Walking Parker to Poop Park

On my runs along Skyline Parkway near the Copper Top Church I've often noticed that it sounds like cascading water on the downhill side of the parkway. I'd had always wondered if there was a way to get to the possible falls location without trespassing on anyone's property. Finally, I figured out a way to get to them. On my walk to work I pass a dead end street that I figured must lead to near the base of the falls. Today after work I decided to walk Parker down that street to see if we could get a view of the falls.

 What we found was an unofficial park that some neighbors have named Poop Park.

I'm not sure I want to know why it's called Poop Park, but it is a pleasant little spot above a small creek with a bench and a sign. Below and just upstream are a small waterfall

and a few cascades.

 In addition, I found a trail that leads back up to Skyline Parkway. A nice little diversion on a weeknight.

Photo of the Day: Skunk in the Backyard!

Noelle took this shot of a striped skunk wandering through the backyard. Luckily she looked outside before she let Parker out!

A Walk at Congdon Park & Visit to Granitoid Park

It was a beautiful, though cool morning and Noelle, Mom, Parker and I had to take advantage of it. It was windy so we ruled out a visit to Park Point. Instead we decided to head over to Congdon Park, even though all of us had been there before. We parked on Fourth Street and started walking downstream towards the small canyon section of trail where we crossed Tischer Creek on three bridges.

We followed the old road upstream for a bit, then crossed over Fourth Street and headed further upstream on the trail.

When we had reached the upper reaches of Congdon Park we crossed the creek on a bridge and followed a section of trail that none of us had been on before on the opposite side of the creek.
When we returned to the car I decided to drive up 25th Avenue East to see if I could find the fabled "Oldest Concrete Pavement in Minnesota." My mission was successful!

We drove on the oldest concrete pavement in Minnesota and read all about it on a historical marker placed in the aptly named Granitoid Park.

Jay Cooke State Park: The Oldenberg Cascades

Today Noelle, Parker, Mom and I headed out to Jay Cooke to do a little bit of hiking on this chilly spring day. I really wanted to hike the trail that heads down to the river from the Oldenberg Point overlook because we'd never checked it out before. And so we headed out on a muddy trail descending some steep stairs to the river.

Once at the river level we found a nice rock outcropping from which we relaxed and looked at the foaming, churning cascades.

 After a while of checking out the scene at the river we went back up the steep stairs and hiked a wet, muddy loop trail. There were lots of flowers just about to bloom , but other than a few violets

and bellworts, nothing was quite in bloom yet.

Waterfalling Duluth

Another nice day meant that I just had to get outside and explore a bit. I was able to convince Noelle to come along with me even though she was a bit wary of my planned adventure for the day, an exploration of a few waterfalls in the Duluth area that we'd never been to before. We grabbed our Waterfalls of the North Shore book, a camera and headed out with our first destination being the Sucker River.
We parked the car at a pull off on Old Scenic Highway 61 and headed down to the mouth of the Sucker River.

There were quite a few fishermen there,

and at least one of them had caught a fairly large fish, probably a Steelhead Trout. The waterfall on the lake side of the highway wasn't much to write about

but the one on the other side of the bridge was nice enough.

After exploring for a few minutes we returned to the car and headed southwest to the French River.
At the mouth of the French River is a DNR fish hatchery. We parked in the lot there and headed down to the river. Near the mouth of the river we were treated to the sight of many fish heading upstream to spawn. It was quite interesting to watch.

The amount of energy they seemed to invest into swimming against the strong current was amazing. Eventually we headed upstream to a few small waterfalls.

 Noelle seemed more interested in watching the fish, and so I headed even further upstream by myself past a concrete dam to a few more small falls.

I turned around at a railroad bridge.

When I returned to Noelle we watched the fish swim upstream a bit more before getting back into the car for the drive back to Duluth. 
Once we returned to Duluth we headed to Lester Park and a few more waterfalls on the Lester River. We parked about 1.2 miles up Lester River Road from Superior Street. There's an old road there that we hiked along to view a few small waterfalls on the Lester River.

The highlights were an unnamed waterfall just near the pull off where we parked and the waterfall the author's of our guidebook called Nude Swimming Hole Falls.

The Superior Hiking Trail: Sucker River Trailhead to Fox Farm Trailhead

Noelle and I had a chance to do some local hiking today. We drove north towards Two Harbors, turned up Homestead Road and eventually made our way to Fox Farm Road and the Fox Farm West Trailhead. It was at this point almost a year ago that I finished my thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail. A new section of the trail has been constructed since then, and although it is not yet officially open,

we decided to hike this 5 mile long section of trail and return to the car via a road walk on Fox Farm Road.
The hike started out with some pleasant, if unspectacular, scenery. We passed several small vernal ponds

and crossed a few small streams.

This section of trail has not been blazed yet, but it was easy to follow due to the pink flagging that was tied to trees and shrubs along the route. Spring is coming to northern Minnesota a bit late this year, and as a result we did not see many wildflowers in bloom. We did see a little bit of wildlife though in the form of some birds and herps.

The first of the herps that we saw, a toad hunkered down in the leaves and mud,

Noelle found when traversing one of the many blowdowns that blocked the trail.

Later on our hike we found one of the largest garter snakes that I've ever seen.

Noelle's good eyes didn't just find a hidden toad though. She found the largest, most ornately banded agate we've collected right on the trail.

Eventually we made it to a spur trail that led to a new campsite and Fox Farm Pond. We took the spur and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. There was a nice campsite there with plenty of firewood, and a wonderful beaver pond.

 There was plenty of evidence of the resident beavers all around the campsite.

In addition, there was a nice picnic table there where we ate a snack. Beavers are not the only animals we saw evidence of on our hike. We saw lots of moose tracks

and droppings and quite a bit of wolf scat as well. Unfortunately, we found some ticks as well.

Soon after leaving the Fox Farm campsite we descended to the Sucker River

which we crossed on a beautiful new footbridge.

Soon after we made it to Fox Farm Road which we followed back to the car. A great hike on a beautiful spring day!

The "DWP Trail": Ely's Peak to W Skyline Parkway

I really wanted to get out and do some hiking today despite the cold May temperatures. Noelle, Parker and I grabbed a few things and headed out towards Gary/New Duluth to hike a portion of the old DWP railbed south of the tunnel that runs underneath Ely's Peak.

On the way we stopped at the Thompson Hill Rest Area so I could walk Parker a bit while Noelle used the restroom. We then headed to Boundary Ave. to get some gas. Unfortunately, we had some problems getting gas that were unrelated to the high gas prices. The fuel door on my Civic would not open. We tried prying it open with a key and even looked in the owner's manual, but could find no way to get it open. Sadly, we headed back home without having gone for our walk.

Once home I looked online and found a way to get the fuel door open by accessing it through the trunk. Still wanting to get out for a bit, I headed out again, but this time by myself. I filled my tank in Morgan Park and then parked at the climber's parking area near Ely's Peak. The trail to the old rail bed was quite muddy from yesterday's rain, but things dried out a bit when I made it to the rail bed.

From there I headed south on the trail and soon crossed a scary bridge

 and passed near an active quarry. I found some signs of the railroad days along my walk; some railroad spikes

 and an old sign with a W on it,

perhaps indicating an old whistle-stop on the rail line.

When I made it to the point where the DWP railway crossed Skyline Parkway I decided to follow the Parkway to the Superior Hiking trail and follow the SHT back to Ely's Peak where I would follow a user trail back to the railroad bed and back to my car. My plan worked well and along my hike I was even treated to some signs of the coming Duluth spring: some catkins in some shrubs

 and some wild leeks.