Coop's Corner: North Shore

Saturday, June 20, 2026

North Shore - 2026/06/15

There will be no official Minnesota Moto Guzzi Rally this year but I needed an Arrowhead/Grand Marais fix. A casual start Monday morning as far as the south end of Superior, WI and on to Grand Marais Tuesday. Motel stays each night, not a bad choice considering the coolish, wettish weather for part of the trip.

The GPS says a total of 799 miles, including a trip barely across the border to our northern neighbor.

Monday's route....(instinctively typed in Friday....now a bad habit), leisurely and indirect.

Didn't need a post...sitting in the shade at the Carlton KT felt good.

Lake Superior sky....

Jay Cooke State Park....

Sleepy Hollow motel on US 2, just south of Superior. I'd stay there if I was you.

Dinner next door at the Riverside....

Tuesday's ride up the shore....

Fuel and fuel in Superior...

I took Old 61 (Scenic Drive) to Two Harbors...

While I sat and enjoyed the morning sun at the Wayside, this gentleman walked down, stripped to his trunks and with his walking stick enjoyed a fresh dip.

Stopped at Judy's in Two Harbors for a late breakfast (do the hashbrowns and sourdough toast).

On to Gooseberry Falls State Park. As I was parking, this couple from Toronto was just leaving, continuing their Big Circle Tour.

A coffee stop in Beaver Bay...

Enjoying a quiet spot at Temperance River State Park....

In Grand Marais.....

Public boat launch/city campground, our usual Guzzi Rally site.

Checked in at the Aspen Inn....

Breakfast at South Of The Border....

Stopped at World's Greatest Donuts but they were closed the two mornings I was in town. So back to the Moose take out a croissant.

Decided to go ahead with my plan to cross into Canada and ride over to the Ontario side of the old Pigeon River Border Crossing. The young Canadian in the booth opined that 300 miles was a long way to go for a photograph.....not everyone understands what we do.

He let me in regardless...

Here it is, a bit more grown up than it is on our side of the border river.

A better view of the USA guardrail.

The Minnesota side back in 2018....

At the US Border, Special Agent Helen asked how long I'd been in Canada....

"....Little over half an hour, just wanted to see the old Pigeon River crossing from the Canadian side."

She asked while looking at my MN Drivers License for an extended period of time, "Did you see any swimmers?"

"No swimmers, it's a very quiet spot....except for the rooster."

Special Agent Helen gave me a sideways smile and said, "Welcome back."

I stopped at the State Park, stretched my legs a bit, used the restrooms and went next door for a coffee after taking this photo of my Canadian track.

Ryden's Duty Free....

My very favorite part of any of Hwy 61 north of Duluth.....

Isle Royal in the distance....

Back to Grand Marais in light rain, stopped in and spent a couple of hours at their great library. Checked out a couple issues of Minnesota History magazine.

Thanks for the insulated (metal) cup brother!

Always a challenge....a place to cool off.

Thursday morning, crisp and beautiful.

Almost all the way on WI 35.....until I got to Somerset.

A quick hike up to the first falls at Cascade River State Park

Another stop at Temperance River to soak up some sun.

Palisade Head again.....

These were views on Tuesday morning on my way north, my earlier visit to Palisade Head.

One more stop at Judy's in Two Harbors for some Blueberry Rhubarb.

There you have it, my non-Rally North Shore Trip. I was on the fence about going, so glad I followed through.

2 comments:

Rodney SchmidtJune 20, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Great pics
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Mike W.June 20, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Quite the trip, good you for getting out there on a long solo ride.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)