Pre-trip and Thursday, May 20, 2010
I had been planning this trip for months. Originally, I was to hike into the Border Route on the Daniels Lake Access Trail, where I had ended the hike last year. The Daniels Lake Access Trail is a 3 mile Trail from Clearwater Road, that connects with the Border Route. It is a former Railroad Bed, so it is easy walking. But then I heard on the Border Route Meetup website, that there would be a Trail Clearing Trip starting on May 20, which would be clearing the Border Route east of Stairway Falls. Stairway Falls is 4 miles west of the Border Route/Daniels Lake Access trail junction. So if I worked on the Trail Crew, I would be really near where I wanted to start my hike, and I would only be hiking 1 mile more, because the distance from Stairway Falls is 4 miles, and the Daniels Lake Access Trail is 3 miles.
Plus, maybe I could get someone from the Trail Crew to either pick me up in Grand Marais, where I would be leaving my van, or drive my van back to Grand Marais from the Boat Launch. I emailed Tom Suter, the Trail Crew Leader, and explained the situation, and wrote back that he would be able to work out something for me.
So that was the plan, I would drive up to Rockwood Lodge on Thursday, May 20, work on the Trail Crew on May 21, 22, and 23, then start my hike on Sunday May 23. This seemed like it would work out well for me. It cost me $55 to be on the Trail Crew, which includes meals, etc, but it would have cost me $65 for me to have Harriet Quarles Transportation drive me from Grand Marais to the Daniels Lake Access Trail on Clearwater Road. Plus, I would be giving back to the trail, especially after last year when I was saying how overgrown the trail was on my website.
So I’ve been out gear hounding for the last month or two before the trip. I have most of the basic gear, but there are a few major items that I need. For one thing, I lost my Spot Messenger, somewhere in Southern Michigan on December 31, 2009. So I’ve been checking out the new version, which seems to be quite a bit better. First of all it’s smaller. It also has covers for the 911 and Help buttons so you don’t accidentally press them. It also has a GPS that tells you if you are in GPS Range or not. Spot had a $50 rebate if you bought the new version plus a year of service. Plus I had a $34 dividend coming back from REI. So I pulled the trigger on it.
I also bought a new pair of hiking boots made by Merrill. They are lighter than my other boots plus they have a waterproof liner like gortex. I also bought a trout fishing vest. I like it because it has all sorts of different sized pockets and it is made with some mesh material which looks really breathable. I also bought a new pair of hiking pants which my sister sewed some Velcro on some of the pockets. I have to have every pocket with the ability to shut firmly. Or else, when you’re hiking over or under a deadfall, stuff might fall out.
The two items that I decided not to buy were a new sleeping bag and some sort of water filtering device. I have a sleeping bag, the Alps Mountaineering Crescent Lake, which is plenty warm enough for those cold Minnesota nights, but it is a little bulky in my backpack. It would be nice to have a sleeping bag that packs down to the size of a football, and is still warm enough. I decided to go with the Aqua Pills again over a water purification system. I was considering the Steripen, because Joan Young gave a good review of it. The only problem with the pill now, is that it now says it takes four hours to kill everything, including Criptospiridium, when previously it said that it took only a half hour. I figured I would make sure all my water bottles were filled at night, then as soon as I drank a liter in the morning, fill it up and put the pills in.
This year’s trip would be quite a bit different than last year’s trip, mainly because I would be driving my newly acquired Town and Country Minivan. I would be storing extra gear in the van, a mountain bike, plus I have a thick sleeping pad and a sleeping bag so I could stay overnight in the van at selected locations.
So, on the morning of Thursday, May 20, I finish loading up the van, and head out around 8:30 in the morning It is a four lane freeway from my house to Superior, Wisconsin. And I made it to Superior with only one incident. Near Spooner, Wisconsin, a timberwolf jumped out onto the highway and crossed it right in front of me. I barely missed it, but it scared the beejeebers out of me. At Superior, the freeway ends and the highway goes on city streets until reaching a big bridge that goes to Duluth. Once reaching Duluth, there is a freeway going north through downtown, but it eventually ends and the highway uses city streets for a few miles.
Then the highway becomes a freeway again to Two Harbors. At Two Harbors, I wanted to stop at the Superior Hiking Trail office, which I thought was right on Main Street. But I didn’t see the sign. So I called the SHT Office and Gayle Coyler told me that it was on Main Street and gave me directions. It turns out that there was a construction crew doing work right in front of the office, and the equipment had obscured the sign. I stopped in, bought some maps, postcards and signed up as a member. One of the reasons I signed up as a member was because there is a deal if you are a member of an affiliate trail, then a North Country Trail Association membership is only $16. I had set out my Spot Messenger on the front porch of the SHTA office, to mark my spot. I also stopped for supper at the Two Harbors Culver’s, which I call the “last Culvers before Canada.”
