First Crossing of the Woodtick Trail to County Road 50

Friday, May 25, 2012

The bladder alarm woke me up and I drove down to a gas station to take care of it. I started driving up Hwy 94. At St Cloud I got off the interstate and found an Anytime Fitness and took a shower. From that point I drove up Hwy 10 and ate breakfast at the Perkins in Little Falls. Little Falls is where American Aviator Charles Lindbergh grew up. I always liked the movie “The Spirit of St Louis” with James Stewart.

Then I continued up Hwy 10, which is a 4-lane highway with cross traffic, so it’s not quite an Interstate Highway. At Motley, Hwy 10 turns to the west, and I took Hwy 64 to the north. Hwy 64 is a whole lot of nothing. You drive pass some northern farm fields, woods, a few lakes and a couple 4 building towns. I drove for quite a while, then when I was only about five miles from Akeley, I took a left on County Hwy 33 and did the 6 mile jaunt west to Nevis. During that 6 miles I passed Eighth Crow Wing Lake and Seventh Crow Wing Lake, so I was back in Crow Wing Lake Territory.

In Nevis I pulled in the gas station to fill up and to have one last Mountain Dew. I noticed there was a whole bunch of High School Students in town. Evidently there was some kind of field trip where they were biking the Heartland Trail. I like the Heartland Trail. I intend to bike it some day. It’s an all blacktop paved trail, which is really nice.

At Nevis I took County Hwy 2 North for 6 miles until it turns to the west, then I took the Inner Forest Road north for about 2 miles to the Waboose Lake Access Road. Soon I made it to the Trailhead Parking Lot, which was pretty well filled with vehicles. I did manage to find a spot. Some of the Vehicles were from Fishermen because boat trailers were attached. I called Darrel Rodekhur and he said to start hiking to the left as you are facing the lake, from the parking lot. That’s what I did. I had made very good time getting up to Waboosse. I arrived around 10:30 am when I had previously wrote to Darrel that I would be up there around noon.

It’s a really nice trail here as it skirts the shoreline of Waboose Lake. And Waboose Lake is a nice lake. It’s a fairly big lake, the loop trail that they are building around it is 5 miles long. Plus this lake has lots of bays and peninsulas. On one of the peninsulas there is a really nice campsite. The loop trail will connect in with the North Country Trail on the Northeast side of the lake, near the campsite.

I traveled down the trail about a half-mile and came up to the work crew. There I met up with some of the mainstays of the NCT in Minnesota. There was Bruce Johnson, Jerry Trout, Hedeen Carter, Darrel Rodekuhr and Matt Davis. Also working on the crew was a guy I’ve never heard of before, his name is Jerry McCarthy. It was great to see them all.

I started working on the trail. I was using a Macleod. It’s a tool that’s half rake and half hoe, depending on what part of the tool you’re using. I was pulling soil from the top half of the trail down to the bottom half of the trail. I was having a conversation with Jerry Trout, who was supervising me on how to build the trail. The trail was already chopped up using a Pulaski, another trail tool with a blade and an axe combination.

Pretty soon a guy came along carrying a bucket. He was mushroom hunting and he showed us the mushrooms that he found. They were white shelf mushrooms that hang on trees. Evidently they grow in the spring and the man had quite a bucket full. I always wondered about hunting for mushrooms, but I really don’t know enough about it.

I told Jerry Trout that I would be starting at the 4th Crossing of the Woodtick Trail this evening and heading west. He started telling me some things that I should watch for. For instance, he was saying there is actually a shelter that I might get to this evening, it’s on the Paul Bunyan Bicycle Trail, and is not marked on the NCT Maps. Then he talked about the stretch of trail between Hwy 64 and the Akeley Cutoff. Jerry called that stretch “The Void” because there are not a whole lot of landmarks there. He suggests that the Chapter should build a hiking shelter someplace along that stretch of trail. He asked me to scout out some possible locations for such a shelter. I told him I would definitely be checking out the trail for possible campsites and shelter sites.

After a while of trail work we took a break for lunch. Bruce Johnson sat on a big rock that they had moved just off the trail earlier. Matt Davis pointed out where the Waboose Lake Campsite is located on a peninsula across the bay from us. It looks like a pretty cool location for a campsite. I told him that I might be staying there the next night.

