Friday, May 28, 2010
I woke up and did something stupid right away in the morning. I went outside to take my morning pee, and I locked myself out of the van. Damn. Luckily, I had all my clothes on when this happened. The Trailhead is right next to the road, so a car could easily drive by and see me. So I made sure I had clothes on.
I went over to the Grand Portage State Forest Campground to see if I could find Parker. I figured if I could find Parker, I could get him to drive me into Grand Marais to pick up my other set of keys that I forgot at the Best Western. But I didn’t see Parker anyplace. There were a group of fisherman camped to the right of the boat launch, so I went up and talked to them. I asked it any of them had a wire hanger, but none of them did. Bummer. It was a group of 5 or 6 fishermen from Duluth. They looked to be a little rough on the edges. I went back to my van.
I noticed that I left my L vent open a little ways. The L vent is the long window on the side of the van in the very back. They open up about 2 to 3 inches for better ventilation. There is a small piece of plastic about 1/2 inch wide that connects the L vent with the little motor that opens and closes the L vent. I figured maybe I could cut through the piece of plastic, and then the window would open up enough for me to get in. So I went back to the fishermen and asked to use a saw. The fisherman had a bow saw and said he doubted whether it would work, but I asked him if I could give it a try, and he said yes.
So, I took the bow saw back to my van. I barely had enough room to cut the small piece of plastic, but I managed. In about 15 seconds I had cut through. It was like cutting butter, and the fisherman had doubted whether it would work. The hard part was getting back in the van through the L Vent. I stood up on the back bumper and stuck one leg through. Then I grabbed the railing on top of my van and stuck the other leg through. Then I kind of slithered my way in. It was definitely some unusual gymnastics that were needed, but I made it in. I drove my van down to the campsite, and thanked the fisherman. I said the bow saw worked really good, then I drove back to the trailhead. I got some rope out of one of my Rubbermaid totes and tied the L vent shut. It was the best I could do.
I was mad at myself, and very frustrated that I had locked myself out of the van. But I said to myself that I had to let it all go, and concentrate on the task at hand. I needed to pack up for my hike. Again, this would be a short two-day hike, so I wouldn’t be carrying very much gear.
As I was packing, Parker showed up in his small car. We talked for a while. It turns out that he was camping at the State Forest Campground, but it was at a site that’s to the left of the Boat Launch and is kind of hidden unless you travel around the boat launch loop. So, Parker was over there all along. I really could have used his help getting back into my van, but that’s over with now.
I looked in my map holder and found the copies of the Guidebook maps for west of the Arrowhead Trail. I wouldn’t need the maps anymore, because I already hiked that section. So, I gave the maps to Parker. I felt a little better that he wouldn’t get lost. We talked and then we said goodbye and he headed west.
I felt like I had done my good turn with Parker. Remember the other day when the Sheriffs from Wausau were fishing and the storm hit. One of their canoes tipped over and someone did a good turn by helping them. Then the younger sheriff did a good turn by driving me to Hovland. And now I passed the good turn on by helping Parker. I drove him back to his car from the Swamp River Campsite. And now I gave him some maps. Also, my Scoutmaster instincts kicked in when I was talking to Parker. We had talked about what colleges he might attend, and what type of work he might want to do. He is interested in becoming a Forest Ranger. I had given him a “I Saw Tman” card, and he said he would email me when he was able to, but being in the MCC he doesn’t get that much of a chance to be on a computer. I didn’t tell Parker about all the Good Turns, but now is his turn to do one. But, being in the MCC is very much like a good turn. The pay is low, the work is hard, and you’re doing stuff to help the forest, so that’s a good turn. Like the younger sheriff had said, that’s what people are for is for helping other people.
I got my gear ready and I was off. The trail is directly off the trailhead. I looks like the trail goes straight, but when you start, the trail veers to the left, away from the area I thought I would be hiking. I had heard that the BRTA had rerouted the trail around the Heliport. They did this during the last year or so, because last fall, Nimblewill Nomad walked through the Heliport when he did his hike. I think the reroute happened last fall and this spring, At any rate, I was on my way, and all my frustrations were over.
