Lake Superior Circle Tour

Alright folks, I’m going to get all nature’y on you!  It is my passion after all!  Tim and I have wanted to take this trip (The Lake Superior Circle Tour) for some time now and after reading “The Long-Shining Waters” by Danielle Sosin (I highly recommend it) we started making plans!  I mean I really started researching and even created an extremely detailed itinerary!  It’s the planner in me coming out!

Lake Superior Circle Tour Itinerary

Day 1, Thursday, May 30:  Leave house at 7:00AM, drive to Gooseberry Falls State Park (193 miles, 3 hours).  10:15AM hike 2.2 miles (1 hour) 12:00PM drive to Split Rock State Park (5.8 miles, 7 min.).  12:30PM hike 5.8 miles (3.5 hours) 4:00PM drive to Big Dipper Sweets in Beaver Bay (6.5 miles, 9 min.).  Drive to Palisade Head (6.2 miles, 9 min.)  4:40PM drive to Tetteguche State Park (10.6 miles, 18 min.) 5:00PM set up camp, 5:30PM hike 2 miles (1 hour), eat.  Booked.

Day 2, Friday, May 31:  Get up 6:00AM, eat, clean up camp, 7:30AM drive to George Crosby-Manitou State Park (14 miles, 30 min.).  8:30AM hike 4.2 miles (2.5 hours).  11:00AM drive to Temperance River State Park (35 miles, 52 min.) eat in car.  12:00PM hike 1.9 miles (50 min.) 1:00PM drive to Cascade River State Park (18.6 miles, 20 min.) 1:30PM hike 3.5 miles (2 hours) 3:30PM  stop in Grand Marais to load up on food and supplies then drive to Judge C.R. Magney State Park (27.8 miles, 40 min.) 5:30PM set up camp.  Booked.

Etcetera!  You get the picture!  I will not bore you with the the whole 12 days!

Now, I want to make this clear, we drove around Lake Superior.  For some reason whenever we would mention to people that we were doing the Lake Superior Circle Tour, they would assume that we were hiking or biking!  Good Heavens No!  Our car trip ended up being 2,107 miles!  It is the largest of the Great Lakes after all and quite oceanic.  Apparently we appear to be more fit and active (and crazy) then we really are!

It was also in our plans to hit up the many State Parks along Minnesota’s North Shore and hike the Hiking Club trails as well visit the three National Parks along the Lake.  Many of you may know that last year Tim and I discovered that almost all of the Minnesota State Parks have this “Hiking Club” and at each park there is a designated trail for you to take and somewhere in the middle of the trail there is a password.  You keep track of your miles and the passwords and at certain mileage points you receive a patch!  Tim and I received our 75 mile patch on this trip!  I don’t care if we sound like nature nerds, I’m totally proud to admit that we are!

(a headless, super skinny Tim)

And of course the National Parks system has a Passport Book as well for you to collect stamps and stickers!  I can hardly contain my excitement!

Since this was an 11 day trip I have decided to make a post for each day, because I know it is hard to hold your attention out there in internet land and I don’t want to overwhelm you.  :)  I’ve probably already lost some of you, but if not, Congrats for sticking around and thank you!  In fact!  I realize that this post is already getting rather long by internet standards, so I ask that you please return on Monday to begin The Lake Superior Circle Tour with me!  Have a great weekend!