We continued working on the Trail. I got to talk to Bruce Johnson about the trail. He told me about the Sprinkle Road Campsite. A Sprinkle Road is where back in the old days, loggers would build a road between two fairly close lakes. Then in the winter they would sprinkle the road with water. The water would freeze to ice, then the loggers would slide logs from one lake to the next lake so the logs could be transported out of the forest. I told him I would be sure to check that out when I got to it.

We kept working throughout the afternoon. Then around 3 pm they decided it was time to start packing up. A couple had arrived at the work site, it was Jacki and Steve Hadfield. Evidently, they had been hiking around the lake looking for downed trees. They said they had spotted a few, and would be coming back on another day to clear the trees. I got the whole crew together and I took a timed photo of the group.

Darrel Rodekuhr paced off how many yards we did, and it turns out we did over 150 yards of trail. Not bad for the small work group that we had. Plus there were a few ups and downs on that section of the trail that made it that more difficult. Darrel also paced it off from the finish of our completed trail to the junction with the North Country Trail. It was another 500 yards to the junction

Carter Hedeen had been working on the trail all that day, but I didn’t really talk with him that much. He seems to be a rather quiet guy. But never the less, he’s a very important part of the Itsaca Moraine Chapter, serving as it’s President. Not everybody has the gift of gab.

We packed up some of the tools in a wheelbarrow, and carried the rest. We hiked back to the parking lot and loaded up the tools in one of the trucks. Then we were off. I followed Darell Rodekuhr down the forest roads back to Walker. That’s when I met Roy, Darrel’s partner. They had both been in the military, so they had that in common. Evidently, Roy is from a southern state and they met on the internet. But we didn’t have very much time to chat because Darrel was dropping me off at the Woodtick Trail, then he needed to get ready for a band performance. Darrell is in many bands and orchestras in North Central Minnesota and one of the bands he is involved with was playing at a High School Graduation that evening.

So, we didn’t waste any time and Darrel hopped in my van and we were on our way to the Woodtick Trail. We took Hwy 371 south of Walker for about 8 miles then turned east on the Woodtick Trail for about a mile. This was the spot where Darrel picked me up in October of 2010 when I finished my hike. Darrel and I posed at the same spot for a “beginning of the hike” photo, similar to what we did for the “end of the hike photo in 2010. Then Darrel was on his way. There’d be some “Pomp and Circumstance” in his future.

I set out the Spot Messenger and waited for a while for it to sent it’s message. I thought it had sent it’s message, then I started my hike. Most of the time the Spot Messenger works just fine, but sometimes it doesn’t quite send the message, for whatever reason.

I walked up a gradual hill that was mostly grassy. There was a large grassy area to the west, which included a creek. This was part of the Woodtick Fields, which were originally farm fields. I hiked up the hill and found some more Woodtick Fields on the other side. The Trail then curves down to a beaver dam. This is an “above ground pool” type beaver dam. The trail passed right in front of the beaver dam on a boardwalk. There were a few dead trees still standing in the beaver pond. But I didn’t see any type of Beaver Lodge out in the pond, so I don’t exactly know where the beavers were living.

After the Beaver Dam, the NCT goes into some woods. You walk in the woods for a little ways, then you come out to another grassy field. This reminds me of the Ice Age Trail in some parts of Wisconsin. It travels in the woods near grassy fields quite often. Soon I was back in the woods for good. I had already seen a variety of flowers on the trail. And if Bernard Gallenberg were hiking with me, he’d know all the names of them. I guess that’s one of the disadvantages of hiking by yourself.

I was hiking down the trail minding my own business when I saw a critter down the trail in front of me. At first I didn’t know what it was then I figured out it was a porcupine. It didn’t notice me at first, but when it did, it veered off the trail and went up a tree. And this was a big porcupine, the biggest I had ever seen. I’d say it was 3 feet long and two feet wide. I took some photos and moved on. I had treed a porcupine, that’s something I don’t do everyday. In fact I had only done it once before, and it was when I was hiking here in North Central Minnesota in 2010. I had treed a smaller porcupine at the marshy lake east of Old Pines Lake.

I left the porcupine and went on my way. I continued through the wood for another quarter mile, then I came up to Hwy 371. There was a side trail going to the Lake Erin Trailhead, but I didn’t take it. Instead I crossed the Highway and as I crossed it I could see the sign for the Lake Erin Trailhead down the road. Once I crossed the road there was another sign saying “Chippewa National Forest, North Country Trail.” It was nice of them to give the trail a little publicity.

