Otter Lake Road to Jackson Lake Road

Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2011Here’s a new feature for my hikes. It seems like I’m always hiking on Memorial Day. So, if I’m always hiking on that day, I might as well remember somebody. And today I’m remembering Jerry Carey. Back in the late 1980’s I was involved with Boy Scout Troop 29 of Bashford United Methodist Church. Jerry’s son Bill joined the Troop and Jerry signed up on the Committee. Jerry was previously involved with the Pack at Marquette Elementary. To tell you the truth, Troop 29 was at a low point. I had signed on to help keep the Troop afloat. There were thoughts going around about shutting down the Troop because we only had 7 boys. But with the eternal optimist Jerry around, we kept going. Jerry wasn’t the greatest outdoorsman. He didn’t go on all the outings. But what he did do, he did great. He was the Troop’s Advancement Coordinator, and was always doing other things, too. He was a Pharmacist by trade and an upholsterer by hobby. And he was the best volunteer we had. We kept the Troop going, and eventually it picked up again. And it is a thriving Troop to this day. I last saw Jerry in September of 2009 when he was visiting his brother at the nursing home that my mother was staying at for recovering from the Shingles. Jerry looked as good and energetic as always. Gerald “Jerry” Carey died on February 17, 2001 from Cancer. I carried Jerry’s prayer card with me for this whole week of hiking. My sympathies go out to his wife, Charlotte, and his son, Bill. God must have needed someone to do some upholstery work on the throne.I thought I woke up in plenty of time to make breakfast and be ready by 9:00 am when Jeff would shuttle me. But I was wrong. Jeff came up to the BRT Trailhead and I was still eating breakfast. I asked him to give me ten more minutes and he did. I scarfed down my oatmeal and hot chocolate and quickly got my stuff together. In ten minutes, I was ready to go.

To follow along with the photos of this hike Click Here

So, we drove down Otter Lake Road to the east and turned south on Jackson Lake Road. Then it was about 8 miles down to the Jackson Lake Road Trailhead. When I got down to the Trailhead, I saw that my bike was still locked where I had put it. I grabbed my hiking stuff and went into the front passenger seat of the van. To my surprise, Beth was sitting in the back of the van. We headed back up Jackson Lake Road. I was really thankful for the shuttle because that saved my about two hours of bike riding on theses gravel roads. Plus, it had started raining during the shuttle. Riding my bike for 10 miles in the rain did not sound fun.

We got up to the SHT Trailhead on Otter Lake Road and I realized I could not find my plastic pocket with my maps in it. I use a caribiner to attach it to the front of my hiking vest. I told Jeff and Beth that I must have left it in the van because I knew I had it at the BRT Trailhead. But the SHT is such a good trail that I really didn’t need a map. But Beth gave me one of her SHT maps from for the upper section of the SHT. These maps cost 50 cents at the SHT Store. I thanked Jeff and Beth, and offered to pay them but they said, no. I got out of their van, and they were on their way back to the Swamp River Campsite.

I hiked down the long driveway into the SHT Trailhead. There were 3 cars in the lot, which is good because it means there are some people hiking the trail. Maybe I will bump into some of them. I set out my Spot Messenger on the SHT sign and I proceeded to start writing in the SHT logbook located in a wooden box. While I was writing I heard some honking and I turned around to see Jeff and Beth’s Van pulling into the SHT Trailhead. They pulled up and rolled down their window and said that they found my map pocket at the BRT Trailhead. Wow, they saved me again, thank you Jeff and Beth.!!!

Well, that was my first misadventure of the day. But I would soon have another one. I had lost the black clip for the belt of my hiking pants. Now my pants were threatening to fall off. I looked in my first aid kit and found a safety pin and used it to tighten up my pants. The Spot Messenger sent it message so I started hiking down the trail. It didn’t take long and the safety pin popped open and I was in danger of having my pants fall off. So I pinned my pants up again and continued walking. But it popped open again so I decided to start walking for a while with one hand holding up my pants.

