North Shore

Understand

Locals refer to this region as The Arrowhead Region. It is an area of dense pine and birch forests where most of Minnesota's famous "10,000 lakes" can be found. Many of the lakes are close together and outdoor adventurers enjoy long paddling trips in canoes or kayaks, exploring the many lakes. Some lakes are connected by narrow streams or channels while others require paddlers to lift their boats out of the water and carry them across a strip of land to the next lake. This can be done multiple times a day and is called a portage. Motorboats and jet skis are generally prohibited in the entire region, though some of the large lakes close to the Gunflint Trail allow outfitters to use motorboats to tow canoes into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).

Historically, this has been a region with a large Scandinavian population (especially Finns and Swedes). They found work in the iron ore mines and as lumberjacks.

Throughout the twentieth century, enormous iron ore ships would sail the waters along the north shore of Lake Superior. Duluth was the major port in the region, but the ships would stop at other ports, like Silver Bay and Two Harbors, along the shore to load ore. The ships then sailed to Sault Sainte Marie (Michigan) to access the other Great Lakes, where they would deliver the ore to steel mills or railroad terminals throughout the upper midwest. Iron ore is still mined in northern Minnesota, and there are mines that travelers can visit, but America's steel industry is a shadow of its once enormous might.

If Scuba divers can handle the icy waters, there are several shipwrecks that can be explored. The most famous is the Edmund Fitzgerald, a modern wreck memorialized by a popular Gordon Lightfoot song.

Climate

Summer days can be mild and perfect for working up a sweat canoeing the myriad lakes, but fall to spring can be intensely cold with fierce biting winds that can cause exposed skin to freeze almost instantly. Winter storms bring near Arctic conditions and winds coming in from the lake often carry wind chill temperatures of -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cities

• Grand Marais
• Grand Portage
• Lutsen
• Two Harbors

Other destinations

• Split Rock Lighthouse - historic lighthouse with dramatic setting atop a rocky bluff overlooking Lake Superior
• The Iron Range - (often shortened to The Range) is an area of iron ore deposits where mines supply the U.S. steel industry
• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness - pristine northern forest of more than 1 million hectares with thousands of clear, cold lakes and streams providing a preserved wilderness area for fishing, canoeing and backcountry camping (part of the Superior National Forest, which also borders the Voyageurs National Park and the Quetico Provincial Park in Canada)
• Gunflint Trail - scenic parkway through the forests and lake country of northern Minnesota, providing access to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Voyageurs National Park, and the Superior National Forest. Travelers can begin their drive on the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais.

Get in

The main access into the North Shore area is Highway 61, an All-American road and national Scenic Byway. It begins where Interstate 35 ends, at the northern end of Duluth. It is not the smoothest or best-maintained highway, but it offers many spectacular views of Lake Superior along its approximate 150-mile stretch within Minnesota.

Get around

Other than Duluth, there is no public transportation available to the average visitor to the region. There are chartered bus trips, an international airport at Duluth, many small municipal airports, and marinas on Lake Superior at Duluth, Silver Bay and Grand Marais.

Stay safe

Be watchful for both whitetail deer and the local moose. Both are most active at dusk and dawn.