Monarchs are gearing up for their epic ride south.

Oh, god said to Abraham, “Kill me a son.”

Abe said, “Man, you must be putting me on.”

God say, “No.” Abe say, What?”

God say, “You can do what you want, Abe, but

the next time you see me comin’, you better run.”

Well, Abe say, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”

God say, “Out on Highway 61.”

-Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan’s famous song, Highway 61 Revisited, depicts a long winding road that begins on the Minnesota/Canadian border right on Lake Superior, eventually picks up the Mississippi River, and terminates in New Orleans. The section from Canada to Duluth is the piece that we concentrated on.

Minnesota’s north shore is a waterfalls/hiking wonderland. We hadn’t been there in well over 30 years. It was time to return. What a terrific stretch of Americana this is. There are oddly colored beaches, tall palisades, little museums celebrating a historic past dating back to 1600s, 100 foot waterfalls, quaint towns, and a vast forest sporting miles and miles of wonderful trails following tumbling rivers seeking out Lake Superior as they plunge over dark maroon rock ledges.

We found a perfect “first-come, first-serve” campground to base camp, about 5 miles inland from Silver Bay, Minnesota, just about halfway between Duluth and Canada. It was a primitive Minnesota State campground, called Eckbeck Campground. It didn’t require the $35 annual state parks sticker, nor was the campground itself expensive. Most Minnesota State Campgrounds are pricey, ranging from $28 to $35, but this one was a reasonable $17 per day. Surprisingly, out of 30 or so sites, only 4 or 5 five were taken the whole time we were there.

Eckbeck Campground.

Day one started at Russ Kendell’s Smokehouse. It is the only smoked fish shop on Highway 61, but it is celebrated for good reason. The sugar-cured smoked trout was spectacular and reasonably priced. Sugar-curing has badly spoiled us. I don’t think we can return to mere smoked fish.

Next, we had to try Betty’s Pies, another celebrated Highway 61 mainstay. The pies were very good, but back home we have Iola, Wisconsin’s, Crystal Cafe. Crystal’s slogan’ “pies 2 die 4” lives up to the hype. As good as Betty’s pies are, they just weren’t as thick, as large, or as flaky as Crystal’s. Still, they were yummy.

Two Harbors is a quaint town worth stopping for. There is a little RR museum and the Castle Danger Brewery. It was still morning and the brewery was closed until the afternoon, so I didn’t get to sample the wares. Of course, there is a small marina and a large harbor loading dock that looks like it is still working but I couldn’t confirm it. Some of the streets and sidewalks were getting a facelift. The little town was on the move.

For most of the afternoon, we explored the huge Tettegouche State Park, that featured a couple of great trails along the Lake Superior coast and a bunch of waterfalls along the Baptism River as it races toward the big Lake. After checking out the cliffs overlooking Lake Superior, we chose to hike the 3-mile roundtrip trail up the Baptism River to Cascade Falls. If you parked by the visitor’s center, you didn’t need that expensive state park sticker. Of course, that added extra mileage unto your hikes but hiking was the main purpose of our trip.

Cascade Waterfalls at Tettegouche State Park. The trail to the falls is 1.5 miles (3 miles roundtrip).

Trail to the cliffs overlooking Lake Superior at Tettegouche State Park.

The trail to the cliffs includes lots of boardwalks and stairways.

A handful of climbers were scaling the cliffs.

We still had time to visit Palisade’s Head, the Black Beach, and Pigeon Island. It was an action-packed day.

Pigeon Island.

Black Beach.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. 8) “ing-ing”. All the activities that we enjoy that end in “ing” - hiking, ebiking, motor biking, camping, boating, swimming……

Dave and Wanda

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