2007/09 Ontario trip - North Shore |
|||
Sunday September 30th
The storms were still going in the morning and, as it didn’t get light, we made a late start, setting off into driving rain.
We made a short side trip into Thunder Bay to invest in doughnuts, and headed
for the border. We crossed quickly with no problems and drove down Minnesota’s North Shore through showers. The waterfalls that had been dry for our trip there in August were now running well, but, perversely, the trails to some of them had been washed away by the floods. So we limited ourselves to looking at those that could be seen easily from the highway.
As we moved south we were seeing more splashes of red and orange among the yellows. We took a detour to Jay Cooke park, just south of Duluth. There’s a stretch of river there that really lights up in the autumn, but the day was too wet and misty to see it at its best. The 
other great view there is of the St Louis River valley, with its primeval-looking jagged rocks of shale, pointing in all directions. We were a little too early there for autumn colours, but the view is always worth a look, even in mid-winter.
Most of the forest south of there was still green. We made it home at dusk, still in the rain, to find that our swamp was full and everything looked well watered. We’d had no frost so all the flowers were still blooming. Michael had moved out, or at least some of him had; we still had a car, bits of car, and various piles of stuff to remember him by.