Saturday, October 23, 2010
I woke up fairly early at the Trailhead on Highway 84. It was before 7 am, so I decided to dash into Longville to the One Stop for my usual Egg McMuffin type sandwich. Plus I got some hot water for the Theraflu that I continued to take even though I was feeling pretty good. I needed to keep my cold corralled. I headed back to the trailhead, where maybe some people would be showing up for the Meetup Hike at 8 am. I stayed until about 8:20 at the trailhead, just in case, but nobody showed up. I just started hiking.
I was hoping someone would show up so we would have two cars for shuttling. As it was, I just left my van at the trailhead, and I would be walking to my bike and riding back. Maybe I would bump into someone along the way that could give me a ride. Plus, when I drove down the Woodtick Trail yesterday, there was some traffic on the road. Maybe I could hitchhike back. Maybe I could stick my thumb out with one hand and stick out a $10 bill with the other hand. Maybe that would work. At any rate, I was headed down the trail into the unknown.,
And the unknown starts out as a hike through some scrubby woods. But that doesn’t last very long. Soon you hit a little grassy farm road then you are hiking through some tall pine woods. They are not the old super tall pines, but pines that look as though they could start being logged soon. When you’re in the pine woods, you start seeing a pasture style farm field to the left of the trail. The trail is generally going in an east-west direction. It’s a pretty big grassy field and I am not sure whether they harvest hay from it.
Then you come up to an intersection of a bunch of grassy roads and trails. If the NCT was not well marked with some carsonite posts, it would be hard telling where to go. Then the field on the left ends and there is a big field to the right of the trail. They are kind of diagonal from each other. But they are doing something out in the big field to the right because I could see a front end loader sitting out there. The loader with a bucket in front looked like it was made by Catapillar, because it was yellow. This is the type of front-end loaders you often see at construction sites.
But, I am not really sure what they are doing with the Front-End Loader. I’m not sure if they were landscaping, trying to get rid of rocks or building something. Then further up in the field there was a tractor that had some sort of cultivator or something attached to the back of it. It was a green tractor, which means it must be a John Deere.
At this point, the NCT must be going across private property because there are “No Trespassing” signs on both sides of the trail. On the left side of the trail you come up to a big gnarly tree. I’m not sure exactly what type of tree it is, perhaps a hickory tree.
Soon the field on the right ends and you come up to a Forest Property sign which means I was hiking in the National Forest again. And right away there is a tree with three big branches that is tipped over on the trail. Two of the branches are caught on other trees and are sticking up in the air. That’s going to be fun to clear.
So, I’m hiking through the woods and I see a logging road running parallel to the trail on the right. Soon the NCT joins the road for about 50 yards, then the trail veers of to the left again. After the trail leaves the road, it starts heading in a north-south direction, and I was headed south. In this section you see a lot of pothole marshy areas and a few ponds. One pond looked quite nice, and could be a spot for a campsite. Another little pond had a big beaver house in it, but the pond didn’t look very good. It looked a little sludgy and slimy.
Well, that really good pizza I had the night before at Benson’s was working it’s way through me, and I had to find a spot to dig a cat hole. I found a nice log to sit on, and dug a cat hole next to it. One of the things I bought at the grocery store in Walker was some Handiwipes, and they turned out to be handy here. Having a full body suit on makes it a little more difficult to go to the bathroom, but I managed.
I continued south on the trail through the woodlands that were full of little pothole marshes and grasslands. I came upon another little grassy sandy road. After that the trail goes through some scrubby woods with a lot of little white trees. I’m not sure if they were aspen birches, poplars or ash. I’m leaning towards aspen, poplars or ashes because birches tend to have their white bark peeling off, and these trees were not like that. At a time like this it would be good to be hiking with someone like Joan Young who is a biologist. She would know exactly what type of trees those were. She would probably know what the 5 foot tall leafy plants were that I encountered yesterday, and the big gnarly tree I saw near by the farm field today. I need to study up on that stuff a little bit better. I need to figure out the difference between aspen, ashes and poplars, before I make more of an ash out of myself.
After passing the little sandy road, it seems like I had made it to higher ground because I stopped seeing the little pothole marshes. Instead the trail goes through some scrubby woods. This must be really beautiful when the fall colors are in full bloom because there are so many varieties of trees in the area. I did see an area where there were yellow leaves still on the trees, but most of the leaves are already fallen. Most of the trees were younger trees, which led me to believe that this area may have been clear-cut some years ago. I came to a spot where there was lots of pine trees planted on each side of the trail. And all these pine trees had some big plastic tags on the top of them. Maybe this is to prevent deer from eating the tree. If a deer tries to eat the pine, the first thing they will try to eat is the area where the plastic tag is. And of course, they won’t like the plastic tag, so they will move on. At least that’s my theory.
