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Going All In On the Gunflint Trail, Part 2

By Betsy Wuebker 16 Comments

(Last Updated On: February 3, 2020)

lodge1So we head across the street from the Ugly Baby Bait Shop and into the Trail Center Lodge, one of my favorite places squared (meaning, it’s a favorite place within a favorite place).  The screen door slams behind us.  On our left is a little grocery area, and before we get inside the bar proper, there’s a bit of retail space.  Filled with Dorkwear, coffee mugs and other items emblazoned with trail-related emblems and pithy sayings, there’s always something to look at.

Usually, one or more of the very large resident Lodge canines are lounging near the cash register.

The Trail Center dogs are very good dogs, and I always have to fuss over them.

Dogs are a big part of life in the Northwoods.  You’d expect bird dogs and water retrievers to be everywhere, and you wouldn’t be disappointed.  But the Trail is home to other kinds of working dogs –  sled dogs who are raised to compete as far away as Alaska and as close as the John Beargrease Classic.

For those who are adventurous and hardy, sled dog excursions abound along the Trail.  There are several kennels in the Grand Marais area with day and overnight packages available.  You can be a passenger or mush your own team.  All of this sounds romantic, doesn’t it?

Well, if ditching your cares behind and moving up to the Gunflint area sounds exciting, you’re going to need a job.  How about this one at Black Magic Kennels? We are looking for hard-working, winter and dog-loving handlers who are wanting a winter of adventure. Pay is room and board and percentage of ride income. Our kennel is located six miles from the end of the plowed road and ten miles from the power grid and phone line. Our cabins don’t have indoor plumbing so if a trip to the outhouse in the middle of the night at 20 below is something that doesn’t sound exciting…this job isn’t for you. If you’re yearning for an adventure and experiencing a team of dogs pulling you silently down a trail on a full moon night…this job is for you.

Dog-sledding not your thing?  If you’re a cross-country skiier, you’d love yurt skiing through the wilderness along the Banadad (Ojibwe for “Lost”) Ski Trail. The Banadad is the longest groomed trail in the Boundary Waters.  Hikers, birders, cyclists, ecologists, canoeists, horseback riders, and anglers can all find plenty to do along the Gunflint.

ham lake fireI happened upon an interesting excursion I wish I’d been able to take, a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Remember in our last post we told you about the Ham Lake fire in 2007?  You know, the one whose smoke could be seen from space?  Well, that big burn not only exposed the white veins of bedrock we told you about, but evidence of something even bigger:  a layer of rock formed during the Sudbury meteorite event over 1.85 billion years ago.

Nearly 500 miles west of the Ontario impact site, a sedimentary layer was exposed by the fire close to Gunflint Lake.  A billion years after the Sudbury impact (850 million years ago or so), a continental rift occurred with magma intruding into the layer.  “Additional iron formation fragments suggest the material was reworked by a tsunami.”  A University of Minnesota geologist led an interpretive walk to the site of two exposed formations in September.  How cool would it be to see geologic evidence of a meteorite’s impact, magma from a volcano-like earthquake resulting from a gigantic shift, and a tsunami all in one place?  As the ecosystem forms again, these formations will be covered over again with vegetation.

Whoa.  This would be  a lot to think about while you’re sitting on one of the barstools at the Trail Center Lodge, no?  Meteors, yurts, mukluks, long underwear, earthquakes!  Before you knew it you’d need another cocktail to calm your palpitations!

Not to mention all the stuff there is to look at on the log walls – taxidermy, old photographs, logging implements, camp utensils, old license plates, and funny bumperstickers all vie for attention.  As you look or even wander about the room, it’s easy to imagine yourself in your new Gunflint Trail life:  slinging hash, cutting bait, or making FedEx deliveries along a 60 mile stretch as your day job encountering all sorts of four- and two-legged characters.

When we finish our sandwiches this day and order another round, Pete decides the best angle from which to photograph the bear’s head on the wall in front of us is going to necessitate standing on the bar itself.  “Hey, can I climb up here so I can get a better shot of that bear’s face?” he asks.  “I don’t see why not!” comes the answer from behind the bar.  “Wait a sec and I’ll help ya up there.”  Whatever, just don’t step on my glasses.

