Lake Superior, Near Grand Marais,MN July 27th.

My trip to Grand Marais,MN went very well, We left Rice Lake,WI by 9:20AM and we were in Grand Marais,MN by about 3:00PM We had to stop at more then one roadside stop too see the very pretty views that Lake Superior had to offer. I really enjoyed being up by the lake.

The Drive There
City of Duluth,MN Photo taken on the bridge in Superior,WI July 27th

The trip up there was pretty neat. weather wise, We could start to feel a bit of temperature change when we approached Lake Superior, But the change was expressly noticeable when we were on the bridge that takes you across the lake into Minnesota. The reason I say this is because when I opened the window when we were crossing the bridge, A cold shot of lake air blew in the window, Which was enough to make me shout, Whoa that’s cool! The views of Duluth were amazing from the bridge, You could easily see Downtown Duluth and the huge hill on the other side of the city.

Grand Marais,MN

Grand Marais Harbor, Grand Marais,MN You can see rain in the backround up in the hills July 27th

once we passed Duluth, it was all rugged hills, cliffs and Spruce/Balsam Fir trees a few real small towns, until we reached Grand Marais. Grand Marais was a really neat small harbor town with many live active business’s. Lake Superior views here were just amazing, You could not see any signs of land anywhere out there. Here is a photo from Artist Point in Grand Marais, just outside the protected Harbor.

The Landscape/Weather

White Cedar trees and White Spruce growing in bedrock along the Lake Superior shore.

You could easily watch as the landscape changed from the broad leaf forest of my hometown to Spruce Tamarack and Balsam Fir of Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, I noticed a real change of landscape starting just north of Spooner,WI as Balsam Fir and Spruce got more numerous, then it was nothing but northern woodlands. The landscape along the north shore was amazing Many cliffs and steep ridges along the lake, with many creeks and rivers. Daisies growing along the shore of Lake Superior.

It Seemed like there was little dirt up there, it appears that the trees and plants mostly had to grow in pure bedrock with some sand! it was quite a site. One thing I really noticed was how far the plants were behind in growing season compared to my house, When I was up there, I saw many flowers in full bloom which have been long faded down here. one plant was Peonies, They bloom around June 24Th here, but up there, I could see the, still in bloom! a sign that the lake really does have effect on the plants up there. It was like stepping back in time one month in our growing season!

Photo at Wisconsin Point in Superior,WI looking directly at Downtown Duluth.

Well here is a neat story, We planned on stopping at Wisconsin Point in Superior,WI and about 5 minutes after we got there a heavy thunderstorm really started to close in. We watched as really heavy rain moved right over Duluth, across the harbor Lots of Cloud to ground lightning was see from where we were, The photo above is a photo I took, showing the heavy thunderstorm which hit Duluth. The rains were so heavy, You could not see the hills of Duluth, which you can normally easily see from here