lydamorehouse | Entries tagged with vacation

My day on Thursday started with something I will probably never experience again in my life: the sighting of a pine martin in the wild. I literally have never seen this animal before in my life, except a brief glimpse at the Minnesota Zoo.

The folks working at the lodge confirmed. They'd been sighting a pine martin between the staff cabin and Cabin 1 (where we're staying.)

I did another big hike. This time I took Poplar Trail. Again, there wasn't a whole lot to see on this trail of note, except that for a brief time I turned off and headed toward Bear Cub Trail and was following very closely to the Gunflint Trail road.

Image: wild roses

Much of the rest of the day was spent reading and enjoying the intermittent sunshine. Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge's beach and stuck our toes in the water. It is very cold! The ice only came off the lake a couple of weeks ago. But, my ankles had been kind of sore from all the hiking I've been doing and so I decided it was the right kind of refreshing.

We drove up to the Trail Center for dinner and generally enjoyed being "in civilization" (or at least in company with more of our fellow humans.) As we were leaving there was a clot of old duffers sharing actual fish stories about that "eight pound walleye" caught "out by the big rock."

Classic.

We head home tomorrow, but I'm hoping to stop along the way at all the State Parks so get my passport stamped, etc. But, I may have to do a big re-cap on Sunday of both today (Friday) and our drive home (Saturday.) See you all then!

In the meantime, here is some honeysuckle (I believe) growing in a sunny spot on a wide road.

Image: close-up of honeysuckle

If I’m writing about my adventures a day behind, I should probably make a short list of the things I’ve read to start with. I finished listening to Blood Ink Sister Scribe last night. I will admit that I got a little bogged down in the middle of the book, re-read Trouble and Her Friends (for an up-coming podcast,) and then listened to the second half of it. While I’ve been up here, Martha Well’s Network Effect came up for grabs as an audiobook, so I downloaded that during one of my daily treks to the lodge for internet.

Yesterday started with a nice canoe trip around part of the lake. Shawn and I like to get up early, around 6:30 or 7 am, and do a near-silent drift along the lake. It often pays off in terms of animal sightings. Yesterday we had our first truly sunny morning, and we saw (we counted) ten turtles in various spots sunning themselves on logs. On our return trip, we got the piece d’resistance: a river otter! The river otter was actually in the lake with us and bobbed up a couple of times (almost like trying to stand in the water) to try to decide if we were a danger or not and then disappeared under the water.

Super cool!

It was pretty darned magical, even though at that point in the trip around the lake we were fighting a chilly headwind so strong that if we stopped paddling the canoe would start to go sideways.

Almost immediately after making landfall, Mason and I hopped in the car and headed off to nearby Judge C. R. Magney State Park to revisit Devil’s Kettle.

Shawn elected to stay behind. Her knee, which has been performing like an absolute champ this trip, has been getting stiff and sore after canoe rides. She bends very well for someone who is really only about six months out of knee surgery but getting in and out of the canoe from the dock is more of a challenge. The idea of doing all those stairs down—and then back up again—to see the first set of falls felt like a bad idea to her. I don’t blame her, but we still felt sad leaving her behind even though she said it was okay.

Mason and I have been to this state park before, four years ago, but I was not yet a member of either the Passport or the Minnesota State Parks and Trails Hiking Club. I brought my state park passport along and got my stamp!

Image: passport stamp

I was glad Shawn did not come once we started the hike. I’m here to tell you that being fat and asthmatic is no real barrier (so long as you have your inhaler, are generally mobile, and are willing to take it slowly,) but I do not think Shawn’s knee would have survived the uneven, sloped parts of the trail, NEVERMIND the stairs.

Speaking of being fat, I did have at least one stranger feel free to tell me that I was “doing great, honey!” But you know what? I was! So, I decided to ignore the fairly pointed assumption about my general health based on my size, and said, “Thanks! You, too!”

The effort is always worth it, however:

Image: famous Devil's Kettle.

If you have never heard of Devil's Kettle before and why it's so fascinating, feel free to read this article about the mysterious kettle that takes water in but maybe sends it straight to hell... https://www.treehugger.com/the-mystery-of-devils-kettle-falls-4863996

Mason and I had a lovely hike back down. I’d swear, actually, that I took the stairs back up much faster this year than I did four years ago. This is not to say that we didn’t pause on any of the landings that are on offer, but I made very steady progress and never felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest or any of that. I honestly think it helped that the weather has been quite cool up here, so while I worked up a sweat, it never felt overwhelming. TMI? But I’m kind of proud of myself, I guess? Especially after that lady’s “encouragement.”

On our way back to Gunflint Trail and the Lodge, Mason and I stopped in Grand Marais for lunch. This trip is a gift to Mason for graduating from university and so I let him pick the place. We stopped at Angry Trout to have fish sandwiches and an incredible view of the marina, if you can call it such, on Lake Superior.

Mason at Angry Trout

Image: Mason contemplating the menu at Angry Trout.

The drive back was uneventful and we spent much of the rest of the evening sitting on the dock staring out at the lake (or reading.) We have new “neighbors” in cabin two. They are two old duffers who are here for a guy’s weekend of fishing and catching up. Shawn, who was here all day, talked to them a bit. One of them is from the Twin Cities (Oakdale or somewhere like that) and the other is previously from the area, but has since moved to Arizona. He told us he left nearly 100 F / C temps. We made the classic joke about having brought the sun with him, since this was one of the first non-rainy days.

