard how the bald eagles are captured and banded early in life and how seagulls don’t make a nest but just drop their eggs anyplace. They show no interest until the eggs hatch and suddenly a fuzzy little thing appears. Then they show interest.
We heard stories about local people who lived in the area in the early 1900’s. There were some characters living here! We had lunch at the Kettle Falls Hotel. This hotel was originally constructed to house the construction workers who built two dams near Kettle Falls. Rumor has it that the Madame who used the profits from that business to pay for the construction. Who really knows? We headed back at 2:15pm and arrived at 4:00pm after a round trip of 48 miles. Two geology tidbits: the Park lies at the southern portion of the Canadian Shield; the rock along the lake shore and the islands is Pre-Cambrian (2.7 billion years old) and everything above this layer was removed, probably by the numerous glaciers, some were 2 miles thick (how do they know that?), that came through the area. When we returned, Susie took Daisy for a swim. That made Daisy very happy! Into the RV and off we went south on US53 to the McCarthy Beach SP, which is located about 15 miles north of Hibbing MN. If we had been coming from the south, the signage would have been great, but coming from the north, it was a bit challenging. The SP sits between Side Lake and Sturgeon Lake on a piece of land less than a 1/4-mile wide. It is full of big trees, and there seemed to be a lack of flying insects. We were unable to get an electric site but were more than content to be there. After all, the Park had showers. There were kids running around and having a great time. All of a sudden around 10:00pm, the Park went silent so I think the kids had crashed. We did so a bit later.

July 31, 2009 Friday:
When I awoke around 7:00am, the Park was as quiet as could be. Daisy and I took our walk and found the fog so thick that we couldn’t see across Side Lake, a distance of less than 1/2-mile. I took another shower and filled the water jugs. We had a cup of coffee each and decided to head south to Hibbing MN with the Hull-Rust Mahoning Mine for our first stop and breakfast. Gabby Garmin got us there, but it was along a dirt road when there was a perfectly good paved one two streets away. The mine is 3 miles long, 2 miles wide and 600 feet deep at the deepest point. The footprint covers 3,075 acres.

The town of Hibbing was relocated to make space for the mine. We drove through a bit of the old town and noticed that the original streetlights and roads exist. They used the roads as circulation for a park for camping. The cost is $15/night, and we should have taken advantage. This mine started operating in 1895 and has shipped out over a billion tons of material. At the present time, the mine is closed down due to the weak economy and resulting lack of orders. It is expected to reopen next summer. There was a retired dump truck that had a carrying capacity of 170 tons. The new ones have a capacity of 240 tons. The tires were so large that it takes only 162 revolutions to go a mile. We discovered that Greyhound Bus Lines started in the town of Hibbing so we had to stop at the Museum.
It was a nice history but stopped in 1983. I don’t know the details, but I think the company is in deep financial trouble. Hibbing is the birthplace of Bob Dylan (really!) and Kevin McHale, the pro basketball player. We had lunch in the parking lot before heading north to Chisholm MN to the AAA ‘Gem” the Ironworld Discovery Center. It was almost impossible to access because of all the roadwork and lack of signage. They have dropped the Ironworld and have added (we assume) exhibits that had no connection to the mining. The only exhibit that was fun was a special one about different types of animal poop and how it was used. Too complicated to discuss, and this is a family show. We were very disappointed and would not recommend stopping there. We are in a RV Park in Chisolm for one night. No internet, but electricity and showers. The County Fair is being held this week and the campground is full of trailers that provide sleeping facilities for the workers. We have never seen these before, but these trailers have individual ‘apartments’ that are about 6’ by 8’. Each has a bed and wash sink. Don’t know about showers but assume the people use the campground facilities. Could be interesting tomorrow morning. One note on geography: about a mile north of Hibbing, there is a hill that the Native Americans called ‘Hill of Three Waters’. From this hill, a drop of rain may find its way to the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay or the Atlantic Ocean. This is a follow-up from the blog of 7/29/09. I wish we could have seen it, but that’s life. It is interesting that the Native Americans knew of the water flows long before we, with our sophisticated surveys, did. Tomorrow we plan something exciting for tomorrow, so stay tuned!

