We had another great family adventure today. We headed out on Black Bay and crossed the water
over to the Kabetogama Peninsula to hike the Black Bay Beaver Pond Trail.
Along the way we saw a huge snapping turtle swimming in the water just feet from the canoe. We pulled up to the dock at the trailhead
and hit the trail with some water, an empty plastic container, our Hike to Health book and a crayon.
The trail started off in thick woods
and quickly crossed over a portion of the Black Bay Ski Trail system. Then the trail climbed to some exposed rock outcrops where there was plenty of sunlight and lots of blueberries!
We started to fill our container.
Besides the blueberries there were some harebells in bloom.
After picking berries in certain areas for a while we would move on
and then find more berries and stop to pick. At the end of the trail we found a nice overlook of a large beaver pond,
but the lodge did not look to be in use anymore.
We turned around and started to make our way back to the trailhead, stopping every now and then to pick more blueberries.
By the time we had finished our berry picking, we had quite the haul!
We got back into the canoe and paddled further away from the boat ramp to the site of Rainy Lake City. In the 1890s Rainy Lake City boasted a population of over 500 residents. Today, all that remains is a log structure,
reputed to be the site of a saloon during the prohibition era. We went inside to investigate a little
and then headed back to the canoe to start to make our way back to the boat ramp.
On the way back we stopped at a small sand beach to get out and stick our feet in the water. There were some leeches swimming here and there, but they were not too bothersome. We used Sierra's net to try and catch some aquatic life,
but all we managed to catch were leeches
and a minnow. Looking in the sand
we found a few interesting items: a metal part, a small piece of porcelain,
and some fragments of brick. There was also a piece of pipe sticking out of the vegetation nearby.
Could these items be vestiges of Rainy Lake City?
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