Along the Shore

Located halfway up the Gunflint Trail on Bearskin Lake, Camp Menogyn is a YMCA camp that provides wilderness experiences to youth of all skill levels. | SUBMITTED

Camp Menogyn: Where strangers become friends

By Eric Weicht

GUNFLINT TRAIL—Camp Menogyn is turning 100 this summer!

July 15-17th there will be a weekend-long event at camp to celebrate the occasion, with great food, live music, campfires, day trips, and more provided for registered participants. Registration is $40 and can be done online on their website.

Menogyn is an organization rooted in tradition—defined by its strong community as much as by its programming—and the anniversary celebration will be a time for everyone to reconnect after a tough few years spent adapting to a global pandemic.

“For a lot of people, the Menogyn experience starts as an opportunity to check off a bucket list item like dogsledding or skiing across a frozen lake,” says Meghan Cosgrove, executive director at YMCA Camp Menogyn, “but everyone quickly learns that the experience is richer than that as they develop a connection to the people and the place.”

“When we celebrate our 100th anniversary in July,” continues Cosgrove, “we will have alumni representation going back to the 1950s. One trip can spark a lifetime of involvement; it’s incredibly powerful.”

Located halfway up the Gunflint Trail on Bearskin Lake, Camp Menogyn is a YMCA camp that provides wilderness experiences to youth of all skill levels in activities like canoeing, backpacking, rock-climbing and skiing.

During the summer months, campers can take part in multi-night canoe and backpacking trips across North America, while the fall, winter and spring programing focuses more on day trips that launch directly from Bearskin Lake to places like Caribou Rock, Honeymoon Bluff and Rose Falls. Menogyn also partners with Amarok Kennels in the winter to bring 20 Alaskan huskies on site for dogsledding adventures throughout the winter.

“The Menogyn experience,” says Cosgrove, “is centered around transformative, small group adventures.”

“In the summer,” continues Cosgrove, “campers travel with four to six other teens and the support of a trail guide. Trail guides are in a unique position—they aren’t a parent and they aren’t a friend, but they’re close enough in age to the campers to be relatable and serve as positive role models.”

Activities at Camp Menogyn include canoeing, backpacking, rock-climbing, dogsledding and skiing. | SUBMITTED

Cosgrove started her own “Menogyn experience” as a co-guide for a trip in the late 1990s. As impactful as that trip was, however, it wasn’t until her time working as the director for their sister Y camp that she really got to know and appreciate the Menogyn community. Then, in 2017, when the Menogyn director position opened up, she jumped at the opportunity and started a whole new chapter of her Menogyn adventure.

“When I started in 2017,” says Cosgrove, “the first thing I noticed about Menogyn was how welcoming everyone was. I witness this year-round—it’s amazing watching a group of total strangers become life-long friends in as few as four days with us.”

“As the executive director at Menogyn,” continues Cosgrove, “I get to wear many hats. I work with incredible volunteers who serve on our advisory board, and I do a lot of fundraising, but what I love most are the months spent living on Bearskin, fully immersed in our programs. This means driving trips, supporting and mentoring campers and staff, hauling supplies, washing dishes— whatever it takes.”

According to Cosgrove, there is nothing more exciting than watching groups return to “base camp” (Bearskin Lake) after a trip. Whether it be a group of highschoolers returning from a 20-day backpacking trip in Glacier National Park, or a crew of 7th graders paddling back from a five-day adventure in the Boundary Waters, “the energy is palpable” when everyone has one last rendezvous at camp, the place where it all began.

In addition to their usual programming, Menogyn will be hosting a number of in-person and online events throughout the year. Their “Cook County neighbors” are again invited to the annual pancake breakfast on May 29th, with pontoon shuttles to camp and good food provided to everyone who attends.

For further information about Camp Menogyn’s programming, covid protocols, events, and to read other people’s Menogyn stories, visit their website at: ymcanorth. org/camps/camp_menogyn.

Exploring Lake Superior by boat

By Michelle Miller

NORTH SHORE—The Lake Superior shoreline covers 2,726 miles and is shared by the American states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and Canada’s province of Ontario. Nearly 200 of those miles stretch from Thunder Bay to Duluth. The wealth of history, natural beauty and adventurous opportunities are bountiful along this route.

The newest way to experience what this stretch of waterway has to offer is by traveling on a Viking Cruise Line ship, debuting its expansion to the area this summer. The 20-year-old cruise line began conducting site visits to Thunder Bay and surrounding areas over three years ago and soon after, partnered with the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (TBCEDC). This collaboration quickly engaged the city of Duluth and their senior economic developer to expand excursions on Lake Superior, getting on the “global radar.”