1736155739 1826fbad57All too soon, it’s time to head further up the Trail.  We frequently like to turn off at about Mile 32, where there remain about 5 miles of the original Gunflint Trail before the newer highway-like road re-routed through traffic a bit to the east.  Along this stretch there’s plenty of blueberry picking along the roadside, as well as young aspen forest coming along nicely after the July 4, 1999 blowdown.  If you stay on the main, newer Trail, you can pull off at about Mile 33, where there is an overlook at the Laurentian Divide.

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All along the next ten miles of Trail there are swampy and boggy areas perfect, we’re told, for viewing moose.  We’ve never seen one along this stretch.  There’s continuing evidence from the Ham Lake fire and the 1999 blowdown – induced and natural reforestation, and regenerating species such as Jack Pine, aspen, larch and Black Spruce trees.  Many trailheads branch off on either side of the main Gunflint, perfect for birding, hiking and picnicking.  A couple of dramatic palisade-like overlooks reveal vistas of Magnetic and Gunflint Lakes as we descend in elevation.

Late in the fall a couple of years ago, we based our stay at Gunflint Pines.  Arriving as dusk began, we were shown into our rustic A-frame cabin looking across the waterscape of Gunflint Lake toward Canada.  Our hosts, Bob and Shari Baker, have been livin’ the dream since the 1980’s when they first met while working at summer jobs on Gunflint Lake.  Both pursued their education in hospitality management, and returned to the area full time in 1991.  They and their two boys revere their world: Where cell phones don’t ring to call you to work. Where evenings are spent gathering with friends, watching the Northern lights, playing games or chatting the evening away around a fire. Where “Neighbor” still means someone you can count on in a pinch and “Community” means more than just the place you live.

GUNFLINT LAKE AT NIGHTPete and I settled in for the evening after a simple supper he cooked in our cabin’s well-equipped kitchen.  As the moon rose over the lake, we stood out on the deck and he snapped the photo at left.  All was calm, all was bright.

We went inside and I tuned the cabin’s lone radio to the Grand Marais station.   It was just in time for “Small Change,” the weekly call-in trivia game. Pete stoked up the fire in the corner woodstove.  I sat with my knitting while callers phoned in from all over Cook County.  Susan from Lutsen.  Mary from Devil Track Lake.  Harlan from off the Arrowhead.  Gary on his way up Highway 61 to Hovland.  Jim from Grand Marais.  It was a Saturday night just before winter, and it could have been any year within the last 50 on the Gunflint Trail.

I think of that quiet night often, the firewood snapping, the stove’s warmth heating up the cabin to ward off the night’s chill.  Voices over the airwaves with the lilting cadence of the North Shore – a musical way of talk that’s mostly Norsk inflection with a little Finlander thrown in for good measure.  Tomorrow there would be more things to see and more places to explore, but for now it was the end of a good day in a place where it’s hard to imagine a bad one.

We were all in on the Gunflint Trail.

Photo Credits:  Apture

Gunflint Lake at Night – Peter Wuebker

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Filed Under: Minnesota, Photography, Travel

Comments

  1. Friar says

    November 8, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    I always like the continental divide places…in Ontario it’s called the “Arctic Watershed” and when I see it, I know I’m far away from the big cities.

    I like to pour water (or “water” the bushes). And then imagine some of it will go to one side of the continment, and some will go to the other.

    Minnesota actually has a “Triple Point”, where the either goes to Hudson Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Altantic (via the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River).

    There only one other Triple Point in North America…in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.

    Reply
  2. Dot says

    November 9, 2009 at 9:49 am

    Dogs, dogs, DOGS!!! Thanks for those. That really looked like my kind of fun! I’d love to apply for that job, but I’ve gotten wimpy as I’ve aged. 6 miles from the end of the road? 20 below and an outhouse? Brrrrrr! Roughing it really used to appeal to me, until I tried it. Shivers. But I think I would’ve liked this trip a lot. Those photos sure were interesting!

    Reply
  3. Cath Lawson says

    November 9, 2009 at 3:54 am

    Hi Betsy – I would love to do dogsledding but not enough to have to go to the outhouse at minus 20 Gunflint Pines looks awesome though.

    Reply
  4. Jannie Funster says

    November 9, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Did you know that Marais means swamp in French?

    I LOVE that dog-sledding pic and wonder if they all made it across the hole in the ice safe and sound.

    And of course, LOVE Pete’s moon shot. Were there any “round yon virgins in sight” when he snapped it? 🙂

    Ahh, thanks for the mini-vacation, Betsy!

