Boomer Destinations – Minnesota North Shore
By Tim Trudell
Minnesota’s North Shore offers magnificent views of fall colors intertwined with the breadth of Lake Superior. From Duluth north to Grand Portage State Park, what is typically a three-hour drive turns into a day of exploring forests, waterways and nature.
While Duluth’s lakefront offers great views, with opportunities for a Great Lake cruise or a historic train ride, to truly experience the North Shore is to drive north of the city, ending a few feet from the Canadian border.
Duluth Canal and Aerial Lift Bridge
With its famous aerial lift bridge anchoring the canal, Duluth annually welcomes more than 1,000 ships and freighters to its port on Lake Superior. Watching the behemoth cargo ships glide through as the bridge rises and lowers with each entrance and exit. The canal is a popular tourist attraction. Standing close to the ships, you feel like an ant, as they slowly move along, sounding their horns as they near the lighthouses at the entrance and then as they approach the bridge.
Canal Park and Lakewalk
With sculptures telling the city’s history, Lake Superior Maritime Museum showcases the region’s ship history, and the William A. Irvin freighter museum offers a firsthand look at life on the lake. Gulls flock to Canal Park, anticipating popcorn or other safe treats from visitors.
Leif Erikson
About a 20-minute walk north of Canal Park, Leif Erikson Park provides a majestic view of Lake Superior and Canal Park. With a replica of the vessel used by the Viking adventurer – piloted from Norway to Duluth – and a statue of Erikson, the park is an enjoyable area for a walk.
Scenic North Shore Railroad
For a relaxing ride along the North Shore, reserve a seat on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. The train travels northbound, from downtown Duluth, taking you on a 75-minute excursion featuring Lake Superior on one side and forest on the other. Operating summer through fall, the North Shore train includes passenger cars, a refreshment car and an open-air car. A first-class ticket gets you a seat in a bubble-top car.
Glensheen Mansion
Often compared with the fictional Downton Abbey, Glensheen Mansion is far from a television series set. The century-old mansion has 40 rooms, and was built by Chester and Clara Congdon in 1908, and features amazing views of Lake Superior. The mansion, with the family’s entire collection, was donated to the University of Minnesota and opened as a museum in 1979. Self-guided tours through the four floors offer a unique look at early 20th-century life.
North Shore Drive
After spending a couple of days enjoying the sights and cuisine of Duluth, head out on the North Shore Drive, a 162-mile route along Lake Shore, full of beautiful scenery, historical sites and quaint lakeside communities.
Two Harbors
Highway 61 – Scenic North Shore Drive – kicks off with a stop in Two Harbors. Home to Minnesota’s only working lighthouse, it’s not your typical lighthouse. Rather than a tall, round building, it is attached to a lighthouse keeper’s building, which looks more like a house.
Lake Superior’s beaches tend to be rocky, with no two looking the same. Two Harbors’ beach appears to be more shale-looking. The views of the Great Lake are breathtaking.
While there, if you’re feeling a bit adventurous, take a walk along the sea wall to the watch tower. It’s an interesting experience. Spoiler alert: Don’t do it with a heavy wind blowing (don’t ask how I know).
Silver Creek Cliffs Overlook
Offering a majestic view of Lake Superior, the Silver Creek Cliffs overlook, just a few miles north of Two Harbors, was created more than 20 years ago after the state built a tunnel through rock to help improve the traffic flow.
Gooseberry State Park
It’s easy to spend a full day at Gooseberry State Park. With four hiking/walking trails, the park features up to 20 miles of trails. The Gitchi-Gami trail is part of a longer trail connecting areas outside the park.
Consisting of gravel and paved paths, the Fifth Falls Trail follows a 2-mile-long loop, including hills, to Fifth Falls, where you can wade in the water. Along the way, you may find caves of view structures and other features which were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Great Depression-era program employing people to create the park in the 1930s.
The River Trail follows a 1.25-mile route from the Upper Falls to Lake Superior’s shoreline. You’ll pass the Middle and Lower Falls along the way.
Hiking Club Trail offers beautiful views of the park’s forest, waterfalls and Lake Superior over 2.5 miles.
While at Gooseberry State Park, check out the CCC-built structures, statues honoring the workers and the Nature store at the visitors center.
Pink Beach
Created by pieces of pink rhyolite chipped away from cliffs along Lake Superior by Nor’easter winds, Iona’s Beach Scientific and Natural Area resembles a pink beach after the stones wash ashore. Iona Beach’s rocky shore is perfect for bird watching.
