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 Lakefront slide-and-glideLake Superior parks specialize in moments of blissBy Steve Millburg  Shovel Point in Tettegouche State Park affords gorgeous views of Lake Superior. This vista looks south. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(Coastal Living And it means pies. Ah, the pies. Just northeast of Duluth along U.S. 61, three lakeside Minnesota parks shatter the notion that coping with the cold means staying indoors and waiting for spring. Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse and Tettegouche state parks all encompass scenic, trail-laced chunks of lakefront. Ice veils the Gooseberry River falls, turning them into fantastic sculptures that can change dramatically from day to day. Atop a 130-foot cliff, Split Rock Lighthouse majestically surveys its namesake park and the mighty lake itself. In Tettegouche, the half-mile trek along Shovel Point Trail rewards hikers with glorious views. The jagged shoreline looks as though Paul Bunyan roughed it out with his immense axe, then left boulders scattered like wood chips for someone else to clean up. Men, women, even little children traverse this brawny scenery with startling elegance on cross-country skis. The rhythmic stride-and-glide of the skiers as they whiz along seems irresistibly graceful to a klutzy neophyte. Gooseberry Falls State Park puts on an annual candlelight ski event (scheduled for February 18 this year). At the Visitor Center, members of a church group from Duluth sip cider and chat around the fireplace. How would they advise a beginner? "Take a lesson," says one woman. "Dress right," she adds -- and judging from her layers of high-tech fabrics, she knows whereof she speaks. Everyone suggests sticking to the groomed trails -- where a machine has smoothed the snow and cut tracks for the skis to follow. One man cheerily concludes, "Stay loose." Somehow, it all comes together. Even without a lesson, the beginner stays loose, remembers hints from helpful strangers (with each stride, thrust the hip forward along with the leg), and manages not to fall. Glass-enclosed candles flicker at regular intervals along the trails. Moonlight filters romantically through the birch trees. Stars splash across a cloudless sky. Conversations take place in murmurs. Such magic moments happen when one least expects them here in the north country. Sometimes, park visitors track them down using snowshoes (which amount to giant flip-flops that ride on top of snow) to explore the back country. Paul Sundberg, Gooseberry Falls' affable park manager and also an accomplished photographer, tells of snowshoeing far off the trail one day. He found some lovely nature scenes to shoot, then just stood for a while, breathing the crisp air and enjoying the feeling of being alive in such a beautiful place. After a few minutes, he saw something in the distance. A timber wolf was trotting his way, following the scent of a deer. Wolves prefer to shun people. This one, concentrating, nose to the snow, hadn't noticed the human. Paul glanced down. The deer tracks passed within two feet of his boots. Never again, he thought, would he have a chance for such a close encounter with such a magnificent wild creature. "I knew I couldn't move," he says. "I knew I couldn't make any noise." He held out until the wolf had closed to within 20 feet. Then, half-involuntarily, he made a tiny sound, hardly more than a breath. Without acknowledging the man's presence, the wolf immediately veered off and vanished into the trees. Paul never felt fear. Only regret. "I just couldn't do it," he says, shaking his head. Such experiences call for rehashing over dinner at Betty's Pies or the Rustic Inn, two friendly, folksy places on U.S. 61 near Gooseberry Falls, or maybe at the intimate Lemon Wolf Cafe a bit north in Beaver Bay. A diner can't go wrong with the walleye or the Minnesota wild rice (a favorite local grain that's not actually rice). But the main event comes at dessert. The Rustic Inn might have -- no kidding -- a dozen different kinds of homemade pies. Betty's Pies offers even more than that. Given the day's exertions, why not add a scoop of ice cream? Afterward, diehards may linger over one last steaming beverage around the big lobby fireplace at Cove Point Lodge, where the table lamps are carved from birch logs and every guest room overlooks Lake Superior. Stay loose? You bet! Copyright 2005 COASTAL LIVING Magazine. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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) -- Winter on the North Shore of Lake Superior means floating on cross-country skis through a snow-tufted landscape so hushed it seems to be holding its breath. It means the comforting smells of coffee and hot cider and wood smoke. It means fuzzy sweaters, a crackling fire, and shared laughter at the end of the day.
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