LAND OF 10,000 LAKES
Minnesota
is often called the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
We drove along a couple hundred miles of the biggest one, and we camped
near a random one. We saw a few others
along the way, too.
From
Ironwood, MI we drove straight to Duluth, MN.
This would be my second trip in Minnesota, and Christy’s first (not
counting the times we just passed through).
My previous visit was a 5-day backcountry paddling trip in the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area with a friend. That
had been a great trip, but our hiking had been limited to portages and a couple
of short explorations from campsites. I
was looking forward to doing some real hiking this time.
Our
destination was the Nine Mile Lake campground, outside of Finland, MN. It is a typical National Forest campground,
in the Sawtooth Mountains north of Duluth.
Initially I thought we would stay at one of the State Parks along Lake
Superior. However, by the time I started
looking for a campground, everything in that area was booked. Nine Mile Lake had a few spots available,
probably due to its relatively remote location.
It ended up working out great for us.
It was a lot cheaper than the state parks, and very quiet, particularly
after almost everyone left on Sunday afternoon.
The mosquitoes were pretty bad, particularly in
the morning and evening, but that’s probably true everywhere in Minnesota in
July.
Our
plan was to do a bunch of short hikes to waterfalls and peaks in the mountains
just west of Lake Superior. Most are located in state parks, or the Superior National
Forest. The Superior Hiking Trail
connects all of these areas, running 310 miles from the
Wisconsin state line to the Canadian border.
We
stopped in Duluth for groceries and lunch.
Then we headed north along the shore of Lake Superior. We passed through several small towns and
enjoyed frequent views of the lake. We
stopped at Gooseberry Falls State Park to use the bathroom, and that was a
major mistake. The place was a zoo! They have a giant parking lot, but it was
full. We gave up and continued up the
road.
We
turned left on highway 1 and left the lakeshore behind. We headed towards Finland but stopped at a
trailhead for the Superior Hiking Trail.
I intended to squeeze in a short hike to the Fantasia Overlook, but I
was already having second thoughts. It
was already late afternoon, and I knew it would take us a while to set up
camp. We decided to save it for later in
the trip.
We
drove through the community of Finland, which consists of a small grocery
store, two restaurants, and a handful of houses. From there we left civilization behind,
driving into the national forest. The
pavement ended, and after another 20 minutes we arrived at the campground. We found the campsite we had reserved, #4,
which was not one of the better ones.
The campground was mostly full, but there were a few empty first-come,
first-serve sites, even though it was the Saturday after July 4th. A couple of them were better than the site we
had reserved. Moving wasn’t really an
option though. If we decide to camp
there again, we will skip the reservations, unless we are planning to arrive on
a busy weekend.
Setting
up camp was fairly easy, despite the profuse
mosquitoes. Afterwards, I put Jackson in
the stroller and we took a tour of the
campground. A campfire helped with the
mosquitoes that evening, and we all slept in the tent that night.
Back to Minnesota
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!