Thursday, October 21, 2010
I woke up around 5:30 and made hot water for the Theraflu. I had my gear laid out on the extra bed, so it was fairly easy getting ready. I double checked everything, and started hauling stuff out to the van. It didn’t take me very long, and I was ready. I took some photos of the hotel, and I left.
I headed down Highway 200 to the west. My plan was to arrive at the One Stop in Longville around 6:10 and get something to eat, then meet the Fitzgerald brothers there at 6:30. Highway 200 is a very straight highway and it is easy driving. But the sky looked very spooky, reminding me that Halloween would be soon. There were clear skies above, but a line of clouds to the west that looked kind of scary. It kind of looked like the clouds from the movie Independence Day, when the alien ships arrived. I drove around 12 to 15 miles and then turned left on Highway 84. Soon I saw the lights from the Longville airport, then I was in Longville. Evidently, the Airport is popular with fishermen, who fly up to Longville to go fishing on Leech Lake, which is less than 10 miles north of Longville. Leech Lake is a pretty big lake. It is about 15 miles wide and 25 mile long, with many bays and branches.
I arrived at the One Stop and walked in. The One Stop is a combination Gas Station, Sporting goods store, Fishing bait shop, Convenience Store and Restaurant. I have come expect such combination places in the north. I walked down to the food counter and the Lady said the food wouldn’t be ready for another 10 minutes. But I could get donuts and a drink. So, I proceeded to get a hot chocolate.
Soon, Jack and Jerry Fitzgerald arrived. It was great to meet them. I told them that the food wouldn’t be ready for a few more minutes, and they agreed to wait. Jack said that I really needed to make sure I eat something with they hike I would be doing today. Soon the food was ready, and I grabbed an Egg McMuffin type sandwich from the rack and sat down at the table and ate it. The Fitzgeralds and I had a nice conversation about the trail. They told me about the section of trail that they maintain, which is near Hazel Lake off the Woodtick Trail. We discussed the route we would be taking to drop off the van. Jack was a little worried because he is unfamiliar with the Forest Roads in the area we would be dropping off the van. Sometimes the Forest Roads are in pretty rough shape. We decided to take County Highway 53 from Highway 200 to get to the spot.
So, we headed out. We drove up Highway 84 to Highway 200 and turned right. After a few miles we turned left on County Highway 53. County Highway 53 is a gravel road, but it is a pretty good one. It went north for about 3 miles then turned west. We kept going down to the Mable Lake Road intersection, then I started looking for a parking spot. I found one just off the road at the intersection of a logging road. There was obviously a parking spot off the logging road that someone had used before. I parked and grabbed my orange backpack and went to the Fitzgerald’s car. I put the backpack in the trunk and hopped in the car.
The Fitzgeralds have a Toyota Prius and I think it’s a hybrid. The dashboard of the car looks like something from Star Trek. It’s quite the instrument cluster. I had never been in a Toyota Prius before now. It is an interesting car. We headed down Mable Lake Road then connected to Highway 200. We went through Remer and headed Northwest on Highway 6. Soon we turned on Forest Road 2101 and we were at the Trailhead. I offered the Fitzeralds $20, like I had offered in my pre-trip email, but they wouldn’t accept it. They said they were going to Grand Rapids today, anyway. I thanked them, got out of the car and grabbed my backpack from the trunk, and they were on their way.
I immediately grabbed the Spot Messenger out of my backpack. I turned it on and set it to send an “okay message.” I needed to do this to mark the spot of the beginning of my hike. But the Spot Messenger takes about 20 to 30 minutes to send the message. So I put it on the ground and started taking photos of the area. The Trailhead itself is just a extension of the road. It’s a place where about 8 cars can park.
I was taking photos went a car came down the road from Highway 6. They stopped and asked me if I was doing all right. I said I was going on a hike on the North Country Trail and that I was waiting for my satellite messenger to send it’s message for to mark the start of my hike. I was dressed in all blaze orange, so maybe they thought I was a hunter. It was Larry and Jim in the car, and they were scouting out places to go hunting. Maybe that’s why they stopped to talk to me. I took their photo and gave them an “I saw Tman” card, and they were on their way.
