Will return soon and write about this.
Monday, October 30, 2017
Friday, October 27, 2017
Touching the Four Corners (and a few in-between points) - Part II
With the arrival of October, and getting through the first week when I had to work, my end-of-summer vacation began. We would pick up the project of circumnavigating our home state of Minnesota and touch the Four Corners, and a few points in-between.
After pictures on the bridge we made our way back to the car and got out onto the road, headed North. I did observe that some of the crops in the fields were not crops I was familiar with. In many places I also noticed these odd objects on the road. Rich knew what they were. I had him pull over, and I grabbed one. I did post it to Facebook, asking who among my friends could identify it first. It turns out to be a sugar beet, which according to Wikipedia is actually one word, "sugarbeet". Yes, I did taste it, a clean slice from the inside. It tastes like beets, only much sweeter than the regular red ones. Rich commented: "We'll probably soon see a pile of them, because that is how they store them after harvest."
Sure enough, he was right! We would go on to see many piles of sugarbeets all along our journey along the upper Northwest of Minnesota. We also passed the Crystal Sugar processing plant in East Grand Forks.
Our next destination was Noyes, Minnesota. This small town may have seen more active days when it was the border crossing into Canada, but now this location is closed down on both sides.
According to the Wikipedia entry (see link above), this port of entry has been closed since 2003 on the Canadian side, and 2006 on the US side. To access Canada now you must go over to Interstate 29 in North Dakota.
The old crossing is barricaded. The road has weeds growing up in between the cracks. The entire area has a decayed, disused vibe about it . . . but don't be fooled. There are surveillance cameras watching on both sides.
After Noyes, we turned East, as best we could, taking a path that would lead us up to as close as we could get to the farthest Northern part of the state. There is a small bit of land, Minnesota territory, which is called "The Angle". However, to access it you must either have a boat to cross Lake of the Woods, or go through Canada. We would do neither. Instead we would get as close as we could to each side of the lake.
As we were driving East I was delightfully surprised to spot some of these birds, as pictured above. They are black-billed magpies. We don't have magpies in the Eastern US. Looking up the data on them in e-Bird I discovered that they do come into Minnesota's northern range in the winter. Well, here they were. Rich tried to get a good picture of them, but they were fairly wary and would not allow for close approach. He did the best he could, and did at least get proof of their presence.
It is pretty much impossible to follow along the North Central to North-East corner of Minnesota without a boat. This area is the location of Voyageurs National Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Superior National Forest. Not having a boat of canoe, we charted our path down South to Ely, to visit the International Wolf Center.
The facility houses educational information about North American Wolves, as well as two captive wolf packs. The pack you can see is the ambassador display pack. There is also a retired pack, where the animals no longer have windows and people peeking in on what they are up to. Web cams watch all the time, both groups. If you follow the link above you too can peek in on what the wolves are up to.
The pair of wolves above are Axel and Grayson, brothers who are the most recent addition to the exhibit pack. They are Arctic Gray Wolves who joined the pack in 2016.
The whole display pack lined up along the fence, checking out what was going on with one of the caretakers on the other side. The staff informed us that the pack is fed once a week, on Saturday, with whole deer and beavers. We were visiting on Friday, so supper would be served the next day. Everyone was hungry and waiting for their take-out to arrive.
After the Wolf Center we made our way down to the North Shore, then up to the tip as far as we could drive. Prior to our visit of the Wolf Center we did detour to Virginia and Eveleth to pass over the tallest, and one of the newest, bridges in Minnesota. This is a new path over the Iron Range, to allow the mining company to dig out the ore under the previous route. We could not find any place to pull over to get a picture of the bridge, so there will be no photos are videos.
I did get a video of the far Northeast tip of Minnesota. Prior to arriving at the tip, we stopped in Grand Marais, and visited the Dockside Fish Market. We had lunch and took a nice side of smoked fish for later. Before going up to the tip, we located our camp site and got our tent all set up. This night we would sleep in Judge C.R. Magney State Park. Almost as soon as we arrived, we were waylaid by a resident chipmunk, a very brave and resourceful chipmunk, who proceeded to help himself to some corn that had spilled from the back of my car. I had brought all of my hawk trapping gear just in case, and had food for my bait rats. Mr. Chippy stored a great amount of corn, and we gave him a few other things to add to his larder. A piece of banana that I offered was eaten immediately.
Having accomplished my goal, and it getting dark, but we were not quite ready to go back to our tent home and sleep, I confirmed with my cell phone resources that the probability of Northern Lights was high this night. However, we would need to find a vantage point beyond the ridge that follows all along the North shore. We ended up going up a portion of the Gun Flint Trail and found a little airstrip that offered us a view of the Northern horizon. The sky did lighten at the horizon, and there were occasional fiery bands that rose up into the sky, but it never quite took off like the gif below, which was too bad. Still, it was neat to see this most Northern of experiences.