The trail up here is quite flat and goes through some scrubby grasslands. The trail is quite wide, good enough for a ski trail, and looks like it is mowed perhaps every year. I suspect that it is and old logging Road. The Trail has some 25 foot high pine trees on each side of the trail. These pines are just the right size to cut down and use as a Christmas Tree in the State Capitol. From time to time, the trail is wet. It’s raining, so it doesn’t really matter if the trail is wet. I have a nice cozy van sitting down at the end of the hike, so that changes my attitude a quite a bit.

After hiking a half-mile or so the SHT takes a sharp right hand turn into some pine woods. There is a sign with an arrow at the turn. At this point, the trail narrows and is no longer an old logging road. This is a combination of pines and grassy areas. In other words, this woods isn’t as dense as most other woods in the area. There are some views of the surrounding area, but no major scenic views Maybe the description of this area is called Pine Barrens. The trail has some straight sections, and some grassy sections. In on of the grassy sections, the soil is upturned like someone was trying to dig up the sod. The grass was kind of flipped over, exposing the soil below. I’m told bears do this as a way of finding grubs and worms. But I had not seen any bear poop anyplace, yet. However, I did see plenty of moose droppings. In fact, there was one spot that must have been some moose’s favorite spot to stand, because the trail was totally covered with moose droppings.

As I continued on, I encountered a wet stretch of around 30 yards. This is to be expected in the spring, especially with all the rain that has been falling the last few days. It was still falling. Speaking of stuff falling, my pants were falling from time to time. I had put two safety pins on my pants, but they kept popping open. I felt like some of the kids I see in my neighborhood in Madison. They walk around with their pants falling off their butt. Most of the time I think it’s fairly comical because they are doing it on purpose. Meanwhile, I’m trying to keep my pants up and I’m having a hard time doing so. After the wet area I got to a short boardwalk and then another wet area. Then I saw a bridge, it was a rather large bridge for going over a creek. It must have been at least 30 yards long. But it wasn’t just a creek, the bridge went across a marshy area, with the creek being in the middle. This must be Andy Creek I thought, and soon afterwards, I made it to the Andy Creek Campsite.

Making it to the Andy Creek Campsite reminded me that I had not seen a downed tree over the trail for the whole length of my hike so far. That’s because Tony Yarusso and his dad had cleared the trail and stayed at the Andy Creek Campsite on Saturday night. At least that’s what his plan was during an exchange of emails on the SHT Hiker Yahoo Group Site. I have never met Tony, but he is a regular on the hiker group. So, thanks Tony and his dad for volunteering on the trail. I was enjoying hiking their part of the trail, even though it was raining and part of the trail was wet. And then there was the perpetual hazard of my pants falling down

The woods are not as dense here as other places on the Trail. So maybe fallen trees are not that much of a problem for the Trail Maintainers here. It says in the SHT Guidebook that the trail gets weed whipped here. So, maybe weed whipping is the main responsibility of the volunteer trail maintainer. I know that they make special mowers with a weed whipper string on it instead of a blade. These mowers are especially made for trail use. Maybe that’s what they used here.

I stopped at the Andy Creek Campsite and pinned up my pants again. This time I used duct tape to cover the head of the safety pin. That seemed to work a little better. Even though the Andy Creek campsite doesn’t have much of a view, the one excellent thing about it is that you can find a nice grassy spot to pitch your tent on. The campsite did have the usual campfire ring with 2 x 12 planks for seating. That’s always a nice feature of a SHT Campsite.

I started out again through the scrubby Andy Creek area. It was good walking now. It seems as though the elevation was just a little bit higher and there was lots of solid ground beneath my feet instead of wet areas. And there were some really straight stretches of trail where you could build up a head of steam. I walked for a fairly long time during these conditions, and then it happened. I found my first downed tree of the trail. It wasn’t much of a downed tree and was easy to walk over. It seemed that it was there for a long time because the bark was worn off in the area that people walk over. Then I walked for a long time through the scrubby woods without seeing another downed tree.

But what I did see was an enthusiastic young man coming my way. This is where I met Kyle. He seemed happy and was abounding with energy. I asked him if he was hiking alone, and he said no, there were two more guys coming. But these two guys didn’t look so happy. It was still raining at everything was wet, so it wasn’t a Chamber of Commerce Day for hiking. The other two guys were Ted and Tim. I told them that the trail was fairly easy the rest of the way, but there was some wet spots. The one guy had on an open shoe design for his shoes, so I said it must be fun walking through the water in those. He seemed to agree. I took their photo and gave them a “I saw Tman” Card, and they were on their way.

