Split Rock Lighthouse State Park 2008
We spent a wonderful week camping at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. We headed up on a Thursday to start our adventure. The first day was spent at Gooseberry Falls and setting up camp. We had a great campsite this time, with beach access at our site and the lake just feet away. Friday, we tempted fate and lost. Despite a 70% chance of rain - we biked 2 miles to the Superior Hiking Trail Trailhead and headed out. We got stuck in a downpour about 1.5 miles into the trail. We hiked in the pouring rain (and temperatures that dropped into the 50s) for a few hours to get back. We were completely soaked, so much so that we had to drive 20 miles to Two Harbors to put our shoes an clothes in dryers! It was actually sort of fun - and the kids did an outstanding job of "going with the flow".
Saturday was better! We set off on a 2 day mission to explore the North Shore, north of Tettegouche. We visited all the state parks off 61 over the next 2 days (returning to camp at night). There is some gorgeous land up there! Monday we hiked near Split Rock...some of our favorite beaches. We also biked to Gooseberry to find the cache there (geocaching).
Tuesday was our last day...and with heavy hearts we packed up. We stayed as late as we could...and got home around midnight. The North Shore is my favorite place on earth.
Lots of good memories and pictures...see below.
2 Canadian Swallowtail butterflies at Gooseberry Falls. Nathaniel has taken up butterfly watching! |
Annabelle and Nathaniel gazing at the butterflies. |
The Lower Falls at Gooseberry. |
Middle Falls at Gooseberry. |
A picnic lunch at Gooseberry, where the river flows into the lake. |
Same beach as our picnic at Gooseberry, relaxing in the sun. |
On top of Day Hill, looking at Split Rock Lighthouse. |
Annabelle with the cache at Split Rock. We were very hot and sweaty...our only hot day up north...about 82. The rest of the days were in the upper 60s/low 70s. |
Still on Day Hill at Split Rock. |
Relaxing at camp. |
The morning we got rained on! It was a cool, cloudy morning at camp. |
A cool new beach we discovered, Iona's Beach. It is just north of Gooseberry, half way to Split Rock. It was very cold and misty on this beach! |
Iona's Beach |
On the Superior Hiking Trail near Split Rock River. |
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Nathaniel scrabbling his way across the stream. The poor kid got a biting fly sting right on his eye. His eye was completely swollen shut for 3 days...which is why he appears to be winking in every picture. |
I have no picture of this memory...as the torrential rains
began to fall shortly after the picture at the left was taken. We
got stuck in a downpour on the Superior Hiking Trail. We had rain
ponchos, but even they failed after over an hour traversing the slippery,
muddy trail in the rain. The kids did great - never once complained
and were actually singing and quite happy. It was freezing cold -
Nathaniel was chattering in his wet clothes as we waited for Daddy to come
rescue us in the minivan at the trailhead. (It was my brainy idea to
bike there with a 70% chance of thunderstorms!). We drove to the
next town and had a great time at the laundromat! It was warm and
dry, Daddy got us supper from Subway next door.
We almost whimped out and went to a hotel, but the rain let up to a drizzle around 9 p.m....just long enough to hike the quarter of a mile to the tent! |
The morning after the huge downpour - bright and clear. |
Annabelle on the beach at our campsite in the morning. |
Our campsite. |
The kids at Temperance River State Park. It was very pretty...but my least favorite of all the northern parks. |
On of the 3 geocaches hidden at Temperance River State Park. |
The Temperance River. |
Annabelle inside a hole in a rock. We found it at the beach at Temperance River State Park, where we had a picnic lunch. |
Annabelle on the beach. |
The third geocache at Temperance River State Park. |
Relaxing at camp before dinner. |
Chef Chris making pie iron pizza! |
The kids along the Brule River at Judge C.R. Magney State Park. The Devil's Kettle Falls are there...but the river is so high that we couldn't really see the mysterious "Devil's Kettle". |
High Falls at Grand Portage State Park, on the Canadian border. These were outstanding, worth the drive to see. The picture doesn't do it justice...there was a double rainbow over the falls. |
The rainbow is still visable, behind me in this picture. |
More of the falls at Grand Portage, which is actually a State Park leased from the Indian Reservation land it resides on. |
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Annabelle giving me a foot spa. This is a beach on the "Lake Walk" portion of the Superior Hiking Trail. It is the only section that follows the lake, located just north of Grand Marais. |
The beach on the Lake Walk. |
Cascade River State Park. Again...the picture doesn't do the beauty of it justice. |
Hiking on the Look Out Mountain Trail at Cascade River State Park. This is a lovely trail, wish we would have had time to hike on more of it. I hope to return to it the next trip up north. |
On the Cascade River, along the Look Out Mountain trail. |
Annabelle in a field of huge ferns at Cascade River State Park. I think they are called Ostrich Ferns. |
Along Lake Superior at Cascade River State Park. Nathaniel loves to climb the craggy rocks there. |
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We stopped for supper at the Coho Cafe (Bluefin Bay Resort) on the way back, as it was already past 8 p.m.. We had also eaten breakfast there that morinng. |
Our "tadpole spot" along the lake off of the Corundum Point Trail, in Split Rock State Park. We didn't see any tadpoles this year though. |
On the Gitchi-Gummi hiking trail in Gooseberry Falls State Park. We biked there for the day to find the geocache hidden there. To find the cache, we had to hike this trail, which had gorgeous views of Lake Superior. We had never been on this trail on any of our previous visits. |
A beautiful wildflower was in bloom everywhere, called Lupine. |
Annabelle with the Lupine blooms. |
Lupine (wildflower). |
Relaxing before dinner...the lighthouse is in the cliff in the distance. |
The view of the lighthouse from our campsite. |
The last morning...I made pancakes to ease the blow. |
On the beach off the Day Hill Trail, at Split Rock. |
Chris and Annabelle - daredevil cliff climbers - at Split Rock. |
Nathaniel on Pebble Beach near Ellingston Island, Split Rock. |
A great vacation! |
