February March Northern Wilds

Feb-March 2013 VOL 10, ISSUE 1 For Folks Who Love the North

Adventure Issue

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

everything you need to enjoy the

NORTH SHORE outdoors this winter!

COME IN NOW FOR: Amazing GEAR to buy or try, perfect for winter camping, XC skiing, and more Unique TOURS and equipment RENTALS for unforgettable winter adventures WINTERGREEN clothing, SNOWTREKKER tents and so much more, to rent or own!

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

from the editors

features

Choose Your Next Adventure

Your Favorite Northern Wilds Adventures

24 5 Tips to Start Planning Now

Shoot the Northern Lights 10

Tips on shooting and predicting the aurora borealis

Trapped in Ice 12

Milan Huard

Local history as told by Art Fenstad Into the Woods by Sled Dog 20 Mara’s Arctic Adventure Take a Winter Hike

14 Lori Young

16 17

Mary Brett

When to use Fuel Additives 18

Departments North Notes 5

Strange Tales 21

Events 7

Through My Lens 22

Events Calendar 8

The Accidental Gardener 23

Canadian Trails 13 Product Reviews 19

Dining Guide 26 Campfire Stories 25

Lori Young of Duluth is going on an adventure. She won our second place prize, a half-day winter or summer adventure from Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply in Grand Marais, which means she can try just about any outdoor activity from dog sledding to sea kayaking.

Our other winners were picked by you.

Adventure Awards entries listed your favorite places in the Northern Wilds.

The top choices are shown here.

Park: • Tettegouche • Cascade • Gooseberry

Ski Trail: • Banadad • Pincushion • Korkki

Scenic Overlook: • Palisade • Hawk Ridge • Mt Josephine

Fall Color Drive: • Caribou Trail • Honeymoon Trail • Heartbreak Hill

Hiking Trail: • Superior Hiking Trail • Oberg Mountain

Festival: • Grand Marais Fisherman's Picnic • Grand Portage Rendezvous Days • Ely Blueberry Festival

Waterfall: • High Falls, Pigeon River • Gooseberry • Devil's Kettle Beach: • Park Point • Paradise • Brighton Rock Picking Spot: • Agate Bay, • Temperance River • Thomsonite Beach Campground: • Tettegouche • Split Rock • BWCAW

Bike Trail: • Mesabi • Gitchi Gami • Munger Fishing Hole: • "I'll Never Tell!"

Day Trip: • Grand Marais • Grand Portage • Gunflint Trail Wild Food: • Blueberries • Raspberries • Wild Rice

We’d like to thank everyone who participated in the 2012 Adventure Awards. We plan to have another reader participation event this summer. But for now, pour a cup of coffee and sit down to enjoy this issue of Northern Wilds. You won’t have to leave your favorite armchair to find plenty of adventures.

Northern Sky 27

Book Reviews 19

Milan Huard has plans for August. The avid deer hunter from Duluth is going to build a wooden bow at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, courtesy of Northern Wilds. Huard won $500 in North House class credits as the first place prize in our 2012 Northern Wilds Adventure Awards contest. When contacted by phone, he was surprised, as in “I never win anything,” and very happy. He said he’d entered the contest shortly after visiting the North House last summer and learning about the bow-building class.

Taking our third place prize was Mary Brett of Eveleth, who will spend her $50 gift certificate at the outdoor store of her choice.

Silver Mountain Station 18 Skating on Lakes

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About our cover:

—Shawn Perich & Amber Pratt

Five young women celebrating life beneath the midnight sun are the epitome of adventure. | MARA MACDONELL

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ContributORS: Contributors: Elle Andra-Warner, Paul Blissenbach, Lee Boyt, Gord Ellis, Joan Farnam, Michael Furtman, Bryan Hansel, Mike Hillman, Stephan Hoglund, Breana Roy, Kate Watson Copyright 2013 by Northern Wilds Media, Inc. Published six times per year. Subscription rate is $15 per year or $28 for 2 years. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part requires written permission from the publisher.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Mont du Lac Trophy Lodge opening pushed back to 2013

What’s Killing Minnesota’s Moose?

Work began in January on Minnesota DNR’s latest effort to figure out why the herd is in decline in the Arrowhead Region.

Researchers began collaring and tagging 100 adult moose, fitting them with GPS collars (and 27 with mortality sensors) that will track their movements and alert them via text message when an animal has died.

“There’s an app for that,” said Erika Butler, a wildlife veterinarian with the Minnesota DNR. The goal is get to the animals within 24 hours of death, a timeline biologists hope will shed new light on the declining herd, which has dropped from 9,000 animals 10 years ago to 4,200 in last winter’s survey.

The cutting-edge technology is buying researchers time. With older equipment, it took up to two weeks after death before researchers could get to the animals, which decompose quickly because of their size.

In the spring, biologists will also collar 50 calves taken from the offspring of the adult moose in the study.

Mont du Lac Ski Area, in that sliver of Northwest Wisconsin surrounded by Minnesota, had originally planned to open its new lodge in 2012, but property damage from last spring’s floods caused a setback.

The ski hill opened for business when winter arrived, but it meant the new lodge would be opening in stages in 2013. The impressive, new lodge will be a regional landmark, serving as a ski lodge with a bar, restaurant and great room.

The building’s main timbers are built of British Columbia Douglas firs three feet in diameter and there’s extensive stonework, including a massive fireplace. Huge windows offer stunning views of Jay Cooke State Park and the St. Louis River to Fond du Lac Dam. When complete, the lodge will include two in-

Atikokan man fined $1,000 for illegal moose hunting Jesse Anderson pleaded guilty for hunting moose without a license and has been fined $1,000, according to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

On Oct. 7, Anderson was hunting moose with two others near Camp River Road in Atikokan. He claimed to shoot a cow moose he thought was a calf and reported his mistake but when a conservation officer

5

asked to see his moose license, he was unable to produce one.

Further investigation revealed that Anderson hadn’t purchased a 2012 moose license, and while the other two members of the hunting party had purchased 2012 moose licenses, there were no adult moose validation tags in the group.

door waterfalls more than 40 feet high.

The staircase, window frames and doors are all made of black walnut.

Eventually, anglers will be able to enjoy Trophy Lodge, too. Mont du Lac owns frontage on the St. Louis River and is planning a docking facility. Anglers sampling the river’s walleye fishing will be able to pull up at the dock and be shuttled to the lodge for lunch or dinner. The lodge will open in stages during 2013, beginning with the bar and restaurant.

AhnisnAbAe Art GAllery

offers a spectacular collection of handmade Canadian Native crafts, as well as Fine Art • Assorted Prints • Sculptures Masks T-shirts • Music •Jewelry Leatherwork: Moccasins, Gauntlets, etc. Artcards • Books: Native stories for children, Native Art and Language

We invite you to visit us in the gallery or browse through our online shop.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Ontario Releases Action Plan to Protect Biodiversity

DNR issues ice warning for aerated lakes Ice anglers, snowmobilers, skiers and other outdoor enthusiasts should be careful when going onto any lake covered or partially covered with ice, especially those with aeration systems.

Aeration systems are generally operated from the time lakes freeze until ice break-up in the spring. They help prevent winterkill of fish, but they also create areas of open water and thin ice.

Two types of signs are used to post aerated lakes: “Thin Ice” and Warning” signs. The person who ap-

plies for the permit is to maintain “Warning” signs at all commonly used access points to the lake. The perimeter of these lakes must also be marked with “Thin Ice” signs.

Some municipalities may have ordinances that prohibit entering into the thin ice area and/or prohibit the night use of motorized vehicles on lakes with aeration systems in operation.

Farm Lake and Lake Superior (marinas) in Lake County and Colby Lake in St. Louis County have aeration systems.

Ontario is implementing a new biodiversity plan to improve protection of its forests, lakes, animals and plants.

The plan lists more than 100 activities the province will undertake with industry, environmental and community partners over the next decade to protect biodiversity.

They include integrating biodiversity conservation in school curricula from kindergarten to Grade 12; Identifying new ways to enable Ontario’s carbon-intensive industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and, getting Aboriginal peoples involved in biodiversity monitoring, data collection and in-

Time to Renew Outdoors Cards

Ontario’s Outdoors Card just expired. Everyone needs an Outdoors Card, along with their hunting or fishing license tag, to hunt or fish in the province.

The card is valid for three years and all cards expire on the same date at the end of the three-year term — Dec. 31. Outdoors Cards can be renewed online at ontario.ca/outdoorscard, by calling 800-288-1155 or in person at a ServiceOntario center or private issuer.

Approximately 766,000 Outdoors Cards were sold in Ontario in 2011.

About 1.3 million anglers fish in Ontario each year and spend $2.5 billion in the province annually. An Outdoors Card costs $9.68 for three years.

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Protecting Ontario’s biodiversity is part of the McGuinty government’s plan to ensure a healthy environment for future generations.

“We all have a responsibility to protect Ontario’s rich and abundant biodiversity,” said Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources.

Gov. Mark Dayton included the Minnesota DNR’s school forest program as one of 11 big accomplishments that helped students and teachers achieve the education and skills needed to succeed in a global economy.

The program’s goal is to get kids outside and is designed to help schools establish and maintain school forests for education.

“The key is empowering teachers to provide outdoor experiences that are far more engaging and based in

real-world applications,” said Amy Kay Kerber, DNR school forest manager.

There are 120 Minnesota schools that have designated a school forest and use them to teach a variety of lessons: poetry, drawing and art, math, geology and soil studies, geocaching, digital photography, water quality studies, outdoor measurements, wildlife and habitat studies and American Indian and Minnesota history.

Yarn Harbor

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Check out our website and blog for classes & events

website: www.yarnharborduluth.com or find us on Facebook! blog: yarnharbor.wordpress.com 103 Mount Royal Shopping Circle Duluth, MN 55803 • 218-724-6432 Sun 12-5 • Mon 12-8 • Tues & Wed 10-5 Thurs 10-7 • Fri & Sat 10-5

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

20th Annual Ely Winter Festival Feb. 1-10

Formerly referred to as the Voyageur Winter Festival, this is Ely’s 10-day winter party, celebrating the town’s history.

There are still voyageur-themed events, but there’s also the Ely ArtWalk, an amateur snow carving contest, the Polar Bear Dance, an ice fishing contest and more. Visit www.elywinterfestival.com for more info.

Winter Tracks Festival Feb. 1-10

Celebrate the winter season with this 10-day family festival throughout Cook County. Festivities include the Lutsen Mountains Family Fun Fest, Ridge Riders Snowmobile Fun Run, Winter Plein Air Art Exhibit, Easter Seals 10th Annual Snowarama, luminary-lit ski trails, dog sled or horse drawn sleigh rides, guided snowshoe tours, live music, and more.

For more info on the events, visit www. visitcookcounty.com/wintertracks.

Northern Fibers Retreat Feb. 14-17

The North House Folk School in coordination with the Grand Marais Art Colony and the Northwoods Art Fiber

Guild will be presenting the “Art and Craft of Fiber.” This four-day event offers classes focusing on all manners of fiber arts from beginning knitting classes, intro to felting, making mittens, scarfs, mukluks and more. A fibers class for kids will also be available. Visit www.northhouse.org for more info.