I started hiking the first hundred yards of the trail and took photos. Then I went back to the trailhead and checked the Spot Messenger. It had received the GPS coordinates, but it still had not sent the message. I put on my backpack, and grabbed my hiking poles. I was getting a little impatient. So, I grabbed the Spot Messenger and start hiking with it in my hand. Before I reached Highway 6 the Messenger had sent its message. I put it in my pocket and snapped the snap button on the pocket so it would be secure. I was on my way.
I came up to the nicely paved Highway 6. The road looked like it had been worked on within the last year or so, because it is in really good condition. It wasn’t overly busy, but had traffic on it. I crossed it and followed the trail into the woods. Soon I was walking on a ridge with some thickety lowlands to my right. There’s supposed to be a lake over there called the Pine Tree Impoundment, but I couldn’t see the lake, just the lowlands.
Soon I was walking through a tall pine forest on a ridge. I was easy hiking, and the trail was very well maintained and easy to follow. Most of the time, the trail is over 4 feet wide. And the local trail volunteers mow the trail every year. That’s quite the feat. They use special trail mowers with metal strings instead of metal blades. They are like a weed wacker, but it’s a mower. At any rate, they’ve done a wonderful job.
I continued on and soon I could see Loon Lake to my left. It’s a couple of football fields length away from the trail and there is a Forest Road that goes next to it. That road is Forest Road 3763. Soon I was crossing another road, which was Forest Road 3705 which connects with Forest Road 3763 down to the left. I continued on hiking on the NCT and soon I was again hiking on a ridge with some lowlands to my right. Calling it a ridge is kind of misleading. It’s not a ridge that you have to walk up very far. It’s a pretty easy walk, It’s just that there is a lowland area to the left, making seem like a ridge.
I hiked in the woods for a long time. The trail meanders through the woods without any major landmarks for a long time. There was one small spot where the trail was wet, but other than that, it’s a great trail. Eventually I crossed an old logging road that is no longer maintained. It wasn’t much of a road. I started hearing the whine of some equipment. I could hear it for a long time. Then I came to a section of the woods where the trees had been selectively cut. The whine from the equipment was louder. I looked up a small hill to my left and saw a bunch of logs stacked up. Then I saw a logging excavator with a big arm on it that would grab the tree, then it would cut the tree. I kind of looked like one of those excavators that would dig up your street during construction. There was a man in the cab of the logging excavator, otherwise, I didn’t see anybody else around.
I went on and soon I saw another road, a much better road. It was Forest Road 2321, which looked like a very good gravel road. But the trail does not cross the road here. Instead, it comes up and kisses the road then veers back into the woods. I think this section was once a road walk, and then they made the trail along side the road. The trail goes further and further away from Forest Road 2321, and pretty soon you cannot see it.
Soon you arrive at the intersection of two logging roads. One of the roads is blocked off with a gate. You continue on the trail for a ways again until you hit another logging road. At this point you can see an overgrown pond. The NCT turns left on the road then turns Right on the trail, which is an obvious detour. Apparently, the overgrown pond caused the NCT to be detoured. It’s an obvious detour because the trail is no longer the nice wide trail that could be used for Cross Country Skiing. Now it is a 2 foot wide hiking trail that makes quicker turns than the other parts of the trail. It seems that this overgrown pond is taking over the landscape. It is quite big and takes a while to get around. Perhaps it’s part of Spring Lake, which is not that far to the east. Perhaps the Spring has sprung.
After getting by the overgrown pond, soon I made it to Forest Road 2321 again. This time instead of kissing the road, we take a little bit of a road walk to the right. I can see why there is a road walk, it’s because there are ponds on both sides of the road, making it impossible for a trail to go through. After clearing the ponds, the NCT goes into the woods on the left hand side of the road. The trail goes in about 50 yards then turns and starts going parallel to the road.
The Trail goes parallel to the road for a long ways. I’d say about a mile. Every once and a while there’s a clearing and you can see the road to the right. The trail is a nice wide trail again. The detour is over. The trail finally stops going parallel to Forest Road 2321 and instead crosses it. And every time the trail crosses a forest road or a logging road there are log posts that are about the same width as a telephone phone, but are only 3 feet high. These are ATV prevention posts. Over the last few years there has been trouble with ATVs riding on the NCT, which is strictly prohibited. The Forest Supervisor made a controversial ruling a couple of years ago restricting ATV from several forest roads including the Woodtick Trail. I didn’t see any ATV damage on the NCT so far, so those ATV prevention posts and new rules must be working. But there are some ominous signs such as signs being shot up with shotgun pellets.