I kept going, and going through the scrubby woods until I hit a nice gravel road. This was County Highway 125. Just to the north of the trail crossing is a Y in the road where the Highway 125 connects with Forest Road 2312. I think there is a gravel pit right near the split in the road, because I heard someone shooting at a fairly regular rate and I can see an exposed area on the side of a hill over there.
After crossing county highway 125 I soon arrived at an electric line right of way, which also serves as a snowmobile trail. Then I started walking through a tall red pines woods until I got to a marsh with a pond on the right side of the trail. And there was a marsh on the left side of the trail. It’s a cool little strip of land that goes between two swampy areas. But I could see some building on the other side of the pond, so this would not be a good spot for a designated campsite. Besides, the pond had a very marshy shoreline and it would be difficult to get water from it. Nevertheless, it is a nice area.
I continued on through a red pine woods and then through a regular woods, I started seeing pothole marshes and grasslands again, on each side of the trail. Some of the marshes had little ponds in them, but other areas just looked like grasslands. Then I got into some woods that had some taller red pines in it. It looks as if these woods had been thinned out at some point, because the trees were a little bit taller and farther apart than some of the other pine woods I had walked through.
Shortly after that, I was again walking through some mature regular woods. The trail started to go uphill gradually, but I still could see plenty of marsh areas to each side of the trail. The hill area had taller trees on it, so it was very scenic. As I walked, I saw a road to the left of the trail, cutting diagonally towards the trail. It seemed to take a while for me to finally cross the road. That’s because the trail seems to almost go parallel to the road for a ways. But finally, I crossed the road, and the same thing happened on the other side of the road. I kept seeing the road to the left of the trail for a long ways. In fact, I think the trail veers back towards the road at one point, then finally moves away from it. The road is Forest Road 2100, which is a gravel road, but not quite as wide as a county highway. I kept seeing that cream colored strip. If it had been a grassy logging road, I would not have seen it for so long. But the cream color definitely stands out against the green grass and brown tree trunks of the forest.
The Trail goes through an upland area for a ways then goes down on a strip of land between two marshes. This is another really interesting spot. I must be wonderful for bird watching and wildlife watching during the spring and summer. This strip of land between two marshes lasted for several hundred yards. Then I started hiking through some mature upland woods again.
My next sure landmark would be Hazel Lake where there is a campsite. The campsite is included on the section of the trail that the Fitzgerald Brothers maintain. I’m not sure the exact stretch of trail they maintain, but all of the trail looked really well taken care of.
Then I came upon an odd site. I crossed a grassy logging road and all of a sudden I started seeing a bunch of circular wire fence tubes sticking up from the ground all over the place. It turns out that these tubes are protecting some freshly planted pine trees. Evidently, someone wanted some pine trees planted next to the trail, because all of these metal fence tubes are located within 20 feet of the trail, and there are dozens of them. Some of the tubes are standing, and the tree that was planted inside of it has died. But most of the trees are still in good shape. These planting tubes continue along the trail for quite some time. I’d say at least a couple football fields long. This area is not as mature as other areas I’d recently passed through on the trail. In fact it was a little scrubby. Maybe that’s why they planted the trees here. Soon, I was hiking through a red pine woods again, and could see a road.
This road wasn’t as good as a gravel forest road, but it was better than an ordinary logging road. It was a two track that lead to something up over a little knoll. I walked up that way and saw Hazel Lake. I kept walking on the road looking for the campsite, and sure enough I found it. There was a little turn around off the road, and there was the campfire ring. There was also a green pickup truck with a topper and canoe on top parked there. The campsite was up from the lake a little bit, and I could not see the shoreline. I yelled out “Ahoy there, is anybody around.” Soon a gray bearded man with a wide brim hat appeared from the shoreline. This is where I met Ken the fisherman. We began to talk but he motioned me to come down to the shoreline so he could watch his fishing pole.
He was fishing for trout, and had caught one. I told him I was hiking the North Country Trail through the Chippewa National Forest. He said he thought that went near another lake he fishes in and that was Teepee Lake. I got out the map and pointed it out. I asked him how long he would be fishing here today. He said he thought he would be at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Then I asked him that when he got done fishing, if he could pick me up on the Woodtick Trail and take me back to my car which is located 4 miles north of Longville. I said that I would pay him for helping me. I said yes, he would pick me up but payment isn’t necessary. I showed him the map and we exchanged phone numbers. I said I would call him when I made it to the Woodtick Trail, but if he wasn’t ready, I could hike to the next crossing of the Woodtick Trail. He seemed to think that was good. I took his photo with one of the fish he caught and I was on my way.
