lydamorehouse | At Death's Door

The top of a very steep ski hill is labelled "Death's Door" in ominous yellow letters on a wooden plank.

Image; The top of a very steep ski hill (in summer) is labelled "Death's Door" in ominous yellow letters on a wooden plank.

This morning was my big dilemma. Should I check out one of the easier looking trails or should I have Shawn drive me to the top of Bear Cub Ski Trail?

After studying the contours of the map for a long time, I decided that I could probably handle coming DOWN Bear Cub Trail. Once I set my sites on that, I hatched a plan. Originally, give how tough the previous section had been, I figured I’d go as far as Bear Cub Lake and turn around. Maybe, if I felt adventurous, I would try to see if the scenic spots (marked by a camera) were any good in the summer. Spoiler: no.

Thus, sometime after lunch, I had Shawn take me to the top of the trail (which basically is the turn in at Gunflint Trail.) I started out.

The flat part of Bear Cup... probably the only stretch that isn't hills.

The trail is still crazy steep in places, but I brought along two bottles of water and a lot of determination. Before I knew it, I was at Bear Cub Lake. In fact, I had been trudging along so steadily that I missed the first supposed spot where you could see the lake. Not sure it’s visible in the summer, however. Anyway, the lake was a lovely destination.

Image: Bear Cub Lake from the shores of the ski trail from hell

But then I had another dilemma. Push on? Turn back and call it good enough? Shawn and Mason weren’t expecting me back at the cabin until 5 pm. It was barely after noon. I decided to see if the scenic overlooks were any good.

They weren’t.

But, as noted, I made it Death's Door. I figured out why this part of the ski slope is called this. I could not get a good perspective shot, but it was a hill that went straight down for a good… mile, I would bet? Like, it was not only crazy steep, but loooooooong, with twists. If you were coming down this thing on skis, you would DIE.

I can not say this was my most scenic hike on the ski trails (that honor would go to the Flour Lake overlook,) but it was the most fun to have accomplished. It feels like the perfect end to a weeklong ski trail obsession. I did the WHOLE THING!

Tomorrow (Friday) is our last big day here. Currently the plan is for Mason and I to attempt “Honeymoon Bluff.” The trail is described as “short” but “difficult.” Not sure I am truly up for difficult, given that my knees are starting to ache, but we’ll see how far we get.