After that I went over a little bridge and encountered a little bit of wet trail, but then it was a dry trail for a long time. Again, I was walking through a scrubby area, perhaps it was logged off many years ago. Eventually I hit an area that was more wooded, and also found more downed trees. But I didn’t encounter anything too bad. Then I headed through a scrubby area again and finally made it to Andy Lake Road. It’s a gravel road, but it’s not as nice as Jackson Lake Road or Otter Lake Road. It’s more of a two track road with gravel. There are SHT signs on each side of the road giving mileage to the next trail landmarks. There is also a pile of dirt and rocks sitting next to the road. Maybe it was left over from building the road. The sign said it was 1.5 miles to the highest point on the trail, so I started walking up the hill.

The Trail goes up at a gradual and steady rate, but nothing overwhelmingly steep. Eventually when you get close to the top, you get to a spot where the trail takes a turn to the left. Then the trail is fairly flat, and you are walking this big circular pattern until you’re headed back to the right again. Then you hike in that direction, which would be heading east, for a long time. But it was easy walking up there on top of the ridge. I was walking through a real woods now, ever since Andy Lake Road, not a scrubby woods. But still there were not many downed trees. I walked and walked, and surely I thought I must have passed the place that was the highest elevation on the trail. Then the trail went downhill, so surely I thought I must have passed it. Then it must have went gradually uphill because eventually I made it to the sign that said it was the highest elevation on the trail. I could have sworn that I went downhill to get to it. At any rate, there is no view there, but I took a photo of me standing next to the sign.

I kept going, and every once in a while you would get a little glimpse of a view but not a full-blown overlook. Then you get to a spot where you see a fast downhill area to the left of the trail and the trail descends sharply at what I call the dicey spot. It’s a very narrow and scary section, but it doesn’t last long. Thank god.

Then you’re headed down for a ways, then it gradually goes up again until it starts looking like you’re getting on top of something at a rocky area. That’s where you get to an overlook. It’s a nice overlook, but the trees are starting to get in the way. After the overlook, you start encountering some downed trees at a more frequent rate. And because we are hiking in a regular forest with more mature trees, some of the downed trees are big gnarlies that are hard to get around. The trail heads gradually down for a ways then gradually goes back up. Then you see Jackson Lake down the hill ahead of you. The trail takes a right hand turn, then you are hiking parallel with the lake, except you are up on a ridge looking down at it. And there are some good spots with overlooks of the lake. I looked down to see if I could spot any moose, but I didn’t see any. I bet if you stayed there all day, you’d see some, especially in the morning and evening. I did see some moose droppings on the trail. The Trail keeps going on the ridge above the lake for quite some time.

Eventually, you get you start a gradual descent of the ridge. This is where I met Randy and Danny, a father and son duo who were backpacking. They looked to be fairly experienced backpackers, except they didn’t have hiking poles. They were from Elk River, Minnesota, which they described as being about 40 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. Danny said that the campsite is about a half mile away. I told them that it seemed like I was hiking on this ridge above Jackson Lake for a long time, and I was looking forward to getting to the campsite because it was my next landmark. I took their photo and gave them an “I saw Tman” card, and they were on their way.

I was a little disheartened that the campsite was still a half-mile away. I had imaged the campsite to be on Jackson Lake, which I had pretty much completely passed by now. But when I read my copied pages from the SHT Guidebook, they call the campsite the Jackson Creek Pond Campsite. So the campsite is not on Jackson Lake. Eventually I did find a rushing creek that was damned up by beavers to make a marsh pond. The bridge over the creek was pretty unique. There was a downed tree that was about 2 feet in diameter. They built the bridge right on the tree, using the tree as the support for the bridge.

