Scenic State Park

The past few days Noelle, Sierra and I have been adventuring down at Scenic State Park near Bigfork, Minnesota. We left home yesterday morning and made the drive south through the small communities of Littlefork, Big Falls, and Effie into Bigfork. It just happened to be Wilderness Days in Bigfork, and so we explored town a bit and checked out the happenings. Sierra got to feed a goat,

we checked out the Wanigan display,

admired the sculpture art,

watched an animal demonstration,

and watched Sierra bounce in a bounce house for a little while. After a picnic lunch and some ice cream, we headed into Scenic State Park to set up camp and then go for a swim in the lake.

We returned to camp for dinner and Sierra got to work on her "leaf and stick museum"

before we retired for the night.

It was raining when we woke up this morning, so rather than pack up a wet tent, we opted to head to Grand Rapids for breakfast and a little exploration. By the time we had returned to Scenic State Park the sun was out! We packed up our dry tent and then hit the trail,

hiking the Chase Point Esker. There were lady slippers in bloom,

along with bunchberry

and some other flowers. The hike was gentle, but afforded plenty of views of the 2 surrounding lakes.

At the turnaround point for the hike, among beautiful red pines, we watched a pontoon

and some kayaks ply the lakes.

Noelle and Sierra shared a hug,

and then we made our way back to the trailhead for the drive back to International Falls.

Chippewa National Forest: The Joyce Estate

I was originally going to head down to Duluth for my weekend to hike two sections of the Superior Hiking Trail that I'd never set foot on before. However, I remembered that the air show is in town and decided against that trip thinking that it might be difficult to get a campsite with the big event going on. Since my car is desperately in need of an oil change I decided to head down to Grand Rapids where I could both get an oil change, and go for a hike at the old Joyce Estate in Chippewa National Forest.

Like promised, I headed down to the big city for my oil change, ate lunch, and then headed back north into the Chippewa National Forest. I headed into the Trout Lake Tract for the start of the hike. The trail followed a closed road that is obviously used by Forest Service vehicles to access the estate site for maintenance purposes.

There was wild rose scattered here and there along the side of the trail.

With the deciduous trees, and hot and humid conditions, I felt almost as if I were hiking back in Tennessee or North Carolina; that is until I saw the first of many piles of bone and fur loaded wolf scat on the trail.

The trail passed by 3 lakes on its way to the Joyce Estate. The first to come into view was Moore Lake.

I took a short side trail down to the shoreline for a break before continuing on. Soon I could see Trout Lake through the trees on the right side of the trail. The trail was conveniently marked with mileage signs along the way, so it was easy to gauge my progress.

One section of trail was fringed with lots of yellow lady slipper in bloom,

and there was quite a bit of columbine as well.

There was a nice campsite with towering white pines

on a sand beach just before reaching the estate. I made a note of the beach with blooming white flowers

and campsite, as it might make a nice paddle/camp trip in the future. Shortly after leaving the campsite, I found myself at the Joyce Estate that the Joyce family called Nopeming (place of rest in Ojibwe).

At this point I was quite hot, so instead of immediately exploring the buildings of Nopeming, I headed into Trout Lake to dip my feet in the water. Almost immediately, some curious pumpkinseed fish made their way over to investigate me,

and perhaps eat some dead skin off of my legs. I think I could have placed my hands in the water and caught the fish with my bare hands had I wanted to.

Instead of catching them, I photographed them. It was my first time trying out my camera's underwater abilities and I think it took some pretty decent pictures. After about 20 minutes in the water, I headed over to the main lodge building of Nopeming to start my exploration.

At the start of my exploration, 2 buildings from the old estate were visible: the main lodge building
and the Joyce cabin,

which was the summer home of Chicago businessman David Joyce and his wife. David built Nopeming from 1917 until 1935. Further exploration

revealed one of the remaining "cabins on the hill" which were built for David's daughter B.C., as well as the butler, seaplane pilot and maid. Besides the one standing cabin, there was a still standing chimney

and a few sets of stairs that once led to the doorways of the buildings.

Upon heading back down to the main lodge area, I discovered a root cellar

(nice and cool inside) and an outdoor barbecue pit area.

A trip out to the end of the peninsula that juts out into Trout Lake in front of the main lodge building revealed a bathhouse.  After about an hour of exploring and a short nap in the shade, I made my way back to my car for the long drive back to International Falls.

Superior National Forest: Herriman Lake Trail

Herriman Lake Loop

I just needed to get out of the house. Even though the forecast called for rain, I decided to get out and go for a hike. My destination was the Herriman Lake Trail System in the Superior National Forest near Crane Lake. I saw three bald eagles on the drive to the trailhead and arrived ready to hike in the rain.

The trail was pretty swampy, like I had expected.

On the first short section of trail I found a deer skull in the leaves off to the side of the path.

I crossed the Echo River on a footbridge

and continued on a section of trail I had hiked last June. For a while, my path ran parallel to the Echo River.

There were lots of ferns unfurling their fronds

and a few scattered piles of wolf scat, unmistakable with large chunks of bone embedded in fur.

I soon came to a turn off for the Herriman Lake Loop

where, last time I had hiked on the Echo River Loop.

The trail ascended a ridge and then quickly descended to a beaver dam and pond.

On the other side of the dam the trail ascended another ridge

and followed that ridge for a pretty long distance. Along the way were lots of blooming wildflowers.

The trail entered the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

and soon there were scattered views through the trees down to Herriman Lake. The map I printed off the Forest Service website showed a view point, but I never did catch a clear view of the lake.

I then descended off the ridge above Herriman Lake and down into the swampy lowlands,

filled with marsh marigold.

On the exposed rock ledges the trail was marked with cairns.

I spied a float plane overhead

and then made my way down to Knute Lake.

There is a nice secluded campsite on Knute Lake and I relaxed there and ate a snack. The view was beautiful and there was plenty of leatherleaf,

and blueberry

in bloom along the water's edge. Eventually, I parted ways with the serene scene at Knute Lake and made my way past a few more beaver ponds and meadows

to the trailhead and my car.