Thursday, August 8, 2013

Northern Minnesota July 28 - August 3, 2013

Sunday July 28 we left Madison, WI for Northern Minnesota.    We drove i-90/94 to Eau Claire and then I-94 to Hwy 53 toward Superior, WI.   We arrived at Cloquet, MN about 4 p.m. that afternoon.  
Monday, July 29 we headed north on Hwy 61 to Grand Portage National Monument which is about 6 miles from the Canadian border at the tip of the "arrowhead".  

Our first stop was the Visitor's Center and Heritage center where we watched the introductory movie about the Grand Portage, viewed the displays and then crossed over the road to visit the reconstructed palisade area which dipicted the life at Grand Portage from 1784-1803.   The North West Company ran themost profitable fur trade operation on the Great Lakes.   The company's inland headquarters was located at Grand Portage, the largest fur trade depot in the heart of the continent.  This was the site of Rendezvous, an annual gathering in July.   During the rest of the year the trappers and the Ojibwe would trap the furs and in July would gather at Grand Portage to await the arrival of the 35ft. Montreal Canoes which came loaded with tons of goods to trade for the furs.  After the trading and celebrating was complete, the voyagers would carry two 90lb. packs 8 1/2 miles from the Grand Portage inland to Fort Charlotte, the company's smaller storage depot on the Pigeon River.  
Voyageurs offered the Indians items such as glass beads, wool blankets, woven cloth,iron kettles, axes, firearms, traps and alcohol.

Tuesday we remained in camp and caught up on chores.

Wednesday we moved the trailer to Bemidji, MN which is about 3 hours west of  Cloquet.   Our intent was to headquarter in Bemidji and from there drive to Voyageur National Park in International Falls, MN.  

Thursday we drove up Hwy 71 from Bemidji to International Falls.   What a lonely road!   I think we MIGHT have seen 10 vehicles on our way up.  Voyageur NP has 3 Visitor's Centers - about 35 miles away from each other.   We elected to visit the Visitor's Center at Rainy Lake which is right outside International Falls.   Over 35% of the park is on the water, and the parking lot here was filled with trucks with boat trailers.   As is our custom, we watched the film, went through the museum exhibits, and then headed outside for a short hike and a ranger-led tour of an ethno-garden where we were shown native plants and learned about their useage by the Ojibwe Indians.  

Friday we did some local shopping and visited the Beltrami Historical Society museum to learn about the Bemidji area.

August 3 we had pancakes at the KOA kitchen and then headed out at 9 for our trip to Canada.

No comments:

Post a Comment