Then there were a series of other bridges, and a sign that said “Jackson Creek.” After the creek you go uphill for a little bit and see a big boulder. According to the SHT Guidebook this is called Jeremy’s Rock and it is a large glacial erratic. Whatever they call it, it’s cool. It’s split in half, and there is a crevice that’s big enough to stand inside. Just a few yards away from the rock is the Jackson Creek Pond Campsite. I set my gear down on the wood benches of the fire area, The fire area is very cool because there is a tipped over tree at the one end of the fire area. So there is a big chunk of earth sticking up with the roots, providing a windshield. This campsite had some worn earth spots for tent pads, which is not as nice as having a grassy spot like at the Andy Creek Campsite. But the Andy Creek Campsite looks like it could be hot during the summer, with little shade, where this campsite was in the middle of a regular forest, with plenty of trees for shade.

At the Jackson Creek Pond campsite is where I finally settled my pants issue. I got a piece of rope out of my diddy bag and used the rope to hold up the pants in a suspenders fashion. It worked. It had stopped raining and I was in a good mood. I knew it was less than two miles back to the van. I took a nice break at the campsite with some food and drink. I went down to Jeremy’s rock and took a photo of me in the crevice. After the photo, I went backed and picked up my gear and headed out.

I encountered a couple downed trees after the campsite, then I encounter a boardwalk. And this wasn’t just any old boardwalk, this boardwalk kept going and going. There were bridges crossing creeks on this boardwalk. There were built in benches to sit down on this boardwalk. Pretty soon I saw a lake to the right of the boardwalk. According to the maps, it’s supposed to be a pond, but it looked much bigger than a pond. This was a full-fledged lake. Perhaps the beavers had been busy in this area and made the pond much bigger. At any rate, the boardwalk was getting closer and closer to the lake and the boardwalk kept going and going. And for the full length of the Boardwalk the trail goes through a medium pine forest. The Boardwalk was getting closer to the lake and finally it comes right up to a branch of the lake, where it looks like there is a canoe launch of sorts. Fishermen must haul in their canoes to this location from Jackson Lake Road.

Shortly after meeting up with the lake, the boardwalk ends and the trail goes uphill. It goes steadily uphill for a few hundred yards, then levels off and there is another much shorter boardwalk. After that the trail goes level or slighty uphill for a long ways. But the woods have changed here. I was no longer walking through a regular forest or a pine area, I was walking through a scrubby, thickety area. The trail is maintained good throughout this area, so it really didn’t matter. I eventually saw a pothole pond on the left side of the trail. I had seen hundreds of pothole ponds when I hiked the NCT in North Central Minnesota, but this was the first one I saw over here.

Then the woods changed again, now I was walking through a mainly aspen and birch forest. But that didn’t last that long because I reached Jackson Lake Road. Wow, I made really good time considering my wardrobe malfunction that slowed me down. But none of the hike was overly difficult. I had started out around 9:30 or 10 at Otter Lake Road, and I made it down to Jackson Lake Road around 4:30 pm. I decided I would drive up to the Swamp River Campsite on Otter Lake Road and see Jeff and Beth.

So, I drove up there and Jeff and Beth were gone. Perhaps they moved on to one of the other places I told them about.

Then I decided that I still had several hours of daylight left. Why not go on another hike. I would not make it on the Hellacious Section, but perhaps some smaller section would work. I immediately thought of the 2 mile section between the Pincushion Trailhead and Tower Road. That would have been the last section I would have hiked, but why not just get it over with. It doesn’t matter if the photos are out of order on my camera card. When I get home, I will be breaking them down into different albums anyway. So I drove down to Highway 61 and headed toward Grand Marias. Once I got to Grand Marais, I took the Gunflint Trail up the hill past the water tower and turned into the Pincushion Mountain Trailhead, also known as the Grand Marais Overlook because there is a fantastic view here.

