Weird Waves Season 1: Great Lakes
Shoe company Vans brings its branded content team to Duluth, and the locals show them some of the winter surf “hot” spots.
Shoe company Vans brings its branded content team to Duluth, and the locals show them some of the winter surf “hot” spots.
Whitney & Kelby Sundquist – Photo by Lissa Maki
A little blue sauna on a trailer began popping up around Duluth late last year. The Hiki Hut has licensing similar to a food truck, but instead of food it’s serving up nourishing doses of heat and steam. Owners Whitney and Kelby Sundquist aim to encourage sauna appreciation as well as cultivate community.
If you’ve ever hiked Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail to the Wisconsin border you know the trail ends there, but doesn’t really end there. Despite a sign on a tree that reads “Southern Terminus of SHT” and a separate post sticking out of the ground that reads “Not a trail,” there is clearly a trail there leading into Wisconsin. But it doesn’t go far.
The rest of the text on the terminus sign explains: “Spur trail from here to be built by North Country Trail to a parking lot in WI. Trail now dead-ends ahead.”
I explained all that 17 months ago in a Saturday Essay titled: “North Country Trail: Wood Tick Flats,” which was the first report on my quest to hike the North Country Trail across Wisconsin. That summer I covered exactly zero miles on the trail, which is not a great start to a 200-mile journey. If you read that first North Country Trail essay from June 2017 you know I didn’t hike on the trail that day because the grass was long and loaded with ticks. So I waited and saved the hike for a day with more favorable conditions … 17 months later.
What I lack in ambition I make up for with tenacity, right? My motto is: “Never quit. Take a nap and try again later when you feel more up to it.”
Some Duluth residents and business owners feel bright-white LED lights harm humans and wildlife interfere with the ability to view starry night skies. They’ve set up a website at citylightsstarrynights.com.
(Photo courtesy of Spirit Mountain)
Eric Chandler reports on his Shmotown blog that Duluth’s first cross-country trail system with snowmaking capability is expected to open in December.
Fall is prime hiking season around Lake Superior. Linda O’Connell of Onalaska went on a 100-mile journey from the Canadian Border to Temperance River State Park in early September and put together this 37-minute documentary.
“Beautiful views, wrong turns and good food were experienced,” she writes in the YouTube description. “I am just an average American 50-year-old woman trying to get out of my comfort zone. Life is short. Make it count.”
Duluth and the North Shore fall colors are slowly starting to turn. The above fall colors map provided by the MN DNR will update automatically as the fall foliage colors continue to change around the state. Look for early to mid October to see the peak fall colors hitting the Duluth and North Shore regions. Colors typically change a little later right along the shores of Lake Superior.
Just kidding, I’m not really dead. But it has been a summer without an Aquaman. Some might call me Lake Superior Absentman. I’m sorry I went dark for a while. After several years of spending nearly every summer day at the water’s edge, this summer I barely touched it. There are many reasons why and the PDD community is the place to unpack them.
Andy McMurray uploaded this video to YouTube ten years ago today — Sept. 5, 2008. It shows a group of Duluth kayakers plunging down Illgen Falls at the Baptism River, about 60 miles northeast of Duluth. The video also details the work a video crew went through to set up shots — rigging highlines, pulleys and ropes.
The video was described on Perfect Duluth Day in 2008 as “tightrope walking meets kayak boating.”
Eleven seconds of nature shot yesterday at Lester River by Richard Hoeg.
Dan Fourness put together this travelogue video of adventures in the Apostle Islands, Duluth, Sleeping Giant, Isle Royale and various places along the way.
