Wow what a trip.  I’ve been up the North Shore several times.  I’ve been through the area in the Spring, Winter, and Fall, but never in the Summer.  The funny thing though, it didn’t exactly feel like Summer.  With the weird and delayed warmer weather this Spring – Spring is just reaching points Duluth and North.  The lilacs are just blooming now along with all the other wild flowers including lupine.  The roadsides where vibrant with color for the duration.

Leaving the twin city metro area, the weather was the typical July like 90+ degrees; there was a touch of stifling humidity in the air and the possibility of a thunderstorm was very likely.  Life is usually a bit cooler along the North Shore with the breezes blowing over that 40 degree water.  You could say it is a natural air conditioner.  If you have ever been to Duluth, you know full well that there is a chance that you won’t see most of the town and none of the lake when heavy fog sets in.  This is exactly what we were met with.  From 90+ to 50 degrees in what seemed an instant.  Very heavy fog clogged up any hope of a panoramic view and inhibited visibility on the road significantly, but hamper our spirits it did not.  Such is life traveling the shore.

Over the next few days we made our way up the shore seven of the eight state parks in the fog.  This trip was mostly about photographing the waterfalls in each state park, with the exception of Split Rock, the lighthouse is just cool to tour.  It turns outs that fog makes waterfall photography interesting.  It was a godsend considering some neutral density (ND) filters were left behind and one lens (with ND filters) was not functioning correctly.  The fog naturally filtered out the harsh sunlight and created some interesting shooting conditions to say the least.

The State Parks:  (1) Gooseberry Falls |(2) Split Rock Lighthouse | (3) Tettegouche | (5) Temperance River | (6) Cascade River | (7) Judge C.R. Magney | (8) Grand Portage

We are truly lucky to live is such a beautiful area with wonderful and abundant natural resources so close by.  Our state parks are so beautiful.  Aside from the parks, the rest of the scenery along the way is pretty awe-inspiring as well.

We were also fortunate enough to sneak a peek (and several shots) of an old abandoned 3-story warehouse/distribution center in Two Harbors, MN.  It was lovely as were many other places along the way.

In the coming days I will post the photos from each park.  I have a ton of photos (1100+) to look through.  Until then, here are a few shots of our travels along the way and in between the parks – more of these to follow as well.