I pulled into the trailhead and parked. It was about 6 pm, and I thought I still had plenty of time to do the hike because it doesn’t truly get dark until around 9 pm. Then I saw two younger guys walking with backpacks on. This is where I met Eric and Peter. Eric is a taller guy with black hair where Peter is a medium sized guy with blonde hair and a pony tail. I asked them if they were hiking the Superior Hiking Trail and they said yes. Then I asked them where they were planning on camping tonight. I knew that the next campsite on the SHT is North Bally Creek, which is around 8 miles away. They would never make it before dark. They said they were planning on camping at the Grand Marais Municipal Campground. I offered to give them a ride down into town and they accepted. Once we got down into Grand Marais, I asked them if they wanted to take a tour of the town. They said yes, and wanted to know where they might get a good burger in town. I told them the best burger in town is Burger Night on Wednesday at the American Legion. But this is Monday, so the other place that would be open for a burger would be the Gunflint Tavern. I showed them places to get gear including the Ben Franklin/Jones Department Store and the Lake Superior Trading Post. I showed them Sven and Ole’s Pizza which is the best known Pizza place up in this region. They seemed to be interested in going there. I showed them Artist’s Point, The Beaver House, Whole Foods, Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply, the Post Office, IGA Foods, Dairy Queen and then I headed for the Campground and gave them a little tour of it. We finished up at the Campground Office where they had a sign telling campers to pick a site and then pay in the morning. I dropped Eric and Peter off at the Office. They said the first thing they were going to do was take a shower. They headed to a shower house near the office.

It was getting to be about 6:30 pm, so I decided it was too late to do the Pincushion Mountain Trailhead to Tower Road Hike. Taking a shower sounded like a good idea so I wheeled my van around the campground to the newer shower house back by the ball diamond. I grabbed my shower kit and some clean clothes and headed in. Boy, that shower felt good.

After the shower, I decided that I would go round up Eric and Peter to go to Sven and Ole’s, I would treat for pizza. They seemed a little down on their luck, so this could be something to cheer them up. I drove around the campground and found Eric. I offered to treat for Pizza and he said sure, but he needed to do some stuff first. I asked him where Peter was, and he said he was still in the Shower house tending to a foot issue. So, I helped Eric set up their tent, and he also hung a rope in a tree for putting their wet clothes on. I decided to walk down and check on Peter. He was in the shower house doing something to his foot. I told him that I was treating for pizza and he said he was almost done. I helped him carry some of his gear back to the tree where Eric was hanging up wet clothes. After Peter finished hanging his clothes, the birch tree was fully loaded with clothes. It looked comical, so I took a photo of it. Even though it was a little bit cold out, they said the clothes would still dry. There was a good wind off of Lake Superior, so that would help.

I noticed on their shower house there was a sign saying that it was $3 for a shower for people who are not a registered camper. They did not have that sign at the newer shower house that I use back by the ball diamond. But this shower house is closer to the beach, where more people who are not registered campers must come and shower. Now that I knew about the $3 charge, I would have to stop by the office some time and pay up.

We all hopped in the van and I drove about 6 blocks to Sven and Ole’s. Swen and Ole’s wasn’t very crowded which surprised me. Last year when I went on Memorial Day Saturday the place was jammed. But it was Memorial Day Monday now and the story was different. There were about 5 or 6 tables filled. We agreed on the pizza and I ordered the Meat Lover’s Pizza, with extra ham instead of Pepperoni. I’m not a Pepperoni Lover. We sat down at a booth and talked. Eric just finished the semester at College and Peter just came back to Minnesota from another state, so they both had a time slot for hiking. They were planning to do the whole SHT, and some friends would be joining them along the way. We talked about the trail, I gave them some tips on the next leg they would be doing, and they gave me some tips on the next leg I would be doing. The pizza came and it was really good. I enjoyed it and Eric and Peter ate their share of it in short order.

Eric was talking about going to the Gunflint Tavern for a beer, since the mezzanine bar at Sven and Ole’s was not open. But Peter wanted to right back to the campground and go to sleep. It was around 8:30 pm and Peter commented that it would be the second day in a row that he would be asleep before it was dark outside. So, I took them back to the campground and dropped them off. Good Luck on your hiking adventures.

I headed over to the Best Western. I walked in and saw that there were customers using the computers. I walked up to the counter anyway, and gave the lady an “I Saw Tman” card. I told the lady that I was hiking the northern section Superior Hiking Trail and I was wondering if I could come back later, when the computers weren’t being used and file a Trail Report. I made it sound like it was some sort of official duty I had to perform. She said yes, I could come back and use the computer. I was happy about that.

