Thursday, May 10, 2012
Oh, the luxury of a nice comfy bed. I wasn’t in any hurry to get going this morning. But I got dressed in my hiking clothes and went down to the Breakfast area in the hotel. There I saw Tait, the man I met yesterday at the Hotel’s Swimming Pool. He is a local Silver Bay man that came down to the Hotel to have breakfast with his sister and father. I talked with him a little bit and proceeded to get some breakfast. I went down to my room in the hotel and got my Superior Hiking Trail Guidebook. I showed it to Tait and we looked at the section around Silver Bay. I asked him if I could call him if I needed a ride sometime, and that I would pay him a fair price for transporting me. He said he might be out of town on the weekend, but he would be willing to give me a ride if he was in town. So he wrote down his number in my SHT Guidebook. I thought that might give me another option if I needed it.
After breakfast I went down to my room and packed up. I took my stuff out to the van, then, I always take one last sweep of the Hotel Room in case I forgot something. My hiking plan was simple for today. I would leave my bike at the Hwy 6 Trailhead and then drive to the Finland Recreation Center. It would be a 7.6 mile hike on the SHT back to my bike. Then the ride to Finland on the bike would be mostly downhill on the paved Hwy 6. So that’s what I did, I drove up to the SHT crossing of Hwy 6 and took Blackie out into the woods near the Trail. To my surprise, there was another bike locked up there. Someone else had the same idea. I drove down to Finland then out to the Finland Recreation Center.
It’s a nice trailhead at the Finland Recreation Center. It has some outhouses and plenty of parking. And if the building is open, I suppose you can going over and get some water from the building. I hiked down Hwy 7 about a quarter mile and connected with the SHT. I suppose I should have walked the spur trail from the Trailhead, but I wanted to start photographing again where I left off. So I started hiking through a low land scrubby area. Almost immediately I came up to the Junction of the SHT and the Trailhead Spur Trail. There were two big SHT signs giving mileages for both directions. There was a creek next to the Trail which one of the signs identified as Tower Creek. As the SHT continued it went right next to the creek. But that didn’t last long because soon I came to the Bridge over the East Branch of the Baptism River. You had to walk up 7 steps to the bridge platform then cross the bridge and walk down some steps on the over side.
Evidently this bridge is shared by Cross Country Skiers in the winter. The SHT does look a little wider than normal here, perhaps to accommodate the skiers. But then I happened upon a real ski trail with a sign saying “Finland Ski Trail.” The SHT took a left on the Ski Trail. Now it was really wide, I’d say 8 to 10 feet. Hiking on the ski trail is nice and easy. But soon I came up to a Y in the trail and it took me a minute to figure out which way to go. I walked down to the right and eventually found another blue blaze. I followed the ski trail as it went up a hill gradually for several hundred yards. Then the ski trail came up to a sign saying “Finland Ski Trail, Mickleson Road.” Well, first of all it didn’t appear to be much of a road. It was a two-track forest road that they are now using as a Ski Trail. But right there at the road junction is where the SHT splits off of the Ski Trail, and goes on it’s own again. Now it’s just a regular trail going through the woods again.
The trail went along the side of the hill for quite some time. That’s where a met Steve and Jack, backpackers that were hiking towards me. They had a beautiful Golden Retriever dog with them. They seemed like pretty experienced backpackers because they had all the right gear own. They were about the same age as me, in their 50’s. They were just enjoying the hike. They said that Steve had dropped them off at Hwy 6, then drove to Crosby Manitou State Park and parked their vehicle. Then Steve rode his bike back to Hwy 6. I told them that I had seen Steve’s bike locked up in the woods near Hwy 6, and that I had locked up my bike nearby. I told them that I was planning to hike to Hwy 6 then ride my bike back to the Finland Recreation Center. I took their photo, gave them an “I Saw Tman” Card then headed down the trail. It was nice meeting someone else that used the Hike and Bike Technique.
