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• This weekend
  See elves, artists and Irish dancers.
• Next weekend
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• All quiet up north
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• Big birds
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  With an outdoors club, make friends, see new places and save money.
• Homes for the holidays
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• Culture in the bluffs
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• Ghouls ahoy
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• Bash on a bike trail
  Kick up your wheels at small-town fall festivals.
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• Closing the deal
  Believe it or not, it's time to reserve hot dates for 2009.
• Ely's blue over hues
  Act now to keep town's future bright.
• Eyes on the skies
  On bluffs and ridges, it's time to watch the hawk migration.
• Price check/A northwoods weekend
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• On the ropes in Lanesboro
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• In Iowa, a singular inn reopens
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• Hunters on the North Shore
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• Geocaching for beginners
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• Hot tip/A different North Shore
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• On the road/A fall drive along the St. Croix
  A stretch of river valley is packed with attractions.
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• Go on a trail-clearing trip
  If you enjoy a hike, help make it possible for others.
• In river towns, favorites debut anew
  On the Red Cedar and in Red Wing, three inns and restaurants finally reopen.
• Home of horsepower
  In Wisconsin, see where race cars, snowmobiles, outboards and motorcycles were born.
• Go swan watching
  

Remember the wrecks

On Lake Superior, gales of November bring haunting memories.

After 33 years, the mystery of the Edmund Fitzgerald is debated as hotly as ever.

In 1975, the seemingly indestructible ore freighter foundered in a vicious storm and sunk, carrying its captain and 28 crewmen with it. But why?

Among the theories: The 729-foot boat (pictured) hit a little-known reef and damaged its hull. Its steel and welds were overstressed from its years as a workhorse. It was hit by the Three Sisters, a Lake Superior phenomenon in which two rogue waves strike, followed by a third massive wave that overwhelms the boat as it struggles to recover.

The Fitz left from Superior, Wis., and went down 17 miles from the Michigan coast. Canada has jurisdiction over the wreck, and the captain and much of the crew were from Ohio.

Her bronze bell resides in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on Whitefish Point in Michigan.

But the Fitz was a familiar sight in Duluth, where the 21st Gales of November conference will be held Nov. 7-8. On Nov. 10 at Split Rock Lighthouse, the names of the 29 men will be read and the beacon is lighted, the only time of the year  when visitors can see it from inside the tower.

The anniversary also is observed Nov. 10 at Whitefish Point, where the Fitzgerald's bell is rung 30 times.

To vote on what you think sunk the Fitzgerald (and see what others think), go to Boat Nerd. The choices are Hatch Cover Leak, Damaged on Shoal, Cargo Shifted and Broke in Two (presumably, before it hit the bottom).

This year also marks the 103th anniversary of the Mataafa Blow, a late-November storm that damaged or wrecked 29 ships on Lake Superior; it was named for a steel steamer whose dramatic story unfolded just outside the Duluth harbor entry.

For details on making a shipwreck tour of Minnesota's North Shore, see Gales of November.

Last updated on November 13, 2008