Duluth to the Twin Cities

This morning I drove South to the Twin Cities, via Jay Cooke State Park and Mille Lacs Lake .

Jay Cook State Park is about 20 minutes South of Duluth, yet much wilder and more remote than the more highly touted North Shore Scenic Drive area. Oddly, I began to see color as I headed South, which makes no sense. The show piece of this park two converging rapids on the St. Louis River, which can be viewed from a swinging bridge. Photographic challenges included full sun and the swinging bridge. I was there early enough that there was very little traffic, but the light conditions were a struggle. After doing my best to photograph the showcased rapids, I took a rough trail that followed the river for some distance. I could see some additional falls, but there was no place to access a viewpoint. I was an able to capture some reflections and images of the interesting rock formations jutting out of the river. If I lived in this area the Jay Cooke State Park would be my preferred destination.

I then continued South, but decided to detour to Mille Lacs Lake to see if I could find some foliage reflections. The road out of the park offered some opportunities, as did the lake, but conditions were still not ideal. I did what I could then continued on to the suburb of Lino Lakes where my friend G. is graciously hosting me.

G. made me an amazing dinner of Lake Trout he had caught himself along with several different veggies. It was a really nice change from eating out of my cooler. And we ate it on his deck while catching up and watching an eagle and and osprey hunt for dinner. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Tomorrow I will visit a couple of destinations to learn about Minnesota history.

Additional images can be found in the Gallery .