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Oddities…..Part 2

A final post for the fan of the oddities:

I suppose this is really not an oddity up North?
Oh to be young!
Who has larger shoes? Laurie or Bullwinkle?

 

Guess this moose was “in a hurry”
Not something we are used to running into in a larger grocery store.
This is not an anomaly….Every pizza we had in Minnesota was cut like this. Who gets stuck with all the crust pieces?
After seeing these all over the place on the trail we are still wondering if they are nests built by small woodland creatures or just random happenstance?
This has to be the absolute best man made trail ladder we have seen. Very functional too.
We could not find the ugly one?
These rock cairns were here and there on the trail. Usually used for trail navigation above tree line we feel these were more ornamental in nature.
This is the famous Split Rock as when the Split Rock River hits it splits the river into two.
We figure the C.B. stands for Canadian Border but are not sure.  We found these markers at high spots on the trail and fairly near to the border.
The state parks on the North Shore have some fairly friendly squirrels.
We purchased this handmade clock for our camper from the artist at a Finish festival in…..of all places…..Finland, Minnesota. The outer ring is red cedar and the inner is birch.  Two tree species we see a lot of. What do you think it looks like?
Our next adventure?

 

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Oddities On The North Shore of Minnesota

After almost 7 weeks of hiking on the Superior Trail we have put together a few pictures of seemingly random “oddities” we came across.

Had to take a picture of this cute little critter on a trail head sign. Is this what we will look like after we finish the trail?
This picture does not do justice to the huge amount of wooden carvings and statues all over this person’s lawn. We looked up Pax Vobiscum and found it to mean “peace be with you”.
No, Laurie is not the oddity we are talking about here. This is called Black Beach near Silver Bay, Minnesota. The sand is actually taconite. This is a broken up sedimentary rock containing around 15% iron.
On the North Shore this taconite is melted down and used in steel production. It gets REALLY hot on the feet though.
This character’s house/shop sold fur pelts and firewood? Not sure if the “maybe” sign is there for “maybe we have fur” or “maybe we are open”!
This was hanging on a wall in the lodge we ate lunch at one time. Amusing, and, basically true.
Can you see the smiley face in the potato chip? That is what my face looked like after I ate it!
No, we did not submerse ourselves.
Thought this was interesting. Damage caused by humans and beaver at the same time.
We suppose that foot travel includes snow shoes.
This is an ice house built on the shore of Lake Superior by the CCC back in the 30s. Our guess is that it has had some restoration as it is in magnificent shape. Gooseberry Falls State Park
More CCC work at Gooseberry Falls SP. We would love to have one of these in our yard at home!
Wouldn’t you just love to be there when giant pieces of rock split off into the lake? Well….not too close to there.

 

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A Tree Post For The Ages……

This picture we call “Entwined Trees” was taken many years ago on the Bristol Hills Trail (A branch trail of the Finger Lakes Trail System) and it has inspired us to keep a look out for other “interesting” trees over the years.  It hangs in our office at home as a reminder of symbiotic love.

Since we started hiking on the North Shore of Minnesota we have been intrigued with their tree population.  The species and the way they grow and/or die.

If it weren’t August we would say these trees are covered in frost.
Best we can figure the death of these trees was drowning by beaver pond.

There are many birch trees in the area and most stands seem to have the taller birches “lopped off” toward the top for no apparent reason.  We actually have met a few folks that make homemade birch syrup.  We have not tried it but folks claim it is a totally different flavor than maple syrup.

The entire North Shore is “littered” with sheared of birch trees. Must be something about the prevailing winds that shears them off?
Here is an up close view of those lopped  off birches.
Not sure what to call this but the roots system is awesome!
Talk about a far reaching root?
This tree must provide some shelter to a lucky animal during a storm.

The hemlock population seems to be thriving.  Their roots make our hiking very difficult though.

This cedar is attempting to make a friend but the other cedar wants nothing to do with him.
The beginning of some special relationship?
We have seen many downed trees that refuse to go quietly. This poor fellow has fallen over a creek but has new limbs reaching for sunlight.
This is an example of the root systems we have to hike over every day. Not sure if the trees mind us trampling their roots as we walk by but very rarely, one or two of them seem to make a creaking sound of approval?
Many a tree seem to be sheltering a rock or two with their root system.
We called this “Squid”
Here is another view of our favorite tree on the North Shore
Hanging on for dear life. The drop off is a few hundred feet.
An example of the scrub growth we see as we climb in altitude. The highest point on the SHT is only around 1900 feet. Lake Superior is at around 700 feet.
Many days the trees seemed to be enveloped in a dense, eerie fog coming off the lake.
Do we call this “the embrace” or “the kiss”? Notice the SHT trail blaze on the left one (or is it the right?)
The “Bilingual Tree”. Nothing too special but it is planted just about on the Canadian border at the Northern terminus of the SHT. It is also the Eastern terminus of the Border Route Trail through the Boundary Waters.
Just a wee bit of hand holding going on here.
Long distance relationships are hard for trees too.
Don’t know how these twin trees manage to hang on? The hundred foot drop off is not shown here.