I continued on the SHT as it went on a slightly downhill run. When I got to the bottom I came up to a little creek. It was Leskinen Creek. It was a smaller creek, but maybe big enough to keep running all year. I passed over the creek and after about 50 yards I came up to the Leskinen MultiGroup Campsite. It’s a nice and flat campsite in a thinned out woods. I explored the campsite and found a bear cable, that’s nice, but it seems like most of theses cables are right in the campsite. I would prefer them to be down the trail a little ways from the campsite. At any rate I thought it was a nice campsite, and I kept going. At this point I was thinking about my dad. His name was Lester and everyone called him Les. He died of a heart attack on New Years Day of 2006. He woke up in the morning and tried to get out of bed. He didn’t make it. He was 86 years old and had suffered through prostate cancer that caused him to lose over 110 pounds. My dad would have loved all the fishing places up here.
The trail goes through a lowland area. Soon I came upon a longer boardwalk with a sign saying “Lady Slipper Area.” I crossed the boardwalk but didn’t see any Lady Slippers. It’s too early in the year for that. I did see one clump of yellow Marsh Marigolds. After the boardwalk I hiked to a road. It was Park Hill Road. It’s a nice gravel road coming up from Hwy 6. Then after the road I hiked to a large boulder. It must have been around two stories high, and there were some other shorter rocks around it. This huge rock is a Glacial Erratic. A rock the Glacier plopped down there. That’s pretty hard to conceive because that rock is so huge. The other funny thing about this rock is it apparently doesn’t have a name. Jeremy’s Rock, a Glacier Erratic on the SHT near Hovland is a much smaller rock, yet it has a name.
After the Glacial Erratic, the SHT goes slightly downhill and starts getting into a scrubby area. At one point it comes out to an opening. I’m not exactly sure why there is an opening, perhaps it’s a staging area for when they harvested the timber.
The trail continues on its slightly downhill pattern and I could now see some type of marshy pond in front of me out in the distance. I hiked across a few smaller boardwalks, then, I came up to the huge boardwalk bridge at the Sawmill Bog. There is a bench and a trail register right before the big boardwalk. I thought this would be a good place to take a break.
I was really impressed by very long boardwalk. At the Trail Register I wrote a nice little note in the Logbook commemorating what a beautiful day it was. I rested and ate some snacks. Also, there was a SHT sign saying “No Camping, No Campfires, Be Careful on the Boardwalk.” Then I decided that this might be a good place to shoot a video, so I got the camera ready and commenced with the video. I showed the Trail Register, the Sign, then, I walked out on the boardwalk. It was turning out to be a great video, until the battery died. Oh Well. I went back to the bench area and changed out the battery. But then I wasn’t all in the mood any more to shoot a video, so I just packed up my stuff and headed over the boardwalk.
And what a boardwalk it was, I’d say over 100 yards long. And it traveled right on top of a beaver dam. I wonder how many generations of beavers it took to build that huge dam. Once I got over to the other side, they had another sign saying “Be Careful on the Boardwalk,” going the other direction. It was a very long boardwalk, and it had some steps in it, which was pretty unusual for a boardwalk.
After the boardwalk the trail goes through a scrubby woods for a short ways then you hit a clear-cut area. And this was a really new clear-cut area. Well, it wasn’t a total clear –cut, they let some trees standing, but it was definitely more than just a thinning out of trees. As I was walking through the clear-cut, I met Tyler and Steph.
They a young couple from the University of Minnesota – Duluth, who said they were camping up on the Section 13 Cliff. The big hill with the cliffs was readily in view by now. It had been lurking on the horizon for a while, but now it was becoming a big weight hanging over me. I talked with Tyler and Steph about the Sawmill Bog, which they said they were hiking to.
I headed out and came to another beaver dam, which the SHT went across. This wasn’t nearly as big as the Sawmill Bog Dam Walk, but still must have been quite the engineering feat to build. This beaver pond was a little different than the Sawmill Bog. It had plenty of standing dead trees in it. After the Beaver Pond, the trail goes through some more clear-cut areas with the imposing Section 13 Cliff Hill towering up above me. Soon I reached a small creek, then a staircase going up the hill.
The staircase was made with the usual 4 x 4 beams spiked into the ground, holding the earth back. But soon that gave way to some rocks steps. It was getting steeper, with rock faces on both sided of the trail. Soon I got to a spot where there is a side trail going off to the left. There was a sign there saying “Spur Trail, Not Maintained.” It was going up a hill to the left. But I had enough of unmaintained spur trails back on Horseshoe Ridge, so I decided to skip it. Besides, there’s probably just as good of overlooks on the SHT ahead of me, so why take the spur trail.
