North Shore of Lake Superior

On Tuesday, August 26, we decided to drive along the north shore of Lake Superior. It was a glorious day! Clear blue skies and crisp cool air, temperature about 68*. From downtown Duluth it is a 151 miles along the shore to the Canadian border. We were not sure how far we would get in our travels so we took our passports along with us. We found a wonderful publication, "North Shore Scenic Drive". It gives a mile marker description of points of interest along the drive.

First some facts about Lake Superior:

Length: 350 miles
Width: 160 miles
Depth, average: 483 feet
Surface Area: 31,700 miles
Shoreline length: 1,826
Shoreline with islands: 2,726 miles
Shoreline in Minnesota 206 miles
Elevation, above sea level: 600 feet
Lake Superior is called the Greatest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake, by surface. Its 3 quadrillion ( that's 3,000,000,000,000,000) gallons of water could flood North and South America with one foot of water.

The average depth within 3 miles along the north shore is about 700 feet (about the height of a 70-story building). The deepest spot, located near the south shore, is 1,333 feet (about 1/4 mile).
Lake Superior is so large and cool that it modifies the local climate. On average, it's 5* to 20*F warmer in winter and 5* to 20*F cooler in summer. And . . . the water is downright frigid! The surface water averages about 40*F. During winter, the lake can become 40 to 90% covered with ice - rarely does it freeze over completely.
During most of summer, the lake can be so calm that it appears to be covered by glass. However, during a storm, waves can reach 10 to 20 feet in height! Over 350 shipwrecks have occurred on Lake Superior during stormy weather.


Along our way we stipped at Two Harbors and found the tug boat "Edna G". She was a brightly colored tug as you can see from the photo. We also found the Two Harbors Lighthouse. It was constructed in 1892, and is the oldest operating Minnesota Lighthouse on the North Shore.

Further along our journey, we spotted the lighthouse at Split Rock (botton photo). The Minnesota Historical Society operates Split Rock Lighthouse as a state historic site. Split Rock Light House Station was built atop a 130-foot cliff in 1910 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The Lighthouse was retired in 1969 after 59 years of service.

There are seven state parks along the route and we stopped at several of them... more on them below....

That is all for now.

Candy and Johnny