I continued on through the woods. The trail passes over several culverts on this section of the trail. Some of the culverts are dry, but some of them have little streams going through them. At one point on the trail there was a view of the hills to the right of the trail. But it wasn’t much of a view. Plus, if there were leaves on the trees, there would not be a view at all.
I was hiking through the woods when I got a phone call. I took my backpack off and grabbed my phone out of the main pocket. It was Steven Bade, a real estate specialist for the Wisconsin DNR. I had talked to him about an article for the North Country Trail News. Steve has been involved in the recent purchases of properties that will help the NCT in Wisconsin. I told Steve I was hiking in North Central Minnesota, and he said that he just came back from a weekend hike in the Porcupine Mountains. I talked with him for a little bit, sitting on a log. This guy is more than just a real estate specialist. He really specializes on trails. He is a member of the Brule/St Croix and he personally maintains a section of the trail. It was good talking to him, plus I got to take a little rest.
The area I was hiking through did have some mature trees, but most of the trees are younger ones. Sometimes the area looks pretty thickety. I passed a small logging road then continued through the thickety area. The trail is far from thickety, it still is very wide like a ski trail. The trail crosses over several culverts during this secton. Soon I came to a place where there is a nice big meadow on the right side of the trail. The landscape was changing.
The trail went up a hill and down again. Then it went up again to a very cool section of the trail. There is a very thin ridge, and the trail goes right along the top of it. You can see down the hill through the woods on both sides of the trail. The ridgeline was only about 15 feet across, with the hill going down sharply on each side. I could see a little lake down below to the right side of the hill, and a big swampy area down the hill on the left side of the trail. Actually, this ridge is called the Milton Lakes Esker. And esker is formed when there is a tunnel in the glacier, usually made by a melting river. Over time, the river leaves deposits in the tunnel, thereby creating the esker. Soon I was going downhill from this really cool section of the trail. I could see something at the bottom, it must be the parking lot, but before I got to it there was a campsite marker on the left side of the trail
I went into the campsite, which is a really small campsite. There are two tent pads with a fireplace with a grate in the middle of the campsite. But, like I said, this is a really small campsite, and by the time you set up your tent, it will be too close to the campfire. It was a nice flat site though, considering it’s on the side of a hill. I continued down the NCT to the parking lot at Milton Lakes. It’s only a short hike from the parking lot to the campsite. And the parking lot is right next to the lake, with a canoe launch. If you were camping at the campsite, you’d have to come down to the parking lot for water. And the other bad thing about the campsite, there is no view of the lake from the campsite.
Milton Lakes is actually two lakes, the upper and the lower Milton Lake. They are connected by a small inlet. I looked across the lake and saw a rather large house on the other side near the inlet. But nothing seemed to be going on at the house, and I didn’t see any cars parked around it. Once you make it to the parking lot the NCT follows the road for about 1/8 of a mile. You pass a marshy area on both sides of the road. After you pass the marshy area, you see a vacation house on both sides of the road. The one on the left looked like a cabin, while the one on the right looked like a more traditional house.
After the house, the NCT turns right off the road and continues up a gradual hill. The NCT gradually goes up the hill until it hits an Electric Line Right of way. There are very tall electric line poles, much taller than what you would see in town. Perhaps they carry the electricity from the Leech Lake Dam, which is about 15 miles northwest of here. The electric line right of way is a nice grassy area, and the NCT follows it for a ways. Just before the NCT goes back in the woods, I stopped and rested in the grass, and put my Spot Messenger out. I rested and ate some food while waiting for the messenger to send its Okay message. I rested for a while, then grabbed the Spot Messenger and started walking with it in my hand. Soon it sent the message. The trail veers into the woods from the electric line and starts on a downhill course. It is still a nice wide trail suitable for Cross Country Skiing. It kept on a generally downhill course until the trail crossed County Highway 52. At this point I knew that I had walked 8.4 miles because that’s the distance stated on the NCT map. It was before noon and I was making good time. It was 2.5 miles to get to my bike, and about six miles after that to get to my van. I was feeling good, with little ill affects from my cold.