I kept going up, but at this point there were no stairs, it was just the trail going in an upward fashion. I was hiking in a gully with hills with rock faces on both sides of the trail. Plus there was a streambed to the right of the trail. It was dry, but when it rains it really must be something to see. Now, I was starting to get on top of this hill. I could see sky ahead, then a SHT sign. I got up there and it was a sign pointing to the right. At that point you could see Lake Superior way out in front of you through the trees.
I went to the right and I found two massive rocks with about 5 feet between them. This was the perfect walkway for the SHT. It was a gateway of sorts. I set down my gear and climbed up on top of the rock mass to my right. It was a huge flat rock slab with excellent views of where I had just hiked, including the Sawmill Bog. I decided to make a video here. I set up my camera, which had a fairly new battery in it, and began filming. First I shot the overlook that I was at, then, I explored the area and went over to the rock face on the other side of the SHT and found another great overlook looking towards Lake Superior. This is really a great spot. I finished up and headed back to my gear between the two rock faces.
I continued on the Superior Hiking Trail. Surprisingly, it was very wooded on top of this hill. Pretty soon I came up on the side trail going to the left to the Section 13 Campsite. I went into the campsite like I usually do to check it out. It seemed like a really sloped campsite. The area around the campfire area was sloped, plus two out of the four tent pads were sloped. At least there were a couple flat spots to camp. But this Campsite is Hell and Gone from water. I think the closest water was at a bridge that I crossed before coming up the hill. The Campsite looked like it was fairly well used because areas were looking fairly worn down.
I continued on the SHT and found another campsite. This was an unauthorized campsite, because it didn’t have the official SHT Campfire benches, etc. But this campsite seemed a lot more level than the other campsite. It did have a campfire area, but used logs to sit on. I was expecting to see Tyler and Steph’s gear at one of the campsites, but didn’t see anything. I wondered if they had already taken down their tent.
I kept walking and it was clear that I was coming up on a big overlook. And it was big. Wow, what a view. I’d say it was at least 75 yards long, and had several levels to explore. That’s when I saw the tent. It was tucked down on one of the levels of the Cliff. A nice little area that was just big enough for a tent. The area would be sheltered from wind from the north and east, but not the west. And it barely had enough soil to stake down a tent. I figured that must be Tyler and Steph’s tent.
At any rate, there’s an incredible view here, so I started taking a bunch of photos. Pretty soon Tyler and Steph showed up. They had finished their hike to the Sawmill Bog, and they had caught up with me because I stopped to take photos and a video. I talked with them again and took their photo by their tent.
I proceed hiking down the overlook, taking more photos. After exploring all the little nooks and crannies, I headed down the hill. I was hiking through the woods in a downhill pattern when I heard some voices. I sounded like some girls giggling and carrying on. There was a little path heading to the right, so I took it and came out to a little outcropping overlook, where I met two young ladies from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. They were out enjoying the beautiful day. The overlook was nice, with a closer look at a little beaver pond down from the overlook. But I told the young ladies that there were still much better overlooks up the trail. I also told them when they got to the spot where there was short rock faces on both sides of the trail, that it was the end of the overlooks. They seemed happy to get the information. I said since they were from UMD, that they might know Tyler and Steph who were camping up on the cliffs. The two young ladies headed up the hill and I headed down.
I saw one little pothole pond to the left of the trail. That must be the closest place to get water for the Section 13 Campsite. That’s a long haul to get water. The trail continues on a downhill run, but not nearly as steep as coming up from the other side of the Section 13 Cliffs. I came down and headed over a bridge. There is a sign there saying “Sawmill Creek.” The creek was running good. The beavers had not completely stopped it from running. I went through the low lands and heard a few cars. I was getting close to Hwy 6. And sure enough, I saw Steve’s bike locked in the woods, then I saw my bike locked up, and I was out to the road.