Paul Pepe, director of Thunder Bay Tourism—under the umbrella of the TBCEDC—is thrilled to be part of the “collective collaboration, not just one city but everyone working together to showcase what our communities have to offer.”

For the Michigan/Thunder Bay trips, there are a total of 14 excursions scheduled, seven inbound and seven outbound. Over 5,700 visitors are expected with these trips and they will have the opportunity to engage in a diverse range of experiences, such as visiting historic Fort Williams, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, the deep-water pier, and shops and markets during the two-day port of call.

Based out of Knife River, Amicus Adventure Sailing offers day trips on Lake Superior from June through August. | SUBMITTED

Duluth will be offering nine excursions, four inbound from Toronto and five outbound to Toronto. Passengers can choose to ride a vintage train around town, view the ariel lift bridge and visit the Great Lakes Aquarium. All details can be found online at: vikingcruises.com.

A much more intimate, one day experience can be found with the family-owned business, Amicus Adventure Sailing and nonprofit Sea Change Expeditions, based out of Knife River. Day trips are available from June through August to sail Lake Superior on a smaller vessel. The 40-foot steel boat will provide unique, breath-taking views of the big lake and its many islands, while introducing guests to the techniques of sailing.

“Even two hours can be life changing,” says co-owner Katya Gordon.

Ten-day trips to Isle Royale are also an adventure offered in partnership with North House Folk School in Grand Marias through Amicus. More information on Amicus Adventure Sailing programs can be found at: amicusadventuresailing.com.

Ten-day trips to Isle Royale are also an adventure offered in partnership with North House Folk School in Grand Marais through Amicus. | SUBMITTED

If touring a piece of North Shore history is more of an interest than an actual excursion on the water, the historic Edna G. tug boat is a wonderful option. She was built in 1896 by Cleveland Shipbuilding to assist with ore carriers into and around the harbor in Agate Bay, Two Harbors. She remained in service at Two Harbors for all but two years of her career, when she hauled coal barges along the East Coast during WWI. The Edna G. was later reinforced to serve as an icebreaker and was involved in firefighting and rescue operations. Her last job was December of 1980 and she has been docked in Agate Bay since then.

The nonprofit organization, The Friends of the Edna G., was founded in 2018 in response to her continued declining condition. Through aggressive fundraising efforts, experts have been contracted to outline options to restore her to fit the requirements set by the Historical Registry. Volunteers have cleaned and prepared the tug to be open to the public for tours, which debuted in 2019. The Edna G. recently celebrated her 125th Anniversary in August of 2021 with a grand festival. Tours will again be available on weekends this summer. For the complete schedule and more information visit: friendsofednag.org.

Disc golf takes off in Twin Ports

By Chris Pascone

TWIN PORTS—The Twin Ports area is well known for its outdoors community, numerous park spaces and accessible nature. Silent sports enthusiasts have it made around here, whether they’re skiing, kayaking or biking. Now enter a “new” sport that’s becoming a big hit—disc golf. With an extremely low barrier to entry and a community-minded ethos, disc golf is exploding in the Northland. Two local disc golf experts—Charlie Deville and Tyler Masseth—gave us a rundown of how the sport has taken off during covid times, how to get started, and where to play in Duluth/Superior.

Like ball golf, disc golf requires players to “drive” (throw) their discs from a “tee,” and eventually get the disc to land in an elevated basket made of chains to stop the disc. Every time you throw your disc, it’s the same as taking a stroke in golf. Players keep score by counting the number of throws they need to get around the course. Lowest strokes or “throws” wins the game.

Masseth calls disc golf “accessible and cheap.” He adds that there are multiple courses in Duluth and Superior that are free: “People can go to a city park and do something they’ve never done before, rather than just hiking or having a picnic. People are realizing that disc golfing is another way to enjoy the park.”

Both Deville and Masseth are among the original members of the Lake Superior Disc Golf Community, and have cooperated with local city parks and recreation departments on course design. Deville takes credit for courses at Lincoln Park and Enger Park Golf Course in Duluth, while Massey created the course in the Superior Municipal Forest.

Deville says the roots of disc golf go back to California, and that disc golf became a professional sport in 1976. But Deville credits disc golf’s boom in popularity these days to covid.

