North Shore Vacation

For my birthday this year Mike planned a trip to the North Shore, no not of Hawaii, but of Minnesota.  We have always talked about spending a night at one of the remote cabins at Tettegouche State Park.  Tettegouche is near Silver Bay, MN, about an hour from Duluth and an hour from Grand Marais, right on the shore of Lake Superior.  In the summer you can hike in to the cabins that were once part of what was known as Tettegouche Camp.  The area was first used as a lumber camp and then sold as a fishing camp and retreat to a group of businessmen from Duluth.  It eventually became part of the State Park and it is now used for housing visitors to the area.  It is a remote camp on a lake with a few cabins, a lodge, and a bathhouse.  There are two ways to get in and the Park Ranger told us almost everyone takes the 1.5 mile trail into the camp instead of the 3.4 mile trek.  It sounded reasonable until I read the sign at the trailhead that mentioned something about a steep incline.  I assured myself I was tough and started out pulling the poke(sled) with most of our gear in it.  I could see a hill and it didn’t look too bad, I figured it would level off around the corner but to my surprise there was another steep incline, and another, and another, and another.  As I stopped to rest on an incline the sled started to pull me backwards, Mike offered to pull the sled, but me being a little bit stubborn declined the offer.  I started pulling again, wondering why on earth they called it a ski trail when you couldn’t possibly ski up that steep of an incline.  I now knew why the only tracks in were boot tracks and no other ski tracks.  Finally, after what seemed like days, we reached the "summit."  Now we were looking down a big hill that seemed to end nowhere.  Mike again offered to take the sled so I wouldn’t get ran over by it, but my little streak of stubborness was still in tact.  I started off down the hill with the sled buckling behind me, giving me a push every now and again all the way down into the camp.  It took us less than an hour total, but it was a long hour.  The camp was incredible and our little cabin was perfect.  After taking a break I decided to explore the other trail and went out for a ski, without the sled.  Mike cooked me a fantastic dinner and we relaxed by a glowing fire.  The next day I skied out the long way, while Mike pulled the sled out the short way, drove to the trailhead and we met there within minutes of each other.  It was a great trip and I definitely want to do it again.  Check out their website for a fun adventure.