August 1, 2009 Saturday:
It rained and blew all last night, and when we got up, it felt like a late fall morning at home. The temperature this morning was 58 degrees. It seems unbelievable for the 1st of August. Wonder how it feels in January? Today we headed northeast to Soudan SP and then Ely MN. Well, we never made Ely. We took showers at the RV Park and gassed up the RV. While paying, I asked where we could get breakfast in town. The owner of the gas station suggested the place a few doors down and then pondered where there might be another place as an alternate. A few seconds later, she said that she couldn’t think of a second place and then mused that the town seemed to have many more bars than places to eat. I allowed that I was too old to drink in the morning so off we went to the Iron Kettle. I had my usual omelet and Susie had waffles and sausage. At the end of the meal, I overheard the group at the next table talking about Ironworld and said that we had been there and been terribly disappointed. One of the couples was local and was very interested in our comments and allowed as he was of the same opinion. He said a lot of money had been spent on the project, and it was having a terrible time making a go of it. We left and headed northeast towards Soudan SP but we diverted trying to find more overlooks into the open pit mines. We found one and gave up on the second. There was rain and wind on occasion, but that didn’t slow our progress. The variety of trees was interesting even though they were not very tall. I noticed in several areas beyond 50 yards off the road, there were numerous pines and suspect they had been planted. Along the road, there were numerous varieties but aspen seemed to be the most numerous. There are neat looking in the wind and the rain. We also stopped at an ATM to replenish our funds. We reached the Soudan SP at 12:15pm. Soudan SP is the location of the start of iron mining in MN. It is in the Vermillion Range, the oldest and richest of the three ranges in MN. On July 31, 1884, the first shipment of hematite was made. The original ore was excavated from the surface by means of seven pits. It was dangerous work due to falling debris from the unstable pit walls. We looked down into one of the pits and were told that this year snow remained until mid-July. It was both cold and wet work. The ore was so rich that the decision was made to start sinking a shaft to get to the ore below. The peak year of production was 1892 when 568,000 long tons were shipped. In 1982, production was stopped, and US Steel gave the mine to the state of MN. They made it into a Park and have kept the mine open for visitors. I purchased tickets and at 1:00pm we entered the mineshaft riding the same type of car as the miners had used to go up and down and to haul ore from the shaft.
The cars have added a few safety features, such as solid walls and doors. Down we went at 1,000 feet/minute (or 11.4 mph) until we reached bottom or Level 27, a distance of 2,341 feet. The temperature is a constant 50 degrees, and the air is changed two times per hour. The miners considered this the ‘Cadillac’ of mines for the reasons above plus it was a dry mine. Many mines have water seepage, as does this one. Here they pump 33,000,000 gallons/year; other mines have pumped as much as 2,000,000 gallons per day (730,000,000 gallons/year). In spite of these benefits, it was hard work with limited lighting making it even harder. Ore was loaded by hand, ore carts pushed by hand until mules were brought into the mines, there were no mechanical rotary drills to make holes for the dynamite and so on. Another benefit was the strength of the rock. It did not need shoring, making the vertical shafts and drifts (horizontal shafts) safer. There was also no methane gas as there is in coalmines, making the danger of explosion negligible (except for maybe a defective piece of dynamite).
The drift we toured was 3/4 of a mile long. So we were a bit less than 1/2-mile down and 3/4-mile off to the side. The reason production at the mine stopped in spite of the excavated material (hematite) being superior than the magnetite found in the open pit mine was that open pits are much more efficient. One year of open pit mining produced as much iron ore as did 80 years of production in the Soudan Mine. We pushed on to Bear Head Lake SP and we relieved to find that there was a spot for us, one of three remaining. The Park has showers but no electricity. It rained on and off, and the temperatures fell. At 8:30 pm it was 54 degrees and as I took Daisy for her nighttime walk, I noticed numerous folks sitting outside around a big campfire. They were wearing warm pants, warm coats and hats.