The next morning, our tent and camping gear stored, and Mr. Chippy shooed out of my car, we explored one of the major attractions of Judge C.R. Magney State Park. We hiked over and then along the Brule River inland until we came to the Devil's Kettle.
The Devil's Kettle is a split in the Brule river, with half of the water apparently disappearing down a hole which has fueled much speculation on where the water comes out. This article indicates a hydrologist studied the problem earlier this year and has concluded the water reemerges a short distance from these falls. I'll have to listen for confirmation of his test experiment, which I assume will be later this winter, when the water does not flow as quickly.
After our adventures with the Brule River and the Devil's Kettle, we searched out some breakfast, and then made our way down the North Shore to Hawk Harbor. This is Frank Taylor's home away from home during hawk migration and trapping season. He has been manning a station there for a very long time. Rich was not with me last year when I came, but joined me this year. The Minnesota Falconers had their meeting, and then enjoyed a cook out and company. Many of us camped the night, which was rainy and cold. The next day Rich and I would join Frank at his trapping blind, but the weather was wet and the winds were out of the wrong direction. We saw a few birds fly over, but none made a go at the nets. By noon we decided to head on down the road as we needed to get home by the end of the day.
October 12, 2017
Fargo-Moorhead
46°52'25" N, 96°46'33" W
Elevation: 910 feet
We would start off this project where we left off, and get that bridge picture in Fargo-Moorhead. We had camped the previous night at the nearby Buffalo River State Park. There were only two other people in the camp ground that night, and they were both in travel trailers. The weather was still good enough for hardy folks to sleep in a tent. The weather would hold for us, mostly, through our whole trip, with many cool but sunny days, with spectacular fall colors. Once settled into our camp ground, we ventured out to a small nearby town for some quick dinner before they closed. Our night was star-filled, and beautiful!
The next morning we were up early and on the quest for both bagels, and a bridge. During our previous visit we missed both due to the store being closed (for the bagels) and rain (for the bridge). We found the bagels and were at their door when they opened. Those secured, we found the bridge, where we ate them for our breakfast, then took a brisk walk from the parking lot up to the bridge. This is one of the major crossing points between Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota.
There is a joint memorial for the armed forces of each state. The view below was the Minnesota side.
Between, inlaid with the concrete, is a map of the river as it flows between the two cities.
Here is the view of the North Dakota side.
Our bagel run scored me one of the "famous" (so they say) rainbow bagels from Boppa's Bagels.
It tasted just like any other regular bagel, but was very colorful. There was even a ribbon of purple which did not show in this picture below.
After pictures on the bridge we made our way back to the car and got out onto the road, headed North. I did observe that some of the crops in the fields were not crops I was familiar with. In many places I also noticed these odd objects on the road. Rich knew what they were. I had him pull over, and I grabbed one. I did post it to Facebook, asking who among my friends could identify it first. It turns out to be a sugar beet, which according to Wikipedia is actually one word, "sugarbeet". Yes, I did taste it, a clean slice from the inside. It tastes like beets, only much sweeter than the regular red ones. Rich commented: "We'll probably soon see a pile of them, because that is how they store them after harvest."
Sure enough, he was right! We would go on to see many piles of sugarbeets all along our journey along the upper Northwest of Minnesota. We also passed the Crystal Sugar processing plant in East Grand Forks.
Our next destination was Noyes, Minnesota. This small town may have seen more active days when it was the border crossing into Canada, but now this location is closed down on both sides.
October 12, 2017
Noyes, MN, Northwest Corner
Noyes, MN, Northwest Corner
48°59'53" N, 97°12'30" W
Elevation: 812 feet
We both posed at the boundary monument.
According to the Wikipedia entry (see link above), this port of entry has been closed since 2003 on the Canadian side, and 2006 on the US side. To access Canada now you must go over to Interstate 29 in North Dakota.
The old crossing is barricaded. The road has weeds growing up in between the cracks. The entire area has a decayed, disused vibe about it . . . but don't be fooled. There are surveillance cameras watching on both sides.
After Noyes, we turned East, as best we could, taking a path that would lead us up to as close as we could get to the farthest Northern part of the state. There is a small bit of land, Minnesota territory, which is called "The Angle". However, to access it you must either have a boat to cross Lake of the Woods, or go through Canada. We would do neither. Instead we would get as close as we could to each side of the lake.
October 12, 2017
Below the Angle, Left of Lake of the Woods
48°59'18" N, 95°20'36" W
Elevation: 1060 Feet
Taking back gravel roads we got to this farthest point, bordering on State Wildlife land. Somewhere beyond the line of trees is the lake.
From time to time we would spot another magpie. This one was poking around in the gravel of the road. It flew off as we got closer.
We drove around the connecting roads to the farthest East side of Lake of the Woods.
October 12, 2017
Below the Angle, Right of Lake of the Woods
48°50'36" N, 94°41'45" W
Elevation: 1060 Feet
What we discovered was a marina.