Split Rock Lighthouse
With a growing demand for iron ore in the early 1900s, freighter traffic dramatically increased on Lake Superior – US Steel Corporation commissioned 112 freighter – creating the need for light houses to help direct the ships off rocky shores.
In November 1905, a storm damaged 29 ships on the lake, with two of them crashing along the rocky shore. Lake Superior’s North Shore was dubbed “the most dangerous piece of water in the world” by novelist James Oliver Curwood.
Split Rock Lighthouse was commissioned soon afterward and opened in 1910. It was operational until 1969, when ship technology eliminated the need for lighthouses.
Today, tourists enjoy views of the lake – almost ocean-like – from the top of the lighthouse. If you’re not able or don’t want to climb the curving staircase, the lighthouse’s grounds provide impressive scenery.
Consider hiking from Split Rock Lighthouse to the shoreline. Climbing on the rocks only a few feet from the chilly water may take you back to childhood.
Silver Bay
“Rocky Taconite” welcomes people to Silver Bay. The mascot recognizes the role taconite plays in making steel. Early in the 20th century, Lake Superior experienced a growing demand for iron ore shipments, with U.S. Steel considered “the greatest exclusive freight-carrying fleet sailing under one ownership in the world.”
While Silver Bay may not be a tourist attraction, itself, an overlook offers a view of freighters either offloading shipments or being filled for their journey across the Great Lake.
Black Beach
Black Beach – aka Onyx Beach – was created by pieces of shale mixed with pebbles, giving the appearance of a black beach from the distance. But, as you stroll on the beach, you’ll see a variety of colors creating another unique Minnesota lake experience.
Cross River Falls
Located in Schroeder, strong currents travel down Cross River Falls, creating thunderous chorus of water dancing over rocks, as water makes its way to Lake Superior. A boardwalk takes visitors along the falls to near the shoreline.
Catholic priest Frederic Baraga and his Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) guide fell to their deaths in 1846 when they were swept into the falls. A white cross honors them near the spot where the river flows into Lake Superior.
Sugarloaf Cove
Sugarloaf Cove, a 27-acre nature site is located near Sugarloaf Point Scientific and Natural Area. The area consists of a 1-mile interpretive trail, cobblestone beaches, forest restoration sites and an interpretive center.
Cook County
From locally-sourced maple lattes to seeing Canada across a lake, Cook County is home to several attractions along the North Shore.
Lutsen
While Lutsen is a beautiful, friendly area any time of the year, fall especially provides a spiritual experience as vibrant orange, yellow and brown colors take over the trees hugging the Lutsen Mountains in Superior National Forest.
Enjoy an overhead view of the forest as the Summit Express Gondola takes you over treetops, offering majestic views of the forest-carpeted mountains on one side and Lake Superior on the other. As the gondola ride drops riders off on Moose Mountain – popular with skiers and snowboarders during winter – hike trails taking you to the edge of bluffs and cliffs.
Cascade River State Park
With a pull-off along Highway 61 located about five minutes north of Lutsen, Cascade River State Park offers a variety of hiking trails. While the Cascade River follows a series of waterfalls along a 17-mile route over volcanic basalt rock, the state park includes trails that take you from brush to tall trees. As you walk across bridges over the river, stop and listen to the rush of the water as it drops from higher falls to lower ones before eventually gently flowing into Lake Superior.
A series of trails connect with the longer Superior Hiking Trail or the North Shore Trail. A two-mile loop allows great views of the river and nature. While it’s unlikely you’ll see large animals on the loop, wolves, bears and moose live deeper in the forest.
The river bed’s slow current is perfect for fly fishing. The view of Lake Superior adds to the fishing experience.
Grand Marais
Nicknamed “America’s Coolest Small Town,” Grand Marais could easily be mistaken for a New England fishing town. It’s easy to spend a full day there, with its dozens of art galleries, studios, boutiques and shops. Public art includes a mosaic mural depicting the town’s beauty.
Even the local bait shop seems like a piece of art. With the head of a sturgeon biting its way out of a corner of the building, Beaver House is part fishing store and museum. The store has been in the family for more than 60 years. The owners created lures that are used by anglers who flock to the store when looking to fish area lakes.
While in Grand Marais, take a walk along Artist’s Point, a peninsula that juts out on Lake Superior. A short walk from downtown, it’s easy to see why artists feel the call to paint scenes of the lake.