The first thing I did was to inspect the Latrine, which is across the road I walked in on. The Latrine has a wooden barrier around it, because if it didn’t you would be totally visible to anyone driving on the road. So, the wooden barrier was there for privacy. I check out the latrine, and saw the seat had been knocked off. I’m not sure if it just comes off. At any rate, I headed back down the road to the trail. I wanted to see how much ground I could cover before Ken would come and pick me up.
The trail skirted along the southern end of Hazel Lake. I tried to see Ken, but he must be around a curve in the lake. I continued on through a regular forest without many pines. Then I came upon a grove of tall pines again and the trail crosses another little road again. This road wasn’t as used as the Hazel Lake Road. Then I hiked through some regular woods until I got to a boardwalk. It wasn’t very long, perhaps 16 feet. At this point I could see some tall pines in front of me and a nice marshy area with a pond to my right. The trail continues in the pines and goes close to the pond. It looks like at this point that there was a nice shoreline to get water from. I thought this would be a great setting for a nice backcountry campsite. The campsite could be in the tall pines near the pond, an excellent setting.
I continued on and the trail takes a right on a logging road in another grove of tall pine. But that doesn’t last long because the trail turns left not very far down the road. I continue walking through the tall pine and then I saw my bike locked up to one of them. And then I make it to the crossing of the Woodtick Trail. I called Ken, and he was surprised that I had made it there so fast. He wasn’t ready to quit fishing, so I said I would hike the trail down to the next crossing of the Woodtick Trail. I told him I thought it might take up to an hour. He was okay with that.
I looked around the parking lot again, to see if I could find the water pump or the remains of the water pump that the NCT map shows is at this location. I could not find it. I headed across the road, still looking for it. Now, I would be hiking in the Goose Lake Trail System. It’s a series of trails that go near 4 lakes, which Goose Lake is the most central. Barnum Lake is a big lake on the southern border of the Goose Lake Trail System, which also happens to be the border of the Forest. Then Goose Lake is the next biggest lake. Then there are two smaller unnamed lakes, or large ponds. I came up to a trail crossing where a map of the area was posted. But the map was beat up and missing chunks.
I continued on traveling on the NCT, which skirts the southern shore of one of the small unnamed lakes. This was another good spot for a campsite. The shoreline looked good and there were some level spots up from the lake. The Goose Lake System area looked like a mixture of pine and deciduous trees. Whereas, before now, it was either pine groves or deciduous woods that were separate areas. Soon I came to some grassland areas on the right of the trail that might have been some old farm fields. Then I went past a marshy area on the left side of the trail. I could see something across the marsh in the direction I was walking in. Soon I realized I was seeing a small section of Goose Lake. The trail curves to the right and goes up a little knoll and pretty soon I could see a big section of the lake. The Lake keeps getting bigger and bigger the closer I got to it.
The trail goes to the north side of the lake, and always stays about 50 yards from the Lake. There are several spots that could be good campsites along this stretch. But there already is a campsite on Goose Lake on the south shore. But, whatever trail is over there is not a National Scenic Trail. It would be nice to have a campsite a little bit closer to the NCT, considering there are plenty of good spots for a campsite. The campsite on the south side of the lakes looks like it would be a good campsite, on a cool little peninsula, but it’s over a half a mile away from the NCT. I guess duck hunters like that campsite.
I saw my last glimpse of Goose Lake and continue walking through the forest which is still a mixture of pine and deciduous. I crossed some old logging roads which I believe are part of the Goose Lake Trail system. At one point there is a signpost like I had seen previously, but this one did not have a map on it. Perhaps they need to get some laminated maps to put up there. Perhaps they would last longer. After walking through the woods, seeing some interesting tree configurations, I saw the cream colored strip in the distance that is the Woodtick Trail. I called Ken, and he was ready to quit fishing and could come pick me up.
It was fairly early in the afternoon. But since I have a ride, I decided to take it now. I would be headed to the Joint Laurentian Lake/Itasca Moraine End of Season dinner later on this evening, so an early start would be good. Soon I saw Ken’s Pickup with a canoe on top head up the road towards me. He stopped and we put my backpack in the back. He had a lot of camping and fishing equipment back there. He put my backpack on top of a cooler, and away we went. We went back down the Woodtick Trail to Highway 5, then went into Longville and turned north on Highway 84. He said originally he found out about Hazel Lake when he stopped into the Forest Office and asked about good trout fishing lakes. The Ranger suggested Hazel and Teepee Lakes. The first time he fished in the Lake was with one of his buddies, and they were reeling them in as fast as they were casting. But today he didn’t have very much luck. He said one other time he went to Hazel Lake the campsite was all filled up with some sort of family reunion campout.