After you cross Hwy 371 you’re hiking in the woods again. Pretty soon I came up to a little lake and a pond. The little lake was really nice, with clear water but the pond on the left was green and murky. I crossed a short bridge above the creek between the two water areas. The trail turns to the right and goes up a small hill overlooking the nice little lake. I thought this might be a good place to build a campsite. It would have a nice view of the lake, but you would have to clear out an area because it was quite dense with brush.

The Trail continues away from the lake into the woods. The trail goes to the north on this section of trail. After about 2/3 of a mile I came upon a gravel road going in an east/west direction. I crossed the road and continued on the trail to the north. Soon I was hiking next to a small lake on the right side of the trail. The lake was nice enough, but you could see Hwy 371 on the other side of the lake. I really didn’t feel that would be a very suitable spot to locate a campsite.

In case you’re wondering, part of my mission on this trip was to identify places that might make good campsites. I feel the key to having a good trail that backpackers will use is to have campsites at least every 3 to 4 miles. The problem of this section of trail is that the campsites are too few and far between. To the east is the Woodtick Impoundment Campsite and to the west is the Shingobee Campsite, and it’s 8 miles between the two. Of course there is some short of shelter, which I will be coming up to in the next few miles, so I’ll have to check it out to see how suitable it is for camping.

The trail continues along the small lake with Hwy 371 visible on the other side of it. Then the trail goes northwest instead of just north and goes through a mature hardwood forest. It should be noted that the trail was a little shaggy because it hasn’t been mowed it. Usually sometime in the middle of June they have the “24 hours of the Chip” where they mow 12 hours on Saturday and 12 Hours on Sunday. So, I’m hiking the trail at its shaggiest moment, right before it gets mowed. Still it is a very easy trail to follow and to walk on.

It didn’t take long walking through the woods and I already came up to another lake. This one is called Cypher’s Lake. I could see a big house on the other side of the lake, which would make this lake unsuitable for a backcountry campsite. It would not really be a backcountry campsite in my opinion, if you can see a house. I wondered if it was the same Cypher that Cypher’s Mill was named after down at Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico. Stranger things have happened. The trail skirted around the lake for a least a quarter mile, then it came out to the paved Paul Bunyan State Trail.

I walked past a wetland then I could see the trail shelter up ahead on the trail. That was the Trail Shelter that Jerry Trout had told me about earlier in the day. This is where I met bicyclists Peter and Colleen. They looked like they were bicycle camping because they had a little trailer with gear. After having a short conversation with them then I headed for the shelter. The Shelter is right on the corner of the Paul Bunyan Trail and the Shingobee Connector Trail. The Shingobee Connector Trail was recently built as a more direct way into Walker. Plus it goes fairly close to the Casino, Casino Hotel and some other hotels, making it great asset to the tourism in the area. The regular Paul Bunyan State Trail does go into Walker but it is a more roundabout way, heading several miles to the west before heading north to Walker. Plus, having the Shingobee Connector Trail connect to Walker creates a loop. And people love loops. In Madison, Wisconsin where I live, one of the more popular loops is going around Lake Monona. I’ve bicycled it several times.

It appears that this shelter was built by the local snowmobile club because inside the shelter there was information posted about snowmobiling. The shelter had a bench on the back wall, but the bench didn’t look big enough to sleep on. Instead it was more of a sitting bench. The Shelter didn’t have a campfire ring, which I thought was kind of weird. But it did have a really nice outhouse. I set my backpack down on the bench inside the shelter and went to use the outhouse.

I was having a nice little sit down in the outhouse when I heard something outside. I cracked open the door and saw an older man on a bike had stopped at the shelter. I yelled out that I was using the outhouse and would be right out. I didn’t want him to think that my backpack that I left in the shelter had been abandoned. I finished up the paperwork and headed back out by the shelter were I met Larry.

I could tell right away that Larry was a little different. He’s a guy with a cane that rides a bike. And his bike was loaded with several backpacks and a duffel bag, none of which were specifically built for biking. Instead it looked like the backpacks were the type people would use for going to school and the big duffel bag looked like it my be from the Army.

