Artist Point --- Grand Marais, Minnesota
Artist Point boast a rarity for the North Shore, an uncommon geographical formation known as a tombolo. They are created when a spit connects the mainland to an offshore island.
A tombolo forms over time, when strong winds and waves wash sand and small stones uphill on the shore, which then roll back down as the wave retreats. With the easterly wind of most major storms here this action slowly moved the sand and stones down the shore in a zig-zag pattern, known as "longshore drift".
When the longshore drift reached a headland, a higher point of shoreline, it was deposited and eventually formed a spit, a narrow strip of land. The spit lengthened until it joined an island, and the points tombolo was born.
The island that helped create Artist Point is a remnant of the areas past volcanic activity, a slab of basalt slanting up out of Lake Superior. The whole North Shore was a massive volcanic hotbed around 1 billion years ago. Much later, after the last Ice Age when the glaciers that covered much of North America retreated the landscape had been worn down by the mile-thick glacier of ice as it scraped its way along. If you look you can see scratches and gouges left in the rock by the ice.
To log this EarthCache complete the following and send your results to the cache owner listed at the top of the page using either the message center or Send E-mail link:
Make your way to the posted coordinates via one of the trails. You will find yourself on the lake side edge of the island that the tombolo connected to shore to form Artist Point. Describe the surface you're standing on - its color, texture, any unusual features. Do you think what you're standing on was like this before the last Ice Age or different?
Pictures are always appreciated as well.
Enjoy your visit to Artist Point - while here please practice Leave No Trace ethics - stay on established paths to avoid crushing plant life and do not pick any plants. If you bring food or water be sure to take any wrappers, bottles etc. back with you. Thank you to the Tofte and Gunflint Ranger District for their cooperation in developing this EarthCache.
