North Shore Fall Colors 2011! Fewer people, cooler temps and
things you don't see in the cities.
>>Report for September 16, 2011
Fall
Color Status:
Clear skies,
bright
sunshine, low humidity, cool and breezy. Winds out of the north are
causing migrating birds to stack up along Lake Superior
shoreline.
Images below of incredible severe thunder storm driven by smoke plume
from Pagami Creek fire in BWCA near Ely. Produced mesocyclone
with hail over Cook County. Sky was black with pea sized to one
inch hail with ash in it. Images from 4pm Monday September 12, 2011 below.
Looking west over
Grand Marais, Minnesota at head of Pagami Creek fire. Approx. 60
miles away.
Looking north over
Gunflint Trail, Minnesota at smoke filled mammatus clouds caused by Pagami Creek
smoke plume
Another image looking north over
Gunflint Trail, Minnesota at smoke filled mammatus clouds caused by Pagami Creek
smoke plume
Maples,
birch and aspen/poplars have started to change.
Many birch in the upper North Shore
area are turning bright yellow along Lake Superior. Generally colors are best for maple
and oak from mid September into early October. Colors for birch and poplar/aspen
are last two weeks of September into mid October. Tamarack
changes to lemon yellow at the end of September into early
October. We report fall colors into two areas; the
lower North
Shore and upper North Shore.
I35 road construction - try using Hwy 23 which connects Sandstone to Duluth. It
is a very scenic fall colors drive and will get you away from the
hustle of I35. Well worth the extra time...
2008 and 2009 - very late fall colors ended rather abruptly Oct 15th and 17th
as strong fall squalls rolled in. Watching these storms rip
leaves off trees and spin up Lake Superior into huge shore
pounding waves, is a spectacular scene.
>>Keep these things in mind;
Watch out for ticks... we've been finding very small deer ticks
on dogs and people. Hard to believe but, deer ticks are very
active during the warm fall days and often attach in the very private
body areas. Deer ticks are a recent invasive species that has
moved into North Shore areas, possibly from excessive deer
populations. (might be a good place to find an area to deer
hunt.)
Please be courteous to those that don't want to drive as
slow as you. Turn-out in a safe location and let faster traffic
pass. Not everyone is leaf looking. People live and work here
too. Thank you!
FALL COLOR REPORT FOR LOWER NORTH SHORE
/ DULUTH AREA / HWY 61 MILE 0 TO MILE 70>>>Duluth through
Little Marais, which includes
Tettegouche State Park, St.
Louis and Lake Counties. Current Report September 16; use early fall color
routes. Very nice early colors. Birch are turning bright yellow
from Silver Bay through upper North Shore along Lake Superior.
Maples are turning on early season routes. There are some road closures due to forest fire activity in Lake
and Cook Counties. See more info
about road closures. Awesome time of year to
hike North
Shore trails and explore the area.
FALL COLOR REPORT FOR UPPER NORTH SHORE HWY 61 MILE 70 TO USA / CANADA BORDER
>>>All of Cook County from Schroeder up through Grand Portage,
Gunflint Trail and the Canadian border area. Current
Report September 16; use early fall color routes. Birch are turning bright yellow along Lake Superior. Maples are
turning bright red on the Caribou Trail, Oberg Mountain tour and Honeymoon Bluff
tour. There are some road closures due to forest fire activity
in Lake and Cook Counties. See more info
about road closures. Awesome time of year to
hike North
Shore trails and explore the area.
Great opportunities exist for
wolf, deer and red fox watching along Hwy 61, especially at night. Wolf sightings
are on a sharp increase due to over population and Colvill has
been a hot spot the past two weeks. Between 9pm and
midnight last week we saw 6 wolves, 5 red fox and 32 deer on Hwy 61 between Grand
Marais and Judge Magney State Park. Another large white wolf
near Colvill fire hall last night, following two deer along the
roadway. Wolves are commonly seen on
and along Hwy 61 in Cook County in the; Lutsen area, Cascade River State Park area, up and through
downtown Grand Marais, Colvill, Kadunce River Wayside area,
Judge Magney State Park and Hovland.
2011 Report Archives
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See fall color images
of Oberg Mountain from September 30th, 2010.
See fall color images
of Cascade River from September 30th, 2010.
SPECIAL EVENT>>Split
Rock Lighthouse State Park Beacon lighting and anniversary of
the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Nov 10th.
read more about this event...