Maybe I got the wrong impression, but the impression that I got was that the next 13 miles of the Border Route is very well maintained. The first reason I had that impression is because we are no longer in the designated Wildnerness Area, we are in the Grand Portage State Forest. And since we are not in the wilderness area, motorize trail clearing can occur. This means motorized weed wackers, brush cutters and chain saws can all be used. But as I walked on the trail, it didn’t seem significantly better than some of the areas that I walked in the wilderness. In fact some areas were a little bit overgrown.
It was a very bright an sunny day, which made for some interesting contrasts in the photos I took. The first landmark would be a Forest Road, and sure enough it didn’t take me that long to get to it. Then on map, it shows the Border Route going up a hill rather steeply to the first overlook on this section of the trail. But the hill didn’t seem all that strenuous. Maybe there were a couple hard uphill stretches, but nothing overbearing. Soon I made it to the first overlook, where I could see the Royal River down below. Then I could see the Royal River and South Fowl Lake at one spot. I continued on, seeing glimpses of stuff to my left. I hiked on top of the ridge for a while, and it was easy hiking.
Then I hiked to another overlook, which was definitely better than anything I’d seen this morning. It was a majestic over of South Fowl Lake, and I took many photos including a timed photo of myself. I continued hiking on the ridge south of the Royal River and South Fowl Lake. The Border Route Guidebooks shows that there will be 5 more overlooks within the next 2 miles or so. And hiking on top of the ridge was pretty flat and easy. There were a few spots that were a little overgrown, but then again most of the trail was clear, and there were even some rocky bare spots. And as far as downed trees there were very few of them.
After hiking about twenty minutes from the last spectacular overlook, I came upon another spectacular overlook. This one included South Fowl Lake and a big hill with cliffs to the east. Again I took a bunch of photos here including a panoramic shot and a self shot. The one thing I noticed at this overlook was that there was some litter around it. Nothing much, just a candy wrapper or two, but it was enough to get me a little irritated. But then all of a sudden I started hearing voices as I walked down the trail. And I announced myself by saying “ahoy there, I can hear somebody.” Then I walked up to another overlook where there was some young men camping.
I walked into the overlook from the Border Route Trail. There was a path about 20 yards long leading into the overlook. There I met 5 young men from St Cloud, Minnesota. Evidently, some of them had just completed the Spring Semester at St Cloud State. They had two tents set up on this overlook and a small fire. And this was a spectacular overlook, with one rather big rock outcropping jutting out from it. I talked with the guys a little while, doing the usual conversation introducing myself. These guys appeared to be camping a little sloppy and heavy. They had camp chairs, which is not exactly an ultra-light backpacking piece of equipment.
It was a very scenic overlook. I asked one of the guys if he would take my photo at the overlook and he took some shots. Then I asked the guys if I could take a photo of them for my backpacking website. They said sure, but they wanted me to take a photo of them on this big rock outcropping. Plus they wanted me to take a photo of them with a camera they had brought. I was more than happy to. Soon they were all scurrying out on this big rock outcropping. I knew one thing for sure, and it was that I wasn’t going to be going out there. First you had to climb down a ways, then you climbed up on the rock outcropping. Soon they were all on it, and I took their photos with both cameras.
After the photo shoot, I said goodbye to the guys and went on my way. I had noticed that they had a small fire. Boy, I thought, if that fire ever got out of control, it would be hell and gone to be able to get water to put it out. The map showed the trail going downhill about a 1/4 mile to a forest road that went out to South Fowl Lake, which was another 3/4 mile down the road. According to the map, the road went through some swampy areas, so maybe there is a creek before you get to South Fowl Lake. Nevertheless, if a fire ever broke out at the overlook, it would be a disaster. But I didn’t preach to the guys, after all, they had a really small fire. If they had a big fire, I think I would have preached. They were just five guys enjoying the outdoors after a semester of being penned up at school.