Normally, we don’t interact much with the other cabins, but the forestry service has done a lot of fire maintenance around the lodge and so all of the underbrush is gone, chopped down. It looks little denuded, and apocalypse-y and it also means you see more people coming in out of cabins from further away and have to make the tough Minnesota decision: “Do I wave? Do I have to wave? Oh crap, we made eye contact, I will lift my hand and wave. Oh, god, this is awkward, how long do I wave?” And, yes, I’m actually the family’s extrovert. But I’m also very aware that most people in Minnesota do not actually want to have to talk to strangers, especially when they are “up nort” on a fishing trip with their old college buddy.

More wildflowers!

Wild sasperilla?

Image: blue flower of some variety??

The weather here has been overcast and rainy. As Shawn told a somewhat uncertain staff person, “It’s gorgeous!” (The staff was concerned that she was being sarcastic. Shawn assured her that she was not.) Our family is very happily indoorsy. So, we spent much of the day inside, by a roaring fire, reading.

However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.

Shawn in canoe (Bearskin 2025)

Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin

I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.

At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.

Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.

The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.

moosey

Moosey view.

I did not see moose here.

I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.

Much of my hike was just woods.

wooded path (Bearskin 2025)

Image: wooded path

However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:

pussy foot?

Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,

pameladean !)

Image: star flower

We are at Bearskin!

Moon over Bearskin

The moon (and traces of Northern Lights) over Bearskin (from Cabin 1)

Yesterday, as usual, we stopped at several sites along Highway 61. We had a late lunch at the “world famous” Betty’s Pie. I do not know if this pie is truly well-known throughout the world, but it was, as they say, damned good pie.

The three of us at Betty's Pies.

As has become typical of us, we stopped to do some agate hunting about a mile north of Two Harbors at Flood Bay. We had to backtrack from Betty’s, but we didn’t care. My family simply cannot be hurried once we’re in vacation mode. Once we’ve made it to Duluth (to-du-loot!) vacation mode has fully activated. “Oh? The thing we wanted to see was back there? Sure, let’s turn around!”

Mason and me agate hunting at Flood Bay

Me and Mason agate hunting at Floor Bay.

I’m not ever sure what an agate looks like when it’s not polished. Not that it matters to any of us. Shawn hands out plastic baggies and we find a nice spot and start hunting. On this trip, it was extra windy. It was already decently cold, maybe mid-50s F/ 10 C. We joked that the windchill made it below freezing! Shawn had to hike back to the car for extra layers.

But, we had a great time just relaxing and sifting through the rocks on the shores of the world’s largest freshwater lake. (And, as Mason loves to point out, a lake so cold that if you’re shipwrecked in it, you don’t rot!)

Mason beach combing

Next was a pitstop at Gooseberry Falls. Sometimes, like a lot of travelers this time of year, we only stop long enough to do our business and then push on. This time, however, Mason and I decided to make the short trek up to see both the high falls and the low falls. Shawn, meanwhile, saved her knee (which is mostly doing well, but technically still in recovery,) for the next beach and hung out in the gift shop looking for, among other things, sweatpants for Mason who—for reasons all his own—decided not to pack any pants for the trip. Only shorts!

Gooseberry Falls, in my opinion, is almost always worth the detour.

Goosberry Falls 2025

Image: Gooseberry Falls

I only remembered after we’d left that I forgot to get my State Park passport stamped! We decided, however, that we would stop in as many State Parks as we could on our route back. Mason and I are also planning a day trip out to Devil’s Kettle, so I have be sure to remember to bring it with me to that hike!

I had advocated for a stop at Iona’s Beach this year but changed my mind after experiencing the wind at Flood Bay. Maybe the weather will be more cooperative on the drive home. Instead, we decided to pull in at Silver Bay to get a gander at "Rocky Taconite."

Image: Rocky Taconite at Silver Bay.

Our last beach of the trip up to the cabin was Cutface Creek Pullout (14 miles north of Lutsen, mile marker 104.) This beach is famous for its thomsonite. Again, I have no idea what thomsonite looks like in the wild (although this might be the year I may have found a piece. I’m going to try polishing it up when we get back home), but this beach generally has cool rocks because it has a ton of mini geodes.
Again, we dawdled. I have no idea how long we spent combing the beaches and listening to the waves. This beach was less windy; it was much more of a natural windbreak/cove.

We managed to miss official check-in at Bearskin (6 pm), which we often do (even leaving the Twin Cities at 9 am), and so followed the instructions to get the cabin key for check-in the next morning. It was still light enough out that Mason and I made the walk up to the Lodge to pick up the aluminum canoe that they on the beach for us out for us. We paddled it to our dock, bungied it up to our private dock for the night, and then settled in for a dinner of brats on the grill.

I fully failed to make a decent fire our first night, but luckily both Shawn and Mason are better skilled at this than I am.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up to rain.

Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge to check in. Because of all of the forest fires that are active in Minnesota right now, the Forest Service has been doing a lot of clearing of what they call “ladder trees,” but also underbrush. The place looks… a little devestated. At least in comparison to what we’re used to. I have been excited to resume my hiking of the ski trails this year and so I wanted to be sure to ask the staff about good trails for less… husbandry, we’ll say. They nicely pointed out where on the map they thought the Forestry Service hadn’t gotten to yet. So, after a quick jog back to Cabin 1 to make sure I had my inhaler, I headed off. I’d intended to slowly get my “sea legs” back, but I missed a turn off and hiked all the way to Rudy Lake.

Rudy Lake 2025

Image: a pristine lake (Rudy Lake) in the middle of nowhere.

Oops.

It is cool, however. Like, this is a lake you simply can not get to without walking to it. There are no roads to get you here.

However, I am a little sore and may have overdone it already on day one. Hopefully, with a bit of rest and Aleve, I’ll be back at it in no time.

Image: trout lily

Somehow our house looks more chaotic and full of half-filled bags and boxes as we prepare for a week long vacation to the northwoods. ONE WEEK! You'd think we were packing to move out!

The thing about the place we're headed is that the closest town with a grocery store is twenty minutes down the Gunflint Trail. I mean, I will drive twenty minutes to a store around here. Maybe because we're surrounded by TREES, twenty minutes away feels so much further when we're up north. Half of what we're bringing is food. Almost none of which will be returning with us.

Despite all this, I'm really looking forwrard to the vacation. There is limited wireless, but I usually get up early and make the hike to the Lodge with my computer and spend an hour or so making sure I'm not missing out on any earth-shattering news. So, I'm still reachable, just... only once a day. I'm going to try to post pictures and such--you know, actually keep up with this blog for once!

Recent college graduate Mason, peering through the Gov Docs stacks at Wesleyan University

We have actually been home for a while, but, for some reason, this time I feel like I've been struggling to catch up with everything. Our house is currently a warren of boxes--all of them somehow containing everything Mason had brought with him, bought, or otherwise accumulated, over the past four years as a student. As I noted while we were still on the road, we shipped most of his stuff back via the United States Postal Service. A fine service, I might add. Still, by far, the cheapest and most efficient way to send things. I hate seeing it in crisis. (And it clearly is. I spend a lot of time at post offices and all of them are chronically understaffed right now--from Middletown, CT to Minnesota.)

On the road, however, I managed to listen to a lot of audio books. I finished up the last of the Singing Hills Cycle novellas. Then, because I had to wait to get to the hotel to download the book I actually wanted next, I ended listening to David Levine's Arabella of Mars, which I wanted to be more queer than it was, but oh well. The book I'd wanted was Martha Well's Exit Strategy, which I had apparently forgotten to read when I was reading through the Murderbot Dairies some time ago (or maybe it wasn't out yet, but somehow I missed it.) Then, to fill in a short gap I listened to another novella: A Strange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer. Apparently I needed to have read the Borne Series, which I had not. I mean, I would say that it stood on its own, honestly? Though I could tell in the second half that there was a bigger story in the City that I didn't fully grasp. It was weird in the way of Vandermeer's stories, though. A bit depressing, too. I have since started, but have been slow to get into. Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs. But, as you will see below. I've been a bit scattered and distracted.

Mason and Jas on the railing

Mason (right) and his partner Jas (left) in their robes on the steps of the Chapel at Wesleyan

I am probably feeling so very rushed an unsettled for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are actually headed off to Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail (for my non-Minnesotan friends: Think Cabin in the Woods. Only with 99.9% fewer demonic sacrifices.) We'll be up there for a week--from Saturday to Saturday--and it is, in essence, Mason's graduation gift to him from us, but it does mean another day on the road! I was just talking to Shawn and it's kind of amazing that (if we drove with no stops) it will take us about as long to get to the Lodge as it did to drive from Youngstown, OH to Valparaiso, IN. Minnesota is a BIG state. Saint Paul is kind of in the middle of the state, and it will take us that long to drive the same distance we drove through all of Ohio and most of Indiana. INSANE. I mean, when you look on a map all of Minnesota is North and South Dakota length and then some.

Anyway, I don't mind the driving. Our family usually finds fun places to stop and hunt for agates or just take in the view of Lake Superior. This time, however, we may be going past some active fires, which I can't say I'm excited to see.

The air quality has been bad here, y'all.

But, I'm stressing out because the idea of packing my clothes again just seems like a LOT.

The other thing that has me generally unsettled is that we just found out that Shawn's brother Keven has a lump on his kidney. The doctors are fairly certain it's cancer and they're already talking about chemo and all the works. Keven didn't used to be my favorite brother (Shawn has two), but in the past several years Keven has gotten some diagonises and meds and therapy. He's not anything like a changed man, but now he's tolerable and curmudgeonly in a more charming and amusing way.

And, now, it seems, the gods have kicked him in the teeth.

Keven only just got his first tests, so it's not necessarily any kind of immediate death sentence. But, fuck. You know?

I am deep in revisions (again? Still?) but I thought I'd poke my head above water to check-in.

I'm not sure if I even remembered to report that I'd finished a draft of the book? Yeah, that happened right before my birthday, November 18. I sent it off to a couple of beta readers right after that in an insane hope that I'd have time during Thanksgiving break to work on the revisions. In a surprise to no one but me, I never cracked those documents open, not once. I mean, sure I could have forgone puzzling or playing 500 games of Boggle, but I see the people who come for Thanksgiving once a year. I wanted to spend time with them. We, in fact, had a lovely meal and days and days of delightful company. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So, here it is the Monday after a week-long vacation and I'm finally sitting down to get started. I don't think it's going to be too bad a process although I wrote myself a note that simply reads, EMOTIONALLY CONSISTANT.