I continued on the trail after Highway 52. The landscape here looked like the trail before the hill section at Milton Lakes. It is a mostly younger forest, with a few mature trees mixed in. I crossed over a few culverts, some with streams and others with no stream. I walked on a side of a hill seeing a clear-cut area down the hill from me. This whole section is a walk through some scrubby woods. I saw a lake down to the right of the trail, but it was too far away and too thickety to get close to. Plus, you probably wouldn’t see the lake if leave were on the trees. I kept going up a gradual hill through the young woodlands. Eventually, I came to a road. The NCT goes left on the road, then turns right on another road. Then I could see the NCT sign at the Highway 4 Trailhead where my bike was locked up. I had made good time through the scrubby young woodlands.
It was about 1:30 pm on a beautiful day. I sat down and rested near my bike. Since it was so early in the day, I decided I would be hiking the next 5 or 6 miles back to the Van. I’m not sure the exact mileage. It’s 10 miles to the Boy River trailhead, and it looks like my van parked at Mable Lake Road is more than half way to the Boy River. I rested and took some photos near my bike. They have a really nice NCT sign at the Trailhead, with the whole map of the NCT going through the Chippewa National Forest. The only problem is that it’s hard to find the trail from the trailhead. You have to go down the forest road and take a right on the trail to go east on the trail. That’s fairly easy. But you have to go down the forest road then take a left on another forest road then a right on the trail to go west. That’s fairly confusing. But that’s the way I came from. It looks like people were going behind the sign in order to find the trail, but the trail is nowhere behind the sign.
I went down the forest road and took a left on the Trail. Less than 50 yards down the trail I crossed Highway 4. After I crossed the paved Highway, again I was hiking through some scrubby woods. The trail was very well maintained, pretty wide and easy to follow. My next real landmark on the map was crossing the old SOO Line railroad bed, But that would be in a mile or two. The first thing that I did see was a pond in the distance to the right of the trail. Again, due to the thickety nature of these woods, you probably wouldn’t see the pond when there are leaves on the trees. I didn’t think the pond was that far away from the trail, perhaps about 50 yards. Soon I crossed and old logging road, which I thought might go down by the pond. But I didn’t take the time to investigate, I just continued on through the scrubby woods. But there are advantages of walking through the scrubby woods. On a regular basis I would scare up a grouse that was near the trail. One time I saw two grouse on the ground and I stopped in my tracks and watched them for a half a minute before they got wind of me and flew away. After all, it is Grouse season in these parts, that’s why I was wearing blaze orange. Every once in a while I would hear gunshots in the distance from people out hunting. I was glad I was wearing the blaze orange. The Grouse really seemed to love the scrubby, thickety woods.
Then I reached a spot where a gravel road comes very close to the trail, then the trail veers away from the road. Then the trail goes very straight for a long ways. I thought maybe I was on the SOO Line Trail. After the long straight trail, the NCT turns to the left and crosses the road that I had seen before. I was wondering if that was the SOO Line Trail, but it seemed really wide for a rail trail. It looked more like a road. At any rate, I kept going.
I was hiking through the woods on a regular wide trail that I’ve become to get used to in the Chip. This part was a nice walk through some nice woods. But soon the area around the trail became a little thickety again, and I came upon a trail bridge. I believe this was the first time all day that I had seen a trail bridge. The other places just had culverts with small streams. This stream looked a little wider than anything I’d seen during the day, and the water was moving at a fair rate. The Bridge was about 12 to 15 feet long and looked a little weather beaten, but it was solid to walk across.
I kept going and soon I saw a marshy lake to the right side of the trail. I thought I was coming up to the lake with the campsite on it. The campsite would be a sure landmark that would mean I was about a mile away from the Speakers Truck Trail then another half mile or so away from the van. So seeing the campsite would be a sure sign of progress. The trail skirted along side the marshy lake. I didn’t see the campsite, but I did see something else. There was a small round brown object on the trail ahead of me, and it was moving slow. I stopped in my tracks. It was a porcupine. Fortunately, I had seen the Porcupine when it was about 15 yards in front of me. I would have hated to walk right up near it without seeing it. At any rate, the Porcupine was still a major surprise for me.
