St Croix State Park

We have been consistently traveling long distances over the past few weekends and decided it was time to take it easy and travel closer home. So we picked out the 34,000 acre St Croix state park located in Hinckley. This also happens to be the largest state park in Minnesota.
If you want to rest your tired feet and yet see some place, this would be it.
We took the 12 mile drive along the rustic road inside the heavily wooded area to see the fall colors. It was past peak and many of the leaves had already fallen or had turned brown. The entrance to the park (which was a good 4 mile) displayed the best colors.

Thro' the forest green


autumn comes to a close

I wouldn’t say, it was even half as good as Lutsen, but we can’t crib, can we.
We got up the 136-stair steep Fire tower for a scenic overview of the forest around us. There is a small landing on top of the tower to observe the whole forest and can accomodate a maximum of six people. I was very scared to climb up initially but somehow managed and it was truly worth the effort.

View from Firetower

It was almost 5:30 pm by the time we completed the trail and we wanted to go canoeing down the St.Croix River but it was closed for the day.
You can take a canoe trip ranging from one to four hours through the National Scenic St croix riverway and it costs anywhere between $30-$40. Check this website for further details. We plan to do this sometime soon.:)

towards the evening

Sep 24th: 2nd day at North Shore

We woke up early in the morning and walked down the lane right opposite to our motel which led us straight to the rocky shores of Lake Superior.
Faraway from us, this endless ocean of water merged with the blue skies above to form the single magical line called Horizon over which the sun broke loose from the chain of clouds, blessing the cold land with sunshine and waves thundered in joy along on the shores and we sat there awed by this spectacular art called nature .

On the shores of Lake Superior

Soon, it was time to check out of our motel and move on with our plans for the day. Our first stop was Sugarloaf cove.Located on Highway 61, this place was home of log rafting operations in olden days (not too very old, if you ask me :). We took the trek down to marvel at another breathtaking view of Lake Superior and the beautifully formed cove and we set off our next destination: Temperance River and hidden waterfalls.

At the Sugarloaf cove

The road separates the trail into two. Hiking south towards Lake Superior, the river forms a gushing waterfall before emptying into the Lake but on the other side is the hidden waterfall. This second part of the trail was pretty difficult with a lot of rock climbing to do and so we took two different routes to reach the falls. Sadly, he could not see the falls while I did and he had the camera and I didn’t:(.
However, I picked this picture on the web to show you how the hidden falls looked like.
Hidden falls- One has to really lie flat on the rock and peep out to take this picture!

Mighty waves of Superior on the southern side of Temperance

Tall maple trees crowned over us and set the forest on a fire. It was a visual treat for the eyes and has left a lasting impression on us. I do not have words to describe their beauty.

For latest information on north shore you could visit http://www.northshorefallcolors.com/

Etched in my memory forever


In the end, we were tired of taking pictures that didn’t do any justice to the richness or luminescence of fall colors and we headed back on 61 to our last stop in our trip- the Gooseberry falls.

I cannot say we enjoyed Gooseberry falls as well as other places. Firstly, we were way too tired after so much of driving and trekking and secondly, this place was far to crowded to admire the fall’s view.

Gooseberry Falls

We didn’t stay on there long and pushed off after a quick look and a small trek around the three crowded waterfalls.
We stopped by at India Palace on W Superior Street, in downtown Duluth, for our first decent meal in two days. We then energetically stepped on the gas on a car-flooded 35 S to get back home and hit the bed throughly exhausted and exhilarated with our trip.

Sep 23:Day 1 of North shore drive

After a good amount of research, we had decided on Thursday that we will drive out on the last weekend of September along the North shore drive until Lutsen and booked a room and car accordingly. But on Friday afternoon, when I was lazing around surfing the web, I realized that fall colors had already reached the peak in Northern Minnesota due to dry summer and may not last another week!
My hubby, a great planner and stickler to details was not very happy with this piece of information but anyhow we reworked our plan and were off on Saturday morning to Lutsen.
We didn’t get accommodation to stay over on Saturday Night but decided it was going to be OK as it was only a 4 ½ hour drive and it wouldn’t kill us to get back home the same day.
We hit off 35 N in the morning at around 9 am after a light breakfast of peanut butter-bread and fruits.On reaching Duluth, temptation got the better of us and we strayed into Scenic 23 instead of choosing the expressway.After stopping over at every scenic byway to admire Mother Nature’s lavish display, we merged into 61 with more than an hour’s loss.

While on Scenic 23

It was almost 2 pm when we reached Two Harbours and hunger was the most prevailing thought in our minds.We headed to a Subway to grab a sandwich and were shocked by the crowd...there must have been atleast 25 people in the queue. So we pursued our next option- an unhealthy but a delectable one of eating doughnuts and chips. After a ten minute break at the gas station, we were back on track.

Our first stop was at Lutsen Mountain.. We took the Gondola ride (Tram/ cable car ride) that took us across a valley to the Moose Mountain from where we saw the breathtaking fall colors on Sawtooth Mountains and Lake Superior's remarkable coastline. We stayed on in Moose Mountain for another hour trekking along spellbound by the vivid colors of autumn where a rush of color paints each and every leaf with a stroke of a shimmering gold or a bright orange or a fiery red and the mountains and valleys are glowing to compete with sun shine.

The Gondola ride

A bird's eye view of Sawtooth Mountain

My photos cannot justify the beauty of this place

It was around 6pm by the time we got back to Lutsen Mountains and we headed off towards Tafte to check out Caribou trail and yes,search for accomodation- as one day was distinctly insufficient. We checked each motel on our way but "No vacancy" was prominently displayed in each place lest we had any hope of staying back.

So we set off on wooded Caribou trail to see the colors of sugar maples and moose maples and reached Cascade lake so serene and untouched by the hand of man. I dont know how long we sat there with our minds so quiet and hearts feeling elated- one with nature. We left it with a touch of sorrow wondering why we ever left behind all this wilderness.


Cascade Lake

We were back on 61 heading back home dissapointed that we couldn't get accomodation and yet hopelessly checking out each motel for a vacant room when we came to Beaver Bay. Surprise of surprises, one motel did have a room available and that too a non-smoking one! We were so thrilled!
It was almost 9 pm by this time and instead of tiring ourselves hunting for a restaurant, we decided by buy a box of cereals an milk from a wayside gas station.

The day finally came to an end with a walk down the streets in the night and a million stars were glimmering over us, hiding the secrets of the day to come.