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Published: August 18th 2010
Our "Campsite"
Quite an unusual location for a campground. The space is actually for winter boat storage. They already had electric, water & sewer access for the docks, so it was pretty easy to tap in and add a summer campground. Good idea! That's our fifth wheel in the center of the picture. Duluth, MN is a port city with a population of around 85,000 located at the west tip of Lake Superior. It is to be the first stop on our trip across the north shore of the lake to Sault Ste Marie. On the internet we found a "campground" located on a pier in Duluth harbor. This sounded like something different and interesting, so we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be about 3 blocks from the city's landmark Aerial Lift Bridge, which spans the harbor entrance. The bridge is an unusual design, and the entire span is raised to a level of 138 feet to allow ships to pass in and out of the very busy harbor.
Our location was great. From our marina/campground we had a beautiful view of the city, the bridge, and all the ship traffic coming in from the lake. We were about a five minute bike ride from the Maritime Museum and the downtown area, and there was a very nice bike path that ran for miles along the lake shore. Shortly after we arrived we found out that the tall ships were scheduled to visit Duluth later in the week.
Jan Crossing Bridge
Behind Jan is the Aerial Lift Bridge spanning the entrance to Duluth Harbor. Our RV site was just across the bridge. The Maritime Museum is on the left, and about a block in the direction she is heading is an area with lots of shops, pubs and restaurants. Really a great location for us. That cinched it--we decided to spend a few more days here, and postpone our planned trip around the lake. Maybe next year.
The Maritime Museum was quite interesting, with exhibits covering the colorful history of shipping on the lake, including its many shipwrecks. Lake Superior is a big lake--the world's largest in surface area and third largest in volume. It holds 10% of the earth's fresh water, enough to fill all the other great lakes and then fill Lake Erie three more times. At its deepest point, the lake is 1,335 feet deep, and the average water temperature is 40 degrees. During its frequent and often violent winter storms the lake is one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, and has been the site of thousands of shipwrecks. The best known of these is the Edmund Fitzgerald. That ship, known as the Big Fitz, left Duluth/Superior on November 9, 1975 bound for Detroit. The next day in a severe storm it sank near Whitefish Bay, Michigan. No distress signal was heard. The ship was later found in two pieces in 500 feet of water, but none of the 29 crewman was ever found.
When we left
Downtown Duluth
Many of the buildings downtown are connected by these covered walkways. They say it gets a bit chilly here in the winter. Duluth we knew we didn't have enough time to go all the way around the lake, so we decided to go only as far as Grand Marais, a small resort town on the north shore of the lake, about 100 miles east of Duluth. The drive over was quite a trip. The lake is like an ocean, and the rocky shore reminded us of Newfoundland or Maine. Grand Marais is a quaint little town with a beautiful harbor. The campground was in a nice city park right on the water. This little taste of the north shore whetted our appetite for more. Next time we're out this way we'll complete the "circle trip" around the lake. Meanwhile, we have to head down to southern Wisconsin, where we'll spend the month of August.
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Kristin
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WOW
As we tell our kids--every night can be a waterfront view as we travel if we so choose!! These pictures make me want to head that way--maybe next summer!