Which, you know, is very fiddly.

Anyway, I know

sabotabby has had a rough time of it, but how are the rest of you? My American friends, how was your turkey day? My non-Americans, how was last Thursday? Do anything special?

Image: Me and Dee Dee, the greyhound, checking out Crooked Lake in Siren, WI.

I have a BAD case of vacation hangover. I feel both panicked and super behind on all the things I need to do and completely disinterested in doing any of them. I just want to swim in the lake!

This weekend was so lovely. And, despite the hard anniversary that I posted about, we managed to have an amazing time. It was hot enough that we spent a lot of hours in the lake (or on it, on the pontoon boat.) And I forget how much I enjoy swimming until I'm swimming. I really should make more use of the lakes and public swimming places around here.

Crooked Lake is very much a resort lake, so it wasn't exactly a retreat into the deep woods, but our friends are so generous with their space and time and it was incredibly relaxing and well-needed. It was still surprisingly quiet up there. We were awoken every morning by the song on the loons. Shawn even managed to be greeted by a river otter on one of her morning shore strolls!

We discovered a lesbian-run coffee shop, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area. Crosshatch Coffee. Their Cuban latte is TO DIE FOR, but the place also has an amazing atmosphere in general. But, Siren is such a tourist town that the coffee shop is only open Fri-Sun, 6 am - 3 pm.

Now, I'm back to writing the novel, prepping for my asynchronous class, and... life. I'm missing Gerriann's dishwasher and vacation standard time where life's little chores are for later....

SIGH.

How about y'all. Anything fun happen this weekend?

Not much more to say about that, but we are finally HOME after eight days on the road. It's been fun, but that last couple of hours sure felt like an eternity.

I was shocked to see how much my gardens had grown without me! I'm super looking forward to finally being able to start my project for Lawns 2 Legumes (for those just tuning in, I got a SMALL grant to plant a bee-friendly habitat in my yard. My grant reimbursements are due in July, so I need to have bought something by then!)

But, that's really it. The cats are slowly getting used to us again, which is great. I've missed them.

I was very worried when we started off up Honeymoon Bluff, because, once again, like Kung Fu Panda, I met my old enemy….

But the hike was actually kind of nothing? I think, however, my sense of what’s difficult in a hike has significantly changed over the last two weeks. I’m sure that if we’d done this little very vertical hike in the first few days, I would absolutely have agreed that it was not at all easy. As it was, just went I was thinking, “Okay, we should probably take a break so I can catch my breath,” suddenly we were at the summit.

The view from the top of Honeymoon Bluff. Trees and a lake? Technically, if I were taller, you would be able to see three lakes and the Canadian Border.

We briefly thought we were looking back behind us at East Bearskin Lake, but what we were really looking out at was Hungry Jack Lake and Bearskin (not EAST Bearskin). It was throwing because they are shaped similarly! I was very thrown by this because I am one of those people who has a somewhat preternatural sense of direction. Mason asked, “So, is that East Bearskin?” I said, “No, that’s behind us,” with absolute certainty, but since the brochure had said we’d get a view of East Bearskin, I doubted myself. I just found a PDF from the Superior National Forest that has the lakes correctly labelled. I am relieved to know my sense of direction did NOT fail me.

The map showing the view from Honeymoon Bluff

Anyway, it was a very, very short trip. We kind of felt like it was a bit of a letdown, since the brochures make so much about how parents need to keep small children in hand! Danger! But it was all very safe feeling. Honestly, there were parts of the Magnetic Rock hike that felt far more dangerous to me.

So, that’s the whole thing. We are home tomorrow (Saturday). We have been talking about some detours on the way home, but it’s possible that we will end up just wanting to push through.

I’ve been really grateful that we’ve had someone staying at the house, because two weeks is a long time to have left the kitties on their own. Especially our eldest, who is TWENTY-ONE. Mason likes to point out that we have a cat older than he is. I will be happy to have kitty cuddle (or stern looks, depending.) Shawn’s been missing her own bed. I’ve been missing my kitchen. Mason would like to see his online friends again—and get back to work at the Science Museum.

It’s been a really tremendous time. But, it will be good to be home.

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.

Today (Wednesday) we hiked to Magnetic Rock. Magnetic Rock is one of those official destination hikes like Devil’s Kettle, where we had to get in the car and drive about twenty miles, nearly to the end of the Gunflint Trail.

We were a little worried this one would be a dud, since a lot of the stuff on our little brochure has been. When I run into Bob at the Lodge in the mornings, he always asks, “What are your plans for today?” When I told him that we were headed to Magnetic Rock, he nodded and said, in a very Minnesotan way, “People do that.”

Mason and I tried to parse this response because if you are not a native Minnesotan—as one of us started to say and then we repeated all trip long—"enthusiasm can often be mistaken for disappointment here in the Northwoods.” Even one of the people we passed on the trail had us worried because they said, “Oh, yeah, it’s all right.”

But, while this one was with a lot of steep climbs, it was well worth it.

Image: A big magnetic rock looking like something straight out of the movie of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001.