From the overlook it’s all downhill to that little forest road that goes to South Fowl Lake. It isn’t very much of a road. It’s more like a jeep path or a ATV path. I know that I would not want to bring my van on the road because it was really rocky. I walked down the road a little ways and I did see some wet areas, but I did not see a creek.
I continued on the Border Route and knew that I would be walking up a big hill. This would be the hill that I seen at the overlook which has sheer cliffs on it. I thought I was in for a tough stretch of trail. But it wasn’t very bad. Sure it went uphill, but again, there wasn’t any overly strenuous sections. Whoever created this trail did a good job of it. On this section of the trail, I came upon another notch log. A nog log is a log that is too big to clear, so the trail crew just puts a notch in it so that you can get over it easier. This log did have a notch in it, but it was an unusual notch. It was shaped like a W which reminded me of Wisconsin. So I guess that’s the Wisconsin notch log.
I continued up the hill, expecting to come to the big shear cliff that I had seen from the other overlook. But I didn’t see the cliff. In fact, I saw a sign saying “closed for restoration, and a pile of brush blocking the trail. The trail had been rerouted away from the cliffs. I suppose there were too many people camping up there and making a mess of things. I walked on the rerouted trail for about twenty minutes until I found the sign down the trail where the “closed for restoration” trail reconnects. Again, there was a sign and a pile of brush.
I hiked on, seeing glimpses of South Fowl Lake to my left. Soon I came upon another sign. This time it was a sign saying that I was hiking on land that was protected by the Nature Conservancy. I have always thought highly of the Nature Conservancy. They have a different philosophy than other Conservation groups like the Sierra Club. The Nature Conservancy protects the land by owning it. That’s the only way they feel that you can really protect it. So they have bought many critically important wild areas.
I hiked on and reached another really nice overlook. This was an overlook of the very southern section of South Fowl Lake, where it flows into the Pigeon River. I couldn’t see the river, but I could see a small island, and a big bluff with a shear cliff that was in Canada. The Pigeon River is the Border between the US and Canada, and I would soon be walking along the river. I hiked along, seeing glimpses of the bluff with the shear cliff then coming upon another view of the rolling hills that are to the south. It was a view that was completely of the forest lands, and no lake was seen. This is a big change from seeing South Fowl Lake, which I had all day up to this point.
As I hiked on, I could hear the rapids of the Pigeon River down to my left. But I could not see the river yet. According to the map, the trail would get right next to the river. All I had to do is be a little patient. I walked through the pine woods going slightly downhill, and I started to see glimpses of the river. The river was getting closer and closer to the trail. Or you might say the trail was getting closer and closer to the river. Whatever you prefer.
Soon the trail was right next to the river. I saw a spot where there had been a campfire on the trail. At least they put the campfire on the trail, and not wrecked some other sensitive area with their campfire. I stopped to pump some water. I only filled one bottle of water because I figured there were plenty of opportunities to stop for water over the next two miles. I would be crossing both the Stump River and the Portage Brook, so water opportunities would be plentiful on this section. Which is good, because there hasn’t been any water opportunities since the Arrowhead Trail.
I continued on, hiking through some scrubby woods next to the river. I crossed one small creek ,which had the yellow water flowers blooming from it. Then eventually reached a very grassy area. The Trail was well marked with ribbon, which was good in the grassy areas because you don’t know what is the Border Route and what is just an animal path. I had been hiking away from the river for a ways, then all of a sudden I saw the river. Only this time it was the Stump River, because I came upon the Stump River Bridge.
It is a very substantial bridge, which is about twenty yards long. I was made of metal poles going into the water, with wood planking. It kind of reminded me of a pier that you would see on the lakes in Wisconsin. The water in the Stump River is very brown, and the river meanders around with many curves. After crossing the bridge, the trail goes through some scrubby grasslands, and is very flat. The trail is flat and grassy for a very long ways. At one point there is a sign saying “Walking Trail, no Motorized Vehicles,” so there must have been a junction with a forest road, but I couldn’t tell, it was all one big scrubby grassland.
