Back in the States

On Wednesday we left the wilds of Ontario for the wilds of Minnesota. U.S. customs welcomed us with only an x-ray of the RV and car. We continued about 50 miles south down a beautiful stretch of road along Lake Superior to Grand Marais.

The WINs are parked in a parking lot across from the Court House - a very handy spot, but a bit crowded. You can just see the roof of the laundromat over the rigs. We were all very excited about that.


Grand Marais is an artistic town, both in appearance and its people.


Today we headed inland on the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway. Although the name sounds like it's a dirt track, it's a very nice paved road into the Boundary Waters. As you probably know, the Boundary Waters is a wilderness straddling the border between Minnesota and Ontario. The region is characterized by a vast network of waterways and bogs within a glacier-carved landscape and is very popular with canoeists and campers.


Our first stop was a short but steep hike up Honeymoon Bluff trail. It's lucky that the glaciers left these nice wooden steps. Hmmmm


Here's a representative view from the top.


Later we happened on a boat ramp where we talked to some people who had just spent a week canoing and portaging through the area. We were fascinated to hear about their adventures, but they seemed just as amazed by our lifestyle.


We still haven't seen any moose on our trip around Lake Superior so we couldn't resist taking this 'Moose Viewing Trail', although it looks like previous hikers were disappointed.


Well, it does look like a likely spot for moose, but the only wildlife we saw were the ever present mosquitoes. If I knew how, I would 'photoshop' a moose into this picture.