We made it to the Highway 64 Trailhead, and I asked Ken if he would be fishing the next day. But he said he was already fishing for several days and it was time to go home. I believe he lives somewhere near the Twin Cities. I said thanks and handed him a ten dollar bill. I said something like “this will help you with your meal on the way home.” He accepted it, and I got out and grabbed my backpack from the back of the topper. I waved and he was on his way. He really liked fishing, and back when I took his photo at Hazel Lake, he made me wait until he had held up his fish. Keep on fishing, my friend.
I got in my van and took the same route back the Woodtick Trail that Ken had drove me to the van. I grabbed my bike at from the woods at the crossing of the Woodtick Trail, which is closest to Highway 5. Then I decided to take the Highways 5, 6 and 12 combination to get over to Akekely where I would take Highway 34 to Park Rapids. The gathering time for the dinner in Park Rapids was 5 pm and the dinner would be at 5:30 pm. It was around 3 pm when I retrieved my bike from the Woodtick Trail crossing. I figured by the time I found a hotel in Park Rapids and took a shower, I would be pushing it to get to the dinner. The combination of Highway 5, 6, and 12 looked pretty curvy on the map, and it turned out to be, but it was the best way I could figure out. After I got on Highway 34, it turned out to be fairly straight and easy driving.
I made it into Park Rapids and the first hotel I stopped at was full. Then I stopped at the Super 8 and they had a room. They also have a complimentary breakfast and a computer in the Lobby, which customers can use. This was turning out pretty good. I grabbed a cart and took a bunch of my stuff to the room, then took a shower right away. I put on some of my fresh clothes that I was saving for this occasion. It was a dress shirt and some pants. It was about 4:55 when I went out to the lobby and asked where the North Point Lodge was. She told me it was out of town about two miles the way I had come. I didn’t see it when I drove that stretch, but now I was looking for it, and found it easily.
The North Pointe Lodge is a really nice log structure that looks fairly new. You walk in and there is restaurant to the right hand side. The hostess asked me if I was with the North Country Trail Group and I said yes, then she escorted me down a hallway to the left where there is a separate meeting room with a bar. I’d say this room would seat around 50 people, and it was pretty full with NCT volunteers. When I came in the room I was immediately recognized by Darrel Rodekuhr and he came over to talk with me. It turns out that he had read some of my website and we talked about it. I was introduced and shook hands with some other people. Then I found a seat at a table that Darell was sitting at. He introduced my to the other people sitting there. I got a Sprite from the bar, and soon the waitress came around to take our orders. We were having a good conversation at the table. There were some questions about some of my gear that I have when I go backpacking. Soon, the meal arrived, and I started working on my steak dinner. I decided to splurge this time.
We finished our meals and the program was about to start, but the MC said he would wait a few more minutes because the table at the far end still had not received their food yet. That seemed a little awkward, because we had already finished our meals. Soon the Program started and each Chapter had someone get up and talk about their accomplishments this year. The Itsasca Moraine Chapter had finished all of its trail this year and the Laurentian Lakes Chapter had built a considerable chunk of trail. Soon it was my turn to speak and I got up and gave a little pep talk thanking all the volunteers. I did talk about how well maintained the trail was that I hiked. But I did say a few things about how they could better publicize the trail. I think that’s what’s needed now, especially for the Chippewa Segment that I had hiked. I had a hard time finding resources online for the Chip. Both the Itasca Moraine and the Laurentian Lakes had some hiking maps on their websites, but some of them were not all that legible. I showed examples of some of the better Chapter websites.
After I gave my talk, which was really well received, they handed out some awards that were given out at the National Conference in Ashland. Darrel Rodekuhr was given an award for his work in closing the gap between two trail segements. Phoebe, another person sitting at our table was given an award for making the trail signs for the Itasca Moraine Chapter. Evidently, she owns a router that is used to make the signs.
After all the awards and talks were done, Matt Davis did a power point presentation about the backpacking trip that he and several volunteers did on the Border Route Trail. They did their hiking in late September, so it was a whole lot more colorful than when I hiked it. Tom Moberg was one of the people who did that trip, and he also was present at the dinner. After everything had finished, I went over to talk to him. He was the guy that had written an article published in the NCT Northstar Magazine on how to set up a backpacking website on Google Sites. I had emailed him about that article and he gave me further instructions. This was in 2009 before I went on my original Kekekabic and Border Route Hike. So he had given me tips on how to set up my website, then this year my website was used in their preparations for their hike. So he benefited from the website that he gave me tips about.
I was glad I went to the dinner. I met lots of great volunteers. And I also arranged for Darrel to pick me up at the end of my hike the next day. So that would be good. After the dinner, I was thinking about going out to a bar, since I was all dressed up. But I decided to go back to the hotel and use the computer to update my website, and send some emails. After that, I just went to bed.