I looked down at my pants and it was loaded with ticks. There must have been ten of them crawling up my pants. Parker was right about the ticks. This is a sunny grassland area, and ticks just seem to thrive in these areas just like when I was in the sunny grassland areas of the burn zone last year. I brushed off the ticks and continued on. The grasslands kept going for a long ways, perhaps over a mile. Luckily, the trail was really well marked, or it would be easy to stray onto an animal trail. I noticed that there was a big hill ahead of me, and the trail started going a little downhill, so I figured I should be getting to Portage Brook soon. And Sure enough, I did.
At Portage Brook there is a big bridge, perhaps twice as long as the one at the Stump River. And this bridge was shaped in a < Pattern, but a little straighter that that. It went out into the river, then the bridge turned to the right at an slight angle, and proceeded to the other side. I had never seen anything like it before. I suppose there is a perfectly good reason for it. It says in the guidebook that this bridge keeps getting wiped out and rebuilt. In fact this was the third such bridge here. But it looked very sturdy. I crossed it and hiked the grassy trail along the river. Soon the trail went away from the river a little bit and went slightly uphill. This is where I found the Portage Brook Campsite.
The campsite looked as though it had not been used in a long time. There was a worn down wooden picnic table and a concrete fire ring. A concrete fire ring, that must have been fun to bring in here. The campsite looked as though it could use a little clearing out because it was starting to get over grown in some of the tent areas. I sat my gear down on the table. This is where I would have to make a decision.
I checked my cell phone and it was 5 pm. I had a few choices on what I could do at this point. There was about 5 miles of the Border Route left for me to do. Perhaps I could complete it and camp at the Swamp River Campsite. I had about 5 hours of daylight left, and I was in pretty good condition. My nether regions had healed in the two days of rest and I was in good spirits. But did I really want to push it and have another disaster.
My second option was just to stay at the Portage Brook Campsite. But it still felt very early. So I nixed that idea and opted for a third idea. I would hike out to Otter Lake Road where I would have more options. At Otter Lake Road there is a campsite that I could stay at. Then I could stash most of my gear there in the morning, and do the rest of the Border Route with minimal gear. Or, once I get to Otter Lake Road, it is a short distance down to the Arrowhead Trail, where I could hitch a ride down to my car. Last night when I went down to Hovland to eat at Naniboujou Lodge, there seemed to be some traffic on the Arrowhead Trail. In the fifteen miles down the road, I must have passed at least a half of a dozen cars coming up the trail. So I decided to go to Otter Lake Road and see what happens.
From the Portage Brook Campsite it is about a half mile to the Otter Lake Cutoff Trail Junction, then the Otter Lake Cutoff is about a mile long to get out to the road. I headed out. I walked along the grasslands next to the Portage Brook and crossed a small creek feeding into the brook. Actually, Portage Brook didn’t seem like a brook, it seemed bigger than that. It is bigger than the Stump River that I crossed a mile or two back and it had a much longer bridge to cross it.
The Border Route went along the Brook for a ways, then started going slightly uphill, It wasn’t long before I made it to the Otter Lake Cutoff Trail. And at the junction, there is a creek. Maybe it’s called the Otter Lake Cutoff Creek, for all I know. At any rate, there is some Border Route signs at the junction, pointing east and west.
I took the Cutoff Trail, and it wasn’t long before I was questioning my choice. This would be the steepest uphill climb of the day. From looking at the map, I really didn’t think it was going to be very bad. But it was. But there were other spots on the trail that I thought were going to be steep uphill section, and they were not. So I guess this makes up for that.
