Adventures with Big Blue

[campfire]

The bridge passes over the entrance to Duluth Harbor. This is the entrance as seen from the middle of the span. Ore freighters can enter the harbor here (Duluth), or they can enter via the Superior entrance across the bay.





The entrance is guarded by lighthouses on both sides.

 

[campfire]

Docks

Once the freighters enter the harbor, the proceed to docks such as this. This particular dock is essentially a railroad perched high over the water. Railroad cars side-dump into shoots running down to freighters alongside the dock. (Apologies for the moving shot).



For those of you who enjoy heavy industry (), here are a couple of the local power sources.

 

[campfire]

Goodbye

Having come to the NW corner of Duluth, we turned our attention to the Lake Superior North shore. Goodbye, Duluth:



Now the views started to look like this:





I'm not sure where the "info" is here, but suffice it to say that we did not turn.

 

[y5mgisi]

Fun pics!

 

[campfire]

Two Harbors

Another half-hour of road time brought us into Two Harbors (MN)



The railroad brings inland ore here for shipping. Much like Duluth/Superior.



As the name implies, Two Harbors has two harbors. But this one (Agate Bay) is the one set up for docking freighters.

 

[campfire]

Loading Freighters

This bay contains three docks, and each dock can receive two freighters (one on each side).



As in Superior, the dock structure supports a railroad servicing both sides of the dock.



Rail cars come onto the dock and release their contents into chutes leading to the freighter below. The tugboat is used to position the freighter underneath the chutes. When the train and the freighter are lined up, the whole length of the freighter can be loaded simultaneously (although it still requires many trains and many hours to fill one freighter).



Here you can see the tops of the chutes and the cargo hatches on the freighter.



Here the whole length of the chutes is visible. The docks are about 2000 feet long (far longer than the 1,200 feet allowed through the Poe Lock in Sault. Ste. Marie). I did not figure out why, unless it allows multiple ships to dock simultaneously. Definitely cause for a return trip.

 

[campfire]

New Family Member

Check out the new family member recently added to the fleet. Hopefully this new truck will show up in future adventures (when it's ready, of course).

 

[campfire]

Lighthouse

Across the bay from the loading docks sits the old Two Harbors Light Station. The building currently operates as a B&B, but the lighthouse portion is open for tourists.






You can't go quite up to the top, but you can look out the round windows at the top of the brickwork.

 

[campfire]

Pilot House

In the yard of the lighthouse we found the pilot house from the old great lakes freighter Frontenac.

 

[campfire]

Bay

The lighthouse and its grounds offer a good view of Lake Superior and Agate Bay.





Here you can see all three sets of loading docks.



And this beacon out at the entrance to the bay welcomes the freighters into port.

 

[campfire]

Underground

Having seen Two Harbors, we continued Northbound and soon found ourselves traveling underground.
About 3 miles North of town we came to the Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel:





About 2 miles North of that we found ourselves at the Lafeyette Bluff Tunnel:





Neither tunnel was very long, but it was still fun to disappear under the earth for a moment.

 

[y5mgisi]

I just like how so many of your shots include the hood and dash. Makes it feel like you are there.

 

[campfire]

I just like how so many of your shots include the hood and dash. Makes it feel like you are there.

Thanks! And let's not forget the characteristic crack across the windshield.

This trip (summer 2012) is from before I finished working on the dash...the gauges are hanging out and the glow plug light dangled down over the speedometer (which had broken its needle). I didn't really wait to get quite everything working "normally" before we left.


As you can probably guess, most of those front seat shots were taken at times that we didn't feel like stopping and getting out.

 

[campfire]

Gooseberry Falls

Just past the tunnels we found our next destination:



Gooseberry Falls sits on the Lake Superior shoreline just north of Two Harbors (MN). The park contains several falls, but this first one is the largest:



Above the falls sits a highway bridge:

 

[campfire]

CCC Bridge

Beside the bridge sits a large castle-like stone foundation for the former highway bridge and parking area above the falls. Finding such a large stone structure at the top of a waterfall buried in the North Shore woods is interesting to say the least:









Complete with CCC display (among others):

 

[campfire]

Concourse

The top of the stone structure served as the original highway route and parking concourse for visitors to stop and see the falls.





A few pieces of the old bridge over the falls have been left as a display:



From the concourse you can see Lake Superior in the distance.

 

[campfire]

Waterfalls

In addition to the large falls, the park is home to numerous small ones:

 

[campfire]

Swimming

This sign sits atop a cliff overlooking a small waterfall (15-20 foot drop to a rock floor with no more than 2 feet of water depth at the bottom). I'm not sure who considers this to be good diving territory.

 

[y5mgisi]

Those are quite the sights!

 

[Big Ray]

great thread, love the pics!

It sure is beautiful up there, definitely on my bucket list...