    Cheerio!
    xo
    .-= Jannie Funster´s last blog ..Mystery Blogger “Over The Top” Meme =-.

    Reply
  5. Bryan says

    November 9, 2009 at 11:57 am

    Nice follow-up. Some of the best cross-country skiing happens on the frozen lakes–a great route is the Rose Lake Loop. Start skiing on East Bearskin, ski the length of Daniels, head down the Long Portage (if you’re lucky the border patrol will have packed the trail with their snowmobiles), and then pass across the frozen wind-swept waves of Rose. Once you reach the bottom of the stairway portage, the skis come off, and you climb up to the frozen waterfalls. Then it’s a short trip back to East Bearskin across Duncan Lake.

    This works as a great canoe trip in the open-water season.
    .-= Bryan´s last blog ..Free Cedar Canoe Plan: Modern Malecite St. John River Canoe =-.

    Reply
  6. Lori Hoeck says

    November 9, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Dog sledding looks like a blast. Probably from reading too much Jack London.

    Those dogs look well loved.
    .-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Tough-mindedness is a will to win =-.

    Reply
  7. Davina says

    November 10, 2009 at 1:53 am

    Dog-sledding, meteorites, cabins, northern lights, snapping fire… sigh! Now THAT all gives ME palpitations 🙂 Thanks for the trip Betsy.
    .-= Davina´s last blog ..93 Million Miles From Home =-.

    Reply
  8. Sue says

    November 10, 2009 at 9:04 am

    Thanks for the accurate tour up the Gunflint Trail. I pass through often as I live at the end of the Gunflint Trail, 56 miles from Grand Marais. Mark and Mary Black who offer sled dog rides and the job are our friends and they have a great operation. The Baker Boys are in school with our two kids and we all love Trail Center and the dogs. If you get a chance to come up in the winter try Winter Tracks or Mush for a Cure. If you like to run then try the Ham Run and of course if you like to canoe then there’s no better place than the Boundary Waters.

    http://www.wintertracks.com http://www.mushforacure.com http://www.hamrunhalfmarathon.com http://www.boundarywatersblog.com

    Reply
  9. Betsy Wuebker says

    November 10, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    Hi Friar – I had never heard of a Triple Point before! Wow, now I’ll have to go looking for it. Thanks.

    Hi Cath – We really liked Gunflint Pines. It’s homey and modest but the views and peace are things people gladly pay millions for. Thanks.

    Hi Jannie – I did know that, and read somewhere it was an accurate description of the area when it was named long ago. LOL your comment reminds me of the “Round John Virgin” stories. Thanks.

    Hi Dot – I’ll rough it up to a point, like you. I imagine you and me traveling together exclaiming over dogs! My daughter and I enjoyed that in Paris, where dogs are everywhere. I’m glad you liked this. Thanks.

    Hi Bryan – That sounds like an awesome route. How about if I just stay back and be responsible for the hot toddies, though? 🙂

    Hi Lori – They actually work with rescue for Rotties and Great Danes at the Lodge, as I recall. I would love to come back as one of those dogs, myself. Thanks.

    Hi Davina – As always you’re so welcome. 🙂

    Hi Sue – Welcome to PassingThru! I am so glad you liked this post. The links you posted will give everyone even more great impressions of this awesome place. I guess I don’t have to tell you how lucky you are. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Friar says

    November 10, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    @Betsy

    The triple drainage point is apparently near the town of Hibbing.

    http://www.uwec.edu/andersrn/Drainage.htm

    Reply
  11. Mary Black says

    November 11, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Betsy,
    Thank you for the mention of our lifestyle/website in the article. Sue had posted a link to the article on her Twitter site and I was quite surprised to see Black Magic Kennels mentioned AND have the description of our help wanted page quoted! Enjoyed reading the comments left by folks. Tell them, really, it isn’t that bad at 20 below…you just make sure you drink “just enough” so you don’t have to go out as often. 🙂

    Sue didn’t mention that her and I are the founders of Mush For a Cure and our group is already making plans for the 2010 event in March. Check out the photos on http://www.MushForACure.com if you think the long underwear guy is funny!
    If you are ever in the area again, you should “Pass thru” our way and visit us Off The Beaten Path. The dogs love attention!