“Interestingly, covid is what really shot disc golf into the mainstream. Disc golf is kind of the ultimate covid sport—you can do it by yourself and it’s a cheap and easy sport to learn,” says Deville. “Membership in the PDGA (Pro Disc Golf Association) doubled in one year during covid. Our Lake Superior Disc Golf Community Facebook page had 500 members before covid, and now we’re over a thousand. The sport has exploded.”

While disc golf became a professional sport in 1976, it recently surged in popularity during the pandemic. | CHARLIE DEVILLE

So where are some good places to play in the Twin Ports? The Superior Municipal Forest has one of the area’s premier disc golf courses. Opened in 2020, this 18-hole course creates challenging throws through wooded fairways, while also taking advantage of some of the open spaces from the immaculately maintained cross-country ski trails as fairways. The disc golf course is open all year round. Masseth explains that the city of Superior funded the project through grant money they had to expand park amenities.

“They were looking for new recreational activities for the municipal forest,” says Masseth. “It was a lengthy process (three years) from the time the first planning meeting happened until baskets were installed and people got to go play the course, but it definitely paid off. The city of Superior put a lot of money behind the project, and they were really happy with our follow-through and our ambition, and continue to support us.”

Local schools are another common place for disc golf courses. Lake Superior College, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Superior Middle School all have disc golf courses on their grounds these days. The Morgan Park neighborhood in Duluth has a course around its community center.

Disc golfing includes a strong element of community involvement and development. Deville recalls going through all the hoops with the city of Duluth to get a disc golf course set up in Lincoln Park.

“I pushed and pushed to get disc golf there,” he says. “Once we made the course, all of a sudden Lincoln Park started to clean up. There are people playing there all the time. The bad elements that plagued that area were gone. They gave up on it, because it was not a place to do business anymore.”

The city realized this same strategy could be implemented elsewhere, adding courses at Quarry Park and Enger Park Golf Course.

The Lake Superior Disc Golf Community group also does an annual spring cleanup at Lincoln Park, picking up trash from the disc golf course. This year’s clean-up, which happened on May 7, attracted 20 volunteers who were so efficient, according to Masseth, that they went outside the disc golf course to extend the cleanup.

“We saw some new faces and Bent Paddle was putting on a ‘Clean Yer Creek’ event on the same day, and we reached out to them and combined forces. We started at 9:00 (a.m.) and they started at 10:15, and by 11:00 we had the entire park cleaned up, and the volunteers headed further upstream.”

Deville calls Lincoln Park a “putt-putt course” (short holes), but says it has “tough penalties” (like throwing your disc into the raging Miller Creek). “If you play legit, you take a stroke penalty when you lose your disc in the river.”

Like regular golf, disc golf requires players to “drive” (throw) their discs from a “tee,” and eventually get the disc to land in an elevated basket made of chains to stop the disc. | CHARLIE DEVILLE

Duluth’s biggest disc golf course is on the grounds of Enger Park Golf Course, where disc golfers play side by side with ball golfers.

“I put 18 holes of disc golf on the back nine holes of the ball golf course,” explains Deville. “It’s one of the largest courses in the Midwest. We have a 1,000-foot par 5 hole that plays a par 4 in ball golf.”

As for any animosity between the disc golfers and ball golfers, Deville uses the analogy of the way skiers originally viewed snowboarders.

“When snowboarders came on the scene, there was a lot of stink from the skiers, but they’ve gotten used to each other.”

The Enger course charges disc golfers to play. The course has been open for two seasons now, and Deville estimates it has brought in about $30,000 of city income to date. An annual pass to the Enger course costs $125. The only other paid disc golf courses in the area can be found at Superior’s Mont Du Lac resort (three different courses).

So where do you get started? Deville recommends the UMD course as a “forgiving” course. For discs, he recommends starting with something as simple as freebies from trade shows.

“All you really need is that one tchotchke that companies hand out to you as marketing materials. If you want to get more serious, you can go to any Play-It-Again Sports or Dunham’s, and they’ll usually have a starter pack there of three discs.”

If you like throwing a frisbee, you can up your game by trying disc golf. Keeping score is certainly not obligatory, but you’ll be racking up points for outdoor fun, relaxation and fitness as you go.

Don’t Get Hustled by a Fishing Shark

By Joe Shead

You’ve got to be skeptical of people these days when they tell you they have experience at something. Just because you have a YouTube channel, that doesn’t mean you’re an expert.

So, when my girlfriend Amanda said that she fished when we first met, I raised an eyebrow. Was she going to be one of those “anglers” who clearly didn’t have a clue?

