Journeying Geographer: Day 11: Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

It seems winter has set in early in the old Northwest! While in the new Northwest you're basking in sunny summerlike weather, the temperature late this afternoon in Duluth was just 46 degrees, with intermittent rain showers and mostly overcast skies. Rivers are running high from recent rains, and some nearby areas are expecting snow tonight! We spent the day on or near Lake Superior. The largest of the Great Lakes, it's also the largest freshwater lake in the world in area and largest in North America in volume. In other words, it's ginormous. We're surrounded by water it seems, yet none of it is potable (at least I wouldn't trust it!).

The topography in this area is much more rugged than expected. The total relief (difference from highest to lowest elevation) just in Duluth is about 900 feet (about the same as Salem), from 600 feet at Lake Superior to almost 1,500 feet in the hills above downtown. Because of this, and many steep streets, Duluth has been called, "the San Francisco of the Midwest."

We began the day by taking photos at a viewpoint above the small town of Silver Bay on the north shore of Lake Superior. Silver Bay is a port that exports refined taconite, the iron ore we saw being mined yesterday near Hibbing. A large processing plant sits near the harbor.

The bulk of our day was spent in extreme northwestern Wisconsin. We wanted to get across the border before my friend flies back to Salem tomorrow morning out of Duluth, since he's never been to Wisconsin. We were both glad we did. We visited two state parks known for their waterfalls, and these were two of the most photogenic stops of the trip so far. Amnicon Falls was especially great for photos, as the river has many smaller falls cascading around a large island. It also has interesting geology (basalt meeting sandstone at the Douglas Fault Line), beautiful stands of aspen and red and eastern white pine trees, and the lighting when we were there was perfect: mostly cloudy skies. The water in the river here is actually foamy and root beer brown, not from sediment, but discolored from tannic acid from vegetation. Quite unlike any water I've ever seen. Pattison State Park is home to Wisconsin's highest waterfall, Big Manitou Falls, which plunges 165 feet into a gorge. The most scenic area was just upstream from the falls at Interfalls Lake, which has a large sandy beach and grassy area at its north end. The water here was the same root beer brown.

We ended the day by taking a scenic route I chose by carefully studying Google maps for a way to avoid the congestion of downtown during rush hour. Little did we know that route would take us directly over the highest part of Duluth and to a magnificent viewpoint overlooking the city and port. A great way to end this first leg of the journey. 125 more miles today; 2,406 miles total.

Silver Bay, MN

Exposed bedrock on the Canadian Shield above Silver Bay.

Northshore Mining taconite plant at Silver Bay, MN.

Piles of refined taconite (iron ore) pellets awaiting shipment.

Panoramic view of Lake Superior from Northshore Overlook above Silver Bay.

Snake Pit Falls at Amnicon Falls State Park near Superior, WI.

Snake Pit Falls.

Now and Then Falls, Amnicon Falls State Park. This only flows when flows in the Amnicon River are high enough, and they were obviously plenty high today!