At least going up the hill I was in a forest again, and not in the tick infested grasslands that I had been walking through ever since the Pigeon River. I kept going up and up, and when I made it to the top, something really bad was in front of me. It was a big clear-cut area. I wandered out in the Clear Cut Area, trying to figure out where the trail was. It took me a while, but then I saw a blue painted mark on a tree on the edge of the clear-cut area. And then I saw some blue ribbons. So I was back on course again. And once I got used to walking through the Clear Cut Area, I could definitely see the trail in front of me because the grass is greener where the trail was.
The Trail was fairly clear in the clear-cut area. But seeing all the stumps where trees had previously had been was a little bit of a downer. I was walking on the Otter Lake Cutoff Trail, and the clear cutting sure made a new meaning of the word Cutoff.
Soon, I was out of the Clear Cut Area and was hiking through some scrubby grasslands. Surely I would be seeing Otter Lake soon, I thought, but it kept going and going. All I wanted to see was one of two things, either an otter or a lake. But I saw neither. Otter Lake is a triangle shaped lake with each side of the triangle being a least a half mile long. Surely, I would be seeing it soon. But then I saw a little pond to the right of the trail. Perhaps it was some sort of backwater area of the lake. Then up ahead on the trail I saw a campfire ring made of rocks. Now I knew I was getting close to Otter Lake Road. I got up to the Campfire Ring, and the road was only about 4 car lengths away from it, But I couldn’t see the road until I got to the Campfire Ring because of the slight uphill angle coming up to the campsite.
It was before 6 pm when I made it to Otter Lake Road. Now what should I do, I thought to myself. But I decided to stash my gear at the campsite, then walk down to the Arrowhead Trail, which is a half-mile away, and see if I could hitch a ride back to my van. So, I grabbed my hiking poles and started hiking down the road. Once I got to the Arrowhead Trail, I started hiking on it north in the direction of my van. It was easy walking on the road compared to walking on the trail, and I was making good time.
I stuck out my thumb for a few cars, but nobody stopped for me. I continued on, thinking maybe I would just walk back to my van. It would be about six miles, and it was just like walking on a treadmill at my health club, where I can walk 3 miles in 45 minutes, when I’m walking and not running. I figured I would have to walk about 6 miles to get back to my van. I was cruising. But then a Big Pickup Truck hauling a boat stopped and picked me up.
It was Sean and Kelly from Grand Marais. Their family has a cabin up at the top of the Arrowhead Trail on McFarland Lake. Their pickup truck was really big and had a full sized back seat where their two rather big dogs roamed. But I didn’t mind sitting in the back with them, at least it was a ride. At it seemed like a longer ride than I thought it would be. I would have been walking for a long time.
They drove me right down to my van. On the drive we talked about the old McFarland Lake Lodge, which burned down several years ago. Evidently, the Lodge was the home base for a seaplane that took fishermen out to some of the Boundary Waters lakes. But that was before the Boundary Waters was designated as a Wilderness Area. After the designation, the seaplane was no longer allowed to land on lakes inside the Wilderness. So the Lodge was losing a lot of business because of the new rules. Then it burned down.
The cabin Sean and Kelly were going to was one that had been in the family for generations, so they seemed to know the history of the area. I got to my van, took a photo of Sean and Kelly, thanked them and gave them a “I saw Tman” card. Thanks again for the ride.
I hopped in my van and headed down to Otter Lake to retrieve my gear. As I drove, I passed only one car on the way back, and it was driven by a young lady. I assumed a young lady would not have picked me up when I was hitchhiking, so I’m really glad Sean and Kelly picked me up. Or I may have been hiking for a long time.
As I rode back to Otter Lake, I noticed that I had a problem. I was getting really low on gas. I had less than an 1/8 of a tank. I was worried I wouldn’t make it to a gas station. I stopped at the Otter Lake campsite, picked up my gear, and put out my Spot Messenger, to mark the end of the hike for the day. I checked my maps while waiting for the Spot Messenger to send its message.
