BWCA Best halfway stop between MSP and Ely? Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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mrpili23
  
06/25/2018 11:08AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Aloha,

Our family is spending three weeks in July in Ely/BWCA. My son is going on the Nothern Tier one week canoe trek with BSA Northern Tier. We will also be making day trils into BWCA for fishing. We have just survived the four hour drive from Raton NM to Denver train station featuring giant RVs pulling cars at 80+ mph and thunderstorms and hail! The Colorado speed limit is 75 even thru mountains. At home, the speed limit on my three mile, two lane trip to work is 30 but we often go 38.

Since we arrive Friday morning at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for our Saturday cabin rental, I thought it might be prudent to stop about halfway on Friday and finish the trip on Saturday.

There seems to be series of small towns along the way. Can anyone recommend
a scenic town or resort at about the halfway point to spend Friday evening at?

Thank you very much and mahalo plenty!

William
 
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sylvesterii
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06/25/2018 11:49AM  
I think Duluth and all that it entails would be the clear choice. You could easily spend a week in Duluth and not see everything, but if you are looking for a quick stop with a bunch of places to check out, it can't be beat.
inspector13
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06/25/2018 11:49AM  
The drive from MSP airport to Ely is just about 4 hours. But if you would like to stop somewhere on the way, I would suggest Duluth, MN. There are lots of things to see and do there, and Duluth is located on Lake Superior, one of the largest bodies of fresh water on the planet. Duluth is about 2 1/2 hours from MSP and is a destination itself.

Gadfly
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06/25/2018 11:53AM  
Probably Duluth, its a tad out of your way but there is a lot to do. I would suggest spending some time in the canal park area. None of the other towns in that area really have anything to offer.
MatteMatt
member (19)member
  
06/25/2018 11:56AM  
I've stayed in Cloquet before to visit Duluth. Hotels were slightly cheaper.

Or you could make a stop at Duluth then continue to stay at Two Harbors, which is another popular vacation stop along the big lake.
andym
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06/25/2018 02:09PM  
I agree that one choice is to drive to Duluth and then have a long day to explore the north shore of Lake Superior enroute to Ely. Do a search for "lighthouse" and you will find a recent thread about things to do along that drive.

Another is to do the north shore on Friday and then go to Ely via Soudan and visit the mine, booking underground tours beforehand. On the other hand, with three weeks in Ely you can always go to the mine some other time.

Have a great trip.
06/25/2018 02:15PM  
Duluth and Lake Superior are worth the stop as others have mentioned.
GraniteCliffs
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06/25/2018 03:19PM  
If you stay in Duluth the Canal Park hotels are pricey but worth the money to stay on the lake.
DrBobDg
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06/25/2018 04:17PM  
Our Scout groups have stayed at the Methodist church in Duluth. The copper top church.

First United Methodist Church

See if you can stay overnight there. Costs were reasonable. LOTS of stuff to do down in canal park. Do the harbor boat ride for sure. Famous Dave's has great food. There is the Corp of Engineer Museum, the Great Lakes Aquarium, the train museum and train ride,

There is this place... Portland Malt Shoppe... for great ice cream and malts .

Yep...Duluth.

dr bob

jhb8426
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06/25/2018 06:18PM  
As all the others have said, Duluth is a good choice. If you need something sooner, Toby's in Hinckley is a good rest stop on the way. Restaurant, bakery, ice cream...

It's busy around meal times. It's only about 1.5 hrs out of the cities.
 
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