I don’t know if you can get a sense of how HUGE this rock is. Besides, it also being legitimately magnetic, it is also sixty feet tall. We had also been joking on the trail about whether we’d be able to tell when we got to it. Would there be a sad label like at the Wildflower Sanctuary? Nope! But, wow, we could tell when we’d reached our destination.

The hike itself takes you across Larch Creek and into the burned areas (there were at least three major fires that swept this area: 2007, 2003 and 1974.) The burn left a lot of exposed rock which formed our trail.

Image: The path was kind of naturally paved, except where it wasn't at all, of course.

In places you travel over entirely exposed rock and there are little cairns of stones set up to guide you along the way. We saw a bunch of nifty wildflowers including what seems to be a (native??) tiger lily and some kind of vetch, possibly.

Images: A tiger lily (a native?) and a vetch of some kind.

We were very high up on a ridge at several points, and I’m not sure my pictures do the view justice.

All and all another fun one. The trail head is nicely marked and there is technically a latrine. We ran into a lot of people on the narrow trails, so, you know, pee BEFORE you start the hike. :-)

We started with tippy canoe with Shawn and I and then Mason wanted to see what could be seen if we pushed past the place that we now call “Capsize Cove.” So, I think I spent maybe four hours in a canoe today. That maybe doesn’t feel like much, but we fought the wind home both times.

The more we stay up here, the more we get to know the people who run the place. The owners list used to just be “Bob and Sue,” but now it includes “Quinn and Katie.” Bob and Sue are very much still part of the daily life at Bearskin. I’ve really grown to quite like Bob in particular.

In fact, we happened to see Bob when we came back from our “adventure” with the overturned canoe, and when he heard that we’d flipped the boat, he sat right down to hear the whole story. He’s always willing to turn off his walkie-talkie and hear from people about their stay. If it’s not genuine, he does a helluva impression of real concern. I kind of love that about him? Plus, he laughed at us when we seemed so surprised by having tipped over and said, “Everyone always says: ‘But I’ve never tipped a canoe before!” It was said with kindness and a large side of ‘because everyone flips a canoe at some point’ and ‘there just isn’t much for it when it starts going over.’

Nice guy.

Our other big adventure today (Tuesday) was that because I was exhausted from so much canoeing, we decided to try… EATING IN A RESAURANT.

I know, right?

But, we decided that we needed to start trusting the vaccine and go out places, plus the food would just be gross if I drove it home. It’s only seven miles (? Kilometers) away, but even so. It was very distracting to be in such a busy place. We used to laugh at the people who sat in restaurants not saying anything to each other, but I get it now. Not only was I so tired as to be kind of loopy, but also there’s kind of a LOT?? It got more a lot when a whole bevy of three families came in, a whole posse of smols in tow. From going to zero to this was… honestly, a little tough, so we might not have been our usual chatty selves, but, man, the food was worth it.

And I didn’t have to do the dishes.

Today, we may hike to magnetic rock!

Since we were due for another grocery run, Mason and I decided to check out Judge C. R. Magney State Park and the (in)famous “Devil’s Kettle” waterfall. This year I picked up a guide to the waterfalls of Minnesota and so I had read that there would not only be a lot of uphill hiking, but also… stairs.

Image: so many wooden stairs.

I’d thought, given all my recent hiking, that I was up for this. I mean, I am asthmatic, I knew the stairs would be trouble (I am never without my recue inhaler.) However, I figured the rest of the trail would be fine. It was? But, with Mason along I really noticed just how slowly I tackle these hills. Luckily, my boy is deeply patient.

Image: my big smol, waiting.

This, however, was extremely worth it, from the start.

At the beginning of the trail head, you cross the rapids of the Brule River. There’s just something about a rushing river? I love the sound of it, if nothing else. Once up the steep trail and down the 117 steps, you come to the lower falls.

The lower falls are magnificent on their own. If this had been the destination of any of my previous hikes, would have been deeply satisfied with this view alone. When Mason was smol, we would likely have spent hours here, playing on the wet rocks and watching the spray.

Only another 700 feet to Devil’s Kettle, however, so we pushed on.

It was a tough 700 feet? But, we made it and, again, totally worth it.

The twin falls of Devil's Kettle. The infamous "kettle" is on the left.

The waterfall on the left is considered “Devil’s Kettle” because the water goes in at speeds and never comes out anywhere people have been able to discover. There have been several attempts to figure out where it goes—dyed water, a ping pong ball, etc. No one has ever found any trace of anything that’s ever gone down into the kettle. Lake Superior is not far away, so the best guess is that the water travels through a series of underground caves and empties somewhere out in the big lake.

Today (Tuesday) it’s 10 am and we’ve already had a big adventure. Somehow, Shawn and I managed to tip the canoe! We always hug the shoreline (and I’d stopped to pee,) but we were both safely back in the boat. Somehow, in our maneuvering out from the shoreline, ope! Over we went! Completely. It was slow? Like horror-movie slow? And, then we stood there in waist deep water wondering how the heck we were going to tip the aluminum canoe over and get the water out. Believe it or not, we managed it! I was soaked enough that I decided to take off my hoodie. I moved my phone from my shorts pocket to my bra (which was mostly still dry.) Shawn was in jeans and didn’t take anything off and she came back far more frigid than I did. Hot showers got us all in ship shape, however.

