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| I checked the forecast for Duluth/Superior and it sounded as if it was going to be another beautiful day there and, although we had just visited just a week ago, I needed another day off. In the last five days I had put in 70 hours and needed a break. Our wildlife sightings today were sad. A very dead, large, black bear about 25 miles south of Superior, just off the roads' edge. Probably hit by a semi. And, shortly after the bear, the pulverized remains of a whitetail deer that had been hit numerous times. Several months ago, on a trip to Bayfield, WI, we had seen a bear cross the road not far ahead of us. Needless to say, it was more fun to see a live one, even at a distance. Ten miles south of Superior we stopped at Amnicon Falls State Park. It was closed for the season, but we walked in, after parking on the road. The dry conditions that had autumn colors turned to maximum had minimized the amount of water going over the falls, allowing us to wander along the exposed stream bed, often jumping from rock to rock, trying to miss the spots still slippery with moss. While we were hiking, a partial eclipse of the sun occurred, doing little to lessen the heat of it's rays, an almost imperceptible darkening the only indication of the ongoing event. Unfortunately, we had no safe observing equiptment, not welders lenses, nor even pinhole projector. On the road again after hiking an hour, we had most of the city of Superior behind us, when, passing the Frazier Shipyards, we saw the Algonorth in dry dock. (If you need an even closer look, you may pull into their parking lot to get almost within spittin' distance). The Algonorth has been fitted with an experimental ballast water filtration system designed to prevent the spread of non-indigenous, exotic species. The next day, someone on the alt.great-lakes newsgroup was wondering why the Algonorth was being worked on. It's also a subject, (at the moment) on Great Lakes News and Rumors. Our hike had delayed us just enough to miss the Joseph L. Block at canal park. She was just passing under the Lift Bridge (Hear the lift bridge signal) at Canal Park as we were passing over the Blatnik Bridge. We would take the first exit at Garfield Ave. and watch her passage deeper into the harbor from the fishing pier, getting there just as she did, with not a minute to spare. An obviously professional photographer was already at my favorite spot and after the Block had gone by, I decided to strike up a conversation. He turned out to be the same Patrick Lapinski who was recently included in the "Holiday Gift Idea" column in the Oct/Nov issue of Lake Superior Magazine! His "Ore Boat" video, (fifth in a series) documenting an inside look of his trip on the "Edwin H. Gott, the most powerful vessel on the Great Lakes" was suggested as one of the best Lake Superior related gift ideas possible. As we talked, the kids watched fish and ducks swimming under the pier; then Pat observed that the lift bridge (far across the harbor) was up, probably for the arrival of the Armco, which was due in. The Canadian Prospector finished loading cement at the St. Lawrence Cement Dock directly in front of us. Pat left as the Prospector dropped its bow line and began backing up. Following his suggestion, we moved over to the Port Authority dock where we had a very close look at the Prospector doing a fast 90 to starboard, in reverse, the turbulence caused by the port bowthruster rather evident. In the next 15 minutes the Prospector passed the arriving Armco, disappearing under the lift bridge as the Armco loomed in front of us. Wisconsin Point is where we soon ended up, after some confusion as to where to go next. I thought I had seen a ship heading toward the Superior Entry. I was wrong. It was anchored offshore and stayed there. I couldn't even identify it using binoculars, it was so far out. There was a ship at the Burlington Northern dock, but it never moved the whole time we were there. I think the one was waiting for the other to leave. We first walked out to the Superior Entry lighthouse over car sized, sea gull whitewashed boulders. The air was very calm, the water very clear and the thousands of sea gulls covered the rocks on the Minnesota side. (Fortunately!) It was 70+ degrees again, for the second Saturday in a row. Very unusual for the middle of October. On the way back to shore we passed a young couple who were extremely familiar to me, yet I was at a total loss as to where I had seen them before. After our paths had crossed twice more, I had to ask where they were from. It turned out we lived in the same small town! He had worked at a local grocery store and she was a waitress at a restaurant where I often eat. It was strangely difficult to recognize them out of their more familiar surroundings. I think the most fun I had this day was wading on the beach, the crystal clear water amazingly cold and invigorating. The beach showed very little sign of human activity as my eldest daughter and I wandered down the beach, alternating between the frigid lake and the soft, warm sand; the contrast of hot and cold acting as a sort of thermal massage for tired legs and feet. We were getting hungry, and (for some unknown reason) there are NO facilities on Wisconsin Point (Be forewarned!), so we headed back to Duluth. I'm getting real good at spotting ship movements while crossing the Blatnik Bridge and saw one leaving so we stopped at Canal Park to watch the Courtney Burton depart at 4:12 pm. The Burton appeared to be the twin of the Armco that we had seen earlier and was of the same Ogelbay Norton fleet. We "left port" a little early this trip, before the sun had set, so we could still enjoy the magnificent fall colors on the way home. There were many other ships in port this day, loading and unloading, that we did not get a close look at. From the top of the Blatnik, heading home, we looked down upon the Canadian Miner loading at the Harvest State elevator on the right, and the Queen was on the left. The J.L. Mauthe and other ships were scattered here and there between huge storage silos that dwarfed even these large vessels. |