August 2, 2009 Sunday:
We expected temperatures in the 40’s last night, but it only dropped to 52 degrees. When we woke, the sky was clear and a beautiful blue. W took our walk, and I took a shower. We decided to drive on to Ely and find a place for breakfast. We did, and it was named ‘The Front Porch’, and there was (slow) internet. We both had coffee, quiche and a cinnamon twist. Susie spotted a place to get her hair cut. The sign said ‘Open on Sundays’ so she walked over to check the times. When she returned, I thought she said 2:00 to 4:00pm, but she really said Noon to 4:00pm. We did some grocery shopping, walked through the town and did some shopping. We stopped in one store and found what we thought would be a perfect gift made from wood, but when I noticed the type of wood, I asked the owner if it was made locally. She said ‘No, it was from China.’ I shocked her by saying that there were enough people in this part of the country who could make the same product and I wouldn’t buy it. Susie was getting her haircut at this time, but agreed. We jumped back in the RV, filled it with gas and headed southeast on the only road to the shore of Lake Superior. As we were approaching the Lake, we came up a hill and around a sweeping bend, and there it was, Lake Superior. It was a wonderful shock! We headed northeast along the coast through a few small towns and numerous State Parks. As we approached Grand Marais, we had to stop at ‘The Pie Shop’ for lunch. Mine was Dutch Apple Pie a la mode, and Susie had Strawberry Rhubarb Pie a la mode. I still seem to be losing weight but don’t know why. The RV Park is run by the City of Grand Marais and is the only one in the town.
The price was a bit high, but at least the funds are going to a good place. There was some sort of event going on it town and many campers, who were supposed to check out at 1:00pm hadn’t left, creating turmoil in the office. We found a spot that someone had turned down because it was too wet. We loved it and were parked next to a family from Ontario. They were a good source of information for our trip around the north shore of Lake Superior. The Canadian City of Thunder Bay has just opened a Visitor Center in Grand Marais with the hope that it will attract some of the many Americans who come this far but can’t seem to get across the border. We’ll stop there tomorrow before moving on. Daisy went swimming in Lake Superior, and it was really cold. We took photos of the harbor, breakwaters and entrance lights when the clouds separated enough to give us good light.

August 3, 2009 Monday:
The sky was overcast when we took our walk along the edge of the harbor. There was no wind, and the water was calm. A large powerboat pulled in at 7:30am. I’m not sure where it came from because they are not many harbors on this shore between Duluth and the US/Canada border. Susie had stayed up late last night dumping files from her computer in an attempt to get more free space on her hard drive. She was successful in increasing the free space from 2.0GB to 9.0GB before she came to bed. She was at it again this morning and managed to clear another 3.0GB to get to 12.0GB. That should hold her until we get home and figure out what to do. These computers seemed so big when we bought them less than3 years ago. We had a hearty breakfast of bacon and hot cereal. It felt good in the cool morning air. The RV Park had begun to clear out before 7:00am, and by the time we left just before noon, it was probably 50% full. It should be nice there tonight. We went to the new Thunder Bay Visitor Center, but they had just opened and weren’t well organized. We drove through the old part of Grand Marais, saw a donut shop and Susie jumped out. We stopped at Grand Portage National Monument, just a few miles south of the border. This site was the headquarters of the North West Company until 1803 when the headquarters was moved north to Fort William, a point at the southern edge of what is now Thunder Bay. The North West Company was owned by Scots and problems of citizenship, licenses, etc. made the move necessary. The Grand Portage was an 8.5-mile path that went from Lake Superior to Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River. Numerous rapids and falls were avoided by making this portage, but it was a tough start of the trip west with an elevation change of more than 800 feet, carrying two 90-pound packs, over the 8.5 miles. The north canoes heading west were approximately 25 feet long, and those heading east (lake canoes) 35 feet. The lake canoes carried about 4 tons of cargo and traversed the route between Montreal and Grand Portage Bay. From there we headed into Canada. Immediately after crossing the border the land is very different from that in the US. There was no significant farming in the US, but there was in Canada. The hills in the US rolled gently, but in Canada, large rock outcroppings and vertical rock faces existed wherever we looked. After visiting the Ontario Visitor Center just across the border, we went to Kakabeka Falls SP for the night. This is a pretty falls and according to the information, its height is only 49 feet less (128 ft vs. 177 ft) than the Canadian Niagara Falls, but there are a few differences: 1) it isn’t near as wide (233 ft vs. 2,215ft), 2) the water cascades down the rocks rather than an uninterrupted drop, and 3) the volumes are nowhere near as great. Other than those items, it’s almost as good as Niagara. By the way, the American Niagara Falls is 184 feet high and 1,075 ft wide. When we arrived at our campsite, we couldn’t find the electric and when we did we didn’t have near enough cord, including our extension. Luckily, the Park Warden came by, he called the office, and we were able to move to a spot where our cords were sufficient. We took a bike ride through aspen and birch tree and then went down to see the falls. After that it was showers. We had a light dinner and then talked about what to do the next few days. We’re not settled yet, but we know we’re headed to Fort William tomorrow morning. We went to bed at 10:00pm EDT, or 9:00pm CST, much earlier than usual.