Build-A-Boat Contest Feb. 22-24

The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce 9th Annual Central Canada Outdoor Show is presenting the BuildA-Boat contest for kids. Students wishing to enter must be between 6-12 years of age and will be divided into categories of 6-9 and 10-12. Boat entries must be no larger than a foot long, a foot wide and a foot high. Entries must be received no later than 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, with a registration form attached.

Registration forms can be downloaded at www.tbchamber.ca/buildaboat. The event is at the Wilderness Supply booth during the Outdoor Show in the Sports Dome. For more info, email kayla@tbchamber.ca or call 807-624-2629.

Become a Master Naturalist Feb. 23

of Minnesota Extension Service. This program intends to educate adults on Minnesota’s natural resources and provides opportunities to participate in conservation projects and field trips.

The course will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every other Saturday for six sessions beginning Feb. 23. The cost of the course is $200, which covers materials.

Scholarships are available. Visit www. sugarloafnorthshore.org for more info.

John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon 2013 March 10-13

The 29th running of this storied sled dog race was postponed because of a lack of snow in early January. It was originally scheduled to start on the Jan. 27.

Last year's event was cancelled because of poor snow conditions. The marathon celebrates the life of a man who delivered the mail along the North Shore via sled dogs during the 19th century.

The 390-mile race from Duluth to the Gunflint Trail and back is the most challenging race of its kind in the lower 48. For more information, visit www. beargrease.com.

Specialty Coffee - Whole Leaf Tea - Gourmet Soups - Bakery Goods - Homemade Sandwiches

We go to incredible lengths to select the finest individual beans for your locally owned Dunn Bros Coffee Stores.

Each single-origin bean reflects the unique nuances of the farm where it was grown. We take great joy in offering different varieties of coffee roasted daily in our store.

We think you’ll take great joy in drinking them.

Dunn Bros Coffee 2401 London Road Duluth, MN 55812 (218) 724-8838 2 Blocks West of Blackwoods Restaurant, across from the Edgewater Hotel and Waterpark

Sugarloaf Cove is presenting the Master Naturalist volunteer training program developed through the University

Featuring

Silver Mountain Station A Great Place to Meet.

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Buffalo Chili, Bison and Lamb Burgers, Smoked Baby Back Ribs and other Delicious Entrees All meat is ground fresh at the Station or smoked in-house.

Winter Hours Fri 4-9pm, Sat & Sun 12-9pm www.silvermountainstation.com or find us on Twitter and FaceBook 30 minutes from the border in Silver Mountain, Ontario Canada on the corner of ON 593 & ON 588.

Great Food.

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Wild game served seasonally.

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Great History.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

CALEnDAR

For more event listings, log on to: www.NorthernWilds.com Jan. 12-Feb. 24 Carl Beam Exhibit Thunder Bay Art Gallery Thunder Bay, www.theag.ca

Jan. 12-Feb. 28 Winning Photographs of the 2013 Bluefin Bay Calendar Waterfront Gallery, Two Harbors www.waterfront-gallery.com

Jan. 31-Feb. 3 Superbowl Bonspiel

Winter Tracks Festival Throughout Cook County www.visitcookcounty.com

Feb. 2, Saturday Cook County Ridge Riders Snowmobile Fun Run Devil Track Resort Grand Marais, 8:30 a.m. www.boreal.org/ridgeriders/

Ice Bowl

Port Arthur Curling Club Thunder Bay, 9 a.m.

807-344-0111

Mont du Lac Recreation Superior, WI, Noon www.montdulacsports.com

Jan. 31-Feb.3 Voyageur Encampment

Feb. 7 & 21 and March 7 & 21 Garden Talk

Ely www.ely.org

Feb. 1-3 Lutsen Mountains Family Festival Lutsen, www.lutsen.com

Feb. 1-10 Ely Winter Festival Ely www.ely.org

Winter Arts Festival

Grand Marais Art Colony www.grandmaraisartcolony.org

Fairlawn Mansion Superior, WI, 6 p.m. www.superiorpublicmuseums.org

Feb. 9, Saturday Snowshoe to Pictographs Hegman Lake, Ely www.ely.org

Birds of the Wetlands

Sugarloaf Cove, Schroeder, 10 a.m. www.sugarloafnorthshore.org

Bat symposium

Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center Schroeder

Feb. 9-10 Midwest Masters Regional Championship Ski Race Spirit Mountain, Duluth www.spiritmt.com

Feb. 10, Sunday Duluth’s Big Jig Ice Fishing Contest & Festival Pike Lake, Noon, 788-2544

Feb. 13-15 Great Lakes Mono-Ski Madness Spirit Mountain Duluth, www.spiritmt.com

Feb. 13-17 Annual Duluth Boat, Sports, Travel, & RV Show DECC, Duluth www.shamrockprod.com

Feb. 13-18 Northern Fibers Retreat North House Folk School Grand Marais, www.northhouse.org

Feb. 16, Saturday Hungry Jack Lake Snowmobile Drag Race Hungry Jack Lake & Lodge Gunflint Trail, 11 a.m. www.hungryjacklodge.com

Sawtooth International Ski Races Pincushion Mountain Trail Grand Marais, 10 a.m. www.pincushiontrails.org

Feb. 17, Sunday The Art of Seeing Photography

Workshop with Klaus Rossler Thunder Bay Art Gallery Thunder Bay, 1 p.m. www.theag.ca

March 1-3 Timber Frame Guild Gathering North House Folk School Grand Marais www.northhouse.org

March 2-3 USASA Rail Jam & Slopestyle Spirit Mountain, Duluth www.spiritmt.com

Feb. 22-24 Bonspiel Curling Tournament

March 3, Sunday Trout Derby

Feb. 23-24 Wolf Track Classic Dog Sled Race

NJRS Championships

Community Center, Grand Marais 387-2382

Ely www.wolftrackclassic.com

Feb. 23 & March 9 Minnesota Master Naturalist Program Sugarloaf Cove, 9 a.m. www.sugarloafnorthshore.org

Feb. 24, Sunday Free Family Skating Party DECC, Duluth, 3 p.m.

730-4300

sponsored by Ridge Riders Gunflint Lake, Gunflint Trail www.boreal.org/ridgeriders/events.html Spirit Mountain, Duluth www.spiritmt.com

March 8-9 Mush for a Cure Dogsled FUNdraiser

Gunflint Trail, www.mushforacure.com

March 8-10 Chuck Futterer Senior Memorial Open Bonspiel Community Center, Grand Marais 387-2382

March 9-10 USSA Midwest Masters Spring Fling GS/SL Spirit Mountain, Duluth www.spiritmt.com

March 14-17 USSA Central Region Championships Lutsen Mountains, Lutsen www.lutsen.com

March 16, Saturday Snowmobile Drag Racing on Poplar Lake Windigo Lodge Gunflint Trail www.boreal.org/ridgeriders/

Rail Jam

Superior, WI, 10 a.m. www.montdulacsports.com

March 23-24 Lutsen Mountains Playground Throwdown Lutsen Mountains, 9:30 a.m. www.lutsen.com

March 30, Saturday Spring Carnival Lutsen Mountains www.lutsen.com

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

The Lights are Still on at Silver Mountain Station Restored historic train station now a tourist spot

Shelley Simon | ELLE ANDRA-WARNER

buffalo items to the menu,’’ said Simon, adding that the allyou-can-eat soup and salad bar will be back in the summer.

ay

e

ay

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Above: Silver Mountain Station in Dorthea's day.

Right: Back Country Cuisine by Jeremy Hutson

By Elle Andra-Warner Back about 105 years ago, southwest of Thunder Bay, a small wilderness railway station called Silver Mountain Station along the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western “PeeDee” Railway line was a busy place. It was a transportation hub for silver mine owners and miners, First Nations people, politicians, lumberjacks, and the homesteaders who tapped into Canada’s offer of free land.

After the railway pulled its agent from the station, it became the home of Canada’s legendary “Lady Lumberjack’’ Dorothea Mitchell, who had worked at the nearby Silver Mountain Mine until it closed in 1910. Living alone at the station for six years, she ran the railway stop, post office, her own general store, sawmill and was the first unmarried woman in Ontario to be granted a homestead. When she moved to Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) in 1921, she became Canada’s first female documentary filmmaker and later, the author of Lady Lumberjack, a Canadian best seller about her experiences at Silver Mountain.

Today, the Silver Mountain building is the only station remaining of the historic PeeDee Railway, which, during its peak, extended 92.5 miles from Port Arthur to Paulson Mine on the Minnesota side of Gunflint Lake. The PeeDee carried its first shipment from Port Arthur on Oct. 8, 1890; started its first official run into Minnesota on Jan. 1893; and ran its last train anywhere on March 24, 1938.

Still on its original site, the century-old Silver Mountain Station these days is a historic restaurant with casual and fine dining. The original two-story building, including the winding staircase to the upper level, continues to be the core of the station, though additions have been made to the front and back of the building. Now in the 21st century, the station is once again owned and managed by a woman, Shelley Simon, who is as much a go-getter as the determined Dorothea.

Silver Mountain Station today. | ELLE ANDRA-WARNER

I first heard about the station last summer when my daughter Tania asked if I had been to the restaurant called Silver Mountain Station somewhere past Nolalu. I had not, but the next weekend my husband and I went to find it, driving southwest 74 kilometers on Highway 588 to its junction with Highway 592.

After about a 40-minute drive from Thunder Bay, we found the station and were pleasantly surprised to find a country classy establishment, with spacious patio, wood-decorated interior, stone fireplace, comfy chairs and tables, and a welcoming atmosphere that says: “Come on in!” The food was delicious with most menu items bought locally, the sauces/dips/salad dressings fresh made, and meats fresh ground as well as smoked on the premises. Among the most popular items are her special Silver Mountain broasted chicken, smoked Reuben sandwich, prime rib, pickerel or perch dinners, smoked baby back ribs and gourmet burgers.

“For the new spring season, we’ll be adding caribou, elk and

Whispering Pines Motel

The Station has become somewhat of a mini-museum in the wilds. Its walls are a gallery of historic photographs, paintings and news clippings of the silver boom mining days on Silver Mountain, the PeeDee Railway, the station and the pioneers including Dorothea Mitchell and early professional hockey star, John “Jack” Walker, who is one of only 10 players to win a Stanley Cup with three different teams.

Scattered throughout the restaurant are copies of Lady Lumberjack for guests to browse as they dine.

Shelley and her brother-in-law, both from the Windsor area, purchased the Silver Mountain Station in May 2010. “The attraction to purchase was the age, woodwork, just that it was an old building,” said Simon, who grew up on a farm near Windsor.

“At the time I didn’t know about the history here, but I’ve been learning both from my customers at the Station and doing a lot of investigation on my own.”

Shelley’s research and lobbying has already got the ‘’Silver Mountain’’ road signs back on the highway. Last summer and fall, she launched the first of her “Historical Days,” bringing together the Silver Mountain community with historians, authors and artists to talk about the area’s history; organized an all-terrain vehicle tour over the old wagon and mine trails on Silver Mountain; hosted a champagne breakfast to celebrate the 105th year anniversary of the Silver Mountain Station; and launched the Silver Mountain Historical Society (Ontario’s newest historical society) to bring alive the region’s history.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Shoot the Northern Lights How to photograph the northern lights, which are predicted to peak this year.

