A Day in Minnesota's Northwest Angle

Last night after work, Noelle, Sierra and I packed the car, ate dinner and then hit the road headed west to Zippel Bay State Park. We set up camp, slept in the tent and this morning awoke ready for an adventure in Minnesota's Northwest Angle. "The Angle" as it's know by its residents, is the part of Minnesota that sticks up into Canada along the northwestern shore of Lake of the Woods. Getting there required a drive to Warroad, a border crossing into Canada, a drive of about 60 miles in Canada, and then a border crossing back into the United States

with a check-in with customs via videophone.

One we had arrived in the Northwest Angle, we headed directly to the "town" of Angle Inlet. We then drove to the northernmost post office in the Contiguous United States

and the northernmost school in the Contiguous US (it's only 1 room).

At the school we played on what we presume to be the northernmost playground in the Contiguous US

and ate a picnic lunch. Then we headed over to Young's Bay Resort to check out the northernmost point monument

and put our canoe in the water for a paddle on Lake of the Woods to the reconstructed Fort St. Charles.

The forecast for the day called for light winds in the 3 to 5 mile per hour range and the lake was pretty calm as we made our way around Magnusons and Penasse Islands.

Before too long we could see the reconstructed wooden fort on the northern shore of Magnusons Island.

We found a dock and tied the canoe off

to explore the fort.

Fort St Charles was built by explorer and fur trader Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Verendrye in 1732.

On June 6, 1736 La Verendrye's son, a priest and 19 voyageurs had just left the fort and were heading to Fort Michilimackinac when they were attacked and killed by a party of Sioux. The bodies of those killed were returned to the fort for burial and a marker is in place at the burial site.

The fort was abandoned in 1849 and for years its location was forgotten.

In 1911 the site was rediscovered by a Jesuit archeological team. Eventually the Knights of Columbus raised money to buy the site and built a reconstruction of the fort which was completed in 1950. Today there is some reconstruction at the site again. A chapel within the fortification's walls is being rebuilt, its altar exposed to the elements.

We walked around and explored the site,

then headed back to the canoe for the paddle back to Young's Bay. For the return trip we opted to go around the south side of Magnusons Island. However, we were unable to find the passage between the island and the mainland and were forced to paddle back the way we had come.

As we made our way out of a narrow bay we found a very rough Lake of the Woods with whitecaps. Noelle and I nervously paddled the three-foot waves which sometimes crashed over the gunwales of the canoe. Sierra enjoyed what she called the "roller-coaster ride". As we paddled past some rock cliffs the waves got particularly intense and as we approached the shoreline, we opted to take a break among the aquatic vegetation.

We tried to formulate a plan, but without any information about whether the wind would die down or get worse we eventually opted to get back into the canoe and paddle back to Young's Bay. It was slow going paddling into the wind. But we were quite relieved to return to the boat ramp at the resort.

We loaded the canoe back onto the car and then made the long drive back through Canada and Zippel Bay. By this time it was raining, so instead of cooking dinner in the rain at our campsite, we opted for Dairy Queen.

Rainy Lake: Paddle to Ober's Mallard Island and Red Crest

A little less than a year ago, a story I wrote about paddling Rainy Lake in Voyageurs National Park was published by the Voyageurs National Park Association. Today we would paddle Rainy Lake again, but this time outside of the boundary of Voyageurs National Park. We put the canoe in the water at Tilson Bay and started to make our way north towards Grassy Island. As we approached the island we saw an adult bald eagle perched high up on a tree. Shortly after sighting the eagle, we saw a nest in a white pine. We continued to follow the shoreline of Grassy Island and eventually made our way to a small, rocky island that, from a distance, we noticed had something unusual on it. Noelle and I both guessed that the unusual object was a statue of the Virgin Mary and as we approached it, our suspicions were confirmed.

We decided to call the island Hail Mary Island and we would investigate it a little bit more later in our trip.

We continued past Hail Mary Island and saw a loon swimming around in the waters in the shelter of a cluster of islands.

We headed further east towards the Review Islands.

Soon enough we approached a screened in porch marking what we thought was the west side of Mallard Island.

Mallard Island is significant in that it was owned by conservationist Ernest Oberholtzer. It turns out that, though the porch is on land owned by Oberholtzer, it is actually on a separate island called Japanese Island. It is, however, connected to Mallard Island by a foot bridge.

The screened in structure is known as Japanese House.

We continued past Ober's Island to check out an interesting structure we could see when we lived on Rainy Lake. It is an imposing stone building, now a private residence, that in the past was known as the Musket Inn.

