One of my favorite all-time North Shore ski trails is Korkki Nordic, up in the ridgeline above the shore between Duluth and Two Harbors. Sally and I played hooky today and took a few laps on this terrific woodland trail. That was the first good choice of the day. Korkki is a truly classic trail. It's narrow and winding and is groomed for classic skiing only. Because so much of the trail is in deep forest, more snow is required to open it safely. Last year, the trail might have been open only two weekends. This year, it's been open … read more

What an amazing day we had on Saturday here in Duluth. The meteorologists got it all wrong in the right way. What started as a forecast of an inch or two of snow overnight turned into the biggest single dump of snow we've had in over a year. Apparently, two air masses ran into each other over the western part of Lake Superior and the resulting lift sucked the moisture out of the open lake water and turned it into snow. Lots of snow. That fell all day. We shoveled three times just for the joy of shoveling. Meteorologists, at a … read more

Looking for a great, amazingly scenic North Shore experience? Want to stroll and enjoy the view rather than hike and clamber? Head for Lutsen Mountains. The gondola ride to the top of Moose Mountain is like an express train to Beautyland. There is a great 4.2 mile hike from the top of the gondola back down on the Superior Hiking Trail. The maples of Mystery Mountain are amazing. The Via Ferrata-like scamper below the Moose Mountain ridge is remarkable..and difficult. That hike is Hike #35 in Hiking the North Shore, and it definitely lives up to the book's subtitles as … read more

The State Parks are back! Take this weekend to reacquaint yourself with the deep pockets of scenery and nature in the North Shore parks. To the High Falls High Falls of the Baptism, May 2011, from Flickr Recent rains have lifted North Shore streams out of their summer slumber. With the shutdown over and the park gates open again, head deep into Tettegouche State Park for the short walk to the High Falls of the Baptism River.   At approximately 70 feet tall, this the highest waterfall completely in Minnesota...the High Falls of the Pigeon River at Grand Portage are taller, but are shared … read more

It's one of the North Shore's best viewpoints. It's just a short hike in along good trails. And chances are, you've never been there. But you'll definitely want to hike to the top. Right in the heart of Split Rock Lighthouse State Park is Day Hill, named after the Duluthian Frank Day. It's a classic anorthosite knob, like Carlton Peak and Mount Trudee. The top is almost 250 feet above Lake Superior, so you're looking down on the entire park shoreline, including Split Rock Lighthouse, which looks tiny but dramatic about a mile away. Day Hill is famous for its lone fireplace. … read more

North Shore waterfalls are raging with spring melt right now...it's a great time to head to Gooseberry Falls for a hike! One of the very best waterfall hikes in my book Hiking the North Shore is the Five Falls Loop at Gooseberry. It's a 3.0 mile hike that I rate as moderately difficult. The loop takes you from the park visitor center up the west side of the river and down the east side. You get a great look at four falls: 1) Lower Falls, 2) Middle Falls (the most popular tourist destination), 3) Upper Falls (pictured above), and 4) Fifth … read more

Twenty years ago, my wife Sally and I rolled down Highway 1 from Ely to the North Shore with our cross country skis for a weekend with my parents. I had never skied on big wide groomed ski trails before, only on the winding skier-packed trails of the Superior National Forest. We skied on the Sugarbush Trails, just inland from Tofte. It was mind-blowing. I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. I still remember the thrill of gliding down the well-groomed hairpin turns of the Sixmile Crossing trail. The view of Leveaux Peak rising above the fields in the … read more

  In twenty years of skiing on the North Shore's groomed trails, I've seen a lot of signs with basically the same message: Please don't walk on the groomed ski trail. I even remember the Nordic ski coach back in high school pleading with students in a school assembly to stay off the ski tracks around the athletic fields. But this sign, which I found yesterday at the Erkki Harju ski trail in Two Harbors, is by far the goofiest and maybe the most effective I've seen. No, that is not Erkki Harju himself with the shovels and the drawl. According to … read more

Our hike-lovin', ski-crazy, car-chasin' poodle moved on to doggie heaven yesterday. One moment she was running and dancing with us on the beach, the next moment she was gone over the dunes, and the moment after that she was gone, hit by a car on Lake Ave.  As weird as she was, Chloe was a huge part of our lives. It's sad to realize that our book Hiking the North Shore got to the printers on the same day she died: she is the star of the book, in at least a dozen photos as my only hiking companion. She loved to … read more

Duluth's popular Piedmont ski trail is more than classic cross country skiing at its best...it's a pun-ridden pop culture history lesson, firmly rooted in the 1970s. My teenage sons have no idea what they're missing, and I sound pretty lame as I try to explain.So at a soft turn in the trail, there's the hand-lettered sign "Gentle Bend." Who remembers the tame black bear sitting in the bow of the airboat skimming through the Everglades? Sure "Gentle Ben" was broadcast in the late 1960s, but must have run as afternoon reruns in the 1970s. I can't pass that sign without … read more