August 4, 2009 Tuesday
It was a clear morning and not as cold as the last few days. Susie penciled in more pictures, trying to catch up again. We left the PP at 10:45am and headed to the Fort William Historical Park. We thought that our tour would take about 2 hours, but were we ever surprised.
This reconstruction is not on the original site, but a few miles up the Kaministiqua River from the original site on Lake Superior. This is the 4th historic recreation we have seen on our tours, the others being Williamsburg, Fort Steele BC Canada and Louisbourg NS Canada. At the end of the day, we thought this was the best. The re-enactors were happy, exuberant and glad to hear that we were from ‘the States’. We went through the Visitor Centre and had a 10-minute walk to the entry of the site. A young lady who informed us that it was 1815, and we were about to enter the site of the headquarters of The North West Company, established here in 1805 met us. If you remember, the Company originally had its Headquarters in the US at Grand Portage MN, about 100 miles south. The stockade area covered 25 acres and had 42 structures. She established the mood and directed us to the Ojibwa Indian campgrounds outside the stockade enclosure. We saw them making bread, smoking fish and drying pelts. We also saw teepees made of birch bark skins, rather than the animal hides we had seen on the US Plains. When we asked about the difference we were told that the Ojibwa were much more stationary than the Plains Indians and actually had 2 houses, the 2nd being further north to permit hunting for larger animals such as moose, caribou and bears.
On we went and were invited to join the crew of a Voyager birchbark canoe for a paddle around a small island in the river. That was great fun, and we didn’t capsize! Finally, into the Fort for a review of the buildings. We were in the 1815 mood. It is interesting to note that the Fort is a very good reproduction because when the Hudson’s Bay took over the Northwest Company in 1821, plans of the structures were drawn and an inventory of the contents was taken. It was interesting to note that the reconstruction was done using only period tools. We noticed that the glass in the windows had a wavy surface, as was the standard before float glass was developed. We saw a cooper making wood barrels, a tinsmith making cups and pitchers, a hand operated fire pump, canoe building and a farm among other activities. We saw the gaol and the butter making facility that was above the icehouse. All of a sudden it was 5:00pm, and they had closed down the exhibits.
I think we were the last ones out. What a wonderful, but exhausting day. We went back to the RV and had a snack before moving to the west side of Thunder Bay to the Trowbridge Falls Campground run by the City. We were parked adjacent to the Current River, which flows south through Centennial Park (we’ll go there tomorrow) and into Lake Superior. Susie took Daisy for a walk and discovered the falls and all the hard rock that lies just below the dirt in this area. It looks as if it is sedimentary, but it is awfully hard. We heard the Falls as we went to sleep.


August 5, 2009 Wednesday:
Today we walked Daisy, took showers and left the Trowbridge Falls Campground. On my morning walk I discovered another set of falls, and later Susie took her last walk and took pictures. We drove to Centennial Park and decided that it would be a good place to ride our bikes. Most of the Park is old growth and probably the largest trees we have seen in quite a while. There is a dam on the Current River about 1/4 mile from lake Superior. The only purpose of the dam was to create Boulevard Lake within Centennial Park. We saw canoes and kayaks and a few brave souls in the water. The dam has a fish ladder but no fish. The bike/hiking path around Boulevard Lake seemed to be heavily used, especially for a Wednesday morning. After the bike trip, we loaded up and drove along the Thunder Bay waterfront with a marina with mostly powerboats. I suspect the water is very cold, but I do know of a Lightning sailor who sails here. We met him in Sheboygan WI at the 2005 North Americans. I talked to a man who was brushing his dog and mentioned that the geography in Canada was very different that that in US. He agreed and said that with all the mesa, etc, you might have thought we were in New Mexico (except for the temperature) rather than Canada. We then headed east to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, a drive of about 50 miles. Sleeping Giant is named for a large rock formation and an Ojibwa Indian Legend. Nanabosho (the Giant) was the son of Kabeyun (the West Wind). He led his tribe to the north shore of Lake Superior to protect then from the Sioux, their traditional enemies. Nanaboshho discovered silver and had his people move it to a tiny islet at the end of Sibley Peninsula. A few days later, he saw a Sioux guiding 2 white men to the secret hiding place, raised a storm that capsized the canoe and killed all three. Kabeyun was so mad that he turned Nanabosho to stone, and Nanabosho still lies in repose where his father struck him. He can be seen from Thunder Bay. It turns out that the white men found the silver and mined approximately $3,225,000 of silver from Silver Islet before it was overcome by the Lake Superior waters. The mining has stopped, and approximately half of Silver Islet has been eroded away. After we arrived at our campsite, we tried to take a bike ride, but the maps were so poor and the attendants at the Visitor Centre so unknowing, and it started to rain lightly before we could get very far. Eventually we were able to look at a much better map, and the weather is expected to be better tomorrow so we’ll do out trip then. Susie madly colored her pictures with the hope that she’d be caught up tonight. Daisy was able to take another swim and now is sleeping peacefully.