Log Creek Arches

This morning I headed down highway 23 through some sleepy Minnesota towns like Duquette, Kerrick, and Bruno. I was on a mission to find a group of natural arches described in the Banning State Park map and brochure. By around 11 am I found myself in Askov, Minnesota and I drove to where I thought the trail would be based on what I found labeled on my Banning State Park map. Unfortunately, it looked like the trail-head was located on private property and so I moved on to the park office to talk to one of the park employees about the trail's location.

This employee gave me some vague information and drew a few lines on my map that followed the park boundary for a bit. She also put a mark on the map that to me suggested the location of the arches. So with my newly gained information I set out to find the fabled Log Creek Arches. I crossed the Kettle River, made a left on Banning Boundary Road and set out on foot on some recently mowed snowmobile trails.

I followed the grassy trails to near the point marked on my map but found nothing resembling an arch or even an outcropping of sandstone. I followed the park boundary back to the car and drove back to the information center. Luckily, there was another employee there when I returned and he gave much better directions.

I returned to Banning Boundary Road and followed my new directions to a sandstone gorge unlike anything I've seen before in the state of Minnesota. In fact, the gorge here looked like something someone unearthed out of the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and transported to Minnesota on a large flatbed truck. There were sheer sandstone walls, rockshelters, and yes, some arches.

When I had heard about the arches I had no idea what to expect. I couldn't even find any photos or information about them on the internet. I figured they would be some really small potholes that had eroded through a layer of sandstone to form a small arch. I was pleasantly surprised then the arches I found were quite significant; larger than some of the ones I had hiked to in the Red River Gorge.

I spent quite a bit of time walking along the sandstone walls and on some ledges searching for arches, inspecting the rock shelters, and inspecting the few inscriptions I found in the soft sandstone seeing if they could be petroglyphs.

Harvest Run

Today Noelle and I walked down to the Fitger's Complex for a train ride to the starting line of Harvest Run 5K. This is the first race I've ever urn in that I had to take a train to the starting line. It was a fun way to start the race, though the ride made it difficult to get warmed up. When the race started I felt pretty slow for the first mile. I felt like I picked up the pace a bit for mile two, but felt really exhausted for the third mile. I ended up running a 19:44 5K with Noelle finishing with a clock time of 33:26.  Because she started far back at the start though, Noelle's time in reality was a bit better.

Duluth's Graffiti Graveyard

Wow! The Noid!

 This time of the year visitors to Duluth like to get a scary thrill out of visiting the Haunted Ship or the Haunted Shack. I say save your money and visit another site that's also a bit spooky but free! This free, spooky site is the Graffiti Graveyard. It's located just a short walk from other tourist attractions like Canal Park and the Depot, yet few tourists have ever visited it.

Since Noelle and I moved to Duluth over a year ago I had heard rumors of the Graffiti Graveyard and even read about it on Perfect Duluth Day. However, the location was never made clear to me, I always heard its location described as under I-35 off of Railroad Street. Well, yesterday on my way from the library to Canal Park to buy my mother a little Minnesota souvenir (which I never had time to do back in August when she was actually in Duluth visiting) I noticed a small creek that entered a concrete trough and flowed under the interstate. I decided to have a closer look.

Remember the .......

I hugged the concrete wall of an abutment on a narrow ledge, found some rocks on which to place my feet for fording a small section of creek, then climbed up an old metal piece that made a good, if unofficial, ladder. When I climbed the section of wall holding the creek in its artificial banks I entered a man-made canyon of concrete just covered on its sides by graffiti.

There's something about graffiti that has always fascinated me. Growing up near Philadelphia, I would always see the scrawlings on the walls of buildings in the city and was mesmerized. I think the graffiti represented a different world to me. A place that was so close to where I lived and grew up, yet so different. I just didn't see much graffiti in my neighborhood. Lord knows there was plenty of graffiti in Philly to look at while riding in the car. In fact, Philadelphia is often credited with being the birthplace of modern graffiti. While some graffiti is just plain ugly and destructive, I believe that some graffiti can be artistic and even beautiful.

I think there is definitely an artistic factor to most of the graffiti in the Graffiti Graveyard. You can tell a lot of time and planning went into some of it. The other factor that the Graveyard has in its favor is the fact that it is basically a hidden world where the graffiti does not desecrate someone's private property. There's really no reason to go back into the graveyard unless you're there to see the graffiti or create it. Therefore, I don't think that anyone should really be offended or bothered by it.

Guns don't kill people,

spooky spray-painted skulls do.

Finally, the graffiti in the Graffiti Graveyard is constantly changing. It is like a gallery that is constantly bringing in new exhibitions. Yet, I get the feeling that some of the works contained in the Graffiti Graveyard are such works of art that the artists who come after respect the skill and work that has gone into creating it and as a result leave it for others to appreciate. I know I look forward to visiting again in a few months to see how the display has changed.

What an inviting campsite!

As I mentioned earlier though, the Graffiti Graveyard is a bit of a spooky place. I'm not really sure what it is about the place, but it kind of gave me the creeps. Part of the feeling is no doubt generated by the low sections of highway which form a roof over a few of the galleries. The ones that are really low are impossible to look into to see what's going on. I got the impression there could be some deranged derelict waiting for me to approach so that he could grab my ankles and drag me under with hum. However, the real creepiness factor comes from knowing that the gallery is illegal, and if this much illegal graffiti activity goes on down there seemingly undetected, who knows what other illegal activities take place there.

