Minnesota’s North Shore

Minnesota’s North Shore is a ~150 mile stretch of scenic Lake Superior shoreline between Duluth and the Canadian border. Highway 61 travels along the lakeshore and connects a couple small towns, 8 state parks, and a National Monument. The area is heavily forested and contains numerous rivers, waterfalls, and beaches. We stayed at Black Beach Municipal Campground for 2 weeks. The campground itself wasn’t particularly special, but we were centrally located along the North Shore and also walking distance to the popular Black Beach.

The soft black sand at Black Beach is actually remnant of iron ore processing from the local mines.

We spent our weekend days driving along Hwy 61, stopping at as many sites as we could. South of our campground was Iona’s Pink Beach (below, left) and Gooseberry Falls State Park (below, right). Compared to photos we’ve seen of Gooseberry Falls, it was very dry when we visited.

The lighthouse at Split Rock State Park is one of the most iconic and photographed sites along the North Shore.

North of our campground, we did a couple of short hikes to Shovel Point (below, left) and High Falls (below, right) at Tettegouche State Park.

We thought Temperance River State Park was beautiful, particularly where the river flows into Lake Superior.

We enjoyed walking around the art galleries and shops in the town of Grand Marais, as well as the Breakwater trail out to the Grand Marais lighthouse.

Devil’s Kettle waterfall at Judge Magney State Park was very unique with half of it disappearing into the rocks (below, left). And farthest north, High Falls at Grand Portage State Park (below, right) was right on the Canadian border.

We learned a lot about the fur trade, the Ojibwe, and the Voyageurs (French for travelers) at Grand Portage National Monument. The monument is located at the historical site of the summer headquarters of the North West Company and where the annual Rendezvous was held.

This was a nice introduction for our next destination, Voyageurs National Park!