I started to talk with Larry, and it seemed like he really wanted to talk. Perhaps, he cherished a chance to talk with someone after riding his bike all day. Larry is originally from the state of Oregon, but nowadays he spends most of the time biking from Corpus Christi, Texas to, Minnesota, then back down to Corpus Christi. Evidently, he’s been doing that for several years. In fact he said he camped near this shelter one other time.

We sat on the shelter’s bench and continued talking. I told him I was hiking the North Country Trail and that I already have hiked over 400 miles of it. He said that’s something he couldn’t do. He can only hike about two blocks before it gets to be too much for him, but he can bike all day. Wow, that’s really something.

We talked for a while, then I decided I would be on my way. Larry said he would be camping in the woods near the shelter and that he would be setting his tarp. I took a photo of him and his bike, then grabbed my gear and headed down the trail.

The North Country Trail went into the woods to the right of the shelter, then went parallel to the Shingobee Connector Trail. About 100 yards down the trail, it came out of the woods and crossed the Shingobee Connector Trail. It was kind of like a little detour in the woods, because I could just as easily walked down the Shingobee Connector Trail to reconnect with the NCT. After that the trail headed in a western direction into a mixed woods.

According to some Maps I’ve seen, the NCT runs very close to the Paul Bunyan State Trail in this section. But I was hiking in the dense woods and didn’t see the bike trail. Perhaps in November when the leaves are off the tree, maybe then I would see the bike trail off in the distance. After hiking 3/4 of a mile in the woods I came to a trail junction. I was entering the County Road 50 Trail System, which is a series of hunting trails. The junction had a map of the trail system posted, so I took a look, then headed down the NCT to another trail junction with a map. After that the trail went by a pond

Now, I was getting concerned about finding a place to camp. I check out the area around the pond, but didn’t find any open spots. I suppose I could have camped right on the trail, but I wasn’t to that point yet. Never the less, that pond would probably be a good spot for a backcountry campsite. Both hikers and hunters would be able to use it. And as I noticed on the trail system map, the County Road 50 trail system doesn’t have any campsites, while the Goose Lake Trail System on the Woodtick Trail has two Campsites.

I continued on with a little bit more sense of urgency. I knew that in a mile and a half I would be reaching the Trailhead at County Road 50 and the Shingobee River, perhaps I could camp near the Trailhead. I hiked past one more junction with a posted map and then that was it for the County Road 50 Trail System. At this point, the NCT goes parallel with the actual County Road 50 to the left of the trail, but again I could not see it over there because of the dense woods. Also, the Shingobee River was down a hill to my right, and I could just barely see it through the woods.

And I also could just barely see the sun going down through the woods. I knew I only had about 45 minutes of daylight and I was booking down the trail. Then I saw some power lines and then the road down a hill from me. The trail takes a left and goes down to the trailhead. I went down and checked out the Trailhead for a possible camping spot. There’s a nice NCT Sign at the trailhead with the whole trail map in the Chippewa National Forest. I decided to camp right next to the sign.

I set up my tent then got my cook kit out. I got everything ready, then lit my alcohol stove. Boiling water was ready in just a couple minutes. My stove was on the gravel of the parking lot, and near the stove I laid out a foil emergency blanket to sit on and act as a kitchen. I put the boiling water into a dehydrated meal package, stirred it up and let it sit ten minutes like the directions say. As usual during the ten minutes I put my stove and cook kit away. After the ten minutes were up, I enjoyed a nice chicken and rib with mash potatoes dinner. I ate the dinner in the dark, using my headlamp to see what I was doing. I decided to hang my food on the roof of a sign kiosk that was on the other side of the parking lot. It was a quick way of putting my food up in the dark.

Since my tent was set up right on the edge of the parking lot, I was starting to get worried that some teenage driver might come barreling into the trailhead in the middle of the night and hit my tent. After all, I had a green tent that blended in with the green grass and foliage between the tent. So I grabbed the foil emergency blanket and tied it to the top of the tent, then staked it down to the bottom of the tent. Surely anyone driving into the trailhead would see a sharp reflection from the foil. I was a little bit worried that the crinkling of the foil would keep me awake. But that didn’t happen. I crawled in the tent, did a voice report on my recorder, and went to sleep. All that work on the trail and then hiking to the edge of darkness got me really tired.