MI copper point ski & waterfalls visited

The sign with all the stats for the ski jump. This is near Wakefield Michigan.
The ski jump as viewed from below.

This is the top of the ski jump. It is 1782 ft above sea level and nearly 1200 ft above lake Superior. It was foggy on the lake so we could not see it from the top. The very top is where we went to see 2500 sq ft across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota/Canadian border.
The ride up was an 800 ft chair lift then the 18 story elevator ride and the 8 story climb.
This is a view of the trees and flowers we saw on the way up. Double click to see the pretty flowers.
Boy don't I look small compared to the jump and the trip we are about to take. This is the base of the elevator.
Still going to the top. It was an 18 story ride in the elevator then an 8 story walk the rest of the way to the top.
This view is down the slope. Done by experts they actually can fly 600 ft before hitting the ground to ski. In competition the skiers can get up to 70 mph.
A view from the top over the forest.
A view from the backside as we were going home.
Following are just a few of the waterfalls we have seen around the Wakefield MI area. This area has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the states.




This is an exposed root system of a tree along our path to the falls.
This is one of the paths taken to get to the waterfalls. It was really a beautiful area.

MN lighthouses and tacanite loading/shipping

The sign tells of the new and old docks. The old wooden dock is shown below. This shows how much tacanite can be loaded and how fast.
Here you can see the train on the dock above the dump shoots. The train gets into position and a man goes along to open the bottom of the cars to dump the tacanite into the shoots. (those tall red things are the shoots)

This is the loading of the taconite from the train dump into the ship. The shoot on the right shows the tacanite starting to flow into the ship.
The train can be seen above the loading device which is above the ship. The train dumps into the tall bins shown above the ship and then they are dumped into the ship. This is one of the docks used to load Tacanite or iron ore pellets.
This is the old dock.

Split rock lighthouse and Lake Superior in the background near Two Harbors MN.
Two Harbors lighthouse and grounds in MN. near Duluth. The light master and his family lived here.This is from the garden to the side of the lighthouse above.
We took a short walk to the beach near the lighthouse and saw this mom and baby ducks.
This is a view of Lake Superior through one of the portal windows in the lighthouse tower. It also shows the tacanite loading docks in the back ground.

more Minnesota

Minnehaha Falls in St Paul Minnesota.
President Johnson visited the falls and left his footprints as seen in the 2nd photo.

To get to the dam area we had to go under the bridge or the roadbed. The water was so high we had to get in the bottom of the boat. This was at Knife Lake with our friends and Bil's fishing buddy doing the navigating of the waterways.
Bil is at it again- this time it is a large mouth bass.

This was a view out our dining window one evening.
This appears to be snow - but a closer look at the second photo shows what it truly is.
massive amounts of dandelions were everywhere and left to grow as fields of flowers.

This heard of deer were regular visitors to our friends land where we stayed for about 3-4 weeks. It was more picturesque than many parks we have stayed.
The dark area in the center tall tree is a large-old eagle nest that is used yearly. Double click to see it. This was on Knife lake also.
The eagle headed for the nest above.
Flooding in one of the campgrounds near ours in Minnesota. There was a lot of flooding throughout the area.

Our Minnesota stay

The Great Hinckley Fire of 1894 monument to those who died.Hinckley Pit Monument and Slide area - notice the pertty tulips.
one of the fire signs from the museum
the coroners sign about the number of deaths
the hight of the fire and distance it was seen.

one of the thunderstorms we were in. This one we were driving. First photo was at 6:00 next one is at 6:30 and the third one is at 7:00.
This is a view of the countryside as we were headed to Mille Lacs Lakes area.
across the lake of our friends place on Knife Lake.
Beaver house in one of the lakes. Notice how bare the trees are.
Frost on top of the truck - it was 37 degrees. if you double click you can see the date.
Bil and another of his catches. This was at Knife Lake.
A couple of old ice houses - must be out to pasture as they would never see another winter in the present condition.
this is later in the month-see how green and full the trees are now.
Sunrise at the Hinckley RV park. We stayed there about 3 1/2 weeks.
Bil and his buddy Dick with the pay off for the first fish of the day. note the dollar in the fishes mouth. They bet on first fish every time they went out. The dollar often went back and forth.
This was on Mille Lacs Lake early in the month of May as we were headed to see Bil's nephew.
Ice and snow on the same lake. The water was too cold in that lake for opening day of fishing for the fish to come out.
one of the flooded areas as we entered Minnesota. The water is high everywhere.
A rather picturesque farm in one of our drives. It was called Almost a Ranch as seen on the barn.
An old bank building in one of the small towns. Note the work bank in the glass of the window.

I think this barn has been "used up".
Early in the month the trees were really bare and made things look rather desolate.