Over Labor Day weekend we went on our first camping trip with a baby! We drove up Highway 61 which is known as the North Shore Scenic Drive and camped along the North Shore of Lake Superior in beautiful Grand Marais. The charming harbor town is conveniently located at the beginning of the Gunflint Trail and is an entry point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The BWCAW is a 1,090,000-acre wilderness area within the Superior National Forest. It is renowned for canoeing and fishing and is the most visited wilderness area in the United States. It also seemed appropriate that we just so happened to be there on the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. This year America is celebrating “50 Years of Wilderness” to commemorate the signing of the Wilderness Act into law on September 3, 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As the Wilderness Act so eloquently states: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” We loved our visit to the Boundary Waters. We canoed, fished, hiked, camped, and drove through some of Minnesota’s most impressive and breathtaking landscapes. It’s where we fell in love with Minnesota. We can’t wait to go back!