It scurried down the trail then turned left off the trail. I continued down the trail going really slow. I was wary of coming close to the critter. But it had crawled up a small tree. I wondered how that might save it. I wasn’t more than 5 feet up the tree. But maybe the Porcupine wasn’t too worried about saving itself. Maybe it just wanted a better look at me. I continued on down the trail. My encounter with the Porcupine was over.
I was still near the marshy lake, and still looking for that campsite. Then I came up to a left hand turn of the trail. The trail was obviously detoured at this point. I walked down the original NCT for about 25 yards trying to find the campsite. The trail dead ended there at the marshy lake. There was a spot that I thought might work out as a campsite but I don’t think it was the official campsite I was looking for.
I went back to the turn in the trail and started walking the detour route. It was obviously a detour route because the trail wasn’t as wide as I’d become to expect in the Chip. It was similar to the other detour I had encountered earlier near Spring Lake. Soon I was on the main NCT again. It was a short detour. I was keeping a keen eye out for the campsite, but I was going away from the little marshy lake. I thought that either I missed the campsite because of the detour or that was not the lake I was looking for.
In the afternoon hours I was having trouble with my photography. I was walking in a western direction right into the afternoon sun. This caused a lot of glare in the photos. Soon, I was hiding in the shadow of trees in order to take photos. Whenever there was a big tree, I’d stop and get in its shadow to take a photo. This method seemed to work, but sometimes it was awkward, and I didn’t get a good photo. But since I take a ton of photos, I don’t need everyone to be perfect.
I continued walking through the wood and sure enough, I spotted another little lake. And this time I did find the campsite. The lake was really nice with a good shoreline instead of a marshy shoreline and the campsite was a deluxe campsite. It had a wood rack, a built in picnic table and a really big fireplace grate with logs around it for sitting. And unlike the Milton Lakes Campsite, this is a fairly big site. You could fit several tents in it. It was at a nice flat spot up from the lake. I didn’t see a latrine trail or a latrine, so I’m not sure if there is one at this campsite. Nevertheless, this was a dandy campsite.
At this point, I was pretty happy. My legs were sore and tired from all the walking, but I knew I wasn’t that far from the van. I kept trekking, with more determination than ever. I would describe then next mile as a nice walk through the woods. There were some very straight stretches of trail here, and it was easy walking. Soon I saw the sight I was looking for, the Speakers Truck Trail. Evidently, this was an old railroad spur that was used by loggers. But now it is a pretty nice gravel road. And I was happy to be there.
I took a photo of me celebrating at the Trail Crossing sign. I did notice a place to park cars. It’s just a little extension of the road where you could park a couple cars. I could see the intersection with County Highway 53 down at the end of the Speakers Truck Trail. But instead of road walking, I kept going on the trail. The trail cut diagonally towards Highway 53. This would be a shorter route anyway.
I continued on the trail going diagonally towards highway 53 when I saw two men working on the trail. It was Regional NCT Trail Coordinator Matt Davis and a Volunteer named Phil. They had just dug a hole using a power auger, and they were putting in one of those ATV prevention posts. I stopped to talk with them. It turns out that the one road that I thought might be the SOO Line trail actually was the recreation trail. And I had walked straight on a path that was used to make the railroad. Matt asked me about the bridge that I crossed and I said it looked a little weathered, but it seemed sturdy.
Then we talked about my hotel options for this evening. I asked Matt where the lowest price hotel was in Walker. He told me that there was a hotel right next to the Ranger’s Station when you’re coming into town. But it might be closed for the season. I was planning on singing Karaoke at the Casino near Walker later on in the evening. I took some photos of Matt, Phil and I and headed out. The place they were working was right near Highway 53. It’s a short road walk to get to where the trail starts up again on Mabel Lake Road. Again, there were marshy areas on both sides of the road, making it impossible to put a trail there, hence the road walk. I walked down the road and turned the corner and I could see my van. I walked past the van and went down to the intersection of Mabel Lake Road. From there you can see where the NCT starts up again.
