Saturday, May 23, 2009

Maybe it’s about time I explain how the Spot Messenger works. There are 4 buttons on this device. One button turns it on, and a little light starts blinking when it’s turned on. There is another button that you press for 3 seconds and it starts sending a message that you are OK. It has a light that also blinks with “on” button light. When the OK button light turns off, the OK message has been sent. Sometimes it takes up to a half an hour for the message to get sent to the Satellite. Then the Spot Messenger sends my exact location and the Okay message to up to 10 contacts to their email or text message accounts. The other two buttons are for Help. One is a non-emergency help and the other button alerts the local 911 center. I have never used those two buttons, in fact, I taped over them so I don’t accidentally set it off. The bad thing about the Spot Messenger is that it tells my contacts where I’m at, but there is no screen to tell me where I’m at.

I did an OK message first thing in the morning and it worked. Then I hoisted up my telephone antenna and called Greg. He answered and told me I was within 50 yards of the trail. The conversation on the phone was breaking up. He said something about North, but I wasn’t sure if I had to go north or if I was north of the trail, which meant I had to go south. I tried to get him to tell me where I was in relation to Pickerel Bay. Pickerel Bay was one sure landmark I could go by. The real Kekekabic Trail goes just south of Pickerel Bay. But evidentially he couldn’t see it on the map to tell me that information.

So, after I got off the phone I packed up and left my gear on top of the hill I was on. Then I proceeded to do a big loop around the hill in order to find the trail. But I didn’t find the trail anywhere. Then, I figured that if I went northwest, I would hit the trail no matter what. So I headed off in that direction. Although, I wasn’t completely sure I was going in the right direction because it was a cloudy day and I didn’t have very much faith in my compass.

Well I kept going and going in what I thought was the right direction. I was tough walking because I was bushwhacking through the forest, but I kept going. I kept thinking about how the Donner Party had taken a shortcut and how it turned out to be a disaster, I thought that this was going to be my disaster shortcut. But then out of the blue something miraculous happened. No, I didn’t find the real Kekekabic Trail.

I was bushwhacking through the forest when all of a sudden I seen a big log house up on a hill. I was like a mirage, but it was real. The house was big. I thought it might be some type of resort or lodge. The closer I got to it the newer the house looked. In fact, I thought it was under construction. I saw a pickup near the house, so I thought there would be some construction workers there. I also noticed there was a bank of solar panels next to the house.

Well I made it up to the house and I yelled out “Hello, is anyone home.” And sure enough, there was a man over by the solar panels. Well I told him I was out hiking and I showed him my map and my Kekekabic Trail guidebook. I told him I had hiked in from the Fernberg Rd trailhead and got lost out there. He told me that the Trail from the Fernberg Road Trailhead had not been maintained for 10 years. He showed me on the map where he lived and told me if I go out his driveway and turn right, the newer trailhead is only 3/4 of a mile away. He said the new trail is really well marked and easy to follow.

He had a beautiful view from his house. I could see a big hill off in the distance. He said it was Eagle Mountain, which was one of the highest hills in Minnesota. I also found out that he was the owner of the house. They lived there only a short time and were still working on the house. He said they got all the electricity for the house from the solar panels. Wow, this was a cool house. It was like a mirage. He filled up my water bottle and I was on my way.

He made it sound so easy. All I had to do is go out to the end of his driveway and turn right. But what he didn’t tell me is that his driveway keeps going and going. The driveway must have been at least 3/4 of a mile long if not longer. The driveway was just dirt and gravel, but it was graded. It must have cost a pretty penny to put in. The house was really off the grid.

I made it to the end of the driveway, then up to the Snowbank Rd Trailhead. There were about 6 cars in the trailhead parking lot. I met up with a couple and their son, who were going to be hiking the Snowbank Trail to the north. The boy looked about the right age to be in Cub Scouts so I asked him if he was a Scout. I think they said that he was going to be a Cub Scout. Maybe he was too young. I told the boy good luck in Scouts, and probably told them that I am an Eagle Scout. I gave them my card, took their photo and I was off.

