The legend lives on
from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they
call Gitchegumie.
Lake Superior holds 10% of the world’s surface water. It is bordered by three states;
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and we are visiting national parks, national
monuments and national lakeshores in all three.
Grand Portage is about as far north as you can go on the
lake before you reach Canada. The
Grand Portage National Monument is a reconstruction of the trading fort where
voyageurs rendezvoused with the executives of the North West Company to
exchange furs for cloth and manufactured goods from Europe. These would be traded to the Indians
for more furs in the following year.
And so it went for 40 years.
The goods from Europe could be ferried across the lake to the rendezvous
and the furs transported back by ship also. But to get furs to the lake and European goods to the
Indians required a long trek by land to the navigable Porcupine River – the
‘Grand Portage.’
There isn’t much of a town there today, only the reconstructed
fort and a new visitor center plus the obligatory Indian-run casino. But it is Minnesota’s jumping off point
for Isle Royale National Park, some 20 miles out in Lake Superior. It is a great place to backpack or
canoe around. Someday we hope to
return and really explore the island but we had time for the day trip
only. Isle Royale is a living
laboratory for studying the dynamic equilibrium between its 450 moose and 25
wolves. Interestingly it’s
the ticks that infest the moose that have the greatest effect on both
populations. Heavy infestation
weakens the moose making life easier for the wolves. But the resulting decline in the moose population forewarns
of a decline in the wolf population, thus more moose. And ticks. And
so on.
Bayfield, WI is the gateway to Apostle Island National
Lakeshore. Like Isle Royale and
Voyageurs National Park, Apostle Island is best enjoyed by boat. In fact you are very much like a fish
out of water without one. Bayfield
is a cute little town and would look natural on Nantucket or any small
Atlantic coastal town so we stayed for a couple of days. The weather is good (for Lake Superior,
anyway), the raspberries are ripe and we needed haircuts. Who needs more reason than that?
