My brother and sister in law offered for us to join them in Grand Marais, MN for the Labor Day weekend. The catch was they wouldn't be able to drive over from Deer River until late Saturday so Melinda and I would have to head up on Friday night to secure the cabin they had rented. That meant we would have pretty much all day Saturday to do whatever we wanted. Being not much for hanging out in Grand Marais (too many $300 pairs of boots walking aroud which will never see a dirt path), we scrambled to throw together a series of relatively short day hikes on the Canadian side of the Pigeon River. A quick YouTube search and a message from Travis Novitsky and out plans fell into place. We would hit the Mink Mountain trail system Saturday morning and Finger Point on the way back to Minnesota in the afternoon to meet up with Addie and Jeff. Note I made no mention of Kekebecca Falls yet.
The drive as you clear Grand Marais gets a lot better as the scenery picks up and the traffic drops off.
Waiting in line to clear customs into Canada. I'm not going to lie. The Canadian border agents are very friendly. The US border agents are jerks. Coming back into to the US and feeling anything but welcomed back your own country is really sad.
Finally at the Mink Mountain trail head. It was hot this day (by my standards for hiking) as it as in the middle to upper 70's.
Ready to start going up!
OK. I'm an idiot. I packed the D300 with the Tokina 11-16 up to the top. I had 6 CF cards with on the trip and as soon as I took the cam out of my pack, I realized all 6 cards were 600 feet below me in the car. Soooo...
Have to make do with a couple of frame grabs from the Sony HXR-MC50U. It was SO hazy out and pretty warm in the upper 70's. We started to hike around to the Sturgeon Bay lookout but decided to grab a cut across trail and head back to the car.
We decided since the Mink hike didn't take as much time as we thought it would (only about 3 miles round trip) we would run up to Thunder Bay then west to Kakabeca Falls Provincial Park. This place is beautiful but very well developed with easy trails but too much development for me.
Looking east downstream from the falls on the Kaministiquia River.
Looking north after walking over the bridge.
Probably the best view of the falls from the south side. Supposedly the falls are 131ft tall.
Melinda and I
After heading back south towards the states, we stopped to hike Finger Point at sunset. On the left side of the image you can see where the Pigeon River enters Lake Superior.
At the end of the trail is a very cool bench in the shape of Lake Superior with iron work art around it.
The views are spectacular. Be forewarned this trail has a steep climb at the end with a lot of loose rocks. Good hiking boots and poles are a good idea.
The land in the distance is the far eastern tip of Minnesota.
We hung around to watch the sun start to set but knowing we had about 1.75 miles back to our car on the rough trail, we thought it would be a good idea not cut it too close. Besides, we were hot and food was a priority so off we went. A simply spectacular day filled with many memory inspiring sights! If you are thinking about doing any of these hike and would like some tips or more info, feel free to email me at bill@mnwxchaser.com
Melinda and I
After heading back south towards the states, we stopped to hike Finger Point at sunset. On the left side of the image you can see where the Pigeon River enters Lake Superior.
At the end of the trail is a very cool bench in the shape of Lake Superior with iron work art around it.
The views are spectacular. Be forewarned this trail has a steep climb at the end with a lot of loose rocks. Good hiking boots and poles are a good idea.
We hung around to watch the sun start to set but knowing we had about 1.75 miles back to our car on the rough trail, we thought it would be a good idea not cut it too close. Besides, we were hot and food was a priority so off we went. A simply spectacular day filled with many memory inspiring sights! If you are thinking about doing any of these hike and would like some tips or more info, feel free to email me at bill@mnwxchaser.com
1 comment:
Great shots Bill. I visited Kakabeca on a late fall outing a few years ago. Its such a beautiful place. You're not the only one who's noticed that the US agents were cold jerks. Upon our arrival back they also made us feel unwelcome in our own country. I thought maybe we just gave them the wrong vibe.
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