North Shore Camping Adventures

Photo: The kids enjoyed all that the fort at Grand Portage had to offer, including climbing in this lookout tower.
North Shore Camping Adventures
By Allan Olson
Our weekend was spent – camping and exploring just a fraction of all the North Shore has to offer. As a kid I went as far as Grand Marais and as a family, we’ve taken Nikolai only to Gooseberry Falls – but that time frame was at least 10 years ago and the reminder of our family had yet to experience the great beauty of the great falls.
We booked our reservations early this spring and while we were expecting it to be a little cooler than most of the state, even this was a little much for our hearty camping family. We arrived at our campsite Thursday evening  taking in a few sites along the way trying to dodge rain showers, our timing at the park was right on in terms of the rain as we managed to get our tents set-up before the rain came back. Of course the rain came back as we were finishing up and we decided to not cook in the rain but rather head to Grand Marais for supper. We drove around the little town some afterwards before venturing back to our campground, as the rain showers diminished and the weather began to break. We sat around the campfire for a little while before we crawled into the tent.
The next morning the sunlight was pouring in the tent at the bright time of 5:30 a.m. – even the birds were singing to make sure we knew it was time to get up. Vacations are supposed to be about sleeping in – but not camping I guess. We finally exited the tents around 6 a.m. and warmed up as much as we could under the showers and in front of the fire. We left our campground for points east about 8 a.m. with Grand Portage on our list to visit as none of us had ever visited that area.
We toured the fort, the visitor’s center and then headed over to the Grand Portage State Park to take a walk to the high falls. The awe inspiring view, along with the rainbows, casting their glow over the falls helped create a beautiful view over the expanding horizon.
We migrated our way back to our campground stopping at a vista overlook to grill food. Of course we left our camp tools at the camp, so I was resorted to using Nikolai’s multi-purpose craftsman tool to help on the grill – it worked and we all got fed.
On the way back we drove through another state park but passed on the round trip three mile walk to Devil’s Kettle we were already tired and we had sleeping children in the vehicle – so no sense in rousing a sleeping child to make them angry for disturbing their rest.
That evening we roasted S’mores, brats and even chicken patties over the fire, as the evening wore on we kept putting more wood on the fire as the temperature kept dropping. All during the night the temp kept dropping and the Lake Superior wind kept blowing and some of us kept shivering. I had on several layers of clothing but was still chilled as was my wife and a couple of the kids. My wife and I discussed the upcoming forecast, more wind and more rain and decided to call it a weekend and break camp. As we were packing up I felt a little sad that we were leaving already but I knew it was time to go. We discussed briefly about seeking some warmer accommodations in Duluth (i.e. a hotel room) but decided to forego the extra expense and go home.
We left the campground about 10 a.m. and made our way home; we toured Temperance River State Park, Tettegouche State Park, visited Split Rock Lighthouse and drove around the small campground. We arrived in Duluth about 5 p.m. just as the rains started coming down, just as the weather forecast predicted. We grabbed a few rations for the house, visited my aunt and family friend and then finally headed the rest of the way home. We got home about 10:30 p.m. and while our weekend was cut short, it sure was nice to be home and sleeping in a warm bed.
Our next scheduled camping trip is in July – hopefully Ely will be a little warmer than the North Shore.

I hope everyone enjoys their summer vacation and is able to spend some time on the lake and in the woods. Thanks to everyone for reading, and as always, please be safe while enjoying your favorite outdoor recreational activity and on the lakes. Remember to take pictures to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

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