Soudan Mine, Soudan, MN

The Sudan Mine is the oldest and largest iron ore mine in Minnesota.  It is no longer functioning and is now a state park.  We went on a tour of this mine that produced tons and tons of iron ore until the 1960s

We entered the shaft by getting into the double decker cars you see on the right.  There were about 10 of us in each car.  They shut the doors and we went down 27 floors.  There is no light and it was very noisy.

Afterwards we went to the engine house to see the mechanism that controlled the cars as they descended and ascended into the mine.  Huge metal cables lifted and lowered cars at the same time.  Originally they were used to lower the miners and raise the ore.

                                     
Once down there we traveled in these cars that were originally used to bring out the ore, for 3/4 mile.  It was very dark and the temperature was 51 without the wind chill of the moving train.  The original miners only had candlelight to see by.

 As we were waiting to come back up. our guide showed us where the Dept of Energy and 90 universities had built a MINOS center to study neutrinos, one of the smallest particles ever.  It no longer is used, but we were very interested in seeing it as...

We had visited another neutrino study center in Orr that was functioning and had learned a bit about physics there.

International Wolf Center, Ely, MN

 The Wolf Center studies the habits of the wolves and has special educational programs.  We learned how they hunt and share food.  They have huge canine teeth which they use to kill their prey.

 They have 3 Arctic wolves and 2 gray wolves.

 These wolves have been socialized and are not afraid of humans, but they are wild and dangerous.

Part of the Saturday night program was to watch them eat.  On this particular evening, they dined on beaver!

Ely, MN

 We went to the Dorothy Molter Museum in Ely.  She was a woman who trained to be a nurse and then decided to live on Knife Lake on the Isle of Pines.  She lived in a very remote area for 54 years, most of the time by herself with no electricity or running water!  She was known as the "Root Beer Lady" because she served root beer to the canoers who passed by as they traveled thru the Boundary Waters.  When it became to difficult to portage the root beer in, she made her own.  They said it tasted horrible but she made and sold 10,000  bottles a year!
See if you can read her sign.

This was her winter house!  in the summer she slept in a tent.

Ely, MN

 We hiked 4 miles along the path of old Ely mines.  Here is a small shaft of one of them.

This large remnant of one of the mining operations is right across from a huge lodge where we ate lunch.

This is one of the lakes along the way!

Fishing on Newton Lake outside of Ely, MN

David and Jim had another fishing adventure close to the Boundary Waters.  The bicycle tires are for when they have to get out of the boat and portage the boat and supplies on land to another body of water, which they did.  This time we ate walleye, northern pike, and bass.

Kawishiwi Falls

As we were hiking to the falls we saw this tree that looked like it was walking!

 These falls were about 2 miles from our campground.  They were so beautiful and had much more water than many of the other falls we have seen.

 Here is where the falls feed out into a river.

This is the dam that feeds the falls.

Fishing

 The guys hired a fishing guide to take them out.  We ate walleye and northern pike for dinner!

Lake Kabetogama, MN

 We took an all day cruise on this lake in Voyageurs! It was a beautiful day and the water was incredibly calm.  We saw blue herons,

 and loons.

 We went to Kettle Falls where we had lunch at this old hotel that is still functioning.

 Afterwards we saw the falls that are on the dividing line between the U.S. and Canada and are jointly operated.

 We also saw eagles

and more eagles!  Some on the U.S. side and some on the Canadian!  They can cross the border more easily than us.

Orr

Our campground, the Ash Riviera, was quite remote.  One evening these two came to visit after dinner!

Orr, Minnesota

 We drove way out of town to this Bear sanctuary.

It was started to protect the bears that were wandering into camps and being killed.

 The bears are wild and there is no enclosure.  Food is put out nightly and the bears can come and go as they please.

 We were bused in and observed them from decks.

 Baby bears were very close by as the mamas were busy eating.  They all will soon go into hibernation.

International Falls, MN

 We went into town (40 minutes from our campground) to look around and see what was happening.

We were there just in time for the international Bass Festival!

Rainy Lake, Minnesota

 We took a 2 hour cruise on Rainy Lake, a part of Voyageurs National Park.

 Most of this park is accessible only by water.  It is made up of hundreds of islands.

 The early settlers thought they might find gold here.  This is one of the deserted mine shafts.

 There were many eagles to be seen.  They just seemed posed for us.

Nova Lab in Minnesota

We happened upon this site on the way to our campground and ended up taking the last tour of the year.  It is a joint effort by the University and the Dept of Energy to learn more about neutrinos, very small particles that have mass.  They study these things that are shot from the Fermi Lab in Chicago.  The whole tour was very interesting but way above my head in physics!

Solar Eclipse in Minnesota

 We took our chairs and the guys took their fishing gear to LaSalle Lake to wait for the eclipse.  You know it was in August 21, the middle of summer.  Notice what we are wearing to keep warm.

 We didn't need special glasses because the clouds protected our eyes and made it very difficult to see anything.

David was busy waiting for it!

Mississippi River in Minnesota

And you ask "Where is it?"  We have crossed the river over 80 times in our travels this year!

Itasca State Park

 We are at the top of a fire tower.

 This is the largest white spruce!

This is the fire tower we climbed.  It is over a hundred feet high and it was quite scary coming down as it is all open...even the stairs are not solid.

This is the view from the top of the tower looking out over many lakes.