So you’ve made it through the stop-and-start traffic maze of Duluth and up the expressway to Two Harbors. Maybe you stopped for some smoked fish at Lou’s or a Culvercinno at Culvers. Now, get your first real taste of the North Shore.
Just 1.5 miles past the last Two Harbors stoplight, turn right at Flood Bay State Wayside. There’s a nice gravelly beach that reaches back toward Superior Shores resort, and you can walk the whole way. If you brought a sea kayak, you can launch it here.
If you like agates, you can find them here by the dozens: they are tiny but plentiful. There’s a brand new interpretive plaque placed by the Minnesota Geological Society that explains our agates.
Flood Bay was named not for the water that crashes over the beach in a storm but for the Flood family that homesteaded here. Still, it’s easy to imagine big November storms flooding over the beach and filling up the coastal wetlands behind the beach. Sit down at the water’s edge; even on a calm day, there’s enough wind and wave noise to drown out the sound of Highway 61.
When you’ve had your fill of this little bit of the North Shore, get back in your vehicle. No matter how far you have yet to go on the Shore, you have now arrived.
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Also, it’s a great place to surf when the waves are up.
It truly is overlooked and a great stop. So many are on the run to the upper Northshore and blow right past. Also Mom and Pop motels are inexpensive,clean and often very enjoyable. After all your not in the motel that much except to sleep. You should be on the beach or shoreline searching for agates.
My wife and I took her Mom and Dad for a drive up the North Shore in September of 1994, and after finding a short video of our trip and searching Google maps for days and days I am pretty sure that Flood Bay State Wayside is where we stopped. Next time we go up the North Shore we will be sure to stop there.
The only downside to travel on the North Shore is the State allowing construction of eyesore condominiums and apartment complexes that spoil the beautiful view.
I hope you do return to Flood Bay. I also recommend the Twin Points boat access a few miles further up the shore, with its trail through the tall pines to unique Iona’s Beach SNA.