    Happy Trails,
    Mary Black
    Black Magic Kennels

    Reply
  12. Bryan says

    November 11, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    Maybe you’re not up for the ski, but if you haven’t canoed back to the Stairway Portage to see the waterfall, then it should be on your agenda for your next visit. It’s an easy paddle with just a short portage. The waterfall is fantastic.
    .-= Bryan´s last blog ..Boundary Water’s Route: The Hunt for the Viking Dolmen =-.

    Reply
  13. Patricia says

    November 11, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    Oh this was a wonderful post Betsy and Pete, Thank you I feel like I have been there. I would have loved the crackling fire and the summer time adventures, my family would go nuts for the cross country skiing – which is what they will all be doing Christmas day and for 2 days after….I am making split pea soup with ham and veggie split pea – corn bread and lots of carrots and celery – apple munchies….as our cabin does not have anything but a MW warming oven…. I am not good at too hot or too cold ….there is my middle ground! Delightful mini vacation found here 🙂
    .-= Patricia´s last blog ..The Life of an Apple Tree =-.

    Reply
  14. Betsy Wuebker says

    November 12, 2009 at 9:03 am

    Hi Friar – Oh, goody! I haven’t been to Hibbing, yet, but have wanted to make a pilgrimage to Bob Dylan’s old stompin’ ground. Now we have another reason to go there! Thanks.

    Hi Mary – Welcome to PassingThru! and thank you for your gracious invite! We will definitely be in touch with you for our next visit. Pete remarked last night that he felt homesick for the Trail, even though we don’t live there. All I could say is, “I know.”

    I have been to your Mush for the Cure site just now and am a little verklempt at the story of your friend from Manitoba. We lost Pete’s baby sister Margaret to breast cancer when she was about the same age. I think we must plan to come up in March for this. The route from Gunflint Pines to Trail Center is perfect to support all the activities you have planned. Love it! Thank you so much.

    Hi Bryan – Thank you for the recommendation about the waterfall. I feel like we’re getting to be friends here! 😀

    I’ve been to your site also and was very impressed with the video and story in your latest post. The story reminds me of the Runestone (which we wrote about here: https://passingthru.com/2008/10/runes/ ) Would definitely like to say howdy the next time we’re up your way. Am still verklempt from the nice comments you, Sue and Mary have made. Thank you.

    Hi Patricia – I have no doubt you would love everything having to do with Grand Marais and the Trail, as we do. I’ve not even begun to sing the praises of the town proper. I’m beginning to realize this could be quite an ongoing series. Your Christmas plans sound lovely. Thank you.

    Hi Dear – The List. Keeps. Growing. Awesome. As long as we never run out of things to do, we won’t get old(er). 😀

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Going All In On the Gunflint Trail, Part 2 — Passing Thru -- Topsy.com says:
    November 8, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by betsywuebker, PETER WUEBKER. PETER WUEBKER said: Via Passing Thru Going All In On the Gunflint Trail, Part 2 http://bit.ly/3h2WsI #travel #fun #timely […]

    Reply
  2. Spring is Early in Minnesota | Passing Thru says:
    August 28, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    […] Because our thoughts are are never far from the North Shore, I was happy to see Nace Hagemann’s video of the ice out progressing on Moss Lake off the Gunflint Trail in my reader this morning.  Nace doesn’t know it, but I’ve been his secret admirer for years.  He’s got a great reputation as a caring craftsman, just the guy you need when it comes to building yourself a house or repairing the one you’ve got.  Plus he’s a writer and a musician, too!  We’re lucky to be able to accompany his brief walk from yesterday: Another Facebook friend, master paddler Bryan Hansel, mentioned yesterday he anticipated a great night for viewing the aurora borealis.  Bryan’s been working on a fascinating new retail concept that embraces his love of kayaking and canoeing, and he’s a talented photographer.  I woke up this morning wondering if he saw something like this: And finally, here’s a golden morning someone captured along the Gunflint Trail last year.  I loved being reminded by the paved road in the foreground how magic moments are always close by.  We just have to remember to notice. Related Posts: Going All In On the Gunflint Trail Going All In On the Gunflint Trail, Part 2 […]

    Reply

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Aloha! We’re Betsy and Pete Wuebker. We traveled the world full time for close to four years and have visited almost 50 countries. If you’re a curious and thoughtful traveler, you’re in the right place. No matter if you’re new to travel or an old hand, we can help you refine your bucket list!

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