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Dan and Dawn's Northern Minnesota Adventures

Or, "Sure we can make it through here without getting stuck".

My husband Dan and I, Dawn, have camped in northern and northeastern Minnesota several times. We photographed trains and autumn color. One of the railroads we photographed was the LTV mining railroad at Taconite Harbor, MN. in 1999, 2001 and 2004. We also went to the 'Railfan Weekend' at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in September 2004 in Duluth. Our last adventure in northern Minnesota was exploring a primitive road near Isabella, MN. in October 2004.

In 1999, Dan and I, Dawn, rented a camper-trailer and stayed at several state parks to photograph the fall color and the LTV mining railroad trains. LTV had been known as Erie Mining, and used some old-style diesel locomotives on their trains. The type of engine (F9A and B) had been common decades ago, but these where the last of this type in regular freight use in the country by 1999. We were fortunate to have photographed the railroad; the mine closed and the trains stopped running in 2001. One of the few places to see the railroad from public property is at the boat landing/launch at Taconite Harbor, MN. One can see LTV's ore dock very well, as well as the train dumping the taconite pellets it brought from the mine in Hoyt Lakes, MN. We were able to see not only the train dumping ore into the dock pockets, but also a boat loading at the dock. A photo of this is at the right of this page.

The photo on the left shows the ore train as it is leaving the dock in October 2004. The grade up the hill from Lake Superior is so steep that the railroad track crosses US Highway 61 three times on bridges. The tracks make loops back and forth in order to lessen the grade. The photo on the right shows the view from the boat landing. The Joseph H. Thompson is loading taconite at the dock.

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One of the LTV's locomotive engines, #4211, was donated to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in April 2002. In the a autumn of 2004 the Museum loaned it back to the mining company. They used it along with their other locomotives to run trains to empty the remainders of the mine stockpile. It made for a matched locomotive set.

Wisconsin Great Northern engine #423 and passenger   train at Palmers, MN.

Soo Line engine #2500 and passenger train at Palmers, MN.

The next day the Museum lined up the locomotives for photos. The participants were allowed to climb up into them and photograph the inside of the cabs. The silver and black locomotive was the Illinois Central #101, on loan for the weekend by the Canadian National Railway. We were also allowed to use them for a camera platform. This is a bit unusual due to safety concerns. The clouds were actually helpful in getting good photos because the platform didn't cast shadows. Dan took the following two photos.

I believe that the LTV locomotive was sent out to the mining railroad later that same day.

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When we were photographing the LTV mining trains later in October, we took the opportunity to explore a primitive road east of Isabella, MN. Dan thought the Minnesota map shows an old railroad grade, and he wanted to see it.

	The road is off of National Forest Highway 7. It's condition was fairly good at the beginning. The thin line in the map book indicates it is a gravel road.
This part wasn't all that bad. It actually was kind of pretty scenery. Someone had posted his signs for bear hunting season. That should tell you something about the land in this area - thick forest.
	The road gets narrower, and turns into a dirt and grass road. The line on the map turns into a dotted line.
Then the grass next to the 'road' got taller and closer. It might be hard to see, but there is a road there. Dan thought we must be close to where the railroad had been, but we couldn't see any evidence of it.
Then finally, we had to stop. There was a very long and wide mud puddle in the middle of the 'road'. The grassy area on either side of it was also very soft. There was no room to drive around it, and it was too big to risk trying to drive through it. We saw fresh moose tracks in the mud. Dan decided that the former railroad was still a ways off yet, and that it was too muddy to risk getting stuck. Also, it was getting to be sunset—not a good time to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere. We decided it was time to turn around.
The map wasn't wrong when it showed the road turning into a 'Jeep trail'. The trail was very grassy at this point. Dan was able to turn the Jeep around, and we went back to the main road. It must be a nice ATV trail in the fall, and a good snowmobile trail in the winter.
A view of the sunset before leaving the back road.	A view of the sunset from the fishing deck at Dumbbell Lake.
We started to see the sunset when we got back to National Forest Highway 7. There is a handicapped-accessible fishing deck and a parking area at Dumbbell lake. We got there just in time to photograph the sunset. It's a nice place to stop if one's in the area. We then went back to our campsite in Temperance River State Park, and called it a day.
After dinner I took photos of the stars, trees and our campsite.	Autumn color on a Maple tree near Duluth, MN.
Autumn 2004 was unusual in that the fall color lasted so long, and there were so many sunny days. I took the photo on the right in Spirit Mountain campground, which is just outside of Duluth, MN. I just had to include the photo on the left. In past years it's been rainy and cloudy whenever I go up north to photograph the fall leaves. For once—finally—it was sunny. Follow the links to see some of our other adventures.

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