I started hiking the Kekekabic Trail to the south. Actually this part of the trail is also considered the Snowbank Trail too, because it is part of the Snowbank loop that goes around Snowbank Lake. After the ordeal I had in the morning, I actually didn’t start the Kekekabic Trail until 12:30 pm. I lost over a half a day being lost.

The guy at the log house was right. This trail was really well marked. Soon I came to an electric line right of way, which I saw on the map. Then the Trail makes it up to an overlook where you can see Snowbank Lake off in the distance through the trees. After a while I came to a rocky switchback area that is kind of a gully between two rock faces. There was a nice rock to put my stuff on so I stopped and decided to take my long underwear off. I had taken my pants off when I saw a younger couple approaching. Well, I talked to them in my long underwear. I told them it would have been a disaster if they had arrived a couple minutes later, because my bottom would have been completely naked. Their names were Mike and Brook and they were doing the Snowbank loop that weekend. I gave them one of my cards and they were on their way. They looked like they were packing pretty light. You know what they say, two can pack lighter than one. (I actually received an email from Mike after the trip)

I managed to take off my underwear and put my pants back on without any more incidents. I continued down the trail and made it to the clear cut area. The clear cut area looks like one big mess. Logs are sewn about everywhere. It’s hard to see the tread of the trail, but they have pink ribbons marking the trail. It was pretty well marked with the ribbon, but there were a few times where I had to stop and look around for the ribbon. I was hiking when all of a sudden I noticed a 4 foot high wall of water on my right-hand side. It kind of looked like one of those above ground pools but it was made out of wood. It was a beaver dam. I stopped to fill up my water bottle and put in the tablets. I sure hoped I wouldn’t get the Beaver Fever from drinking water from a beaver pond.

I continued on and soon I reached the point where I was directly south of Pickerel Bay. This was the point that I was referring to when I called Greg Mackler. You could see Pickerel Bay because of the clear cut. Otherwise, if it were a regular forest you probably won’t be able to see it because it’s a ways from the trail.

Finally made it out of the clear cut area and into a regular forest. The next landmark I was looking for was the sign marking the boundary of the Boundary Waters. Mark Stange had told me that when you get to the point where you actually are going into the Boundary Waters there’s a sign. They must do this because there are different rules for a Wilderness Area than just a National Forest.

But I never saw the boundary sign but eventually I found the Becoosin Loop sign. This meant I was already into to Boundary Waters at least a half a mile. The Bencoosin Loop heads south by the northern edge of Bencoosin Lake then heads east to the northern edge of Benzie Lake then reconnects with the Kekekabic Trail. I was happy I made it that far because I was I was still looking for the boundary sign. I stopped here because there is a nice rocky area nearby and a pond. I also saw an area that looked like a campsite, but wasn’t marked on the map. I set out the beacon and filled up my water bottle.

I kept going and saw glimpses of Parent Lake to the North. Then I found the cairn for the Snowbank Trail to the north. This is where Mike and Brook would have turned. I was thinking that I would make it out to Drumstick Lake to camp that evening. My next landmark would be the reconnection of the Bencoosin Loop Trail. But I didn’t make that far. I met up with Jerry Swanson and his wife. Each of them were carrying a lopper for cutting branches. They were finished trail clearing for the day and were headed back to their campsite on Parent Lake. I asked them if I could join them at their campsite and they said yes. I figured having some company that evening would be good for me after getting lost the night before. So we went back to the Snowbank Trail and headed 1/4 mile north to the campsite. But that 1/4 mile was really hard because it’s a lot of up and down.

Jerry said he was wondering about me and I told him about getting lost using the trailhead off of Fernberg Rd. I was setting up my tent when Joe Johnston and Rachel, Swanson’s daughter arrived at the campsite. They had the crosscut saw and had been cutting the bigger obstacles on the trail. It turns out that they all have Scouting backgrounds. The Swanson told me stories of their Troop coming to the Boundary Waters. We had a really nice evening together.