Great Day for Great Honeymoon Memories and Photos

The power of Lake Superior...

It was like sleeping in a thunderstorm, the roar and pounding of waves, just across the highway from our room. A beach and gradual rise to hwy 61, it would have been even louder if we had been near shear rock walls on the lake.

We took pictures in the cold mist Wednesday morning in Grand Marais, the talk of the town was the weather and storm, fallen trees and the Lake.


This section of hwy 61 in front of our motel was strewn with lake debris. I was anxious to bundle up and take some pictures, this is pretty dark for 8:30 in the morning!






We hiked to Devil's Kettle, down 177 steps on the trail. They were just a little slick with mist and frost, but very sturdy. The views from atop and at the landings were fantastic.

The Kettle River is surging, high and pushed hard by the runoff and rain.





And then 177 steps back UP to the trail. The air smelled great, we stopped a couple times on the way up to rest and enjoy the view, thinking of how hungry we would be later.















The waves kept coming for 2 days. We were getting anxious to walk along the shore and look for rocks. Prime "rock pickin time" after these strong waves as fresh stuff is thrown up to shore.

We found many cool rocks, romantic souvenirs, including 1 agate. Just fun to dodge the waves and graze.






Countless thousands of trees were blown and knocked down by the storm. The wind was from a non-typical direction and dropped trees that had been safe from other storms. Some trails were difficult to hike because of the trees, and the one at Pigeon River was totally unpassable, although we gave it a good try.

We had to crawl under a few fallen trees, it would have been more difficult to try and go around.




Weirder than weird! We were talking as we hiked about the fungus shelves growing in some of the trees. Larger ones can be dried and varnished, and make decent little curio shelves for the home.

I spotted a large one laying at the base of a birch, bent down to pick it up and was startled by the words appearing to be growing out of it!

"piptoporus betulinus" How can this be? It is not stamped into the fungus, it appears to be the way it grew... of course not, but what the....? It must have been formed by some kind of design for instruction and was left near the trail... we left it for others to enjoy. Curious!

Finally, the BEST sunset picture I've ever taken.

Just luck and being in the right place... Peggy and I had just got back to the trailhead on Park Point after hiking to the old canal... about 6 miles round trip. Hungry and ready to be back, the view to the west got better and better as we neared the car. I took a couple camera shots, and don't remember the view being quite this wonderful... I was very surprised when I got the photos back.

3 1/2 weeks ago we were Wed. An awesome 2 week honeymoon, a few days of deer hunting, a week of easing back into the good life in Brainerd, continuing to feel blessed beyond belief!

Peace!