North Shore of Lake Superior
A Visit to the North Shore with Maya Angelou
Mike Kenyanya produced this short video of a trip along Lake Superior’s North Shore, with music by Kavuela and the Maya Angelou poem “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All” as the backdrop.
Hiking at Gooseberry Falls
Noah Penn and his new friends from the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Chi Alpha chapter, a Christian campus ministry, hike the majestic Gooseberry Falls State Park, about 30 miles northeast of Duluth.
Drone footage from the North Shore of Lake Superior
Twin Cities videographer Matt Smith of Odyssey Visuals recently took a quick weekend trip up the North Shore and captured these images from his drone.
Postcard from Alpert’s Motel on Scenic Highway 61
Alpert’s Motel was located “13 miles from Downtown Duluth on North Shore Drive. Scenic Highway 61 on Lake Superior Circle Route.” The back of the postcard shown here indicates the motel offered “all the modern conveniences for your comfort, spacious grounds and beautiful view of Lake Superior.”
Joe and Mary Beth Alpert moved from Duluth to the French River area in 1952 to build the motel. They managed it until 1976. Joe died in 2004; Mary Beth in 2012. The motel was auctioned off in 1992.
North Country from Above
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based filmmaker and cinematographer Andrew Cagle recently shot this aerial footage in the Duluth area and along the North Shore of Lake Superior. He’s working on a documentary project, but compiled some of his favorite shots for this video, with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash singing “Girl From the North Country” as the soundbed.
Hydrologists say they’ve solved the Devil’s Kettle mystery
Where does the water go? That’s the question that has puzzled scientists and random hikers along the Brule River for decades.
Upstream from the Devil’s Kettle waterfall at Judge C.R. Magney State Park, the river splits in two at a rock outcropping. “The east side of the river plummets 50 feet into a pool, in typical waterfall fashion,” according to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources “Field Notes” in the March/April 2017 issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine. “But on the west side, the water plunges into a cavernous hole in the rock and vanishes.”
Where does it go?
In late fall 2016, hydrologists Heather Emerson and Jon Libbey measured water flow above Devil’s Kettle at 123 cubic feet per second. Several hundred feet below the waterfall, the water was flowing at 121 cubic feet per second. “In the world of stream gauging, those two numbers are essentially the same and are within the tolerances of the equipment,” Green explains. “The readings show no loss of water below the kettle, so it confirms the water is resurging in the stream below it.”
Duluth and Beyond
Thomas Hays of Minneapolis produced this video of highlights from a recent trip to Duluth, Two Harbors and Gooseberry Falls. Perfect Duluth Day probably publishes about eight of these “trip to Duluth” videos a year, but this one has a pretty distinct style compared to others.
Subzero with Lake Superior’s Sea Smoke
In this video, Dawn LaPointe of Radiant Spirit Gallery explores a section of Lake Superior’s North Shore on a day when temperatures hovered around -10°F.
Climbing Palisade Head
GoPro video by Lucas Huibregtse.
Castle Danger and Lake Superior Aerial Video
Shot by Kyle Christy of St. Paul.
Old Grand Marais Photos
A collection of old Grand Marais photos. At least some of them, if not all, are believed to be shot by Milford John Humphrey. (more…)
North Shore Aerials – Summer 2016
Another beautiful aerial video of Lake Superior’s North Shore, this time by Open Window Productions of Minneapolis.
Perfect North Shore Restaurant: Gunflint Tavern
One conclusion can be easily drawn from the results of Perfect Duluth Day’s poll to name the best restaurant on Lake Superior’s North Shore: Grand Marais is the place to be. The top three restaurants are located there, including the perfect one, Gunflint Tavern.
Owner Jeff Gecas says it hasn’t always been easy. He and his wife Susan are “Deadheads” who decided to create the business “almost selfishly” in 1998 because there wasn’t anywhere to watch live music and drink microbrews on draft in Grand Marais. “We never had Bud or Miller Lite. We didn’t allow smoking. People said ‘They’ll never make it,'” Gecas remembers. “We’re now in our 19th year.”
