July 4th

 I had to get up early the morning of July 4^th in order to make my way over to Bayfield for my Apostle Islands cruise.  

However, I wanted to make sure to see some of the highlights of the Porcupine Mountains so I arose at 5:30am and set off (it helped that I gained an hour with a time zone change). My first stop was Lake of the Clouds and it was spectacular. 

 

I was there just before the sun arose when the sky was all pink and everything was quiet. The full moon was still up as well. 

  

Next up was the Summit view which is reached by a half-mile trail and then climbing a small observation tower.  

  

Driving to the summit, I stopped by the lakeshore to see the sun rising over Lake Superior. Finally I stopped at Presque Isle to check out some waterfalls.

 I made it to the Apostle Islands with plenty of time to spare. I took the Grand Tour which is about 3 hours long. I was a little nervous because it was very foggy but by the time we departed, the clouds had lifted. The Grand Tour is a narrated, 55-mile, scenic cruise. 

Old quarry

 

We got to see the beautiful historic Raspberry and Devils Island Lighthouses. My favorite was the sea caves by Devil’s Island.  They are a unique result of Devils Island Formation sandstone.  

 You can kayak out to them to explore a bit more but the waves were really rough that day. Once we got back in the protection of the islands again, the lake was much calmer. I stopped at Little Sand Bay which is another part of the Apostle Islands. There’s a historic fishery there that you can check out. Thunder started rumbling again though so I headed back to the car to make the North Shore Scenic Drive. I stopped in Two Harbors to stretch. The skies looked very foreboding and it was quite windy. 

I was in awe of the ore docks. They are so huge! I’d never seen anything like that before.

 

 

I also saw the Two Harbors Light Station which is the oldest continuously running lighthouse on the North Shore. There’s a B&B located there today as well. 

 

Further on up the road is Split Rock lighthouse state park. You have to pay to get up close to the lighthouse and I didn’t feel like paying (especially in crappy weather), so I just took pictures from a wayside.  

I managed to make it through Gooseberry Falls State Park with only a light rain. People were scrambling all over in the river here which struck me as not the smartest, especially since it was storming. 

 

By the time I got to the Superior National Forest Scenic Byway the rain had moved off and the sun came back out. I took a break at the Tiomi historic School which was established in 1913 to serve the Finnish community of northeastern Minnesota. 

I finally arrived to camp at Pfeiffer Lake which is a very small forest campground. It was nice to be in a nice quiet campground amid the woods for once.