Just to kill some time, I decided to head over to the Birch Terrace for a Beer. I wanted to find out if they still have Karaoke on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. So, I pulled in to their parking lot, and when I was walking in I saw a big beer sign advertising Karaoke on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights. I guess that answers my question. But I needed to kill some time, so I headed in for a beer. I took my SHT Guidebook and map with me, because I wanted to figure out what I was going to hike over the next couple days. Inside the Birch Terrace they have a horseshoe shaped bar. I sat at the far end of the horseshoe. It was the only spot at the bar that was open. This is where I met Jan and Kathy. Jan is a taller rough around the edges guy and Kathy is a shorter Martha Stewart type clean around the edges lady. They say opposites attract.

Jan and Kathy own the Cobblestone Cabins Resort down near Tofte, and Jan maintains several miles of the SHT. He is one of the few locals that work on the trail. A lot of the trail volunteers drive up from the Twin Cities. We started talking about the trail and their resort. I asked them if they rent out their cabins by the night, and they said no, they only rent them out by the week. Then they only have to clean cabins on two days a week. But, Jan said that if I come up to help him clear the trail next year, he’s let me have a cabin for the night. I thought that was pretty interesting. Jan said that he had met a famous hiker named Tumbleweed. I said that didn’t ring a bell, but after he described the hiker I figured out it was Nimblewill Nomad. Jan talked about his encounter with Nimble at the Holiday Gas Station in Tofte. I told Jan that I correspond with Nimble from time to time, and that he’s planning to do the Ice Age Trail this year, and I’ve volunteered to be his Southern Wisconsin Trail Angel. We continued to talk about the trail for a while, then I gave them an “I saw Tman” card and took their photo. They invited me to stop by their resort on my way back to Madison. I said I would. They had dropped off a Department of Corrections van at Judge Magney State Park. Evidently, there is some type of corrections boot camp for women that on the last week of the boot camp, they go on a backpacking trip. They started off at Lutsen, not far from Jan and Kathy’s Resort, and are going to end up at Magney. It’s interesting the odd jobs people get up here on the Arrowhead. Maybe it’s not a job, just a volunteer thing. I didn’t ask.

Jan and Kathy decided it was about time they headed out. That sounded like a good idea because I thought I had killed enough time and I could go back and use the computer at the hotel. So, I said goodbye to Jan and Kathy, and we all left. I headed back to the Hotel where now there were no customers on the computers. I told the lady I was used to staying up late because I worked second shift. I got on the computer and updated my website mentioning what sections I had already hiked and that I would be going over Hellacious tomorrow. I also tried to write a post on the SHT Hiker Yahoo Group, but the computer would not allow me to do so. So, I wrote the following email to Ed Solstad of the Border Route Trail Association and Tom Salwasser, moderator of the SHT Yahoo Group

Hi Ed and Tom

The Old Border Route Trail from Partridge Falls to

Otter Lake Road is no longer a viable route.

I searched the route from both ends and it

dissipates into a thicket in both directions.

Plus, It will no longer be possible to get

from Fort Charlotte to Partridge Falls because

the Snow Creek Bridge is in disrepair and they

will be taking it out. It is a rather long bridge, I'd say

at least 30 yards long, so it will be impossible to

traverse the creek. The bridge will not be replaced

due to the wishes of the tribe.

If someone wants to hike from Otter Lake Road

to the town of Grand Portage, the correct route

now should be to take Otter Lake Road east

until it becomes Rengo Road. Keep walking

on Rengo Road to Old Highway 61 (not sure of

Mileage, but estimate 6 miles on Rengo). You can

take a left on Old 61 walk for about 3 miles

and connect with the Grand Portage Trail. Then

walk 3.75 miles into town.

The computer I am using right now will not let me

post on the SHT hiker group, so will one of you post

this?

Updates on my hike are posted on my website at

http://sites.google.com/site/isawtman/

Thanks, Todd

I wanted to get that information out, because there was another hiker on the SHT who was planning to hike to Grand Portage to the Isle Royale Ferry. After completing my computer duties, I thanked the lady. Then I drove the Van up to the Pincushion Mountain Trailhead, also known as the Grand Marais Overlook, and I parked for the night. I climbed into the back on my sleeping pads and did my daily voice recording. A lot had happened today. This morning when Jeff and Beth shuttled me seemed like a long time ago.