Upending convention, the Tavern now offers music 260 nights a year and brews its own beer. With its eclectic menu, craft beer and live music several nights of the week, it has become a North Shore institution and a favorite among locals and tourists alike.
In an outpost like Grand Marais, one might be surprised to find bangers and mash, chicken mole and an Asian noodle bowl under the same roof. Casual fare like burgers and pizzas are available at the Gunflint Tavern too, as are finer dining options such as walleye, steak and mushroom ravioli. (more…)
A Ride Through a Field of Daisies
On the North Shore of Lake Superior near Knife River, Frank Sander rides through a field of daisies with his new bike. Slightly promotional, mostly delightful.
Poll: Best Restaurant on the North Shore
Last week we compiled a list of nominees for the best restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The specific territory: Knife River to Grand Portage — basically anything in Lake or Cook counties was eligible for nomination.
Obviously several Duluth-area restaurants are technically “on the North Shore” — in particular the winner of PDD’s Perfect Restaurant Poll: New Scenic Café. For this poll we’re looking at places that are, at the very least, a serious bike ride from the Zenith City.
What’s the Perfect North Shore Restaurant? Vote now and have a say. Keep in mind that this is a runoff poll, so as time goes by the number of options will reduce. If the restaurant you initially voted for is eliminated, you may vote again among the remaining options.
We started with 27 nominees, then whittled it down to the Final Four: Angry Trout Café, the Crooked Spoon, Gunflint Tavern and Vanilla Bean.
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Gunflint Tavern – 35 percent
Angry Trout – 26 percent
Crooked Spoon – 22 percent
Vanilla Bean – 17 percent
The Trio’s Trek to (almost) Canada
‘Tis the season for North Shore hiking videos. This one is by Jake Oswald.
Nominees for Perfect North Shore Restaurant Poll
Warm weather and wanderlust have Duluthians dreaming of a North Shore vacation. In this spirit, we’ve decided to conduct a poll to determine the best place to eat up the shore.
Before voting, we have to establish a list of nominees. What are the criteria for determining a North Shore Restaurant? After some debate, we’ve decided to include eateries on the shore located in Lake and Cook counties, from Knife River in the south to Grand Portage in the north.
While it might seem counterintuitive to some, this means the New Scenic Café is not included in the poll, since it is located in Duluth Township. It’s abundantly clear the Scenic is a favored restaurant; the café won PDD’s Perfect Restaurant Poll and has drawn accolades from foodies farther afield. For the purposes of this poll, we’re looking for restaurants that require a little more of an excursion from Duluth.
What’s the perfect North Shore restaurant (besides the New Scenic Café)? You tell us. We’ll round up the nominees and produce a poll in the coming days.
Duluth and North Shore featured in Surfer magazine
In the August/September issue of Surfer magazine, Justin Housman travels to Duluth to discover “that isolated Midwestern surf scene” on Lake Superior, where surfers “chisel boards free from the roofs of their snowbound cars, trudge through forests and thigh-deep snow, paddle out for a few frigid waves, then emerge from the water with icicles growing from their shocked, pink faces.”
Aerial clips from the movie Girl Missing
The Lifetime movie Girl Missing features scenes shot in Duluth by drone operator Josh Kunze, including aerial footage of Glensheen Mansion and a limo driving along Lake Superior’s North Shore.
Devil’s Kettle Falls Drone Flyover
Quick drone flyover at Devil’s Kettle Falls on the Brule River in Judge C. R. Magney State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This specific set of falls, about 20 minutes east of Grand Marais, draws visitors far and wide for it’s unique mystery: half the river disappears into a hole (kettle) and no one knows where all that water goes. (more…)
Spring at High Falls on the Pigeon River
Dawn LaPointe and Gary Fiedler of Radiant Spirit Gallery “found treasures at the end of the rainbow during an adventure along Lake Superior’s North Shore” during this video shoot at the High Falls of the Pigeon River on Minnesota’s border with Canada.
Goodbye Winter
Gooseberry Falls aerial video by Above U Productions.
More Lake Superior Plate Ice Tectonics
This one was shot by Jacob Selander on Feb. 13 along the North Shore.
North Shore 2016
Video by Chad Kirsebom.