Northern lights over the Brule River in northern Minnesota. | BRYAN HANSEL

By Bryan Hansel

T

he dark black skies of winter offer the ideal conditions for photographing the northern lights. This winter and spring could provide even better conditions because NASA is predicting that a solar maximum will occur in early 2013. The solar maximum is the peak of solar activity in the sun’s natural cycle, and it occurs approximately every 11 years. During a solar maximum the number of sunspots increases and the sun’s corona, its atmosphere, develops active regions. These active regions could erupt and send a coronal mass ejection (CME) towards earth. When a CME hits, it often causes northern lights. To help you get ready to capture the event with your camera, here’s a quick and dirty guide to photographing the northern lights.

Although you can photograph the northern lights with any type of camera that allows manual camera settings, it’s best to use a DSLR or a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera; these higher-end cameras have larger sensors that deal with noise better than pointand-shoots (noise is that nasty, pixelated look).

Some newer point-and-shoots, such as Sony’s RX100, also do well with night, but they’re an exception to the rule. You’ll also need a wideangle lens, a sturdy tripod and a shutter release cord, which prevents the camera shake that causes blurry photos.

Before you can photograph the northern lights, you’ll need to find a location to shoot them—ideally a dark location away from the city lights. A good indication that you’re far enough away from city is when you can see the Milky Way in the sky. There are exceptions to this; if the northern lights are especially bright

(rare around Lake Superior), you might see them from inside city limits.

Once far enough away from the city, look for a location that has an open view to the north.

Instead of just looking for a wide opening, find one with interesting trees or hills to include at the bottom of the photo. By including a part of the scenery in your photo, you anchor the northern lights to the earth, and it helps your photo’s viewers appreciate the scale of the event. Even though you’re including the ground, devote the majority of the image to the northern lights. One of my favorite places for shooting the northern lights is where The Grade crosses the Cascade River near Grand Marais; I take my photography workshops to this location when the northern lights are out.

After you find a composition that you like, lock down your tripod and set your aperture

as wide as it will go, usually between f/1.4 and f/4. Then set your camera to ISO 800 or 1600 (higher means more noise) and your shutter speed to 30 seconds. Shoot a picture. When finished, look at the image on the LCD screen.

If it looks too dark, increase the ISO. If it looks too bright, decrease the shutter speed or set your aperture to a higher number. Remember that in the dark, images on the LCD screen always look brighter than on a home computer.

If you know how to use the histogram, check it to see if it’s far enough to the right. I shoot most of my aurora images at ISO 1600 to 3200 (my camera has limited noise), f/2.8 or f/4 for 20 to 30 seconds.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Left: A rare red northern lights on the Pigeon River appeared directly overhead in October 2011. Below: Posing for a selfportrait under the northern lights on Two Island Lake. | BRYAN HANSEL

Predicting the Northern Lights

With the right tools, it’s easy to predict the northern lights.

The best place to start is at www.spaceweather.com. Once there, scroll down the page while watching the left-hand column.

to 4 means northern lights and a Kp of 5 means that the aurora will reach as far south as Duluth. At the bottom of the column, predictions of up to 48 hours away are available as a percentage.

First find the Current Auroral Oval. It shows the northern lights over the northern hemisphere. If there’s white over your location, you might see a green glow on the horizon. Once you start seeing yellow or red over your location, it’s time to get outside. The second tool is the Planetary K-index. Click on the “more data” link. In northern Minnesota, a Kp equal

If you have a smart phone, try Aurora Buddy for Android.

When the northern lights are overhead, it triggers an alarm.

On an iPhone, try Auroral Forecast.

Spaceweather.com also offers a subscription phone service for $4.95 a month. When you subscribe, it will call you with aurora predictions.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Trapped in Ice A conversation with Art Fenstad about the steamship The Crescent

By Barbara Jean Meyers

A

rt Fenstad is a third generation North Shore resident. His ancestors emigrated here in the late 1800s from Scandinavia and established a commercial fishing business on a lakeside homestead in Little Marais. Fenstad’s kind eyes and gentle manner add warmth to his stories, and his recollections of life on the North Shore stretch far back to another time on the big lake.

The world that comes to life in Fenstad’s stories is markedly different from the North Shore life we know today. The Fenstad family maintained a detailed account of Lake Superior weather; after all, their livelihood as a fishing family depended entirely on the conditions outdoors.

Winter on Superior used to be much more severe.

“We have quite a few pictures from the family, and 1912 was the coldest winter by far, right before the World War I,” says Fenstad.

Ice on Lake Superior that winter was thick.

Fenstad recalled a story from the winter of 1912 about a family that operated a steamship out of Isle Royale called The Crescent. Each year they moved the ship down to Duluth from the island for winter.

“In 1912 they left too late and barely got in to Grand Marais. They left Grand Marais and got as far down as Two Island, called Taconite Harbor today, and they got stuck in the ice out there with The Crescent,” Fenstad said. “They spent the whole winter there. They finally had to walk to shore.”

At the time, there were lumber camps up over the hill on the shore. The men from The Crescent were able to arrange for coal to be brought down by horseback to the ship so they could keep the steamer going. They could not just leave the ship out in the ice for fear of

the hull being crushed as the ice cracked and moved. They hatched a plan to cut through the ice with a saw in an attempt to get the ship to safety.

“The ice was 36- inches deep that they were sawing through.” Fenstad said, “Cutting through the ice was a real challenge.” He described the process saying, “They would saw enough in front of The Crescent, a steel steamer, and then they would rev up the engines and go up on top of it and the ice they had sawed would break down so they would go about a 100 yards at a time. It took them about a month to get into Taconite Harbor.”

Come March, a lead broke open in the lake and the crew headed down in the ship toward Duluth. Unfortunately, they were not out of trouble yet. They were just outside of Two Harbors when the vessel got trapped in ice again. This time, the crew called on the help of a tugboat stationed at the ore docks in Two Harbors.

“The captain there started up that tug and he broke enough of the harbor open so The Crescent could get in and that is where they spent the rest of April until the ice went out on the lake,” Fenstad said.

These days, the lake does not freeze for as long or as often as it used to. It is almost hard to imagine the time Fenstad talks about.

Stories, data, and pictures collected by the Fenstad family show just how harsh a winter could be on the North Shore. “We’ve got pictures in 1924 at Little Marais where we have 40 foot ice piles along the shore with people standing on top of it,” adds Fenstad.

An important part of winter business for commercial fishing families along the shore, according to Fenstad, was harvesting lake ice.

Fenstad remarks, “All of the commercial fish-

ermen on Lake Superior used to put up ice” he said.

It was as essential as chopping wood for heat in the winter.

“They would go out on the lake, saw ice, take the sawdust from their wood piles and put it in their icehouses so that in the summertime you would have ice,” he said.

This was before the time of electric refrigeration. “You would put a block of ice in an ice chest so you could keep your food cool.”

For commercial fisherman, putting away ice in the winter was an essential part of a successful operation.

“They would put it in their fish boxes. In the summertime they would go out with a hose and wash the sawdust off the big ice chunks. Then you would chip it and put it in the fish boxes when the trucks would pick up the fish boxes.”

A lot has changed during Fenstad’s lifetime. These days it is much less common to see a thick blanket of ice Ice piled high on the shore of Lake Superior in the early 1900s near on Lake Superior. In fact, ice Tofte. | North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum. cover has declined by 70 percent since the 1970s. But we can still access those bygone days through the stories that stretch back generations and have been passed down in families like the Fenstads.

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The Black Bay Jumbo Perch Boom Although I’ve lived in Thunder Bay most of my life, and fished all over Northwestern Ontario, there’s one local spot that was always something of an angling black hole. Lake Superior’s Black Bay, located west of Thunder Bay about 40 miles, is the destination in question.

Growing up, I heard about Black Bay yellow perch, and how they were of a great average size.

Canadian Trails

By Gord Ellis

Unfortunately, the word was commercial fishing had all but done in the perch fishery. Outside of a few kids catching perch off the docks near Hurkett, sport fishing for perch was nonexistent.

Then, about seven years ago, the commercial fishery for perch stopped. In 2010, reports about ice fishing for perch on Black Bay started to trickle out. As a long-time fan of perch fishing, it seemed time to explore this massive Lake Superior bay. A friend and I gathered a little intel, checked out the depth map of the bay and then made plans to go. So two years ago, on a gray February day, we embarked on our first trip to Black Bay for perch.

We didn’t know exactly where to go, so did what any self respecting ice angler does and headed for obvious signs of angling. In this case, two shacks about four miles out on the bay. As we drove our sleds on the bay, it was clear there was lots to learn. Black Bay was huge, and its snowy expanse just kept on coming. We stopped within about 100 yards of the shacks and drilled our holes.

Despite our long drive out on the lake, the water was just 15 feet deep and somewhat murky. So different than the Lake Superior I was used to.

We set up two lines each, one with small jig and minnow, and one with a small spoon for jigging. Electronics allowed us to see what was going on beneath our feet.

Things were slow at first, and we toyed with moving. But as the morning wore on, we started to mark fish along the bottom. Then one of my set lines started to pull down. I ran over, gingerly lifted the whippy light action rod and started reeling. Sure enough, the rod tip bent over and the weight of a fairly heavy fish was evident. It was not a huge battle, but I’d never

felt a perch like this before. When it got to the hole, I was shocked to see a pale, very round yellow perch of about 13 inches. I lifted it out of the hole and showed my partner.

“Buddy, check this out!” I said.

We fist bumped. Yet there was little time to celebrate, as his rod was soon going down as well. These jumbo perch were voracious, sometimes nailing minnows the length of my pinky. By the time the early afternoon rolled around, we had nearly two dozen perch on the ice from 10 to 14 inches. Neither of us could believe it.

Since that trip, I’ve made a dozen or more trips on Black Bay; few have been less than decent. Several have been mind-boggling.

Black Bay is a fascinating place to fish, but there a few things to keep in mind before heading out. For starters, it gets very windy. Windy equals cold, even on mild winter days. Shelter of some kind is a must.

There are a couple of outfitters who rent shacks on the lake, and they are a good idea if you’re not used to biting winds. Gary Hamilton Canadian Trails continued on page 25

Gord Ellis with a pile of Black Bay jumbo yellow perch. | GORD ELLIS

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Wilderness Adventure Inspires High School Senior

On a welcome calm day, the Femmes du Nord paddle on a vast Arctic Lake. Mara is on the far right. | Photos courtesy of Mara MacDonell

By Shawn Perich

F

olks who fret that kids aren’t spending enough time outdoors ought to meet Mara MacDonell, a high school senior living in Grand Marais. She’s not only enthusiastic about the outdoor life, but she is also planning a career in conservation. So what gives?

“My parents are very outdoorsy,” Mara said.

“They first brought me to the Boundary Waters when I was a year old. I saw wildlife and was exposed to wilderness from a young age. I’ve just begun to realize how lucky I am.”

Her luck includes an introduction to YMCA Camp Menogyn when she was in sixth grade.

Located on West Bearskin Lake along the Gunflint Trail, Menogyn is a place that teaches young people outdoor skills. More than that, Menogyn gives kids the opportunity to build their skills—and their self-confidence—with repeated outdoor experiences.

Mara first went on a five-day canoe trip in the Bounday Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) through Menogyn. Over the years, she went on longer trips, which led up to the incredible experience she had last summer—a 40-day canoe trip across Canada’s Northwest Territories and Nunavut with four other

girls and a 24-year-old female guide. While Menogyn attracts campers from across the nation, all of the girls on this trip were from Minnesota.