My phone is currently working? We’ll see if that lasts.

Woke up to temperatures this morning of 42 degrees F (5 C).

This weekend was cold and rainy. I did do a few hikes, despite the drizzle, mostly to try to figure out what my next destination will be. On my way out to explore Bear Cub, I discovered that the National Forestry Service is doing "fire suppression" work... which, looks a lot like clear-cutting and setting up giant bonfires??

Pile of wood in the forest, burned by the bastards at the National Forestry Service

Pile of wood in the forest, burned by the bastards at the National Forestry Service

'

In fact, by chance Shawn and I ran into Bob (one of the owners of Bearskin) on our way back and asked him about it. That is precisely what they've been doing. They have been cutting out pines that are six inches in diameter in width, piling them up, and setting them ablaze. This method got away from them (NO SH*T) and they burned a huge section of Ox Cart Ski Trail by accident. Bob has been spending a lot of his time at various meetings trying to get them to stop this nonsense.

I feel like this is about on par with Tr*mp's big plan to "rake" the forests to suppress fires.

It is both heartbreaking to see and deeply angering.

I did manage a bit of this trail, but it is a ski racing trail for a reason. This hills are MASSIVE, and so I hauled myself up a couple before giving up. Plus, with the rain, it seemed actually dangerous.

.
Image: Bear Cub World Cup, please note the elevation indicator blow the sign. It looks like a heartbeat.

Today, the big plan is to head back for another grocery run and take a detour out to see Devil's Kettle waterfalls. We are state park members, so we can spend as much time exploring there as we like.

Given my body type, I really did feel much like a Hobbit trudging my way along the Beaver Dam Ski Trail to Flour Lake. I left bright and early—around 9:00 am. I budgeted about four hours and am happy to say I managed the whole hike in three! I was back at the cabin just as my family was pulling a pizza out of the oven for lunch at noon.

The destination this time? Hella worth it.

Image: The view from the cliffs over Flour Lake

This picture is actually on Ridge Run ski trail. I followed it around until it meets up with Beaver Damn Trail again. I stopped at a little ski shelter and had a trail bar and filled up my water from a second bottle that I’d brought along in my backpack.

Because I followed the edges of Rudy Lake a lot closer, I got a much better picture of that lake.

The funniest part of the whole Rudy Lake adventure to me is the memory of Mason and I reading that we could rent an oar boat if we made it to Rudy Lake. You had to pay a five-dollar fee, but you could do it. So, we brought along our money and headed off. Mason was small then, so I actually drove out along Summer Home Road and we parked at the spot where it’s only a mile hike to Rudy Lake. We found the sign that says “Boat Rental,” but got to an overturned oar boat, which we managed to right… only to discover there are no oars. Like, you can slip your five dollars into the slot for the self-pay, oars do not magically appear from behind the trees. I suspect we were supposed to carry them in?

Good news, here we are several years later, and the oar boat is still there… still no oars.

There’s not a lot else to report about this 11 mile hike. I did my usual thing where I stop and take pictures of odd things I see along the way.

Oooo, an abandon paper wasp nest!

OOoo, a caterpillar!

But, you know, it was mostly trees and path. I remembered to wear my bear whistle this time and I spotted several moose footprints in the mud, but I had no close encounters with any mega-fauna. Which, is fine with me?

A section of the path with a boardwalk over a boggy area.

Image: boardwalk over boggy bits of the trail near Beaver Dam.

If I can figure out where the trail head is today or tomorrow, I may attempt Bear Cub World Cup ski trail next. There is at least one destination spot on that trail as well, which is Bear Cub Lake. However tomorrow (Saturday—today, probably when I post this,) it is supposed to be the beginning of a rainy week. That will likely slow down some of my hiking.

Today was a day when we planned on a grocery run to Grand Marais. Since a trip to town is a half an hour away from the cabin, Mason and I decided to see of we could also squeeze in a hike somewhere.

On our first trip to Bearskin back in 2014, we picked up a brochure called “Hiking on the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway.” (I feel like you can almost hear the old-timey announcer’s voice in that title, like something out of my second-grade record/slide show civics class… or Fallout 4.)

I have been pouring over this thing with the same kind of obsessive curiosity that I have the ski trail map. We had a pretty good time when we tried out Caribou Rock Trail in 2014 (vistas!), but then there was the somewhat disastrous South Lake Trail… which involved a lot of boggy, mosquito infested trails and no pay-off destination…unless you counted the fresh moose tracks in the mud.

Let’s just say my luck with this particular brochure is very much 50/50.

What it says about the Wildflower Interpretive Hike: “A shaded walk along the edge of the Devil Track River with an interesting variety of native and non-native wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and grasses.” Our book. Gentle Hikes of Minnesota, makes it sound rather lovely. “This is a self-guided trail that is best explored leisurely. You’ll want to take you time and savor this educational experience as each plant is labeled and representatives of local flora…. We found that the well pump and roughhewn benches formed an irresistibly quaint setting for relaxing along the river and a nice photo op.” (page 141)

LIES.

Here’s what the “labeling” looks like.

Image: A cluster of yellow flowers helpfully labelled "buttercup."

I mean, this is a label. It identifies the plant, but I was expecting a bit more… interpretation? Perhaps even some suggestion about whether this plant is native, its scientific name, or… I don’t know? Maybe something more than something looking like it was hastily written by a very bored park ranger.

