It's Fall Ya'll: Lots of places around the Big Lake neighborhood are experiencing the full bloom of fall. Visit Cook County in Minnesota posted this image on the day of the Autumnal Equinox with this note: "It's the autumnal equinox today (Sept. 22), meaning the sun is exactly above the equator creating equal amounts of day and night. For us in the northern hemisphere, it is the official start of astronomical autumn. However as you can tell by the photo, we are well into fall around here as meteorological autumn started a few weeks ago. Over the course of a few days we've jumped from about 40% peak fall colors to 75%. Now both the tops and bottoms of the trees are in full display. Still this is mainly in the maple forest, the birch and aspen are primarily still green. For those in the area this week, charge your batteries because it's going to be a beautiful time in the forest!" The visitor site links to its fall color report and the state fall color map. We suggested 7 Great Fall Drives and a Few Fabulous Fall Hikes on all four shores of the Big Lake. Check local color reports to see the best times to enjoy autumn. The peaks and valleys of color vary even on the same roadways we noted on a drive yesterday along Seven Bridges Road in Duluth.
Phase 2 Locked In: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials announce this week that Kokosing Alberici LLC of Westerville, Ohio, won the more than $111 million construction contract for Phase 2 of the new lock at Sault Ste. Marie. The mega-project will take three phases to construct. Phase 2 will stabilize the existing approach walls, allowing modern vessels to tie up and wait their turn to pass through the new lock (yet to be named). Construction will begin in spring 2021 and take about two years to complete. The project’s Phase 1 to deepen the upstream channel began this summer and is expected to be completed by Trade West Construction in November. That work is deepening the eastern area of the decommissioned Sabin Lock’s north channel so Kokosing Alberici can begin work immediately in that area during the spring 2021 construction season. Phase 3, the actual construction of the lock, is predicted to begin in 2022. The Soo Locks take boats up or down the 21-foot elevation change on the St. Marys River falls. Over 85% of cargo tonnage through the locks is restricted by vessel size to the Poe Lock. This new lock project will construct a second Poe-sized lock (110 x 1,200 feet) on the decommissioned Davis and Sabin locks site. From the Facebook page for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District, this photo shows the tug Anglian Lady locking through amid the fall foliage this week.
Call of the Wild: This is the time of year that photographer Paul Sundberg (retired superintendent of Gooseberry Falls State Park in Minnesota) heads into the woods to try out his moose calling. The purpose is to attract the attention of an interested bull moose, but last week Paul and his photo cohort David Johnson got a little different response. Paul picks up the story in his weekly photo blog: "David Johnson and I headed up the Gunflint Trail to spend the morning calling moose. It was a calm morning, which made for perfect moose calling. Sounds carried into the distance echoing across the landscape. I use my mouth to imitate the sound of a love-sick cow moose, which is amplified by a fiberglass cone handmade in Alaska. When used properly, it sounds amazingly like a cow moose. After calling for 10 minutes, we heard what at first sounded like a loon about a quarter mile to the north. After a couple more calls, we realized that it is the howling of a wolf. Each
call brought the wolf closer. After about 15 minutes, the howling came from directly in front within the pines. We also heard wolves behind us. The pack split up, circled us and communicated with their howls. We realized that they actually thought that I was a cow moose and were wondering if they should attack. We weren’t really alarmed, but it was an adrenaline-pumping moment to be surrounded by a pack of wolves that thought you are something to eat. The last howl we heard was to the south and we decided that they moved on. I continued calling and soon saw David, who was at a higher elevation, taking photos. The wolves circled us twice and are now spread out in the vegetation. The ones David was photographing darted from one spot to the other trying to drive us toward the other wolves. I kept calling like a moose and David told me later that every time I called the wolves reacted with more excitement. This is David’s photo (with the single wolf). David signaled me that a wolf crossed the trail in front of us and whispered “white wolf.” I had moved closer to David to try to get to a point where I could see the wolves. That was a big mistake! At least one moved across the trail, so I needed to get back to where I was first set up. I retreated to my original post, and there in front of me was the white wolf about 50 yards away. I tried to get my camera in the right spot, and he sensed my movements. Before I got off a photo, he moved behind the nearest bush. … He retreated, keeping the bush between us until he was out of sight. I am sure he was disgusted that their moose breakfast just evaporated. David and I talked about the encounter and thought this was a once in a lifetime adventure. At this point we didn’t realize that this once in a lifetime adventure would happen two days in a row." That's right, the same pack came out when the two went moose calling the next day and the photo with more of the pack here is what resulted. Read the full story at Paul's website, where you can sign up for Paul's Photo of the Week blog online.