“The trip was by invitation only,” she says.

“You need to have demonstrated your outdoor skills on previous trips.”

The group flew out of Points North Landing, Saskatchewan to the Dubawnt River in the Northwest Territories, where they landed and unloaded in midstream. They spent the next 18 days going down the river, crossing into Nunavut and reaching Dubawnt Lake, the largest water body in the province. Two days

of paddling on the lake brought the girls to the Slow River, an ironic name, Mara adds. They paddled upstream and portaged over a divide to reach the Kunwak River, which led them to Thirty Mile Lake, where they ended the trip.

“Our original route ended at the community of Baker Lake,” she says. “But we got behind schedule and had to end at Thirty Mile Lake.”

They flew via bush plane from a sand beach on Thirty Mile lake to Baker Lake. Weather, primarily wind, was the reason the group was delayed. While Mara was disappointed they were unable to complete the journey as planned, she learned that in the wilderness,

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013 friends,” she says. “We shared a lot of laughs, and we met our challenges.”

While Mara may not have another chance to take a 40-day canoe trip, her experience fueled new enthusiasm for the outdoors and the conservation of wild places. She will be attending Carleton College and wrote about the trip in a college application. Planning to pursue environmental studies in college, she hopes to one day become a lawyer specializing in environmental concerns. Along the way, she plans to continue spending time outdoors.

“I loved the whitewater paddling and just being out there,” she says. “I hope the outdoors will remain part of my life.”

Mara MacDonell

plans can change. She also learned a lot about herself.

“The trip really changed my perspective on my own abilities,” she says. “We went 40 days without contact with other people.”

She also discovered a personal passion— whitewater canoeing. The Dubawnt River has huge rapids, most of which the girls were able to run. Since getting through the rapids without swamping the canoe and losing gear is the primary objective of long-distance paddlers, she learned how to scout and choose the safest route. Now she’d like to try recreational whitewater paddling, where thrills and occasional spills are part of the game. She got a taste of it on the Kunwak, which contains a lot of technical whitewater.

The group learned a little about the landscape and the creatures inhabiting it. Their journey began in the taiga, the northernmost edge of the boreal forest, where stunted spruce trees and scrub brush give way to scattered patches of open tundra. Here they saw moose and wolves.

Eventually they reached the northern treeline and entered the tundra, where caribou roam.

Once, Mara thought she saw a distant tree, but actually it was a caribou. Along the Kunwak

River they saw golden eagles and a barrenground grizzly bear. One day they watched a wolverine chase a caribou calf, which escaped by going into the water. They also discovered the beauty of wide-open spaces.

Mara also points out that she worked for a year in order to pay for the trip and received some welcome financial assistance from Menogyn, too. Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply in Grand Marais supplied some of the gear for the trip.

But she says any kid who really wants to see the wilderness can find a way to make it happen through Menogyn’s programs. It’s good to know there are still kids like Mara who want to get outside and places like Menogyn to help them make their wildest dreams come true.

Atop a rock in the middle of nowhere, Mara demonstrates just what if feels like to go on the canoe trip of a lifetime.

“Every night we saw the most beautiful sunsets we’d ever seen,” Mara says.

While they were in the middle of nowhere, they did see evidence of people. Throughout the trip they passed by rock cairns left as markers by native people. In one area, they saw numerous jets flying overhead. In the last days of their trip they began seeing large inukshuks, stone landmarks left by Inuit people, as well as their tent rings and meat caches. They had an opportunity to learn more about the Inuit when they eventually arrived, via float plane, at Baker Lake.

“We finished our trip in an Inuit community where they speak their native language,” Mara says. “I now have friends from Baker Lake on Facebook.”

She made other friends along the way as well—with the girls who accompanied her on the journey.

“The girls on the trip became my best

The Femmes du Nord (Mara is third from left) got their first taste of whitewater on the massive Dubawnt River, which they followed for 18 days, taking care to scout the rapids before descending them.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Winter Hikes and Snowshoe Wanders in the North Country

By Ada Igoe

Gunflint Trail outside of Grand Marais.

The North Country is notoriously hard to traverse. Thick undergrowth often keeps even the most intrepid hiker from straying far from the beaten path. Happily, during the winter months, wide hiking expanses open up when area lakes freeze over. Suddenly, hikers (especially those equipped with snowshoes) can head just about anywhere they can imagine.

The beauty of winter hikes and snowshoe treks is the woods’ open invitation to break your own path through the snow. Because the North Country is such a big place, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite winter tromps. A word of caution, some of the suggested hikes require traversing frozen lakes and rivers. Safe ice conditions can’t be guaranteed; please be a vigilant hiker.

Above: A faithful pair of snowshoes are an important piece of winter equipment for the Northern Wilds hiker. Left: Hikers find stark beauty in the Northern Wilds during the winter. | Ada Igoe

Moss to Duncan to Partridge During the winter, it’s easy to transform your favorite day-trip canoe route into a favorite day hike; just substitute snowshoes for canoes. You can put this method into practice when you snowshoe across Moss, Duncan, and Partridge Lakes, located approximately 30 miles up the

You’ll hike through groves of centuries-old cedar trees and towering white pines and pass a rippling brook along the Partridge Lake portage. There is a small parking area off Hungry Jack Lake Road, kitty-corner from the canoe put-in on Hungry Jack Lake. Hike the Hungry Jack/Moss portage into Moss Lake, then portage into Duncan Lake, and head west into Partridge Lake. Round trip is approximately five miles long and adventurous hik- With a pair of snowshoes, the North Country’s numberless lakes ers (with two cars) can offer endless hiking opportunities. | Ada Igoe make this a loop by hiking Mountain Portage Trail out on the South Lake Trail.

Follow in the footsteps of the Voyageurs at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park. The LeVeaux Mountain Voyageurs used this easy 1.3-kilometer path to Oberg Mountain is a well-known hiking skirt around the waterfall called the “Niagara destination on the North Shore, located be- of the North.” The trails offer benches, viewing tween Tofte and Lutsen. Oberg’s twin, LeVeaux platforms and interpretative displays. While Mountain—which shares a parking lot on not exactly off the beaten path, the trails at Forest Road 336, the Onion River Road—gets a Kakabeka are well suited for young hikers with little less love. LeVeaux Mountains is a moder- short legs. The park is approximately 30 kiloate 3.2-mile loop that connects to the Superior meters west of Thunder Bay. Hiking Trail. The trail features high cliffs, deep woods, and views of Lake Superior.

Hartley Nature Center

South Kawishiwi River The South Kawishiwi River is another canoe route easily transformed into a winter snowshoe trail. To access, park at the South Kawishiwi canoe put-in, approximately 10 miles southeast of Ely off of Hwy. 1 on Forest Road 181. A 140-rod portage takes you from parking lot to the river. From there you’ll step into a winter wonderland. Hike up the river through the snow-covered forest into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Tettegouche State Park With ongoing construction of a new visitor center, the park may appear to be in bit of disarray, but hikers are still welcome at Tettegouche this winter. Parking is available in a temporary parking lot located southwest of the Baptism River Bridge on Hwy 61.

Many trails offer spectacular views of Lake Superior and winter storms can turn the shoreline rocks and trees into an ice sculpture exhibit. A favorite destination is Shovel Point, a rock cliff that juts out into Lake Superior.

At Hartley Nature Center, beautiful hikes are hidden right in middle of Duluth. Located at 3001 Woodland Avenue, Hartley has more than 10 miles of well-marked hiking trails.

The trails’ difficulty varies drastically and the Superior Hiking Trail runs through t,he park, allowing you to hike for miles and miles, if you wish. Snowshoes are available to rent at the Nature Center.

Kabeyun Trail Part of the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park hiking network, located east of Thunder Bay near Pass Lake, the 40-kilometer Kabeyun Trail can be accessed from the Thunder Bay Lookout or Highway 587. The trail takes you by Lake Superior and around the Sleeping Giant.

A favorite destination located off a spur trail of the Kabeyun Trail is the Sea Lion, a rock arch in Lake Superior that once resembled a sea lion.

(The formation’s “head” fell off years ago.) The Sea Lion trail is located just past Lake Mary Louise Campground off of Hwy 587.

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

17

On the water in winter: Skating inland lakes

By Kate Watson It’s not often that a PFD serves as a four-season piece of gear, but something about zipping up this fair weather friend in freezing temperatures makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I’m going to need it. The temperature is touching 15 degrees.

Today we’re on the same waters we ply with canoe paddles during the warmer months, and at the boat launch there’s the familiar anticipation of heading out onto the lake, but this time it’s different. It’s dark and we’re in for a winter-only treat: gliding on the water rather than through it.

Ice skating is a great way to explore a lake . without expending a lot of effort. Just make sure the ice is thick, and avoid spots where ice fishermen have punched holes. | Kate Watson

As we lace up our ice skates, swearing under our breath at the biting cold, the air swells with a deep whale-like thrum, followed by a sharp pinging sound. The ice is expanding and freezing hard as the temperature falls. Skates securely tied, I struggle to pull my mittens over my numb fingers. Why are we subjecting ourselves to this? We must resemble portly little penguins bundled up in layer upon layer of wool, Capilene, fleece, and down. But it’s an opportunity we can’t miss: flying across the ice,

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speedy and almost limitless in our exploration of the lake.

The lakes froze smooth and thick this year as cold temperatures showed up well before meaningful snow. With calm winds and freezing nights, the water was transformed into solid glass. A quick scrape of the skate blade sweeps powdery snow aside, revealing smooth, black ice. We shouldn’t need the lengths of rope we’re carrying, but you can never be too prepared.

Before we head onto the ice we drop a headlamp into a Nalgene bottle, twist it clumsily closed with mittened fingers, and set it in the snow. Its light will guide us back after the boat launch disappears in the dark.

The long, smooth strokes of our skates propel us away from shore as we follow the beams of our headlamps onto the lake. Swish, swish, swish, the snow sprays aside leaving slashing tracks as we speed past hillocks of shaved ice left by fishermen’s augers.

I burrow my face deep into my neck gaiter, and wince as my nose touches the layer of frost collected from my breath. But we’re lucky to have a clear night. As we near the center of the lake I stop, click off my headlamp, and tip my

Deep cracks form as the ice contracts and expands. | Kate Watson

head back. The dark sky completely fills my vision, and as my eyes adjust, the stars shine brighter and brighter. It’s always a joy to see the sky like this, stretching huge and unchallenged by manmade light. It makes me feel small and very alive.

Before long our legs begin to ache, the winter muscles atrophied from neglect. We have months of skate skiing, telemarking and snowboarding ahead of us, but these quiet nights on the water are the perfect start to the season.

Chilled but content, we turn and skate for shore as the lake looses one more soaring groan.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

You and your buds, miles from civilization; No time for fuel problems out here. BRP

By Lee Boyt Gasoline internal combustion engines need a regimen of regular maintenance and a steady diet of clean, fresh fuel to stay healthy. Sounds

simple enough, but a surprising number of nostart and/or hard-start, rough-running scenarios are directly related to fuel system issues.

Frequently, these elusive fuel system woes aren’t mechanical failures (fuel lines, fuel pumps, etc.); more often than not, the engine gets ill because either the gas is contaminated or of such poor quality it doesn’t deliver sufficient energy to feed the engine.

