BWCA Canoe Trip July 2002

Two Harbors, Brimson & Grand Marais

Our trip began at the Minneapolis airport. Diana, Theron and Richard headed north in a rented car. The first stop was Two Harbors to take in some music at the annual folk festival. The city park is right down by the water with a great view of the lighthouse and ore docks.

Two Harbors, MN

We met up with Peter and Karen Berger, relaxed on the lawn and listened to music. Just before dusk an ore boat came in. We got to watch the entire loading process as dozens of rail cars dumped their contents down a series of slides into the boat's hold. After dark we headed up Highway 2. Peter and Karen live at the end of a dead end road surrounded by national forest near the town of Brimson. Their property was all part of a Finnish homestead from the 1920s.

Homestead on Hypo Creek

In the morning we loaded up the canoe and made our way to Grand Marais. Remarkably, we arrived at the ranger station within minutes of Bruce, Mark and Austin. After doing a bit of last minute shopping we drove up the Gunflint Trail and camped in a USFS campground. The rest of the evening was spent packing and repacking. We had a nice meal of brats and hot dogs cooked over a campfire.

Original and Final Routes

The route we planned to take had several long portages. As it turned out we opted to retrace our steps and camp twice on Horseshoe Lake. The numbered green triangles indicate our actual campsites. The lighter gray line and starred triangle indicate the part we skipped. The orange circles indicate portages. In the end we paddled approximately 20 miles and carried our gear over 12 portages.

Copyright 2002 by Richard Rathe & Family