This is where I met Matt and Mindy. They were just sitting on the side of the road in the grass near the SHT sign. It looked like they were waiting for someone to come pick them up. I asked them if they needed a ride someplace, I could help them after I ride my bike back to Finland to get my Van. But they say no, they were just taking a break. Then we started talking about the trail. Matt pointed out the big bluff that I would be hiking up, that would be Sawmill Dome, and said that once I got to the top of it, it was pretty easy hiking for a long ways. That was good to hear. I told them that once they got up over Section 13 that it was pretty easy hiking all the way to Crosby Manitou State Park, but then it becomes pretty rough.
It was about 1:30 pm and I wondered what I should do next. I could ride my bike back to Finland, then set up another loop by setting my bike at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Center. Or I could ride my bike back to Finland and go check out the Cross River Side Trail up by Schroeder. I wanted to check out that trail for my class “The Coolest Backcountry Campsites on the North Country Trail in Minnesota.” I went back into the woods to unlock my bike, but then I heard some voices again. It was the two young ladies from UMD.
I was near my bike when they came along. I asked them if I could get a ride to Finland, it was about 7 miles from here, and I would pay them. It would help me avoid having to ride my bike all the way there. They said sure, but I didn’t have to pay them. They were out on a little adventure and this would be part of it. So I hiked back out to where Matt and Mindy were sitting, then we turned left and walked along the road to the Parking Lot. The lot is about 100 yards down the road at a gravel pit. It’s still a working gravel pit, but the parking is at the first part of the pit, far away from the work site.
So, I hopped in the back of the car, and the two young ladies drove me into Finland. I told them that they should take Hwy 1 from Finland, if they are headed back to Duluth, it would be shorter than taking Hwy 6. Soon, I was back to my van at the Finland Community Center. I got out and handed them a ten dollar bill. I said for them to have a Turtle Sundae on me at the Two Harbors Culvers on your way back to Duluth. They seemed pretty happy about that. And were on their way.
I went back up the Hwy 6 Trailhead to get my Mountain Bike named Blackie, and to my surprise, Matt and Mindy were still sitting along side the road, taking a break. I grabbed my bike from the woods and they decided it was time for them to head out. We said goodbye. Happy Hiking my friends.
Now, what to do? I could set my bike at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Center and do a loop. But I didn’t think that would accomplish much, and would make it harder to do a loop the next day. So, I decided to head to the Bar, the West Branch Bar in Finland. I pulled in and headed in the bar with my SHT Guidebook in hand. I got in the bar, and sure enough, Dave was there. Dave had shuttled me back up to Crosby Manitou State Park the day before. I asked Dave if I could set up another Shuttle for the next morning. I showed him the SHT Guidebook. I wanted him to help me drop off the van at the Hwy 1 Trailhead, then drive me to the Hwy 6 Trailhead. I told him I’d pay him $40 for it, since it was much longer than the Crosby Manitou shuttle. He asked me what time in the morning that I wanted to do this, and I said anytime he could do it. He said he could do it around 8 am, and I had better be here because he couldn’t do it much later than that. I said I would be sleeping in my van in the parking lot, so I would be there.
Now, that I had the next day’s shuttle lined up, I decided to go check out the Cross River Spur Trail. I headed down Hwy 6 to Hwy 61 and headed up the coast. Once I got to Hwy 61, it was a 13 mile drive up to the Cross River Wayside. I got out of my van and looked at the spectacular waterfall there. I checked for a trail on the right side of the river and saw none. I checked my Superior Hiking Trail Guidebook, and discovered I was at the wrong spot. But just then a Pickup Truck veered off Highway 61 and came into the wayside. The Pickup Truck pulled up and it was Phil Nimps. What a surprise!!!
Phil Nimps is a great volunteer of the North Country Trail. He was heading up to Grand Marais to work on a Border Route Trail Crew for the weekend. They usually meet up at Rockwood Lodge and spend Thursday Night in the bunkhouse. Then they canoe out to the Border Route and clear the trail. But Phil Nimps has been all over the place helping out on the trail. He mows Lonetree in North Dakota. He helps Matt Davis in Minnesota, and he even came down to Madison and helped me at Canoecopia.
Phil said he would recognize me anywhere, and I guess he proved it. He was distributing NCT brochures to State Parks on his way up the Coast. I told him to stop at the Cobblestone Cabins and leave off some brochures. Jan and Kathy are great supporters of the trail, too. Wow, what a meeting!!!