The trouble with ethanol

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Most of the gas on the market is an iffy blend of petroleum products and ethanol – a combo that must make sense on paper; however, in the real world, ethanol brings an incredible amount of baggage to the table.

Ethanol-diluted gasoline typically has an extremely short shelf life. In as little as a month or so, that $20 worth of regular unleaded is unsuitable to use in an old lawn mower, much less in a high-dollar snowmobile, ATV, or outboard. Some gas gets so bad, you’ll be lucky to start a bonfire with it.

Why does the ethanol/gas sour so fast? Ethanol has an affinity for water, absorbing moisture from the atmosphere (the air we breathe contains water, remember?), particularly in damp environments.

Simple changes in the weather

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can cause condensation in a vehicle’s fuel tank, introducing water into the fuel.

Once the water in the fuel reaches a concentration of just one-half of one percent – (0.50%) – the fuel/water mix settles to the bottom of the gas tank, creating a condition called “phase separation”. The engine’s fuel system draws gasoline from the lower part of the tank, so this nasty fluid flows into the engine, wreaking all kinds of pain and suffering in the process.

In addition, ethanol is a marvelous solvent, cleansing your vehicle’s fuel system and sending displaced debris downstream. If you’re prudent, the fuel filter catches this crud before it reaches the engine; if you’ve neglected regular maintenance these tiny bits of solids and goo skate around the already-full fuel filter (you do have a fuel filter, right? Better change it.) into the intake tract to do dirty deeds to the innocent powertrain.

Tonics and treatments

So what to do? Since we can’t eliminate the ethanol, we must take other steps to keep the fuel well preserved until the engine uses it.

Every engine manufacturer provides an owner’s manual detailing recommended maintenance intervals, as well as what lubricants and additives work best with a given engine.

Follow the maintenance schedule religiously to prevent any problems down the road. This includes springing a few bucks for the best fuel filters available – don’t go cheap here.

Use the manufacturer recommended stabilizers and fuel treatments, pouring in the proper amount of each at every fill-up. Proactively using stabilizers and treatments keeps things in tip-top shape – but no additive can restore

contaminated/diluted fuel. Again, don’t whine about the money; a shot of fuel treatment is significantly more cost-effective than an extended stay in the shop.

Avoid bargain-basement brands. Stick to what the engine designers have proven works in your engine.

Buy only as much gasoline as you can use in a reasonable amount of time. If you find yourself stuck with a tank full of gas when you’re putting the machine away for the season, buy a long-term fuel stabilizer additive to increase the odds that your pride and joy will light up the next time you go to start it.

The bright side

Paying attention to the little things – fresh gas, regular maintenance and using the best fuel additives – isn’t necessarily difficult or expensive. Consider it a minor lifestyle change.

Your machines will start and perform as they should, thus eliminating the stressors of diagnosing no-start conditions and trips to the shop. You save money in the long run … and the fun-factor stays high as you enjoy the outdoors with your sled, ATV, or boat.

Left: Manufacturerrecommended fuel stabilizers keep gas fresh.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

The Last Keeper at Split Rock

Canoeing with the Cree

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By Eric Sevareid

The author was the final keeper at Split Rock Lighthouse, which was decommissioned in 1969. The 175page paperback focuses on, but is not limited to, Roberts’ Coast Guard career, from 1966 to 1969, when he was stationed at Split Rock. The book also follows his transfer to the North Shore Lifeboat Station in Grand Marais, where his enlistment ended in 1970. Roberts doesn’t focus so much on the background and history of the now-popular tourist attraction. Instead his book is a series of anecdotes and vignettes about life at the lighthouse in the 60s. In that sense, it not only serves as a historical account of life as a Coast Guardsman but also life on the North Shore in that era. — Javier Serna

This is a reprint of the classic tale of the 1930 canoe expedition from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay, written by Eric Sevareid, who was joined by Walter C. Port on the summer-long voyage.

The two men relied on Cree Indians, traders and locals when they needed food, shelter and guidance. Sevareid corresponded with newspapers on this trip, which helped launch his career in journalism. The book was first published in 1935. Here, it’s been repackaged in paperback with a commemorative tin and a fold-out map of the 2,250-mile journey. — Javier Serna

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Stormy Kromer

Ever since I got the Aussie Dogs Alpine boots, my other winter footwear has been gathering dust. The Alpine boots feature 100 percent sheepskin lining that feels luxurious—I’m tempted to wear them barefoot—and, more importantly, keeps my feet toasty no matter the temp. I sported the Alpine boots on a lengthy hike the other day, and my feet stayed warm and dry, thanks to the sturdy, water-resistant rubber, wool and Cordura construction. The soles grip like gecko feet. A sheepskin “collar” covers part of the outside of the boot shaft, which reaches almost to mid-calf. My vanity appreciates the rugged-chic styling, while my patriotic side appreciates that Aussie Dogs footwear is based and manufactured in the USA. All in all, a smart, stylish choice for any woman dwelling in the north country. The boots retails for $130. www.aussie-dogs.com — Shelby Gonzalez

The iconic Stormy Kromer hat is proudly made in the USA— Michigan, in fact. Made of wool and lined with cotton, they are customsized to fit any head. I love the look of this sassy, plaid Northwoods cap. It has ear flaps to block the cold and a brim to keep the glare from my eyes.

Stormy Kromer hats come in a variety of colors and styles, including waxed cotton and sun-block versions. The hats retail for $34.99. www.stormykromer.com — Amber Pratt

Got Cold Feet?

Thermacell Heated Insoles foot warmers take the chill out of ice fishing. Place Heated Insoles in your boots and activate with the remote, then adjust heat (medium or high). The insoles maintain a steady temperature inside your shoes or boots, keeping your feet around normal body temperature. Powered by rechargeable, built-in lithium-ion polymer batteries, the insoles can run continuously up to 5 hours or longer if used in intervals. The battery recharges fully in 3 hours. The insoles come in a range of sizes and can be trimmed to fit.

MSRP $129.99. www. thermacell.com — Shawn Perich

GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Backpacker Cookset An amazing amount of cookwear and tableware fits inside this compact cookset, which is designed for backpackers, but would be welcome in any camping pack. A 2-liter pot and 8-inch frypan made of hard anodized aluminum stood up to the high-output flames of a cast iron burner inside a Lake of the Woods sleeper house. It also comes with a strainer lid, a pair of insulated mugs with sip tops, a pair of 14-ounce bowls, and a folding pot gripper which all fits compactly into a black sack that doubles as a wash sink. It retails for $89.95. www.gsioutdoors.com — Javier Serna

reviews

19

Ruffwear K-9 Overcoat

On a pair of canoe trips this past fall, it was clear that my dog was uncomfortably cold. I ended up wrapping her in my rain jacket as we floated one river in October, but that was still far from ideal. I wish I had Ruffwear’s K-9 overcoat, an insulated dog coat that handles cold weather well, as it has done this winter. It keeps her warm without restricting her movements. She hasn’t tried to take it off. The shell is made of 100 percent recycled fabric and is abrasion- and snag-resistant. It is lined with fleece, though the fleece showing here is actually Ruffwear’s Climate Changer fleece sweater (not included). The coat retails for $64.95. www.ruffwear.com — Javier Serna

See Your Dog After Dark NiteIze has really great lights for dog owners who take their pets out after dark. This winter, my dogs are wearing the SpotLit LED Collar Light and the Nite Dawg Collar Cover.

My rangy yellow Lab has the surprisingly bright, red Collar Light, making him easy to see as he roams around our expansive backyard. Attached to his collar with a strong carabiner clip, the Collar Light has survived frequent runs in the woods. My older, less energetic husky-shepherd is wearing the Collar Cover, an illuminated strip that is somewhat obscured by her heavy fur. It easily attached to her collar with Velcro and would be fully visible on a flat-furred dog. Both lights have glow and flash modes. MSRP on the SpotLit is $7.19 and the Nite Dawg LED collar cover is $11.99. www.Niteize. com — Shawn Perich

Lure Lightning Charge Light

For those of you that use glow lures when ice fishing, the Lure Lightning charge light will come in handy. The compact light actually replaces one of the nobs on your flasher unit, keeping it at hand. The push of a rubberinsulated button illuminates five 3-watt ultraviolet SMD lights, giving any jig or lure a long-lasting charge. It comes equipped with positive and negative leads, allowing it to run right off a flasher battery pack. The light retails for $33.95. www.lurelightning.com — Javier Serna

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Finding comfort on a bed of frozen water

By Adam Mella

We cannonballed down the last stretch of the snow-covered portage, Possum leading the charge, and no matter how hard I stomped on the brakes the sled kept accelerating. The snow just wasn’t deep enough. Trees whizzed by on both sides. Everyone else was ahead of me on the lake already and Possum cut hard left before we reached the ice, sending me and the sled airborne and sideways off a jagged rockface, into a fantastic rollover crash landing.

I didn’t let go and I didn’t snap any limbs, so I righted the sled and yelled “Giddyup” at the team. It was mid-day and the temperature was already dropping. By midnight the air would measure well below freezing, and like the huskies, I would be sleeping on the frozen lake ice.

No tent, no igloo. Suspended on a sliver between water and stars.

Possum—a seasoned lead dog—turned her head back at me from the front of our rig, giving me a laughing look, like, “Don’t give me this ‘Giddyup’ business, Mister... And where’d you learn to drive, anyways?”

“Where’d you learn to drive?!” I yelled back at her into the wind.

At the back of the team the yearling Proby strained against his harness, leaping wildly and pleading with Possum to get a move on.

“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!!!” he screamed.

The harsh wilderness of winter camping had been luring me for years, but I could never put a trip together ... there was always excited talk and eventually, an excuse. Finally my good friends Erik and Tori invited me on a two-night trip into the remote border waters and everything fell into place. Erik runs dogs in the winter and he had an opening in his guiding schedule at the end of January. It was Erik who first

told me about No tent, no igloo. The author recommends a double-sleeping frozen- lake bag system on a thick foam pad for ample comfort and a sleeping, and genuine winter-camping experience, ice for a bed and crisp as I’m gener- stars overhead. | ADAM MELLA ally anti-tent anyways, the 30 for our second night in odd idea had camp, so I was happy with gotten stuck in my head. a 15-degree synthetic bag A few days before the trip was scheduled to stuffed inside a negativebegin I took a peek at the weather forecast and 60-degree bag, with all the ridiculous lows lining up against us. Cold of that on top of a thick weather doesn’t bother me much, but this was foam sleeping pad. Find gonna be the worst winter would offer all year. I dry, wind-protected ice for remember shivering in my slippers and think- base camp. If you have deep ing something unprintable, but I was commit- snow, make like a huskie ted. No more excuses. I was going no matter and dig in. A tarp between what. Extra layers and rations were packed. your sleeping pad and the If you’ve never tried it, winter camping is ice will also help keep your pretty much just like summer camping but ev- nest dry. Sleeping bags and erything takes five times the effort and time. people and conditions will You need five times as much wood and it is five always differ, so it’s not an times more difficult dragging it back to camp. exact science, but you get the idea.