I figured it would be about 15 miles down to Hovland on the Arrowhead Trail, then another 15 miles to go to Grand Portage or Grand Marais for gas. But if I traveled east on Otter Lake Road that turns into Rengo Road, it would be about 18 to 20 miles through the Grand Portage Indian Reservation to get to Grand Portage. That’s the way I decided to go. It might save me from running out of gas. The Spot Messenger sent it’s message and I left the Otter Lake Trailhead and Campsite at around 7 pm.
I headed down Otter Lake road and stopped at the Border Route Trailhead to see if my Mountain Bike was still stashed in the woods near the latrene. It was there, so I headed on. The road was a reddish colored gravel road that was good as gravel roads go. I passed the junction with Jackson Lake Road, which is another gravel forest road. Then I reached a sign saying “Entering Grand Portage Indian Reservation. Casino 12 miles.” All of a sudden I was happy that it was only 12 miles to get gas. But once into the Reservation, the road deteriorated from a nice gravel road to a scary dirt road. I had to slow down very much, to about 24 or 30 miles per hour. And this road curved around going every which way. I saw a sign for an overlook. I kept going. I saw another Firefighting Heliport, similar to the one on the Arrowhead Trail, I kept going. I saw some forestry equipment and some logs pile up. I kept going. I kept going and going. I was hoping to hit the Old Highway 61, which is a paved road. I didn’t see any houses out in this area. So the Tribe must use it for mainly logging. I was hoping I wouldn’t reach a place where my van would not make it through. Someplace where the dirt road was flooded, or muddy. This was more of a road for a four wheel drive pick up or jeep, not a 2007 Town and Country Minivan.
Finally after the road twisted around a few more times I hit Old Highway 61, which is now County 17. I turned right, hoping that I was on the right road to take me to Grand Portage. The map shows two paved roads in the area. One goes towards Grand Portage, and the other goes all the way back towards Hovland. I looked a road intersection and it said I was on Mineral Center Road. I immediately thought of Warren Wooddard, the man that I met at the Grand Marais Best Western. Mineral Center was where he lived before his family was moved off the Reservation back in the 1940’s. I was traveling past where Warren used to live. But there is nothing there now, except for houses very infrequently.
The road turned 90 degrees to the left. Then I felt I was on the right road. Soon I was going downhill and could see Lake Superior ahead of me. When I got to the bottom I hit Highway 61. I had been diverting my eyes from looking at the gas gauge for a long time. It was on E. But at least now I was on the more heavily traveled Highway 61 if I ran out of gas, instead of being in the middle of some deep dark woods up in a remote area of the Reservation. I turned left, and within a mile there was a sign saying Grand Portage Casino next right, Food, Gas, Camping. I was happy to see Gas listed on the sign.
I turned right and pulled in the rather deluxe gas station. I filled up my tank with over $50 dollars worth of gas. It really was very low on gas. The Gas Station was big, with many pumps, and the building was part food court, part grocery store, part travel center and part Casino. Yes, they had a small room in the back that had a bunch of slot machines, and there was an armed guard watching over things.
Straight down towards Lake Superior from the Gas Station is a big parking lot and then the Casino. To the left of the Gas Station was the Campground and Marina. I headed down to the campground. The Campground is about 4 football fields long and a football field wide. It is unnaturally flat and doesn’t have any mature trees. I guess it must have been built this way, probably in the last 15 years or so. It was probably graded to make it flat. The campsite area looked like a flat plateau or butte, then down a little hill from the campsite area was the Restroom, Laundry and Shower House. Then down from that was the Marina, with another small marina building. I drove down to the Restroom/Shower Building.
I parked down near the Restroom Shower Building, and I noticed there was a man at a Pop up Camper up the hill from the Restroom. I said hi to him, and walked up the hill to talk to him. This is where I met Don, from the state of Oregon. The campground overlooked the marina and the Grand Portage Bay. The bay is about two miles wide with points of land jutting out on each side. And there is an Island out in the middle of it. Don said that he met a tribe member who said his grandfather had a trading post out on that island. I wondered if Don had talked to Tribe Member Ed Olson, who gave me a ride the other day.