Honest to god, the first tag I saw was on a tree and it simply read: Aspen.

When I saw that, I thought, “Well, heck, *I* could have figured that out. Thank you, anyway.”

The trail itself had recently been re-wood chipped, which helped us identify where the trail head started—at least from the Gunflint Trail side—because the huge pile of fresh woodchips were still mounded there. The trail dumped us out at what was maybe the official parking lot? I am very uncertain.

Our pamphlet implies that the trail was not maintained for several years, so it’s possible that this was once much more photo op-y. The creek itself is really quite lovely.

Image: A shot down river of a creek disappearing into the woods

The other thing that is very weird about this wildflower “sanctuary” is that it abuts someone’s private property and the lumber yard… so there’s NO SENSE of being “in the woods.” You can always hear the traffic from Gunflint and/or see actual building through the trees. We found a couple of roughhewn “quaint” benches, but no water pump.

I do have to wonder if this was someone’s personal pet project, which is why it’s not actually in any kind of functional form.

Yet it’s in all the guidebooks.

We were not alone on the trail, either. We ran into a father and his daughter. Worse, I feel like it could actually be very cool? If there were a lot more signs, perhaps, and a few of those big boards with the information, like you find in State and National Parks. If I had a million dollars, I’d hire someone to really revamp it and make it as lovely as I think it could be.

As it was, it was a bit of a disappointment.

What wasn’t a disappointment yesterday was all the animals we were able to see at the dock. Shawn has been complaining that because Mason and I take evening canoe “strolls”* we see all the beaver. She had yet to see one.

Until last night. Last night we all decided to sit out on the dock at twilight. Mason was re-reading

yhlee 's Nine Fox Gambit, but at a chapter break spotted movement in the lake—that classic ‘v’ the beavers make as they slice through with just their snouts above the waterline. Sure enough, a beaver came cruising over to the lily pad. She floated there and munched on water lily root no more than ten feet from our dock. Then a companion joined her. And then another.

Soon, we had three beaver all just diving for crunchy lotus roots and squeaking at each other. The lake at twilight was so silent we literally could hear the tiny little noises they made both as they ate and as they greeted each other. I had never heard a beaver make noises before. Mason commented they kind of whined like a sad, but not yet bawling human baby. ‘Uuuunngh, Ah, uh!” That doesn’t sound pleasant the way I’m describing it, but it was actually adorable. If anyone has seen the porcupine nom-nom video that goes around the socials sometimes, the sound she makes was similar to this.

They stayed in the lily pads for hours.

And we watched them the whole time…

Hilariously, a duck, who had decided this was her patch, was very annoyed by this and at one point there was a duck/beaver show down, where the beaver and the duck took turns kind of slow speed chasing each other away from the lily pads. Then, it was won when the beaver slapped and the duck flew off. The duck continued honking flying ‘drive-bys’ for a good twenty minutes. (Ducks are sore losers, or at least this one is.)

Image: Sunset on East Bearskin Lake. Evening being best for animal activity!

---

* I call them strolls because are very deliberately slow-moving. We hug the shoreline and mostly just drift in the water. We only paddle enough to keep moving in a direction.

A marshy view of the long-sought Rudy Lake

Image: the long-sought after Rudy Lake.

I made it!

I decided to walk before lunch, which may have been a mistake as I was slogging through the underbrush under a noon sun.

However, I did come across a family of… quail? Whatever they were the male puffed out his fan tail and bobbed around where I could see him while—peep, peep, peep—the babies ran for forest cover. I did not get a picture because I was too surprised (as were they!)

So now I’m trying to decide if I should push on with the same trail and make it to Flour Lake. Having chatted with one of the Lodge owners here, I am thinking that it’s worth the extra 1.3 miles. She says that in the winter the view from Beaver Dam Trail out to Flour Lake is one of the best that these ski trails have to offer. I am told it’s a little less impressive when the trees are in foliage, but, according to her, if I poke my nose through the overgrowth, I should still “get some scenery.” (Not sure what else it is I’ve been seeing, but I will take her word for it!)

Image: a sign that reads: Beaver Dam Ski Trail, my "dam" obsession.

When I told her I’d been walking Beaver Dam Ski Trail, she said that a lot of people don’t even know about Rudy Lake exists (there is no road access to this lake), “except the skiers.” So, that made me feel kind of special.

But, so, if I stick to this trail and manage to conquer Flour Lake, I am thinking I will next try the Bear Cub World Cup Ski Trail, since it will give me another destination: Bear Cub Lake… and the Lodge owner showed me a secret way to get out to the trailhead that doesn’t involve me having to figure out where to park if I were to drive out to the spot where it comes out near Gunflint Road.

Meanwhile, Mason is two-thirds of the way through his fourth book. In a very bizarre turn of events, he's decided to read my AngeLINK series.

Though I do think we’ll be headed out on a canoe ride tonight, since he complained a bit about missing all the early morning animal sightings (otters mostly, and turtles, plus a few ducks.) After all, I reminded him that the OTHER active times is twilight.

UPDATE: we did, in fact go out at night, and managed to see a beaver in the water. She slapped her tail and everything!

Image: my long-haired boy in his sunhat in the front of a canoe, drifting quietly and watching the shoreline for activity.