You will think about things like: How will I This need for extra gear certainly adds to the keep my contacts from freezing in the case at challenge, but with dogsleds we had plenty of night? And: Did Proby really finish that huge capacity. That’s something to think about if chunk of frozen mink already? And: So that’s you’re going by human power, though aim for the Milky Way! In trade for your efforts, you a warmer night. And I should also mention will see five times fewer people, probably less. that other members of our camping party had So, I think it’s a good deal. a wall tent with a woodstove, so I also had a deThe effort factor of five I outlined above cent fallback option. Essentially, be careful and should also be applied to your gear, if that aware of conditions, but also, know that this makes any sense. You’ll want at least a two- can be done, comfortably, both close to home sleeping-bag system. Use the coldest-rated bag base for one night or into the quiet sections of available and if possible, overdo it. Good sleep- the park for multiple nights. ing bags are top priority, but good friends and Even with the double sleeping bags and sleepfood are also important considerations. ing mat and long underwear and additional The weather radio was predicting clear layers, I still got a little chilly our second night skies, filthy winds and lows around negative in camp, but it was worth the effort and I’m

The author pictured with the enthusiastic yearling huskie, Proby, who loved just one thing more than frozen mink: running through the north country. | TORI DOANE

glad I stuck it out. The clouds and flurries of the day broke around midnight, and as the stars began twinkling with that crisp north country brightness, the lake ice really started rumbling, singing like a great whale.

Winter was making ice at a rapid pace as we settled down for the night, our beds a seismic membrane between arctic air and Minnesota water. When a new pressure crack formed nearby, or ran right through camp, the expanding ice would jump suddenly, shaking the Milky Way from its enormous stillness overhead.

And as liquid water slows to ice, my mind melted into sleep, thinking, what a strange and Frozen Water continued on page 25 »

Shifting Time

Thunder Bay was first in world to implement daylight-saving time More than one billion people in over 70 countries now observe daylight-saving time (DST) by re-setting their clocks to ‘’Spring Forward, Fall Back�. To get an extra hour of evening light, we put our clocks forward one hour in the spring and then we turn them back an hour in the fall.

back in March. There was much interest in the idea, but nothing came of it, even after he presented a second paper in 1898.

Strange Tales

While Benjamin Franklin was the first to write about wasted daylight while in Paris France in 1784 (he

By Elle Andra-Warner proposed everyone rise earlier to make use of morning sunlight and therefore, save on the use of candles for lighting), and Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle supported British efforts to adopt daylight-saving time in Britain, it was the small Northwestern Ontario town of Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) on Lake Superior that was the first place in the world to implement a time shift to gain an extra hour of daylight, thanks to the advocacy of John Hewitson.

Toronto-born Hewitson had moved to Port Arthur around 1904, after working as a Zenith Mine clerk and teacher at the h astic small village of Rossport on Lake Superior. He was such a wellkie, liked young man in Rossport that years later a river was named oved after him, the Hewitson River, which begins in Whitesand Lake, ng goes over Rainbow Falls before flowing into Lake Superior about ozenfive miles east of Rossport.

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ry.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

In Port Arthur, Hewitson was an accountant, then partner in the contracting firm Stewart & Hewitson (they built the city’s historic Lyceum Theatre), and a few years later, owner of his own construction company, Hewitson Construction.

Hewitson, an outdoor sports enthusiast, felt the summer evenings were too short and looked at ways to gain an extra hour in the evening to enjoy his passion for sports and exercise. At the time Port Arthur was on Central time (same as Minnesota is now) and his proposal was to gain the extra hour of daylight in the evening by switching to Eastern time. The town council agreed, implementing a two-month time switch in the summer of 1908.

The extended summer evening daylight was so popular that the following year, the residents passed a referendum to permanently change year-round from Central to Eastern time. A year later, in 1910, the neighboring town of Fort William also switched to Eastern time. At the time, the Canadian parliament had rejected national DST. History credits Franklin with first writing about the economical benefit of using morning sunlight instead of candles while he was the American envoy to France. He didn’t propose DST but rather measures such as taxing window shutters, rationing candles and waking Parisians up earlier by firing cannons at sunrise or ringing church bells. He published an essay—some say it was satire — titled “An Economical Project of Diminishing the Cost of Light�, and estimated Parisians could save $200 million by using sun instead of candles. The idea never went anywhere.

About 100 years later, in 1895, a New Zealand entomologist, George Vernon Hudson, invented the modern DST when he presented a paper at the Wellington Philosophical Society that proposed a two-hour shift forward in October and two-hour shift

In 1905, an English builder William Willett, independently conceived of DST during his early morning horseback riding and noticing no one else was around. For the next two years, he worked out the details of his DST ‘’clockshifting’’ proposal: moving the clocks 20 minutes forward each four Sundays in April and move them back 20 minutes George Vernon Hudson, inventor of on four Sundays in Daylight Savings Time, later in life.

September. At his own c 1920 expense, he published and distributed a pamphlet, The Waste of Daylight, promoting Summer DST in the United Kingdom. The proposal made it to the British parliament in 1907, but it was rejected as were subsequent attempts. Then came World War I and suddenly, DST became popular as a wartime energy savings measure.

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On April 30, 1916, Germany and its allies became the first country to implement DST (German Sommerzeif) as a way to conserve fuel. Less than a month later, Britain adopted Summer Time (DST) and other European countries followed, while the U.S. waited until 1918. After the war, most countries abandoned DST and went back to standard time until World War II, when DST was again implemented.

During World War II, the US implemented year-round DST (‘’War Time’’ as it was then known) from Feb. 9, 1942 to Sept.

30, 1945, expiring six months after war's end. As a result, from 1945 to 1966, each American state, county and municipality was free to choose if, and how, they wanted to observe DST, and that created confusion, like the St. Paul-Minneapolis DST fiasco of May 1965. That’s when St. Paul voted to start their DST two weeks earlier than neighboring Minneapolis, which had opted to kick in their DST on the date set by state law. For two weeks there was chaos, a free-for-all where businesses, police and fire services, schools, suburbs, etc. were working under different times. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, nationally standardizing the DST period.

Starting in 2007 and continuing to the present, North American DST is standardized to start at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and end on first Sunday in November, though there are some Canadian and American areas that do not observe DST. Since 1996, the European Summer Time is observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Unfamiliar Neighbors — Rare but Near C Hoary redpolls and boreal chickadees can sometimes be spotted among their more common cousins

T

hey descended on my bird feeders like a blizzard, fluttering from perch to branch, from feeder to ground. As if driven by hunger, some fluttered violently over occupied perches, trying to drive off those that were already feeding. On the ground below, others scratched through the snow with their tiny feet, searching for wayward seeds.

Through My Lens

I watched in amazement as they By michael Furtman fed, for it was a constant stream of birds to and from the nearby bushes and trees to the feeders. Never was there a second when the scene was still. And it would not be a stretch of the truth to say you could actually see the tube feeders get progressively emptied, watch the thistle socks transform from plump to drained.

Redpolls. Hundreds of common redpolls.

When you are inundated with tiny birds feeding at such a frenzy, it is difficult to keep an eye on just one bird, or to scan the constantly moving flock for anything out of the ordinary.

But that was exactly what I was trying to do, because when a flock of common redpolls are this large, it isn’t unheard of to find a stranger in their midst.

That stranger is the hoary redpoll, the arctic cousin of the common redpoll.

The differences between the two species are subtle, but not indistinguishable, especially when one has the chance to see them side by side. Overall, the hoary is much paler than the common.

The adult male hoary has buffy white on its back, and a very pale face. Like the common, he has a red patch on top of the head, but more limited black at the base of the beak and on his throat. His chest and belly will be virtually white with only the faintest of streaks on the side. As winter progresses toward spring and the mating season, male common redpolls get very flush with pink on the chest. The hoary undergoes a similar change in plumage color, but the pink color is much paler. Both the adult female and juvenile hoary will show slightly more streaking on their flanks, making them a bit more difficult to tell apart from the common redpoll.

Since the hoary is pretty uncommon, if you are viewing a large flock of redpolls and you think that many of them look pale enough to be hoary redpolls, you need to “readjust” your mental picture of them, for it is very unlikely that there would be more than just a couple. When a true hoary appears in your flock, you’ll almost certainly be suddenly confident of the ID, because it will look so much paler than the others. One last clue to identification is the bill, which appears much stubbier on the hoary.

While you may run into a hoary redpoll at your backyard feeder almost anywhere in Northern Wilds country, unless you live in true boreal forest, you’re not likely to see this next uncommon variation of an otherwise common bird – the boreal chickadee.

Black-capped chickadees are surely the best friend of every winter bird watcher in our region. When few if any other birds

Upper Left: Black-capped Chickadee, Lower Left: Boreal Chickadee, Upper Right: Common Redpoll, Lower Right: Hoary Redpoll, |MICHAEL FURTMAN

are around, you can always count on some chickadees to help brighten your day with their antics at the feeder. Their cousin, though, is a much rarer bird to see, and you’ll most likely have to venture out to where the black spruce and tamaracks grow to see one.

But it will be worth the cold visit! Although black-capped chickadees can be found in habitats ranging from boreal to deciduous forest, or even in grassy and brush regions, boggy northern forests are the home to the boreal chickadee. Often described as a “black-capped chickadee dipped in chocolate powder,” the boreal chickadee is impossible to confuse with its relative.

Both species have a snowy white belly and black beneath the chin, but where the black-capped is, well, “capped in black,” the boreal’s head is a beautiful milk chocolate brown. The white patch beneath and to the rear of the black-capped’s eye is slate

gray on the boreal, and the boreal also shows much less white on its wings. And while both species show some rusty coloration on the flanks, the color is much deeper and more extensive on the boreal chickadee.

It might come as a surprise to many northern wild readers that these two species even exist in our region. Most casual birders can easily identify the friendly black-capped chickadee, and soon learn the identification of the common redpoll because they have the distinctive red cap on their heads. But to find and see the hoary redpoll or the boreal chickadee, you must work at it.

So if you want a delightful winter challenge this year, take it upon yourself to see if you can find these two little birds. These unfamiliar neighbors are out there, just waiting for you to enjoy them.

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

23

Could Cook County Grow its Own? I have been totally charmed and energized by Tim Stark’s “Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer.”

of Minnesota communities. In Cook County, the focus is on increasing the community’s access to healthy, locally grown food.

I don’t say this because we are both “accidentals,” although I must admit I feel a certain kinship with the author because he was pretty unorganized about his gardening when he first got started.

“The goal of the whole thing is to have more fresh, local and regionally produced foods available to all people through restaurants, schools and hospitals,” she says.

The amazing thing is that Stark planted 2,000 tomato plants and hundreds of hot pepper plants on a farm in Pennsylvania where he had grown up and planned to sell them at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City. He’d never done this before, and reading how he scrambled to get those 100 varieties of tomatoes and 70-odd varieties of chili grown, picked and to market those first few years is pretty funny.

Two restaurants, for example, the Angry Trout and Lutsen Resort, have already pledged to spend 20 percent of their food budgets on local or rethe gional products by 2020, she says. And other local institutions are considering being involved. Some

By Joan Farnam schools, like Great Expectations, already have a greenhouse and gardens and they use some of their produce for school lunches, and Grand Portage is working on a farm-to-school project, she said.

Accidental Gardener

There are lots of other chuckling moments in this book for those of us who garden, and I highly recommend it for winter reading.

It’s turned my head about growing heirloom tomatoes as well as educated me about habaneros, the Amish and the Mennonites and the difficulties and rewards of truck farming.

But what really struck a chord was Stark’s description of the changes in the New York food scene because of that farmer’s market that opened more than 30 years ago.

