The Duluth Deluge

I was dreaming that it was snowing, everyone in Duluth was in awe as well as in distress at the extreme weather. But then I awoke. It was about 9:15 am. I checked facebook to find everyone talking about animals escaping from the zoo. Upon reading my email I discover that there is flooding in Duluth. First thing I thought about was Chester Creek. I immediately grabbed my camera then ran outside without changing clothes nor putting on shoes. 

After getting at the bottom of the ravine in my backyard this is what I found. Chester Creek had become Chester River. 

There's no hiking on the SHT today. 

But the really scary part was that there were landslides along the creek. This one got so close to this person's house. 

The stone stairs were also a waterfall. 

What was usually this:

Was this:

And what was usually this:

Was this:

It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. While I was taking photos it started down pouring and thunder storming. So I headed home for refuge. Afterward Tyler R. told me he wanted to walk around and check out the flood, so I headed back out. 

Chester Creek again.

The retaining wall for Whole Food's parking lot had collapsed.

Some people pay a lot of money to have waterfall landscaping. 

Off course no flood is complete without having cars fall into sinkholes. 

The steam was going crazy also. 

 Amy wanted her picture taken next to the exploding storm drain. 

Well maybe Chip Cravaack will finally give us the infrastructure funding we have been trying to get for so long. 

This flood had also gave rise to flood related internet memes. Here are some of my favorites:

I'm a Tourist Too

Since I work in the tourism industry I got a bunch of free passes to different attractions in Duluth. My sister Brooke came up for a day so that we could go be tourists. 

First we went on the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad to go for a train ride. This was the only tourist attraction I've had never heard of prior to this summer. It was really neat as not many people go on it as it is slightly off the radar of the standard tourist. 

The train ride starts in West Duluth. Then it rides along the western shore of the St. Louis River to New Duluth. And finally it returns to West Duluth.

Brooke made a friend.

This is a short video of the 1940's engine during the switch over. 

"Come ride us!"

You can see here in this photo that I did enjoy the ride very much. 

After the train ride I took Brooke to Glensheen to show her around the mansion. We also had lunch in the formal gardens. 

Despite the fact that I work here, I realized that I never photographed the house. So I made sure I took one. 

Next we decided to go on a cruise. Of course we went on the Vista Fleet. 

I took more than two pictures, but seeing how this blog has an overabundant number of pictures of the Aerial Lift Bridge, Lake Superior, and downtown Duluth, I decided to not post them. 

But wait, there's more:

Finally we toured the William A. Irvin: the former flagship of the U.S. Steel Corporation. 

The engine room.

This was the dining room for guests on the ship.

I could have played this up more. 

The guests' cabins had these awesome great lake lamps. 

And finally this is in the hull. 

The Vista Fleet gave us coupon books and one coupon was a buy-one-get-one-half-off sandwiches at Amazing Grace. So we of course ate there before Brooke went home. 

Climbing Ely's Peak

Today I had the day off, so I decided to climb Ely's Peak. At roughly 1,250 feet, Ely's Peak is a peak in the Sawtooth Mountains(the ridge that Duluth is built on and which extends along the North Shore.) It was also a sacred place for the Anishinaabe being a place of vision quests and rites of passage. Here boys would climb to the top with no food or water and lay on a rock. After several days the boy would have his vision quest. He would then climb back down as a man. 

I parked my car in Fond du Lac(which was once the location of an Anishinaabe village and is today Duluth's westernmost neighborhood) and started the ascend. 

I climbed the peak via the Superior Hiking Trail. My goal is to someday hike the entire SHT. 

A cool bridge crossing a creek. 

Found some wild roses. 

After climbing a hundred feet or so was able to see the peak. 

A muskrat or something. 

Wild strawberries: while they weren't entirely ripe, they were still delicious. 

Almost to the top.

And finally I reached the top.

A view of Spirit Island from Ely's Peak. Someday I want to canoe here. Spirit Island is also a really sacred place in Anishinaabe culture; probably more so than anything else in Duluth. According to the Migration Story, Spirit Island was the sixth and second last stop of the great migration of the Anishinaabe who came from the East Coast. The seventh and final stop was Madeline Island in the Apostles as it was the place where food grew on water: aka manoomin(wild rice.)

More landscapes

I also heard that there was an abandoned train tunnel that goes under Ely's Peak. After following some unmarked trails I finally found it. This tunnel was used by the Duluth-Winnipeg-Pacific Railroad. DWP is now a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway.

The middle of the tunnel was hazardous. It was pitch black and parts of the tunnel had collapsed, so I had to use my auto-focas light as a flashlight. 

Next time I am bringing a flashlight and a hot shoe flash. 

After the hike I was exhausted. So I stopped at Duluth's best (and possibly only?) real drive-in: A & Dubs. I needed some energy dense food, so I got onion rings and a strawberry milkshake.