Door No. 2
"The life you have led does not need to be the only life you have." -Anna Quindlen

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You don't have to spend loads of time and money to experience something amazing.  Sometimes an adventure is just outside your door.  These are some of the beautiful things that we have found, here in our own little corner of the world. 

You don't have to spend loads of time and money to experience something amazing.  Sometimes an adventure is just outside your door.  These are some of the beautiful things that we have found, here in our own little corner of the world. 

Lake Superior - The More You Know

Where we currently live, in Duluth, MN, we can (and frequently do) walk from our house to the shore of Lake Superior in about 20 minutes. Even better, we can do it almost entirely without being on the street by utilizing the Lester Park and Lakewalk trails. The shore is a great place to have a summer picnic, skip rocks, dip your toes in the water or check out the ice formations in winter.

Looking toward Duluth from somewhere along the Lakewalk trail

In the process of writing another post about a trip we took to Marquette, MI, I started to get lost down a rabbit hole of unique and interesting facts about this Great Lake that we currently call home. Allow me to blow your mind.

  • The Ojibwe and Anishinaabe name (on whose land we reside) for Lake Superior is Gitchigami, meaning “great water” or “sea”

  • Measuring 160 x 350 miles, Lake Superior encompasses 31,700 square miles - roughly the size of the state of Maine

  • Lake Superior holds 3 QUADRILLION gallons of water, which is 10% of all of Earth’s fresh surface water, more than all of the remaining Great Lakes combined, and apparently enough to flood all of North and South America to a depth of 1 foot!

  • In more morbid news, Lake Superior has seen >350 shipwrecks and holds an estimated 10,000 dead bodies, all of which are likely well preserved due to the consistently cold water temperatures - something to scrub from your memory the next time you go for a swim

  • Lake Superior is the cleanest and clearest of all the Great Lakes, with an average underwater visibility of 27 feet - its clarity consistently calls to me with its siren song of invitation

  • The Lake rarely freezes over completely in winter, though there can often be enough ice near the shoreline to allow ice fishing, skating and bipedal navigation

  • Storms (typically in late fall) provide waves large enough to surf for many intrepid die-hards

  • The Lake is home to many native plants, birds and fish - including trout, salmon, 60 species of orchids, loons, 10,000 birds of prey per day during the fall migration season and a small population of endangered whooping cranes

  • Initially a major route of transportation and trade, Lake Superior continues to be an important shipping hub with its connection to the eastern seaboard via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Duluth/Superior is the busiest inland port in the country.

  • Because of the Lake’s size, it has an impact on the local weather, with heavy snowfalls and changeable winds being common winter occurrences. In the summer, it serves as a local air conditioner of sorts for those closer to its shores.

There is LOTS of opportunity to explore the shores of Lake Superior - it is home to 2 national parks, 2 designated national lakeshores and 27 state and provincial parks across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario. I hope you are able to experience some of it for yourself, and I will use this opportunity to share with you some of our own adventures on and around Gitchigami.

Nicole TombersComment