Before it was the Musket Inn, it was part of an estate known as Red Crest. Red Crest was owned by Chicago industrialist Bror Dahlberg. Dahlberg was head of the Southern Sugar Company which extracted sugar from corn stalks. He was also the inventor of Celotex, a building material, which is produced from corn stalks. Ernest Oberholtzer had supervised construction of the mansion here in 1924. The same year he started construction of his property on Mallard Island. We paddled past a dilapidated building on Red Crest Island

then turned around to start to make our way back to Mallard Island.

This time we paddled on the south side of Mallard Island, in between Mallard and Hawk Islands. We passed an interesting houseboat structure that Ober used as his kitchen.

Shortly thereafter we passed the Main House

and then headed away from the island. It would be interesting to get out and walk around on the island, but it is private property that is owned by the Oberholtzer Foundation which "maintains Ober’s legacy and North Woods island home as a source of inspiration, renewal and connection to Indigenous Peoples, kindred spirits, and the natural world." Maybe someday we will afforded a chance to visit.

We continued our paddle by heading back to Hail Mary Island. This time we landed the canoe and got out to stretch our legs a bit.

We checked out the shrine

and the rest of the small island which included a few scattered wildflowers

and an old goose nest among the rocks.

Sierra played in the shallow water.

After a 20 minute break we headed back to the shoreline of Grassy Island home to Camp Koochiching. We paddled back towards the boat ramp at Tilson Bay, passing between Grassy Island and a nearby unnamed island. There was an old vehicle seen on the shore of Grassy Island.

It made me wonder how long it had been there and why it had been moved to the island.

Mesabi Trail: Virginia to Eveleth

It's been over a year since I got the old bicycle out of the garage for a ride. Yesterday I aired up the tires and lubed the chain in preparation for today's ride, a 20 mile out and back on the Mesabi Trail. I awoke and hit the road early. I bought my wheel pass at Natural Harvest Food Coop and headed a short distance to the trailhead in Virginia.

The trail starts out with a trip into Olcott Park past some interesting flower beds and greenhouse. The trail then heads near Silver Lake through town,

past a sculpture of a sawmill worker

and over to the Mine Overlook (which Noelle, Sierra and I had visited a few weeks ago)

and then to the brand new bridge

that carries US Highway 53 across port of a water-filled mine.

After crossing the Highway 53 bridge (reputed to be the highest in Minnesota) the trail heads towards Gilbert and Eveleth.

The trail here follows an old rail line through 2 impressive rock cuts.

Once at Gilbert, the trail passes near to Lake Ore Be Gone.

I elected to ride a spur into Eveleth. Once in town I rode along roadsides to the Largest Freestanding Hockey Stick in the World.

I rested at a nearby park that had some interesting paintings on a concrete slab.

Then I started to retrace my route back to the car in Virginia. I stopped at the Mesabi Trail offices for another break,

but there's not much there. I saw a painted turtle along the way,

but not much else in the way of wildlife.

Voyageurs National Park: Lost Lake and Blind Ash Bay Paddle

A friend from work and I had a chance to get out and explore Voyageurs National Park by kayak. We had originally planned on canoeing from Woodenfrog State Forest Campground to the rapids at Gold Portage, but a forecast of high winds for the afternoon changed our plans and instead we opted to paddle to Lost Lake on Kabetogama.

After we grabbed breakfast to go at Tim Horton's, we made the drive down to Ash River and after a pit stop for the bathrooms, made our way out onto the water.

The wind was relatively calm in the morning, but there was still a bit of chop on the lake. We made quick time paddling across the navigation channel and into Lost Lake.

We paddled the entire circumference of Lost Lake

and then headed over to the portage connecting Lost Lake with Long Slough. I made it to the dock at the portage with out realizing I had paddled within 4 feet of a loon on her nest. As my friend approached, he was a little bit closer and upset mama loon quite a bit. While we were sorry to have disturbed the loon, it was cool to see an active nest with a solitary egg.

We tried walking the portage trail without our boats, but the mud, mosquitoes and ticks forced us to turn around. We paddled past mama loon again and headed back out across the navigation channel. With a wind out of the south, we headed to the southern shoreline of Kabetogama Lake where we would have less wind to contend with.

We paddled back into Blind Ash Bay into a strong headwind and turned around and allowed the wind to do most of the work for us.

When we returned to Kabetogama, we had more headwind to deal with, but not as strong as what we had to contend with in Blind Ash Bay. We made fairly quick time back to the put in and were off the water before the winds started to pick up even more.