At any rate, Don had a Pop up Camper that had metal sides that formed a peak, instead of canvas sides that had been extensions that folded out. I asked him what the advantage was of having the peak pop up camper. He said it was safer in bear areas. In a canvas Pop up camper, you would have to store all your food in the car. Since his camper has all metal sides, he can have his food inside the camper. Don is an older man, perhaps in his 60’s and he was camping with his grandson who was off playing with some kids at a RV a few campsites down. Since I asked about the pop up trailer, Don started showing me all the features of it. We walked around it and he showed me all the connections and storage compartments. Then he showed me the inside, which had a bed at each end and some kitchen appliances in the middle. He said the one bed folds up into a table. But he had a picnic table right outside the camper, so he left it as a bed for his grandson.
Don said he was an Actor and a writer. I didn’t ask him what he acted in. But he did have a laptop sitting out on the picnic table that he was doing some writing on. Perhaps I would become a character in one of his stories. He was going to be taking his grandson out to Isle Royale in the morning and stay overnight. He pointed out to the island, which you can see out in the distance in Lake Superior. I asked him if the casino had a restaurant and what time it closed. He said they have two restaurants and one of them is open until 9 pm. It was after 8 pm by now. I gave him a “I saw Tman” card. I told him best of luck on his Isle Royale trip. I had to get cleaned up so I could go in the Casino.
I went into the Restroom/Shower House. In the men’s restroom there was 2 sinks, 2 toilet stalls, 2 urinals, and 2 shower stalls. One of the park’s personnel riding around in a truck seen me down by the restroom, and he kept on going without questioning me. It doesn’t say anyplace that the shower house was just for the people at the campground. And if anybody would questioned me I would say that I really needed to take a shower before I went into the Casino, because I was hiking all day. All of this was true. I proceeded to take a shower.
The shower house seemed pretty new. I’d say it was built within the last 10 years or so. But it really needed to be kept up a little bit better. It definitely wasn’t the worst shower house I had ever been in. But it is a little disappointing to have such a new building, and that they don’t seem to care about it very much. What they need to do is to get all the paper products out of the restroom/shower area, then come in with a power washer and blast away at the cobwebs, etc. The Shower House/restrooms had three sections. On the left end was the Men’s room, on the right end was the Women’s room and in the middle was a room with a washer and dryer. I finished my shower and headed for the Casino.
The Casino looked to be on the left hand side of this big complex and the hotel was to the right. I walked into the Casino and walked around. To the right there was a big closed off room where people were playing bingo. The rest of the Casino was one big room with a ton of slot machines. I walked around trying to see if there was something else besides slot machines, and there wasn’t. There was a snack bar in the back, but that didn’t look too appealing so I went back to the front door and asked the Security Guard where the Restaurant was, and he pointed down a hallway to the right. So I walked down the hallway past the Bingo room. Then there was a bar down the hallway. Then I made it into the hotel part of the Casino where there was a restaurant to the left.
The restaurant has a great view of the Grand Portage Bay, and they sat me down at a table right near a window. My Waitress was a young black lady with an accent, who was from a Carribean Island. I asked her if she was up here for the summer, but she said she was up here for 18 months, then she would go back. I had a great supper. It was Atlantic Salmon and salad bar for only $12. The same meal cost me around $20 at Naniboujou Lodge. Maybe the restaurant doesn’t need to make a profit because it’s part of the Casino. Or they are using the restaurant as a write off. At any rate I had a good meal, then I returned to the Casino. I asked the lady at the bingo counter when another session of bingo would be starting, and she said tomorrow at 7pm. I guess I was out of luck with bingo. I walked around the Casino again, but I don’t particularly like playing the one armed bandits so I left to go out to my van. It was way passed dark by now, so I found a deserted part of the parking lot and parked my van. I went in the back of the van and went to sleep.