Yum, Left hand Milk Stoudt

Willard Munger Trail: Alex Laveau Section

It was another beautiful fall morning and despite the forecast of rain showers, I just had to get outside and do something. I figured this might be a great time to get in a last bicycle ride for the year. I didn't want to have to drive too far and so I decided to ride the Alex Laveau segment of the Munger Trail, which in actuality is a spur of the main trail that goes from Carlton, through Wrenshall and ends at Highway 23.

The first mile and half of the trail are quite spectacular, passing through a jumble of tilted rocks that are familiar to those who have been to Jay Cooke State Park or even the Carlton area.

The trail also passed through some old rock cuts that were pretty interesting. Despite the fact that most of the leaves are already down in the area, there were still plenty of golden needles left on the tamarack trees.

The trail then passed through some farm land in the Wrenshall area, and an interesting monument in a city park in Wrenshall is a large statue of an albino deer jumping over some logs.

At highway 23 I made a left and followed the road for a while before turning around and heading back to Carlton. Once I had arrived in Carlton, I had not had enough cycling and so I followed a sign for the St. Louis River Trail (a different one than the one Noelle and I had hike two days previously). This trail went through some Carlton neighborhoods and then paralleled the road that leads from I-35 to Carlton, ending at a park and ride. The interesting thing about the short trail is the rocks carved with what appear to be petroglyphs that are found alongside the trail in various spots.

Bear and Bean Lakes

Another beautiful autumn day had Noelle and I ready to get out and do some more hiking. We decided to hike to what I believe is one of the most beautiful spots in Minnesota: Bear and Bean Lakes which lie in a remote part of Tettegouche State Park near Silver Bay.

Our drive to Silver Bay was uneventful and by the time we got to the trail-head at the visitor center in town we were pretty hungry. We decided to head over to the nearby grocery store Zup's, to get some sandwiches and snacks. We then returned to the trail-head and started our hike. The beginning was not so interesting, weaving through town on some ATV trails. When we got out of town and off the ATV trails the hike took us through a section of clear-cut forest before we climbed and headed into some more pristine territory.

When we got to the loop section of the trail we decided to hike it counter-clockwise. Soon we got our first view of the very pretty Bear Lake.

The trail then followed a ridge to the best overlook in Minnesota, the overlook of both Bear and Bean Lakes.

We spent some time lounging in the sun and relaxing there before we continued on our way.

The trail then dropped into a ravine before returning to a rocky, open ridge above the lakes. Here we obtained numerous spectacular views of both Bear and Bean lakes.

Eventually, the trail veered away from the lakes and we headed into the forest. The hiking was still pleasant and we were soon treated to another overlook, this time looking out over Silver Bay and Lake Superior on Elam's Knob.

From the knob we descended in earnest and arrived back at the car.

The St. Louis River Trail

A beautiful Friday had Noelle and I itching to get outside and do some exploring. Noelle thought that a trip to Jay Cooke State Park to do some hiking would be a good idea and I agreed. However, I remembered that a few weeks ago I had stopped at Chambers Grove Park on Duluth's far western edge and seen a sign for the St. Louis River Trail. After doing some internet research, I could turn up no information on this trail and so I decided that we would go on a reconnaissance mission to find out for ourselves what the trail is all about.

We packed a pack, grabbed Parker some treats, and hit the road. We made it to the park after a short drive through Gary/New Duluth and the other neighborhoods on the west side of town. Chambers Grove park itself while small is very pleasant with a nice little boardwalk and fishing piers along the St. Louis River. We strolled along the boardwalk and then headed to the corner of the park where the trail-head sign is. There also happened to be a big, stinky dead buck deer there. Parker was quite interested in the carcass but we quickly moved past it.

The trail itself is a bit strange. Other than the large sign at its beginning the trail is not marked or blazed and appears to get very little maintenance. In some areas the trail is swampy, in others it is overgrown, and in other areas large fallen trees block the path. Most of the trail seems to follow an old rail line. At one point there is a short spur trail which leads to a nice overlook of the St. Louis River.

There are also many utility poles that have been cut down along the corridor.

Towards the halfway point of our hike we came to the remains of an old railroad trestle now rotting an being reclaimed by the forest.

At this point we turned around. On our way back to the car we found a spur trail and decided to take it. It led up a ridge and past some large white pines, then to highway 23 which we followed back to the car. 

Hiking Hawk Ridge

Took advantage of another spectacular fall day today by going for a hike at Hawk Ridge. While I've visited the ridge many times before, this was my first time on the hiking trails. While there weren't many raptors flying today, it was a great day for hiking and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the Hawk Ridge trail system is. There were lots of great views of the surrounding countryside and Lake Superior.

I hiked Ole's Trail to the Middle Trail. Then I hiked the Ridge Loop Trail to the wonderful Summit Ledges and down to the Ridge Overlook. I then crossed Skyline Parkway and hiked back to the Main Overlook on the Maple Woods Trail.