Greenmarket was overrun by customers on the first day it opened, and within hours, everything was gone. It was like a herd of locusts descended on them, one farmer recalled.

Soon, some of the most famous chefs in the city began dropping in to see what kind of locally grown fresh vegetables were available that week. Then new restaurants began popping up within walking distance of the Union Square Greenmarket so their staff could drop in for fresh, locally grown food for their customers.

But setting up commercial farms in Cook County will not be easy.

“I feel like we know what the barriers are,” Wharton said.

“Access to agricultural land is tough. It’s either not available or the cost is very prohibitive for people just starting out. The county hasn’t stepped up and said this is a priority. If they decided to do that, I think there could be conversation about tax incentives for ag land or a way to pass on agricultural land to the next generation with less cost.”

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“Currently, there are very few commercial-scale producers in Cook County,” she says. “Most of the local produce that we do see here is coming from people’s home gardens.”

But restaurants, schools and the hospital are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars outside the county to buy food every year.

“If the food was grown here, I see it as an economic opportunity for people to make a living and support their families,” harton said.

Wharton is a nurse at Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and is coordinating a new program that aims to begin doing just that.

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Community Transformation grant seeks to enhance the health

Growing continued on page 27 »

WTIP North Shore Community Radio The only local radio station on Minnesota’s North Shore

The Greenmarkets are a win/win, he writes. They save farmland, provide nutritious food to urbanites, fuel a culinary renaissance and restore vigor and dignity to scores of farm families.

Kristin DeArruda Wharton, the coordinator of the Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) program in Cook County, sees the possibilities.

“Part of what we need to do is find out is who has an old farm and are they interested in leasing that land or allowing someone to use it,” Wharton said. “There are people who want to do it, but they don’t have the land.

There are definitely fields around the county that are currently not in production.

The farmers thrived, the restaurants thrived, and New Yorkers could eat healthy food.

Both Duluth and Thinder Bay already have thriving farm communitees. Maybe we can do that in Cook County, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Left: Tim Stark’s book, “Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer” has just been released in paperback.

Right: Tim Stark, the tomato guy, sells thousands of heirloom tomatoes in New York City every year.

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NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Plot your

next adventure Five

D

The focus of the trip will dictate the gear you’ll bring.

If you plan on putting lots of miles on the canoe, then light, Kevlar canoes are advisable.

on’t let the doldrums of winter get you down! Now is the time to plan your warm-weather adventure. Northern Wilds writers have come up with five destination expeditions, including hiking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking and fly-in fishing. These all require more planning than the typical weekend excursion, but they’re all worth the effort.

But if you’re going to base camp on an entry point lake, a heavier canoe will do.

Overnight cycling

A

n afternoon bike ride is nice, but what about taking it to the next level and doing an overnight trip? The folks at Superior North Outdoor Center in Grand Marais have done many overnight trips in the area and recommend the two- or three-day (depending on your pace) road ride from Grand Marais to Thunder Bay. “Traveling by bike is such a great opportunity to meet people--bikes are a big draw, and folks like to visit,” said Melinda Spinler, SNOC owner. “You have that do-it-under-your-ownpower feeling, and it’s easier to stop and view sites than stopping a car and getting out, yet you’re still able to cover a lot of ground.”

Over the course of the trip you’ll see many sights, including waterfalls, rivers, and of course Lake Superior, which will be at your side for much of the ride. The Spinlers recommend staying at Grand Portage Lodge, B&Bs or camping along the way.

Essential are a well-prepped bike to eliminate possible roadside problems (SNOC can help with this), padded bike shorts, a helmet, and lots of water-bottles. Don’t forget a patchkit and pump for flats, your camera and passport for getting across the border!

For more information about this trip (either to do-it-yourself or a guided ride) contact SNOC at www.velomarais.com or 218-387-2186.

–Kate Watson

ideas to start planning

Above Left: Cycle farther and see more on an overnight cycling trip. | KATE WATSON, Above Right: Wyatt Lynnes of Maple Plain, takes a break on the Kekekabic Trail at a spot overlooking Agamok Lake on the eastern side of the 42-mile trail. | MARTIN KUBIK, Above: An aluminum canoe sits at a portage. | JAVIER SERNA

Canoe Country

I

t used to be easier to predict and plan for trips to canoe country (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park), but climate change has added an element of uncertainty. “There is no such thing as normal anymore,” said Sarah Lynch, owner of Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte. “No matter when you go, you could almost get anything. It could be 90 degrees or it could be 40 degrees.”

Lynch stressed that canoe trippers should come prepared for anything.

If fishing is the focal point of the trip, then there’s not a better time of the year than spring, with May and June being prime months for a number of game species, including walleye and lake trout. But if it’s warm weather, go in July and August. If you want to avoid people, go in September and October, once kids have returned to the classroom.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the decisions. There’s a wealth of information available through the Internet and via outfitters such as Lynch, who are best positioned to share local knowledge.

Those outfitters can also save a trip when something as simple as a sleeping pad or life jacket is left at home.

“We have all the pieces and parts to make it happen,” Lynch said.

For more information, go to www.sawtoothoutfitters.com or call 218-663-7643.

Hike the Kekekabic Trail

M

any who’ve travelled in the BWCAW have heard of this 42-mile long hiking trail that crosses the park. While it may lack the elevation of the mountain west, or even the Appalachian Trail, it’s no cakewalk. It’s a destination, and one that requires some serious planning.

Some sections of the trail are overgrown and it can be a challenge to avoid losing the trail, said Martin Kubik, who founded the Kekekabic Trail Club back in 1990.

Kubik, of Vandnais Heights, recommends hikers start from the Gunflint Trail side and head west towards Ely because the eastern third is most difficult. “If you can make it through that, the rest of the trail will seem like

a breeze,” said Kubik, who suggests hikers plan to go either in spring or fall, avoiding the humidity of summer.

And that brings up one of the logistical challenges to through-hiking the trail. It may only be 42-miles long, but it’s a four-hour drive from one end to the other.

Kubik recommends hiring an outfitter to provide a shuttle (that can cost several hundred bucks).

Kubik said groups of three or four are best because they can spread out, which helps stay on the trail. He recommends planning for at least four days to complete the trail, and he stressed minimalist packing principles. It’s why he cuts down his maps into strips, covering three miles around the trail but ditching the rest of the map. “It’s an emotional decision because they cost $8 a piece, but you can save ounces there,” he said.

For more information, go to www.kek.org.

–Javier Serna

Fly-in Fishing Adventures

T

he excitement begins at take-off, because you know you are on the way to adventure. The float plane will land on a remote lake and drop you off at a rustic camp. Then, for a few days, it’s just you and the fish. Sometimes the walleye fishing is so fast and furious you can hardly make a cast without catching one.

Occasionally, a pike as long as your leg will appear behind a walleye struggling on your line and attempt to steal it. That’s fishing.

The vast wilderness north of Thunder Bay has hundreds of fly-in camps located on lightly fished lakes. Usually, the outfitter provides you with a small cabin and adequate boats and motors for your party. Food and fishing essentials are up to you. Fly-in trips range from a few days to a week or more. Very often, you won’t see anyone else on the lake during your stay.

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Frozen in the Snow The snow began falling by the time George Harder finished his six-mile hike and arrived at the outskirts of town. It was a long walk to town from the lake, and at 71 years old, he was fearful of walking back home. He was afraid, because even if there were a few inches of snow on the ground, it made for difficult walking.

Brett Nelson of McHenry, Ill., unhooks a smallmouth bass on Alpine Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. | JAVIER SERNA

When planning a fly-in trip, decide first on what fish species you want to catch. Walleyes and pike are most common, but some camps offer fishing for lake trout or trophy-sized brook trout. Adventurous souls can even work with outfitters to arrange wilderness river trips. A couple of excellent websites listing numerous outfitters are Ontario’s Sunset Country www.ontariossunsetcountry.ca and North of Superior Tourism www.nosta.on.ca.

Seeking Caribou— The Slate Islands

A

Lake Superior archipelago is home to Ontario’s southernmost population of woodland caribou. Created when a meteor slammed into the earth over a billion years ago, the Slate Islands, located off Terrace Bay, support a few hundred head of the far northern deer and boast sheltered waters, great scenery and excellent lake trout fishing to boot. Due to meteoric origins, the islands have unique geology, namely super-heated, glass-like rocks and a rare formation known as a shatter cone.

While caribou are numerous, sighting one is a matter of luck, as is always the case when looking for wildlife.

The Slate Islands aren’t a secret, yet few folks make the journey to this out-of-the-way place.

Why? Because you’re on your own out there.

The archipelago is protected as Slate Islands Provincial Park. There are no facilities other than campsites. Most folks set up camp and then use a boat or kayak to tour the islands.

You can arrange for a charter service from Terrace Bay to get here and back again. For information and a list of charter services, go to www.terracebay.ca.

–Shawn Perich

ing to go home. The decision was made for him when the man in the dark green truck offered him a ride home.

“We’ll save you quite a bit of walking, George,” the young man said.

Campfire Stories

George still had two miles of walking left when the truck pulled over to the side of the asphalt highway where a thin dirt road ran off into the darkening woods.

George looked in on his wife that morning, and Daisy didn’t Iron Mike Hillman look good. The stroke that struck There was five inches of new her a few weeks before had nearly killed her. Three weeks later, she was still hang- fallen snow. ing on, but George had never seen her so tired George was starting to drift off when he and listless. caught himself. He had walked a long time beHe had come to town to get more of Doc fore he realized he was lost. The snow was reSutherland’s sweet elixir that was supposed to ally coming down now. help Daisy get better. George Harder had been He could feel the fear growing in him as he a pretty good boxer and had been in the ring walked faster. He was afraid of being lost, but with some pretty tough opponents, but he had he was also exhausted. He spotted a large pine never fought anything like a stroke before, and stump and cleared himself a place to sit down this time it was his Daisy doing the fighting. and think about his situation.

He wasn’t afraid of much, but he was afraid There is no telling how long he sat there tryof being alone. ing to think. All he remembered was feeling Doc Sutherland and George Harder were old warm, safe, and comfortable. He was almost friends. The two old friends talked about what asleep when a voice out of the past woke him strokes were. After all the hopeful talk, it didn’t up. It was the voice of his old ring manager seem like there was much anyone could do Clarence Duffy and the familiar sound of the about a stroke. It all depended on the person’s ring’s bell telling him it was time to wake up will to come back, the Doc told George Harder. and get back into the fight.

Doc Sutherland smiled and patted George on He was standing alone in a small clearing of the back while he handed over another bottle of new fallen snow, wondering where he was and the sticky red liquid in the dark brown bottle. why he was standing out in the cold on such a In a short time he was clumping down the night. He reached down into the deep pocket of wooden steps and heading out into the reality his coat and felt the cold glass medicine bottle, of winter. The snow was coming down heavy. and he remembered where he was and what he George was a block away from the depot and was doing. he still hadn’t decided which way he was goHe walked for a long time, before he came to

something familiar, but the initial elation soon faded when he realized he was at the same spot he was when he first realized he was lost. The panic that gripped him earlier was replaced by a sense of warm comfort. All he wanted to do was just to sit here and die, but then George thought of Daisy back home in bed.

It was dark now and once or twice George thought he caught the welcoming scent of a wood fire, but each time he tried to follow the aroma of wood smoke, he lost it in the wind.