 

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Local Art Scene

 

The pottery barn of Cynthia and Bruce Lovold near Two Harbors, Minnesota.

We were getting very tired of eating off of paper plates so made a decision to find a local potter and buy 2 “special” plates for our journey.  We found Saddle Rock Pottery run by Bruce and Cynthia Lovold.  They invited us to their gallery which was even more in the middle of nowhere than we already were.  Nice folks and some really nice work.

Cynthia at the potter’s wheel
Bruce in the beginning phases of making a vase.

They were very interested in our trip and told us all about how they built their “dream barn” to satisfy their needs to be artists.

Our new plates with dinner of wild rice, local sweet corn and hand picked carrots.
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Craft Brew Scene in Minnesota

Nice ride with even better designer plates

Back home in NY we are witnessing two industries growing very quickly.  They are craft breweries and craft distilleries.  A far cry from the times of prohibition we would say.  The Minnesota culture seems to promote growth in  both of these industries, especially the breweries.  We are currently just north of Two Harbors and enjoying the fruits of Castle Danger Brewery’s labor. 

The Castle Danger Brewery offered a great “Cream Ale”. No Genesee beer here!  

Back in Duluth we found many breweries right near our campsite in Canal Park.  Our favorite is Bent Paddle Brewery.  The Canal Park Brewery comes in a close second.

The Bent Paddle “Black” is infused with espresso and actually combines the great tastes of beer and coffee to perfection. So good.

We stopped into the Vikre Distillery and sampled some of their whiskey and vodka.  It was actually very smooth and had subtle hints of this and that.

We actually had a chance to stop at a neat little restaurant on the Lakewalk in Duluth right in the middle of our daily 8 mile hike.  The SHT route takes you right downtown so a hungry and thirsty hiker can fill up.  Fish and chips and a flight of local beer.  Just enough energy to get us back up the hills to the ridge overlooking the lake with “Superior” views.

Our waiter was intrigued by the fact that we were actually in the middle of a long hike as we sat down for beer and fish and chips.
Nice spot for a quick flight of beer while people watching and seeing the freighters make the lift bridge go up and down.

 

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Our Savior! The Motor Scooter to the Rescue

After a long day of hiking it is sheer luxury to hop on a motorized bike and cruise back to our truck.

In case any of you were wondering how we get back to our vehicle after a long hike…..The motor scooter is our vehicle of choice during this trip.

Tough to see but we purchased special straps that keep it very steady in the bed of the truck.

We have used our tandem bicycle on trips like the Appalachian Trail near the Skyline Drive as it is a straight, albeit hilly, shot from one trail head to the other.  On the Finger Lakes Trail we usually choose our separate mountain bikes as there are many dirt DEC roads the tandem would not like.  On the Appalachian Trail in the state of Maine we used two vehicles as the logistics and distance involved there prevented any sane person from biking 30 miles after hiking 15.

Transporting the scooter is not as difficult as we once imagined.  It weighs almost 400 pounds soaking wet so lifting it is not an option.  We initially had two 10 inch by 10 foot folding ramps but found them to be too skinny for safety sake.  It would suck to slip off one and lose the scooter.  We upgraded to two 18 inch by 10 foot ramps that strap to the ball of the hitch for safety.  Below are some pics of the uploading and downloading of the scooter (are those real words in the scooter world?)

    

Occasionally we run a cable lock through the rear wheel. Most areas we leave the scooter we feel are safe but this was not a parking area and on a dirt road way in the middle of nowhere.


And back in the truck ready for another day of hiking!
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An Update on the Superior Trail Hike…..

We have been hiking 7-10 miles per day on most days for the past few weeks and have completely fallen in love with this trail.  After 135 miles we have run out of expletives to describe the beautiful views and sights to each other.  Below are a number of our favorite pictures so far.  Many of the pictures do not do the scene justice but you can get a feel for what we are looking at each day.

The happy couple on a drizzly and 58 degree day in Northern Minnesota. What happens when it rains and you are hiking?? You get wet!
What a luxurious road crossing here near Duluth. No dodging cars/trucks here.
This is the way the Superior Hiking Trail folks mark their trail heads. So clearly done we haven’t got lost once (yet).
Hopefully there is some moss gathered on this stone because if it were rolling Laurie would be in trouble.
One of MANY ponds the SHT provides a view of. Not very big compared to Lake Superior but sooooo beautiful.
The St. Louis River seen from the trail has one of the largest fresh water deltas in the world.
You can check out the history and background of this amazing river at the Wikipedia site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_River
One reason we chose the SHT as a starting point for our retirement journey was the many promised lake views it affords while traversing the “hills” on the North Shore. That speck in the middle is a 1000 foot freighter called a laker.
There have been countless waterfalls and deep gorges to walk through and have a wonderful trail lunch by.
We would love to have been at places like this during the Spring runoff.

