July 2014

7-6-14 Sunday

I rallied up some motivation and got behind the wheel and made an early drive to Cable. We hadn't paddles/bike shuttled on the river yet this year. Last year we had been on it a few times by now. I have never been on the upper stretch (flowing out of lake Namakagon). 

Putting into the river

 The river needs to be high to run through this upper section. We ran into a decent amount of rocks and got a bit scared during some of the rocky sections but it was good fun. There was also some mellow stretches to relax on. Saw a few bald eagles too!

Really cool Hobbit like bridge crossing the river. We believe it leads to someones cabin. Kind of wild because this is out in the middle of nowhere. 

The paddle was enjoyable and I leaned some new skills in the canoe. We treated ourselves to ice cream (praline pecan) in town, then went to the garden to weed. 

Some shots from Emily's 30 x 60 plot. She has been doing a lot of weeding. I helped out today...

 Two rows of carrots ^^^

7-19-14 & 7-20-14     A  A weekend BWCA Trip
Emily and I headed up the North Shore on Saturday Morning and got our permit that same morning in Grand Marais. We headed up the Gunflint Trail to just past the half-way point and ate lunch before putting the boat in the water.  We ended up having to do a 290 Rod portage right off the bat. Almost a mile of portaging and we walked it 3 times. A bit tiring especially since the mosquitoes were out. We had some beautiful paddling while in the wilderness.

 A campsite we checked out but did not stay at.

 A great spot to have a fire

 The end of one of the portages.

 Throw on a x-large pack and hike

 A Dew Berry. Super good and similar to a Raspberry

 I wanted to ride bike trials here. Super nice rocks to gap to and from

 The end of the last portage.

We went swimming to clean up before heading to town and also met the owners and Jams by Jan. The jam with the moose on the jar that you see all over Northern MN. It was close to 80 degs  up the GF trail and we drove south into Grand Marais. We were shocked when we opened the car doors and it was a crisp 60 deg. We put on long pants and sweaters and walked over to the Angry Trout for a much anticipated dinner. We were one of the few people who chose to eat outside to avoid the rush inside. We were comfortable thanks to the wool sweaters. While waiting for dinner to arrive we saw a group of otters swimming around the harbor. 

The meals at the Angry Trout are more expensive than I am use to but upon the first bite the price does matter. So fresh and so well prepared. The fish is right from Lake Superior. My lake trout above.

Emily's Meal

The Library and the way up the gun flint trail

We went to the cabin up the shore from GM and had a campfire on the beach and then threw out our sleeping bags and fell asleep to the crashing waves.

On Sunday morning we cooked some darn tasty oatmeal on the beach and then went down to the point.

 A simple breakfast

A cool morning with fog but it was beautiful. 

We did the tourist thing in Grand Marais and then went towards home. Construction on scenic hwy 61 and the temps became very warm the further from GM we went. It was almost 90 deg in Duluth when we got home. I biked down to Ultimate Frisbee and took a swim in the lake afterwards...super refreshing.