After Two Harbors I traveled Highway 61 up the North Shore Coast. This is the real scenic part of the trip, with great views of Lake Superior, two tunnels, the Split Rock Lighthouse and plenty of State Parks and Waterfalls. Plus on many parts of the highway there is a nice little bike trail next to the road. The only slowdown on Highway 61 wer construction areas near Split Rock State Park and Tofte.
As I was driving up to Grand Marais, I remembered that I forgot to stop in Duluth for some Denatured Alcohol for my Alcohol Stove. Now, I was hoping that the combination Gas Station/hardware store/bait shop/ and yard store in Grand Marais would have some. If not, hopefully they have the Heet in the yellow bottle, which will also work in my alcohol stove. So, I make it up to Grand Marais, and the first thing I do is pull into the Hardware Store, and yes, they do have Denatured Alcohol. They have Heet in the yellow bottle, also. I also bought some work gloves at the hardware store.
When I went out to the van, I noticed I had a message on my cell phone. It was Tom Suter. He was wondering how I was doing and said the Trail Crew would be going out to supper at the Trail Center, which is near the Rockwood Lodge. But I still needed to take my resupply package to Nanaboujou Lodge near Judge Magney State Park. This is about a 15 mile detour up Highway 61 from Grand Marais. So I headed up that way, and Nanaboujou Lodge gladly excepted my package. I had heard on the Superior Hiking Trail Group Message Board that Nanaboujou Lodge was very hiker friendly. It is a stately old landmark, with a colorful grand hall used as a restaurant. The Lodge is right on Lake Superior, across Highway 61 from Judge Magney State Park.
On the way back, I decided to take a County Road to connect with the Gunflint Trail, instead of going all the way back to Grand Marais. The route looked shorter and it was paved. But it was only paved for the first two miles, then it turned into a gravel road. So I slowed down going on the gravel road, which didn’t turn out to be much of a short cut. But eventually I made it up to the Gunflint Trail. It definitely was a change of scenery compared to Highway 61. It was mostly dense woods with some farms scattered in.
I headed up the Gunflint Trail, and after about 30 miles I made it to the Trail Center. I stopped in and met 5 other members of the Trail Crew that had finished eating Supper. I said hello, but said I needed to get up to Rockwood Lodge to buy my Boundary Waters permit from Lynn, who I had contacted earlier.
So, I headed down the road about a mile and saw the Green and Yellow Rockwood Lodge sign. I navigated down past a few cabins to the main lodge on the shore of Poplar Lake. Lynn was working late in the Lodge, and started working on my Entry Permit.
I had emailed Tom Suter several days earlier, and he said I needed my own separate Entry Permit because I was going on my backpacking trip after the Trail Crew work was completed. Lynn input the data onto the computer system, which she says is a very complicated system, which is difficult to navigate. She eventually printed out my entry permit. In the meantime, we were having a nice conversation.
She told me that her and her husband had own the Rockwood Lodge about six years, and were trying to build up the customer base again. The previous owners didn’t know what they were doing, and had lost many repeat customers. Previous to owning the Rockwood Lodge, Lynn and her Husband ran a resort on an Indian Reservation in North Central Minnesota. They found it difficult to operate the resort with all the rules and regulations that the tribe imposed. But now they are having some good success with the Rockwood Lodge. They are not the biggest resort on the Gunflint Trail, nor do they want to be. They want enough business to keep them going but not to be too overbearing.
Lynn showed me on a map where the bunkhouses were. It was a hill from the main lodge and the lake, so I drove my van up there. This was one long bunkhouse with 4 units. Each unit had bunks for 8 people, and a bathroom with a shower. This was pretty deluxe for a bunkhouse. Most of the time the bathroom and showers are in a whole separate building from the bunkhouses. So we had bunkhouses with indoor plumbing. The Trail Crew had bunked in the two middle units. The nearest unit to the parking area was being painted and the far unit was being fumigated. Evidently, there were some carpenter ants in the far unit.
So far we had six of the Trail Crew member at the bunkhouse. I decided that I was going to sleep in my van, because I was set up for it, and because I still needed to organize my gear. It was dark when the last three members of the Trail Crew arrived. And they decided to move into the far unit that had been fumigated. They seem to think it was just fine, with no bad smell. So I decided to move my gear into the first unit that was being painted.
I really needed to get organized. I basically had 3 packs to pack. The first was my backpack for my backpacking trip. The second was a weekend pack for the Trail Crew Weekend, and the Third was a daypack, for when I was out on the Trail Crew. I would pack the daypack inside the weekend pack, for the canoe trip in to our campsite. I finally went out to the van and went to sleep.