Volcanic rock and tall evergreens create unique views on to paintings. Artists love setting up their easels and painting the scenery, including the lighthouse, the Sawtooth Mountains to the south of town and the lake.
Walk along the concrete seawall that takes you to a working lighthouse. It’s a comfortable walk, but it’s not accessible for people needing help walking or who use a wheelchair. The lighthouse is a popular spot in Grand Marais, with several people using it for selfies and group photos. The lighthouse stands at the edge of the bay, with all types of boats passing by, including speed boats, sailboats and even small fishing vessels. The seawall offers a majestic view of Lake Superior and the town with the forest in the background.
While in Grand Marais, visit World’s Best Donuts. The seasonal bakery is known for its variety of cake donuts and special donuts, such as a creme-filled Bismarck with chocolate frosting.
Gunflint Trail
Kicking off in the center of Grand Marais, the Gunflint Trail is a 57-mile-long scenic highway that takes you through the heart of the Superior National Forest and several of Minnesota’s “10,000” lakes
If you drive the entire length, you’ll end up at the turnaround at Ham Lake, the northernmost point of the Boundary Waters. You can see Canada from across the water.
Along the way to Ham Lake, check out a few lakes and trails that offer impressive views. Honeymoon Bluff, a mile-long trail, takes you above Hungry Jack Lake and a seemingly endless forest. The initial part of the trail is steep, which may be challenging upfront, but the walk back is all downhill at that point. You may see wildlife, such as moose or deer, during your hike, so you’ll want to be aware of your surroundings.
Trail Center at Poplar Lake is a quaint dining experience, featuring homestyle cooking. Of course, you’ll find fish, such as walleye, on the menu.
Grand Portage State Park
Located on the Ojibwe reservation, Grand Portage State Park is the only state park jointly operated between the state and a Native American tribe.
Hugging the Canadian border, you can enjoy a walk along a paved trail to the High Falls, which includes a few overlooks, each offering a different view of the 120-feet-tall waterfalls. It’s the tallest waterfall that is partially located in Minnesota. Dropping tons of water into the Pigeon River, the Grand Portage falls are beautiful to watch and worth the drive to the northern edge of the scenic North Shore drive.
You’ll want to check out the visitors center, which includes a look into the Ojibwe history and culture. As you visit, you may want to learn the traditional names for animals, such as a bear, duck and otter, which are featured on placards near the entrance.
A short drive south of the park is the Grand Portage National Monument. The replica fort includes a stockade, great hall and kitchen. You’ll find Ojibwe tribal members who often share the area’s history and tribal culture. Grand Portage was a key area for transportation and trade between Indigenous people and European fur traders.
Accommodations
With a wide array of hotels, bed and breakfasts and Airbnb options, the North Shore offers great spots to stay during your visit.
The Cotton Mansion in northeast Duluth is an immaculately decorated bed and breakfast in northeast Duluth. With a decor reminiscent of early 20th Century, the Cotton Mansion, with its fireplaces, beautiful furniture and impressive décor, feels like spending the night in a museum.
Located along the Lakewalk, Fitger’s Inn offers a beautiful view of Lake Superior and the canal. Watching the sunrise over the lake is a spiritual experience. Located in the renovated Fitger’s Brewery, the hotel’s lobby resembles a scene from a noir film.
Outside of Duluth, the North Shore features lodges, cabins and hotels.
The Northern Rail Traincar Inn uses old train cars as rooms and suites. A suite consists of a full train car. Two rooms make up a rail car.
In Lutsen, the Caribou Highlands Lodge offers the feel of a cabin, but with the perks of a hotel. The views of the mountain and forest add to the rustic experience.
Dining Options
Duluth Is home to impressive cuisine, from casual dining at Grandma’s to a more upscale experience at the Boat Club.
Grandma’s Saloon and Grill at the Canal features casual dining, and is known for its oversized onion rings, pork-n-burger sandwich, as well as pasta and steak.
The Boat Club offers diners views of Lake Superior as they enjoy from crabcakes, lobster and pasta, along with steak and Minnesota’s walleye fish.
Along the North Shore, enjoy dinner at Moguls Grille in Lutsen, featuring sandwiches and burgers, as well as entrees.
Papa’s Tavern and Stage’s menu inside pizza, wings, burgers and more.
Lutsen’s Fika Coffee takes its name from the Swedish word for coffee break. With locally-sourced maple syrup, Fika’s signature maple latte is a must drink.
Whether it’s a weeklong trip or a long weekend, Minnesota’s North Shore offers fun adventures, magnificent views and amazing food.
