UpperMiss

Day 1

Saturday, 29 May 2010
Grand Portage, MN to Little Marais, MN
87.0 miles, 6h09m, 14.1 mph
Elapsed Time: 8h36m, Max speed: 33.7mph
Total Climbing: 2408ft, Max elevation: 1159ft
Total mileage: 87.0

It was a long first day of cycling. And now I'm sitting in the backyard of a "cabin," feet up on a rail, looking out over Lake Superior, typing, freezing, and being eaten by mosquitoes. Bicycle touring doesn't get much better than this.

But it wasn't all relaxing and bleeding. We started the day by loading our gear back in the car and driving the eight miles to Grand Portage State Park, right on the Canadian border. There was a lot of screwing around with our bikes, trying to get them just right. I discovered that the bike shop had not tightened my handlebars when I went for a spin to check my seat height. So far it looks like the only thing they managed to get right was my pedals. They didn't pump up my tires either. Apparently they had a competent mechanic work on Balint's bike.

Screwing around with bikes.

Mr. Balint reduced the shimmying problem he was having under braking by adjusting the pads a little bit. Could be the rims are warped.

Eventually we got everything sorted out and rode down a trail that turned into a footpath and ended at a historical marker commemorating the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 that established (among other things) the northern border of Minnesota. So that's where we "officially" started the ride.

Team Blue celebrates Daniel Webster and that other guy.
The border is in the river behind Linda (the photographer).

There was one of these things in the ground nearby. Never seen one of these before.

Then we rode a half mile up another trail to see the highest water falls in Minnesota--cleverly named, "High Falls." These falls are a big part of the reason there was a need to portage here.

High Falls. That's Canada on the right.

The majesty of High Falls...stunning.

Eventually we broke free of the waterfalls and started actually riding. But not for long. We climbed over Mt. Josephine and descended to Grand Portage National Monument. Turns out the Monument opened for the season today, and we were the very first visitors.

Mr. Balint proudly displays a skunk pelt in an Ojibwa wigwam.

The dude in period costume described the Nort West Company Trading Post as "The Walmart distribution
center of its day."

Then we got serious with our riding and cruised the 40 miles to Grand Marais. I stopped a the bike shop to pump up my tires. The guy there recommended a place for lunch, which was fantastic. I had some kind of whitefish sammich.

I saw something like this in the UP last year. Kind of surprised to see it in Minnesota.

The Crooked Spoon Cafe makes a fine sammich.

Then it was grinding out the miles. The road was really nice for parts and lousy for others. Long boring sections with occasional spectacular views of Lake Superior. Bike paths would sometimes appear...but usually when they were not needed. We took one trail up to a neat little gorge on the Temperance River. My pictures didn't do it justice. By the way, there is a town called Temperance, and Linda saw a business called Temperance Liquors.

A really good road.

A nice view of Lake Superior.

I'm not going to go into all the angst surrounding our day's destination. Let's just say that most motels are booked on Memorial Day weekend. So we ended up here.

And here is not too bad.

Though we did have to drive 10 miles into Silver City for dinner.

Tomorrow we return to Duluth. And it will be Linda's last full day with us.

Next