 

That Spring runoff plays havoc with trails such as the SHT: One day we walked by 3 bridges that had recently been swept away by a large rain storm. At least the designer of the bridges “tied” them up to nearby trees with cables to keep them from wandering too far.
The picture does not do justice to the amount of erosion that recently happened here. Those who experienced the floods of 2006 and 2011 in the Binghamton area know what we are talking about.
There are many nice spots to re-tie our shoes when necessary.

 

The SHT provides many nice puncheons to walk on through either muddy areas or areas that look nicer when the hiker stays on the trail.
We have birch trees in the Northeast but Minnesota seems to have many more. They are our favorite trees to walk through.
We noticed that in many locations the birch trees all seemed to be sheared off toward the top? Not sure why but very interesting to look at.
Not sure about the engineering of this bridge but I trusted it enough to let Laurie cross first and take this picture. It is holding up nicely but it is very skewed to the left.

 

It took us a moment to realize it here but our ride home, our scooter, is waiting in the parking area across the road from this beautiful home. We find it amazing to be able to see where you have been recently on a hike and, sometimes, where you will soon be.

 

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A Seaplane Ride on a Nice Evening

 

We always wondered what taking off and landing on the water would be like.  Turns out it is much smoother than landing on a runway.  This is when the lake is calm the pilot told us otherwise, all bets are off. We got hooked into this by taking a nice evening bike ride down the point on Minnesota Avenue.  The “end of the road” was an airstrip that had an  sign for seaplane rides.  We were fairly easily talked into joining a family of 4 for the 7:00pm flight.  The pilot told us that the more folks on board, the longer he can afford to fly.  The conditions were also very calm and the skies were clear.

We took off and immediately the pilot gave us an interesting history lesson of the area that helped us see the sites at ground level  in an entirely new way.  After a very smooth ride we landed 45 minutes later without incident.

This is a “dry dock” as 1000 foot “lakers” can fit into them and then the gate closes, the water is pumped out and folks can work on the ship in dry conditions. They are called that as they are too big to make it to the ocean via the Saint Lawrence Seaway. A Salty is a ship that is around 700 feet and CAN make it to the “salty” sea via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
A Comparison of bridges in the area. There is the Bong Bridge  (yes that is it’s name)  above that is high enough for all ships to fit through and the swing bridge for the railroad that only closes (no ships allowed) when a train crosses.
This is one of many piles of road salt we saw. I guess the Minnesota winters need it? Check out the “small” bulldozer climbing the hill.

It truly was a thrill to fly this way.  The pilot asked us if we wanted to stick around and watch them take the plane out of the water and “wheel” it into the hanger using his mid-sized John Deere lawn tractor.

Good use for a John Deere Lawn Tractor?

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also noted that a plane from Canada was landing and that the border patrol had been called to clear the plane and it’s passengers for entry into our great country.  Why would anyone fly illegal things into the country and call border patrol on themselves?

 

Welcome to the good ole’ US of A…..Papers please

We were treated to some awesome views of the Lake Superior Shoreline and the City of Duluth, Minnesota.

The gift shop had a wonderful selection of flying memorabilia.

Nice Tee Sirt! This particular Dehavilland Beaver plane was built in 1966 and was originally used by the US Army at Fort Bragg for parachute training.

 

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A Segway Ride Through The City of Duluth, Minnesota

For old folks like us you probably remember the “potential craze” back near the turn of the century called simply “IT”.  The ad gimmicks would basically just say “It is coming” and they never told you what it was.  IT turns out to be called a Segway and is a total blast to ride.  It took us about 10 minutes to learn how  to balance on it and ride it without killing ourselves. About 5 of those minutes used to coerce us to actually get on IT.

One stop on the tour was the Rose Garden at the far reaches of Canal Park in the City of Duluth.  When Interstate 35 was constructed through downtown in 1992 the fine folks on the planning board managed to get three separate tunnels created.  On each tunnel they put 6 feet of dirt and created city parks One of them was the Rose Garden

Just picture an interstate highway running right underneath this beautiful place.

Canal Park was designated as an area for tourism to help Duluth recover from the loss of the city’s industrial base in the 1980s.  We explored the 4.2 mile lakewalk/boardwald a number of times walking and bike riding as well as a bit on the Segway.  This is one of the nicest city revitalization projects we have seen.

We stole this image from the Duluth tourism site but figure they will not mind.
For much of the 4.2 miles there is a parallel boardwalk and paved walking/riding path. Storms have recently played havoc with the boardwalk section.

 

And so ends our Segway tour of Duluth!