Minnesota, Tower Part 1 July 29 - Aug 15

We are in HooDoo Point RV Park in Tower, Minnesota on Lake Vermilion.  We will be here for a whole month.  Our campsite is very nice and roomy.  You will see that from some of the pictures.  Speaking of pictures, there will be a lot of them for this stop that is why I am doing it in two parts. We are very near the area considered the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA).    The BWCA consists of 1,090,000 acres within Superior National forest in Northern Minnesota.   About 4 out of 5 vehicles either has a kayak or canoe on it.  We felt right at home.

Tower, Minnesota

Our site is very large with lots of room to put up the double screen room over the picnic table.  Kay and I spent many hours eating and playing games in that room.  Of course she claims I whipped up on her most of the time.  But I think when all is said and done, it was quite even.  The big wood pile in front of the camper was a free gift from some people near Ely, MN.  We were driving down a road looking for a place to launch the kayaks, when we spotted this bunch of logs alongside the road with a sign on them saying (FREE).  So with my frugal nature, I started loading the logs into the truck.  Along came the owner and asked us if we didn't want to just back up the truck into their driveway to load the logs they had just cut.  They said this way we do not have to haul them down to the road.  Nice Folks.

This view is looking out the door of the camper at Lake Vermilion.  During the week, there were no campers parked in front of us, so the view was very nice.  But on the weekend, it was full of campers.  We met a lot of nice people that camped here.

As you drive into the town of Tower, this train is the first thing you see.

About 3 miles down the dirt road we came to this spot.  It is the entry point to Farm Lake which is located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness.  

Looking out over Farm Lake.  We will come back to this spot to launch the kayaks some day after the rain stops.

Zoe and Max waiting for the rain to stop so they can go for a walk with Kay.

It did stop raining and the dogs got their walk and a little swim.

I tried to fish here, but nothing was biting.  

Kay did get some flower pictures.  This one has a fly on it.

We took a trip to the International Wolf Center which was located east of Ely.  There were only 4 wolfs in the center, and we only saw one.  We were a bit disappointed.

Statues of wolfs outside the center.

Kay doing her flower thing.  The following flower pictures were taken along the road near Tower.

This is one of my favorite flower pictures.

Our first kayak trip was in the south bay of Lake Vermilion. The bridge is on Hwy 1 west of Tower.

We chose this place, because there is a dam just before you get to the main part of Lake Vermilion.  There should not be any boats on this section of the lake.  The next few pictures are scenes of the kayak trip.

Kay took this picture of the dragonfly that landed on her kayak.

As Kay got back to the launch point, she found these dogs swimming in the lake.

Sunset at Hoo Doo Point Campground

My brother Jim and his wife Bev came up to visit us for a few days.

Once again lots of games and eating done in the screen tent.

Jim and Bev spent one night at the Fortune Bay Casino.  We met them there and had a very nice buffet dinner.

At the campground store, they sold hard ice cream.  So we had to try it out.

Jim and Bev getting ready to go back to Sebeka.  They are standing by our own private lake in the road in front of the camper.

We will see them again in Sept on our way to Redfield, SD

Some scenes around the campground.

We got a new freezer to fit into the coat closet.  We have been looking for one for a long time.  The kids next door, wanted the empty box for a house.  So I cut a door into one side of it for them.

This eagle landed in a tree at the campground.  

It circled just above my head around the campground, so I got a good picture of it looking straight up.

I put up a bird feeder behind the camper so we could see it from our back window.  There were many of this kind of bird that ate up most of my bird seed.

We met Heather and Marshall while we were kayaking near International Falls.  They live in the country just outside of Ely.  Kay and I went to visit them at their home, and then all of us went back to Ely so Heather could show us the sights of Ely.

This is the old boiler building on the back side of Pioneer Iron Mine in Ely, MN.

The Forest Service has water landing base in Ely.  This is one of the planes they use.

I was going to talk the USFS into giving me a ride, but that did not work.

After Heather gave us a tour of Ely, we went kayaking, and Heather and Marshall went canoeing on Shagawa Lake which is just north of Ely.

Common Loon.  Here is an interesting fact about Loons.  They are one of the few birds that have solid bones.  They can’t walk on land, so they spend most of their life on the water.

Young Eagle, they do not start to turn white until they are about 3 years old.

The leaves are already turning.  Hope we get out of Minnesota before the snow.

The dogs along the shore of Lake Vermilion by the campground.

A trip to the Fortune Bay Casino.  It always makes Kay smile.

This is one of the machines I was playing.  I left the casino with more money than I came in with.

To see the rest of the stay at Tower, MN go to  Part 2