Phil headed on his way and I was still amazed. What a happenstance of circumstance happened to make that happen. What are the odds?
I figured out that I was at the wrong spot. This spot was a great spot, with a beautiful waterfall, but I needed to go up Hwy 61 one block, then, turn left and go up another block. That’s exactly what I did and I found the trailhead under some tall electric lines. And surprisingly, there’s lots of stuff going on at this trailhead. Well noboby was there, but this was a multi-use, multi-trail trailhead. It’s a Trailhead for the North Shore Snowmobile Trail, plus, the Cross River Spur Trail is actually a Cross Country Skiing Trail.
I headed up the trail. There were some bikes locked up near the trail. Someone must be doing a hike and bike. Perhaps they are hiking from the Temperance River State Park over to here, then, biking back on the Gitchi Gumi State Trail. It’s a nice walk along the ski trail. Pretty soon I made it to a Camping Shelter. It looked pretty run down, but it had a screen in front, which was nice. Unfortunately some of the screens were broken. The other weird thing about this shelter was it had a solar panel out front on a telephone pole and it also had lights on the pole. I hadn’t ever seen anything like that before at a Camping Shelter. Maybe they use it during the winter for some Cross Country Skiing event. At any rate, I moved on.
The Trail goes along the river, but it’s up from the river. You get glimpses of the river every once in a while. You can hear it as it cascades down towards Lake Superior. I supposed I could have taken a little time and explored down by the river, but I didn’t. I didn’t hear any big waterfall that needed to be investigated. I continued hiking on the ski trail that serves as the Cross River Spur Trail. At places it was pretty worn down, with tree roots sticking up. But for the most part it was a grassy trail. Then I came upon another Camping Shelter. This one looked a little more run down than the first shelter. It was a three-sided shelter with one side open. The Fireplace out front was a broken up cement ring.
I continued past the shelter and the Ski Trail went off to the right and the Spur Trail went forward along the river. It was still up from the river, and you could see some good views of it every once in a while. It didn’t take me long and I was up to the Junction with the real SHT. I could hear the river getting louder here, because there are some waterfalls on the river near the two campsites. I took a left on the SHT and went down to the Cross River Bridge. I crossed it and went into the South Cross River Campsite. This was the place I camped a few nights earlier. I looked around because I thought I had left my net bag there, but I didn’t find it.
But the main purpose of hiking here was to see how easy or hard the Cross River Spur Trail was. It had some uphill stretches, but it was nowhere even near as bad as hiking the trail over from Temperance State Park. I needed to know that information for my Campsite Class. At any rate, I finished up and started heading back the way I came. I was starting to get a little hungry, too. It was around 5:30 pm so I had to start thinking about supper. I passed the two shelters and made it back to my van under the electric lines. It was a nice hike.
I decided that since I was less than 5 miles away, that I would stop by and see Jan and Kathy at the Cobblestone Cabin. I stopped by and they were happy to see me. Jan said that I was “a man of my word” because I had told him that there was not many downed trees on his section of the SHT. He said he hiked it with his specially made chainsaw backpack and only found about two or three trees to saw.
Kathy brought out her SHT Guidebook and I told them about my hike. I said Crosby Manitou was really rough. I told them a good dayhike would be out to Sonju Lake. They said that they had never been there. I told them about the cute little island there called Lilly Island. They said they would go check it out. They also said that Phil Nimps had stopped by and dropped off some brochures. I told Jan and Kathy that Phil was quite the trail volunteer, and that he’s volunteered all over the place, including working on the Border Route Trail this weekend. After a nice conversation, I headed out because they looked like they were busy.
I decided I would go back to Finland and try out the restaurant just up from the West Branch Bar. I could eat at the West Branch Bar, but I’ve already eaten there and I like checking out as many places as possible. The place that I’m talking about is called “Our Place” and it’s more of a restaurant than a bar, even though there’s a bar you can sit at. It just didn’t seem like a bar, it was too nice with quaint log cabin and Boundary Waters decorations. I ordered a burger and a beer. And I was quite pleased with both.
After that it was dark. I just rolled down across the bridge over the Baptism River and parked near the river at the West Branch Bar. I could have gone into the bar for a round or two, but I didn’t. I just did my voice recording for the day, and hit the hay.