I walked back to my van. It was about 5:30 pm. I put the backpack in the back and headed out. I drove up Highway 53. Matt and Phil had already left the location they were working at. Perhaps they were headed to another location to install posts. I drove up Highway 53 through Tobique where I crossed the SOO Line Trail again. And yes it was still a very wide trail that looked like a road. Tobique isn’t much of a town. I headed down to the intersection of Highway 4 and turned right. Soon I was at the Highway 4 Trailhead, which is located at a rather sharp turn in the road. It isn’t a 90 degree turn, but it is a turn you have to slow down for. I turned into the trailhead and retrieved my bike that was locked to the nice new sign there.
I headed down Highway 200 about 30 miles to Walker. On the way, I locked up my bike on the NCT near Macemon Rd. I found the Casino and the Casino Hotel. It was at the corner of Highway 200 and Highway 371 about 3 miles east of Walker. I drove into Walker and check out some of the hotels. But then I decided that I might as well bite the bullet and stay at the Casino Hotel if I was going to be singing Karaoke there anyway. When I had called the hotel earlier, they said a room is $100 a night, but you get a 20% discount if you are a Player’s Club Member. And it only takes about 5 minutes at the Casino to get your Player’s Club Card. So I headed for the Casino.
I went in the Casino, and like the Hotel person said, it only took about 5 minutes to get the card. They I went to the Hotel that is attached, and booked a room. They gave me some vouchers for stuff in the Casino and my room key card. I drove up my van to the front door of the hotel, and loaded a bunch of stuff onto a cart. I figured I needed to sort through my clothes and get reorganized for the next day. I headed for my room on the fourth floor. It was a very nice room with two beds. I immediately made some hot water for Theraflu, then I took a shower. Boy did that feel good. It was 7:30 and I had not eaten yet so I decided I’d better go get some food. I had a $2 voucher for food that the hotel gave me, so I headed down to the Casino.
I went down to the Casino expecting to find a buffet at a fairly low price. But when I went to the buffet, they said it was $19.99. I felt that was pretty high for a Casino buffet. But it turns out that they change the price every nice depending on what’s serve. They reason it was so high was that it was Seafood Night, with Lobsters, scallops and other Seafood. On other nights they do have a buffet as low as $9.99, but I was out of luck for tonight.
I went down t the snack bar and ordered a burger and some fries. They were fairly reasonably priced. They also had another restaurant in the hotel that I could use my voucher at, but it was closed by now. While I was at the Snack Bar I was getting cold. I looked around and almost everyone was wearing some type of sweater or sweatshirt. They must be used to the Casino being cold. But I had a T-shirt on, and was cold. After I finished my food I went back up to my hotel room and put on a Jack-shirt. That would keep me warm.
I went back down to the Casino bar, and put in a slip for Karaoke. I put in “Wild World” by Cat Stevens. Pretty soon it was my turn to sing and I introduced myself as “Tman from Madison Wisconsin.” I said”I’ve been hiking the North Country Trail all day, so I know it’s a Wild World.” Then the song started and I started doing the La, La, La’s at the beginning of the song. I did the song pretty good, and it was well received by the audience.
After the song was over, I was approach by a man who was a tribe member of the Leech Lake Band. He wanted to know what trail I was hiking on. I told him it was the North Country Trail and I started over by Remer and I would be continuing on to the Woodtick Trail over the next few days. He didn’t seem to know anything about the trail, and he was a lifelong resident of this area. He said he lived in Walker, but owned some property near Tobique. I said the trail goes through just south of Tobique, in fact there is a trailhead on Highway 4 right near a sharp turn in the Highway. He still didn’t seem to know anything about it.
I continued on singing Karoake when it was my turn over the next few hours. I sang “Symphony of Destruction” by Megadeth and “Beverly Hills” by Weezer. The DJ was a little worried about me singing “Symphony of Destruction” and wanted me to change the song. I don’t know why he was worried. Maybe it was because most of the people were singing either country songs or rock songs from the 60’s, and hard rock would be a big departure from that. But I went on and told everybody that I was going to “rock this joint” and I nailed “Symphony of Destruction.” It was very well received by the audience.
Everytime you put a slip in for a song, it gets put in for a drawing. I had 3 slips in for the drawing, so I stayed around until 11:30 for the big event. They would be drawing for a free nights stay at the Casino Hotel. I figured I had pretty good odds of winning, maybe a 1 in 8 chance. I was really hoping for it, but somebody else won. And I headed back to my room because I would be getting up early.