Tuesday, I decided to hit an easier destination than Rudy Lake. I’d noticed in my deep read of the ski trails that North-South branched off toward Aspen Lake. The little distance marker suggested that the extra leg was exactly a mile—easy peasey! However, my map also gives a vague sense of topography, so I knew that I’d end up going up and down some pretty steep hills (fun for skiing!) Indeed, at least one was so steep that I hugged the tree line in case I needed handholds!

I was unprepared for the fact that the trails are pretty much not set up for hikers and so not at all trampled through. The ferns in the picture are up to my hips.

Not exactly easy hiking through the ferns up to my waist.

Image: trails with ferns up to my waist

However, Aspen Lake was a great destination. The sun was bright and hot. The lake was completely deserted of any activity. I could see that the trail’s end had been used as a campfire site for someone recently, but otherwise I could have been alone for… well, at least a mile.

Image: sign post of the trail head to Moose Viewing Trail

On Monday, we also did our annual trip to Moose Viewing Trail.

The very first year we came up to Bearskin Lodge in May, we saw a cow moose and two babies on Moose Viewing Trail. When we told Bob at the Lodge about our lucky adventure and showed off our pictures, he laughed because no one sees moose on Moose Viewing Trail. In fact, there is a platform there for ‘viewing’ in which many people have carved dates and notes that say, “NO MOOSE.”

[moose view trail head pic]

None of this deters us from going, however. If nothing else, we must marvel at the half-buried car that has clearly been there since… the 1960s by the look of the car. How it got that boulder on top of it is a mystery. [see previous bearskin entries for description of the car].

Because it is an annual tradition, I managed to drag my family into the woods with me.

Shawn and Mason on the road to Moose Viewing

Image: Mason (left) and Shawn (right) on the way to Moose Viewing.

My family has a funny divide. As I mentioned in my previous post, we are generally, as a family, “indoorsy.” However, despite also being this way, I have this weird compunction to get out and see things every now and again. I like to read up on all the various nearby ‘attractions.’ Sometimes, I can even talk my family into heading off to see one or two of them with me.

Sometimes, not so much.

Thus, I am forced to make my own fun when I’m in one of these moods. I have been looking at the Bearskin maps of the ski trails for years, wondering what it would be like to travel their distance. This year, I’ve decided that I want to try to make the hike from our cabin to Rudy Lake. There is a ski trail that goes from the Lodge to Rudy Lake called Beaver Dam.

The appeal of Beaver Dam is that I can start from the Lodge. I don’t have to drive to any trailhead to get started. I can just put on my bug spray, grab water and a sunhat, and set out… waving goodbye to my family sitting on the dock reading books and sunbathing.

Since we’re here for so many days (and because I am deeply out of shape) I have decided to tackle a little bit more of the trail every day. Yesterday, I got as far as “Summer House Road.” Today, I almost made it to where Summer House Road crosses a second time.

A colored map with pen markings indicated Lyda's daily obsession

What is perhaps the silliest thing about this quest of mine is that there is little to “see,” along the trail. Obviously, I am enjoying the smell of the pine trees in the sun, the tiny woodland native wildflowers like wild strawberry and trout lily, watching insects buzz about, and listening to the sounds of birds and wind through quaking aspen.

Sunlight dappling Lyda's new obsession: Beaver Dam ski trail

But the lack of a specific “destination” is part of what is spurring me onward to reach Rudy Lake, as it is an obvious goal. Today, I passed a small creek where whoever is maintaining the trail had built a simple plank bridge. On my way back, I ran into a couple of ducks.

I was elated to be able to tell where I was on the map at one point, because I could see East Bearskin Lake through the trees. There is only one bend on my ski trail where that is possible.

I’ve also been trying to guestimate how long the full trek up to Rudy Lake will eventually take me. Today’s jaunt took me a full hour (there and back again, as Bilbo might say.) Looking at how much is left on the map, I’m thinking that I should probably budget at LEAST three hours—or maybe three and a half, if I want to rest up at the lake before turning back.

That’s a big walk. But, I’ve got two full weeks to work up the oomph to make it. I suspect other people could do it in much less time, but as Mason told me today, it’s clear that my body type is build for stamina, not speed. (He’s not wrong, and I totally took that as a compliment!)

I will leave this thought with a picture of a cool hollow tree I saw along Beaver Dam trail. There’s a tree growing in a tree! (Luckily I am easily amused.)

Profile

lydamorehouse

www.lydamorehouse.com

June 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Active Entries

Style Credit

Style: Adjustable Stripes for Bannering by branchandroot

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 15th, 2025 04:50 am

Day in the Life of an Idiot

Journal of Lyda Morehouse

Entries tagged with vacation

Just Another Day in Paradise (Thursday)

Just Another Day in Paradise (Wednesday)

Just Another Day in Paradise (Monday)

Just Another Day in Paradise (Days 1-2.5)

Packing AGAIN

Wednesday Again?

Revisions

Vacation Hangover

Home

Not-so Difficult After All

At Death's Door

Magnetic Rock Hike

Tippy Canoe Tuesday

My Old Enemy…. Stairs!

Rainy and Cold

There and Back Again to Flour Lake

Interpreting Wildflowers

Rudy Lake!

A Detour to Aspen Lake

The Beaver Dam Obsession