He heard Daisy’s voice. “You don’t have to get up anymore George. It isn’t your fault that you’re lost. You gave it a good try, and no one can ask anymore of you. You always answered the bell George, and you did it again twice tonight, but you don’t have to get up again.”

Daisy was telling him it was OK to quit, and when George Harder started to complain about not wanting to quit, Daisy’s voice told him it would be alright. She told him that she wasn’t going to make it back this time, and the medicine he was carrying wasn’t doing her any good.

All of a sudden a peaceful feeling of warmth and security washed over him like a summer wave, and he was at peace with the world. He and Daisy were sitting in the kitchen in front of a cheery blaze. They were young again, and very much in love. It was the last thing George Harder thought of before he drifted of into one last sweet sleep. He was sure that he and Daisy would be together again.

George Harder was wearing a smile when they found him, and several younger members of the rescue party wondered what he was smiling about. Daisy Redfield died a week later from complications from her stroke. She never regained enough consciousness to learn of George Harder’s death. They were buried side by side later that spring in the town’s cemetery; together in life and inseparable by death.

Canadian Trails continued from page 13

Frozen Water continued from page 20

of Hurkett, has a number of rental shacks located over some fine perch grounds.

Hamilton was one of a handful of people to start ice fishing perch on Black Bay after the commercial fishery suspended operations a few years back. He says it took a while for the fish to rebound, but over the last few years, the perch fishery has exploded.

comfortable bed.

You don’t need a lot of fancy gear. I’d recommend medium light jigging rods and spinning reels matched with 2 to 4 pound test line. Have a selection of light panfish or

small walleye jigs, in orange, yellow or gold. Small crappie tubes and tiny spoons work as well. Minnows are the top bait. It pays to have a good selection of sizes and no less than two dozen minnows per angler. Perch are known to steal minnows. Some form of electronics will also greatly aid in finding perch schools on this huge expanse.

25

We all rose quickly, eager to wiggle our toes and get the fire going again.

Coffee and some breakfast stoked our own belly fires, and we prepared the teams for departure. The wind was in our faces the entire run back, with visions of cheeseburgers and cedar saunas on the long horizon, out there somewhere. My beard was frozen into a glorious icy shell. Finally, crossing the last section of lake before the If quality perch fishing ap- landing, I turned around and rode peals to you, look no further backwards on the sled, watching the than Lake Superior’s Black Bay. park disappear behind us. Despite the Contact Gary Hamilton at wind on my hood, it was somehow too hamiltonbaits.webs.com or quiet. I got lost in that familiar feel807-857-1462.

ing, another adventure ending.

Possum wasn’t having any of it. She brought the team to a dead stop a mile from the truck, giving me a sharp look with frozen whiskers of her own.

The dogs were at home here, beautiful on the crystalized crunching snow.

Proby started jump-yipping. Below us the ice lurched and whistled, “Back on land you all must go.”

We sat there suspended for a few moments longer, I took a deep clean breath, then gave the team a crisp, “Giddyup!”

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Dining Guide M A R A I S

M N

Specialty Coffee, Soups, Sandwiches, Ice Cream

Blue Water Cafe

“The Meeting Place in Grand Marais”

Breakfast • lunCh • Dinner ChilDren’s Menus • “Broasted Chicken” • Dine in or Take Out • Open Daily • Fish Fry on Fridays

Individual, groups and family dining.

218-387-1597

Located downtown on the harbor It’s tIme to go to Blue Water and eat

Sandwiches Fish & Chips Smoked Fish Chowders M A R K E T Herring Caviar Gifts

FISH

Open Daily at 9 am On the Harbor in Grand Marais

218-387-2906

South of the Border

WINE

G R A N D

grand marais

BEER &

26

C · a · f · e

Breakfast Served All Day Lunch • Homemade Soups

We’re Open Before the Fish Bite!

Open 5 am - 2 pm Everyday!

Sun-Thurs: 11am - 8pm Fri & Sat: 11am - 9pm

$3 OFF

Any Large PIZZA

Any Large PIZZA

Expires 3-31-13

Expires 3-31-13

Take Out or Dine In

Take Out or Dine In

gunflint trail CASCADE RESTAURANT&PUB

Located at the stop light in Grand Marais 218-387-1505 3719 W. Hwy 61 (218) 387-2911

Naniboujou Lodge and Restaurant

$3 OFF

218-387-1915 401 E. HWY 61, GRAND MARAIS, MN

www.cascadelodgemn.com

Trail CenTer lodge

Homemade, handcrafted breakfast, lunch and dinner, open year round.

Join us for Happy Hour, 3-6pm!

Year Round Lodging Eats & Saloon • 24 hr Gas 7611 Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN 218-388-2214 •trailcenterlodge.com

CAN ADA

THUNDER BAY 111 Wisconsin Street Grand Marais, Minnesota www.GunFlintTavern.com

GRAND PORTAGE

218-387-1563 MENU

GRAND MARAIS LUTSEN TOFTE FINLAND SILVER BAY BEAVER BAY

- Eclectic & Ethnic Menu, Many Vegetarian Choices • Craftmade Soups • Organic Product Used Widely

LIVE MUSIC YEAR ROUND - Blues, Jazz, Reggae & Rock

Call Us for Winter Weekend Details Located on Highway 61 just 14 miles east of Grand Marais

www.naniboujou.com 218.387.2688

SPIRITS

- Over 40 Micro Brews • 16 Micros on Draft • Fine Wines • Fine Spirits Available from the “Raven”

TWO HARBORS DULUTH

WISCONSIN

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

27

» continued from page 23

SILVER BAY

two harbors

RETAIL

$2.00 OFF Lg. 14” Pizza

with coupon 218-226-4142 96 Outer Drive Silver Bay, MN

TWO HARBORS’ ORIGINAL IRISH PUB! Two Harbors’ largest variety of Bottled Beers, Tap Beers, Irish Whiskeys, and Top -Shelf Spirits!

$3.00 OFF Family 16” Pizza with coupon

Lake or Pond? Aeration is your first step toward improved water quality. Complete Systems $169-$369. Waterfall? 11,000 gph Water Pump only 3.6 amps! 2 year warranty! Just $399.95. www. fishpondaerators.com 608-254-2735

MUSEUMS

MUSEUMS Explore area historyland with a trip to the Ely-Winton Historical Soowners

ciety Museum. Located at Vermillion College, 1900 East Camp Street, Ely. Open Tues.-Fri. 12 noon - 4 p.m.

land owners

602 1st Avenue / Two Harbors, MN / 218.834.2300

Open at 6 am daily Daily Specials Dine In and Take Out

Buy One Specialty Drink

Get One ½ OFF

For information about placing your classified ad, contact Amber at apratt@northernwilds.com

finland

Expires Mar. 31, 2013

By Deane Morrison

TM

Dow ntown Lutsen open 7 Days a week moondancecoffee@gmail.com 218-663-7915 TM

Located at Crooked Lake Resort Scenic 16 miles from Tofte Open all year, 11 am daily Serving full menu Fri - Fish Fry Sat - Rib Special www.trestleinn.com 218-830-0523

West Branch Bar & Grill

Open 11 a.m. daily - Year Round Serving homemade Apollo pizza since 1941 Daily lunch and dinner special On-Off Sale Pull Tabs

218-353-7493 6701 Hwy 1 Finland

Lakeside Lodging & Restaurant

Dining Room serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pub Opens at 4:00 pm

218.663.7212 · 800-258-8736 www.lutsenresort.com

Wharton has organized a meeting between local and regional agricultural producers in Cook and Lake counties as well as Thunder Bay and the restaurants and wholesale buyers who will use their produce in hopes to directly connect the people who are producing with the people who are buying.

Want more information? Call Wharton at the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic at 218-387-2330.

Hometown Atmosphere with Down Home cooking #6 Shopping Center · Silver Bay, MN 218-226-3699

Use this coupon to

I think that would be a real economic opportunity for the county.”

It could be the start of a completely new direction for gardeners who want to just grow food for others.

www.twoharborspub.com thepubth@gmail.com · facebook

lutsen

“Another idea is to develop a county/community agricultural incubator farm like they have started near Ashland, Wis. Beginning farmers are able to lease an acre of land and get a start that way.

Near ATV Trails!

Four Seasons Supper Club

On-Off Sale!

Open Daily 11am - Close Full Menu Available PLUS Homemade Specials, Desserts, Salad Bar, Grilled Burgers Friday Fish Fry 6538 Hwy 1, Finland 218-353-7371

University of Minnesota Starwatch February - March

With Venus and Mars dropping out of the morning and evening skies, respectively, Jupiter and Saturn are the only bright planets visible for all of February and March.

Saturn, a morning planet, starts rising before midnight in February and ends March coming up in the east a couple of hours after sunset.

It keeps appearing earlier because Earth is catching up to it in the orbital race. Bracketing the ringed planet are bright Spica, in Virgo, to the west and giant red Antares, the heart of Scorpius, to the east.

February evenings belong to the knot of bright winter constellations with Orion at the center. Jupiter continues to pump out the wattage near Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus.

And this is the best time to see Sirius, the brightest star, following at Orion’s heels in the

cal light, the result of sunlight glinting off dust in the plane of the solar system.

constellation Canis Major.

A new comet, PanSTARRS, will swoop closest to Earth and the sun early in March. If it brightens enough, it could become visible above the sunset horizon.

February’s full moon shines on the 25th. March’s reaches perfect fullness at 4:27 a.m. on the 27th and is probably best seen the previous evening.

If you’re under dark skies an hour or two after sunset in late February, you may notice a faint oval glow extending from the horizon along the sun’s path. This is the zodia-

Groundhog Day began as a Celtic holiday marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It was held that if the day was cloudy, that portended rains to soften the earth and hasten planting, hence the tradition that not seeing shadows means spring is right around the corner.

The equinox arrives at 6:02 a.m. March 20, when the sun, heading north, crosses the equator and lights the Earth from pole to pole.

The University of Minnesota Duluth offers public viewings of the night sky at the Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium. For more information and viewing schedules, see www.d.umn.edu/ planet

28

NORTHERn WILDS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2013

Unspoiled. Serene. Spectacular. Unforgettable.

W

trail system is tracked for traditional skiing, and much of it is tracked for skate skiing.

Golden Eagle Lodge Nordic Ski Center is worldclass, nationally-known, and silent-sports-only. It is located on the Central Gunflint Ski Trail System. A well-marked network of more than 70 km of groomed trails begin right from your cabin’s doorsteps. Our

We know much time, effort, and expense is invested in a vacation.We would be honored if you considered us as your vacation destination. We go out of our way to ensure every aspect of your visit will convince you to come back and see us again.

You won’t be disappointed!

elcome to Golden Eagle Lodge, a family oriented, year-round resort located on the historic Gunflint Trail of Northeastern Minnesota. We are on the north shore of Flour Lake surrounded by the Superior National Forest.

We are the only residents on the lake, so you can look forward to the quiet and solitude offered only from a true wilderness setting.

We offer complete skiing and snowshoe rentals for all ages, a ski waxing room, a trail lit 7 days a week, a sauna, and an emphasis on silent-sports only (no snowmobiles). All our modern, housekeeping cabins have a fireplace.

800-346-2203 • 218-388-2203 · www.Golden-Eagle.com www.GunflintCamping.com · www.FlourLake.com www.MinnesotaXCSkiing.com