One Door Closes, One Opens: The winds of business have shifted time and again this pandemic-driven year. We were sad to learn of the pending closure Oct. 25 of Waters of Superior in Duluth's Canal Park. The gallery/boutique gift shop is owned by photographers Craig Blacklock and Jeff Frey. It features large photo wall hangings and a wide variety of high-class decor items and clothing. In a joint statement about the closure, Craig and Jeff wrote, "Waters of Superior started in Grand Marais as a catalog company and store in 1999, with the concept of celebrating our area's Scandinavian heritage and the natural beauty of Lake Superior. The Canal Park store opened the following year, and has remained a favorite shopping destination among locals and visitors for the past 20 years. Waters is a hybrid store: part gallery (representing the works of over 100 artists) and part boutique (with upscale women's clothing, jewelry, fine gifts, and products for home and bath. The beauty and wonderful feeling within Waters of Superior reflects the fine taste of our managers, Aubrey Danielson and Cindy Emerson, and the many wonderful employees who have been a part of our family for the past two decades. While the store has been profitable, COVID-19 has reduced sales dramatically, and projections showed it would have been impossible to make it through the winter and spring, especially without Duluth’s normal convention business." Under the current clearance sale, regular price items currently are 30% off with 20% off consignment art. Shop in the store Thursday-Monday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Online shopping only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Craig, meanwhile, continues his Craig Blacklock Art Gallery in Moose Lake.
Meanwhile, after a six-month closure for COVID and extensive renovations, the Frost River Trading Co.'s retail store in Duluth's Lincoln Park Craft District opened on Thursday (Sept. 24) with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. "We closed our retail location and shifted operations to produce
PPE masks and shields back in March and saw this shutdown as an ideal time to complete major renovations to the store's interior and façade without disrupting retail operations," said owner Christian Benson. "With fall and the holiday season fast upon us, the time is right to reopen the store with our COVID measures for safe shopping in place. Grand reopening activities continue through the weekend with special discounts and offers, a blacksmith demonstration, and neighboring businesses helping to celebrate. Bent Paddle Brewery will serve a First Frost cask beer, Love Creamery is offering Frost River-themed ice cream flavors and Corktown Deli is making an Old Nine-Claw sandwich named after Frost River's grizzly bear store mascot.
International Honors: A Thunder Bay filmmaker earned two awards during the Toronto International Film Festival announcements last weekend. Michelle Latimer's "Inconvenient Indian" earned the People's Choice Documentary Award and inaugural Amplify Voices Award. The film is an adaptation of Thomas King’s award-winning 2012 book by that name and explores the cultural colonization of Indigenous peoples in North America. The author speaks through voice overs in the film and stars Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Nyla Innuksuk.
Light Load: The Stannard Rock Lighthouse about 42 miles from Marquette, the farthest lighthouse from a coast in the United States, got some love this week when the Superior Watershed Partnership partnered with the Marquette U.S. Coast Guard station to send Great Lakes Conservation Corps members to do work there. (Here crew leader Trevor Slinkard, left, and crew member Emma Stafford, right, stand before Stannard Rock Light in the distance.) The light is often referred to by the Coast Guard as one of the
loneliest places in the country, according to SWP. GLCC's rehabilitation efforts included a deep clean of the lighthouse's interior and measurements for the replacement of breached windows. The service to Stannard Rock yielded 13 bags of debris that were hauled back to the mainland with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard. "The crew from Coast Guard Station Marquette values our relationship with the team associated with SWP deeply," said Petty Officer Terry Bailey. "It's not often that we have the chance to make the loneliest place in the country feel crowded with great people. We have enjoyed the lighthouse visits over the years and we look forward to the visits in the years to come." SWP acquired Stannard Rock Lighthouse from the federal government in 2015 and is working with partners including the U.S. Coast Guard to continue ongoing rehabilitation of this historic structure. This lighthouse has withstood 138 years of battering Lake Superior waves and crushing ice. SWP's rehabilitation plan is focused on preserving this unique piece of Upper Peninsula history for generations to come as part of its land conservancy program. This kind of work, by the way, earned the Superior Watershed Partnership & Land Conservancy the 2020 Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award, announced in the October/November issue mailing from the printer today! Read more about it soon and congratulations SWP!
Andy's Next Go Round: The next installment in the Lake Superior Circle Tour video series of intrepid Lake Superior circler Andy Kaknevicius has been uploaded. In Episode 4, Andy takes us to White River, Marathon and Terrace Bay, Ontario, "with a few special features and guests in between," notes Andy. "Looking along the Trans Canada Highway it appears to be a very remote stretch of road. Episode 4 reminds us to check the map, Google the area, and you will be pleasantly surprised at what the Lake Superior coast has to offer. (Ad)Venture off the highway. We take a short look at Pukaskwa National Park. It is one of the most rugged and pristine sections on the Lake Superior coast. It definitely qualifies for an exclusive episode, but demands preparedness, expertise far beyond this videographer's capability. Although never say never." Andy is on the move for now, so the series, new episodes of which he's been posting weekly, resumes mid-October "with a bang and a boom," according to Andy. "We move up-close with period actors during a dramatic war reenactment between the British and Americans in 1816 at Fort William, Thunder Bay. We also explore a number of natural wonders along the north shore of Lake Superior and some famous Ojibwe stories."
Photo & graphic credits: Visit Cook County; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Paul Sundberg; David Johnson; Waters of Superior; Frost River Trading Co.; "Inconvenient Indian"; Superior Watershed Partnership; Great Lakes Conservation Corps; Andy Kaknevicius
Around the Circle This Week editor: Konnie LeMay