Orr Bog Walk

While roadtripping around Koochiching County to explore more of our new home area, we made an unplanned detour to Highway 53 just south of Orr. Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to take a walk on the Orr Bog Walk.

We hit the boardwalk

with bugspray in my pocket, just in case. I'm glad we brought it, as it was quite buggy with lots of mosquitoes.

Because it was so buggy, we did not spend a whole lot of time exploring and did not see any carnivorous plants. We did see some marsh marigold in bloom,

some wild calla,

and Labrador tea.

We also saw a few frogs

on submerged portions of the boardwalk along the Pelican River.

Perhaps we will return at a different time of the year to see what's in bloom.

Search for the Grunwald Access

Once Noelle and I knew we would be moving to International Falls, Noelle requested information from the Chamber of Commerce. A few weeks later a packet of information arrived, including a glossy map of recreational opportunities in Koochiching County. As I perused the map, one item stood out. It was a canoe landing on the Big Fork River called the Grunwald Access.

Since our last name is Grunwald, I knew then that when we arrived in northern Minnesota we would have to find the Grunwald Access. Today was the day of our search.

We started the day's adventure with a stop in Ranier to have our picture taken with Big Vic the Voyageur.

After that we moved through town and finally started to make our way south at Pelland,. We drove US 71 down to Big Falls where we stopped to check out the Big Falls of the Big Fork River.

We also had a picnic in the pleasant park there before turning our attention to the Grunwald Access. One would think that since the canoe landing is marked prominently on our map, that it would be easy to find. We turned off onto Highway 6 and drove past the area where we believed the landing should be three times without any success. We even drove down an old two track road until we reached a gate with "No Trespassing" signs. A visit to the Grunwald Access was just not in the cards for today.

Unsuccessful at our attempt to visit the Grunwald Access, we moved on to the Little American Falls. We followed a set of wooden stairs out of a picnic area and down to a viewing spot overlooking the Big Fork River.

On the way back to the car, Sierra found some dandelions in seed and a few wishes.

After our quick visit to Little American Falls we moved south out of Koochiching County and into Itasca County and the small town of Effie. The first thing to greet us in Effie was this clever piece of of political folk art.

No matter what your political persuasion, I think we all feel the way the creator of this piece felt at some times. Effie must be known for its mosquitoes, because mosquito sculptures were all around town on the cafe and near the welcome sign as well.

Nothing like a mosquito sculpture to make the tourists feel welcome!

We got gas and ice cream in Effie

before moving on east, and then north. We quickly stopped to admire the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.
It's a Russian Orthodox church built from 1915 through 1918 by Russian immigrant homesteaders.

It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From the church we moved east into St. Louis County and over to Orr, where we walked the short Bog Walk. We then headed north through my town of Ericsburg

and then home. It was a long day and even though we were unsuccessful in finding the Grunwald Access, it was nice to see more of the area in which we now live.

Franz Jevne State Park

Today Noelle, Sierra and I made last minute plans to head over to our nearest state park: Franz Jevne State Park. We arrived at the park just in time for lunch, and so we started our visit with a picnic along the banks of the Rainy River.

As we ate, we admired the proliferation of wildflowers in bloom nearby, including nodding trillium, bellwort, lots of violets,

and others.

After lunch we headed to the campground and started a hike of the Hiking Club Trail
near campsite 15.

The trail led down to the banks of the Rainy River where we found a few boundary markers.

Due to the middle of the river being the international boundary, the markers are placed on land on the American side of the boundary with the understanding that the actual boundary is measured a set distance from the marker. From the trail we spied an intriguing island in the river that I'm guessing is American.

We saw a yellow lady's slipper in bloom,

along with some bunchberry.

We also saw a few frogs

which Sierra appreciated. Soon enough we got the Hiking Club password and turned around to head back to the car.

It was a pleasant visit to Minnesota's smallest state park.

Photo of the Day: Magnolia Warbler

This poor little bird crashed into one of the large picture windows of our rental home. It stayed on the ground panting for a bit, but after a while we noticed it was gone. Hopefully, it's doing okay and fully recovered from its crash.

Superior National Forest: Vermilion Gorge Trail

Today Noelle, Sierra and I made the drive down south to Crane Lake to hike the Vermilion Gorge. We stopped at Subway in International Falls to grab a sandwich for a picnic lunch, which we ate along the shores of Pelican Lake in Orr.

Then we headed through the wilds of Northern Minnesota through the small town of Buyck (Bike)

and over to Crane Lake.

The trailhead for this hike is very confusing. The hike starts among the houseboats of the Voyageaire houseboat rental company. At the back of the houseboat storage lot is a snowmobile trail that we followed for a bit. However, the swampy snowmobile trail is not the Vermilion Gorge Trail. There is a sign marked "hiking trail" in the lot, but it was blocked by a houseboat and so we did not see it. I'm sure the workers there knew we were headed to the Vermilion River Gorge, but they did not help orient us in the correct direction when they saw us start our hike.

Once we made it to the actual trail,

the hiking was pleasant.

There were some wildflowers in bloom, including wood anemone

and marsh marigold.

We crossed a few small bridges

over swampy areas and then started to make our way into the spruce and firs. We found a clump of feathers that we are guessing came from a grouse.

Soon views opened up into a bay of Crane Lake.

There were lots of fishermen on their boats in the bay.

We climbed a rough, rocky section of the trail and could soon look down into our destination: the Vermilion River Gorge.

The gorge was impressive. It seemed a bit out of place in Northern Minnesota. We held onto Sierra's hand tightly and got the best views that we could

before turning around

to make our way past the mouth of the Vermilion River

and back to the trailhead.

Voyageurs National Park: Oberholtzer Trail

We stayed close to home again for our mini-adventure today. Noelle, Sierra and I headed over to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center to hike the Oberholtzer Trail. The trail is named for Ernest Oberholtzer, a conservationist and author who lived across a portion of Rainy Lake from our rental house, on Mallard Island. Of Mallard Island, Oberholtzer wrote "My home all these years has been an acre and a half rocky island in Rainy Lake, half a mile from the Canadian border." Today Mallard Island is home to 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."

Back to the hike though. We began in cool temperatures, under mostly cloudy skies.

We passed a few trees which were showing off their spring flowers

and headed over to a part of the trail where there is an expansive view of the wetlands that fringe Black Bay.

We crossed a swampy section of trail on bog bridges

and then headed into the forest. There were a handful of large white pine trees along the side of the trail.

The trail splits into two loops. We decided to take the right loop first, across a road and to the Hike to Health "rubber".

Sierra was excited to help make the rubbing

and when she had finished

we continued on through the evergreen forest.

We saw a few violets in bloom.

However, we were still a bit early for the spring wildflower show. We saw some columbine that looked as if it will be in bloom in about a week. On the other loop of the trail there is a nice overlook of Black Bay
where one can rest on their choice of two benches. We decided to keep moving. We passed through two boulders, probably glacial erratics,

and soon found ourselves back at the start of the trail.