Well, she had the gear. And she had pictures of herself holding fish on Facebook, not that I creeped on her and scrolled through all her photos at 2 a.m. (it was actually closer to midnight). Long story short, her claims checked out.

This 59-inch sturgeon was less than 2 inches shorter than Amanda. Amanda still plans to catch a fish longer than she is. | SUBMITTED

At 5-foot, 1-3/4 inches tall, she doesn’t exactly strike fear into fish merely with her presence. I mean, maybe small bluegills, but I don’t think any walleyes would take her seriously. But once she learned that I fish for muskies, she decided she wanted to catch one, never mind the fact that up until this point, her biggest fish was a 5-pound pike.

Muskie fishing is truly boring. In fact, I know several people who have dropped out of the sport to take up the more exciting hobby of watching paint dry. You cast for eight hours a day, undergo a couple rotator cuff surgeries a year, and then if you actually see a fish—not even catch one, but just see one—you congratulate yourself on a great day. It’s totally absurd.

Because I had to endure those hours in the boat as well, I decided to take Amanda to a lake that has northern pike in addition to muskies. That way, I figured we could at least catch something.

Not too long into the day, Amanda exclaimed, “I’ve got one!”

She pumped on the rod, which was bent over double. She strained to crank in the monster. And then she did something I’ve never witnessed an angler do before or since: she dropped to her knees in the bow of the boat. Why? For leverage? To keep the fish from pulling her overboard? I’ll never know.

I decided I’d better grab the net. This had to be a monster! Amanda cranked on the reel as best she could. Despite its best efforts, the leviathan fish was unable to pull her overboard and swallow her whole. It was a see-saw battle, with the fish winning most of the time. Finally, the fish drew near the boat and I netted it. Was it a state record muskie? Um, no. It was about a 15-inch northern pike encased in a 6-foot glob of weeds. The weed ball looked like a giant jellyfish that had swallowed a small fish.

Amanda Swanson hoists a small 15-inch northern pike that was entombed in a record-class glob of weeds. | SUBMITTED

That was how she handled a small pike? What would she do if she actually hooked a large fish?

Later that fall, I took her on a 100 percent muskie fishing trip. There would be no northern pike to fall back on. This was “go big or go home” time. I explained to Amanda that muskies are known as the fish of 10,000 casts. We weren’t likely to catch one, but if we tried all day, maybe we’d get lucky.

I began by putting a live sucker under a bobber. Live bait often works wonders for muskies, especially in the fall. I placed that rod in a rod holder, then I showed her how to use a jerkbait on a different rod. Unlike a lot of lures, you don’t simply cast out a jerkbait and reel it in. As its name implies, you have to impart action to it, by—wait for it—jerking the lure through the water. I had made a couple casts with the lure to show Amanda how to sweep the lure through the water when the clicker on the other rod started screaming like something from Jaws had latched onto it. Amanda set the hook and reeled in a 43-inch muskie. She had subdued the fish of 10,000 casts in something like five minutes of fishing.

“That was fun,” she said. “We should muskie fish more often.”

“It’s not like this,” I retorted. “It’s never like this!”

Last fall, I thought I’d teach her a lesson. Muskies are child’s play compared to lake sturgeon.

Amanda caught this 43-inch muskie—the fish of 10,000 casts—about five minutes after leaving the boat launch on her second muskie trip. | SUBMITTED

Fishing for sturgeon isn’t rocket science. You pitch out a gob of nightcrawlers weighted down by a heavy sinker and wait for a bite. I assured her that we needed to download a movie on her iPad so we wouldn’t get bored, since we didn’t have any paint along that we could watch dry. We hadn’t even pulled up the movie yet, when, once again, a reel started screaming.

Amanda grabbed the rod, which doubled over again, although this time, I was pretty sure she was hooked up with a pretty legitimate fish; not a small fry entombed in weeds. The fish was staying down and giving her everything she could handle (yet she never dropped to her knees). After a few minutes, the prehistoric fish went completely airborne, which took her breath away. The 51-inch fish weighed probably close to 50 pounds and was by far her largest. While she was reeling it in, another rod bounced and I reeled in a very small, very weak 26-inch sturgeon. The nightcrawlers it had eaten put up more of a fight than that fish.

Later, Amanda hooked an even bigger fish. This 59-inch sturgeon fell just 2 inches short of her goal of catching a fish as long as she is.

So much for those photos of Amanda posing with crappies and bluegills on her Facebook page. I feel like someone who has been hustled by a pool shark. Actually, let’s not use the word “shark.” That’ll probably be next on her list.