Pictures taken, GPS coordinates recorded, we made our way as quickly as we could to International Falls, where we found an over-priced place to sleep.
October 13, 2017
International Falls
43°36'9" N, 93°24'8" W
Elevation: 1130 Feet
The next morning, filled with fairly good hotel breakfast, we found the border crossing at International Falls.
My, but those Welcome signs are very BIG!
It is pretty much impossible to follow along the North Central to North-East corner of Minnesota without a boat. This area is the location of Voyageurs National Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Superior National Forest. Not having a boat of canoe, we charted our path down South to Ely, to visit the International Wolf Center.
The facility houses educational information about North American Wolves, as well as two captive wolf packs. The pack you can see is the ambassador display pack. There is also a retired pack, where the animals no longer have windows and people peeking in on what they are up to. Web cams watch all the time, both groups. If you follow the link above you too can peek in on what the wolves are up to.
The pair of wolves above are Axel and Grayson, brothers who are the most recent addition to the exhibit pack. They are Arctic Gray Wolves who joined the pack in 2016.
This handsome fellow above is Boltz, a Great Plains Gray Wolf, who has been at the Center since 2012.
Axel and Grayson seem to be naturals at striking stunning poses.
The whole display pack lined up along the fence, checking out what was going on with one of the caretakers on the other side. The staff informed us that the pack is fed once a week, on Saturday, with whole deer and beavers. We were visiting on Friday, so supper would be served the next day. Everyone was hungry and waiting for their take-out to arrive.
There was a nice bulletin board of the current pack, both on display and retirement.
October 13, 2017
Grand Portage
47°59'59" N, 89°35'33" W
Elevation: 660 Feet
After the Wolf Center we made our way down to the North Shore, then up to the tip as far as we could drive. Prior to our visit of the Wolf Center we did detour to Virginia and Eveleth to pass over the tallest, and one of the newest, bridges in Minnesota. This is a new path over the Iron Range, to allow the mining company to dig out the ore under the previous route. We could not find any place to pull over to get a picture of the bridge, so there will be no photos are videos.
I did get a video of the far Northeast tip of Minnesota. Prior to arriving at the tip, we stopped in Grand Marais, and visited the Dockside Fish Market. We had lunch and took a nice side of smoked fish for later. Before going up to the tip, we located our camp site and got our tent all set up. This night we would sleep in Judge C.R. Magney State Park. Almost as soon as we arrived, we were waylaid by a resident chipmunk, a very brave and resourceful chipmunk, who proceeded to help himself to some corn that had spilled from the back of my car. I had brought all of my hawk trapping gear just in case, and had food for my bait rats. Mr. Chippy stored a great amount of corn, and we gave him a few other things to add to his larder. A piece of banana that I offered was eaten immediately.
The view of the tip of Minnesota.
At the end of the road, before crossing into Canada, and as the sun was going down I posed at this gateway to our State. This was the final true corner.
Having accomplished my goal, and it getting dark, but we were not quite ready to go back to our tent home and sleep, I confirmed with my cell phone resources that the probability of Northern Lights was high this night. However, we would need to find a vantage point beyond the ridge that follows all along the North shore. We ended up going up a portion of the Gun Flint Trail and found a little airstrip that offered us a view of the Northern horizon. The sky did lighten at the horizon, and there were occasional fiery bands that rose up into the sky, but it never quite took off like the gif below, which was too bad. Still, it was neat to see this most Northern of experiences.
Rich looking back as I stopped to adjust my socks.
Part of the journey included this staircase, with 177 steps. Yes, I counted them! It was easy going down . . . a little more work coming back up.
The Devil's Kettle is a split in the Brule river, with half of the water apparently disappearing down a hole which has fueled much speculation on where the water comes out. This article indicates a hydrologist studied the problem earlier this year and has concluded the water reemerges a short distance from these falls. I'll have to listen for confirmation of his test experiment, which I assume will be later this winter, when the water does not flow as quickly.
It is a very beautiful waterfall!
Rich decided to ham up my picture of him. Such a rock star!
After our adventures with the Brule River and the Devil's Kettle, we searched out some breakfast, and then made our way down the North Shore to Hawk Harbor. This is Frank Taylor's home away from home during hawk migration and trapping season. He has been manning a station there for a very long time. Rich was not with me last year when I came, but joined me this year. The Minnesota Falconers had their meeting, and then enjoyed a cook out and company. Many of us camped the night, which was rainy and cold. The next day Rich and I would join Frank at his trapping blind, but the weather was wet and the winds were out of the wrong direction. We saw a few birds fly over, but none made a go at the nets. By noon we decided to head on down the road as we needed to get home by the end of the day.
While there we were able to see the club President's newest bird, an arctic tundra peregrine falcon. He has named her Scarlet.
Our final stop and compass point reference was at Duluth, at the far tip of Lake Superior. There are a couple crossings into Wisconsin as you go South, but these are crossings we go over frequently, to especially include the one at La Crosse, so I did not include them on this journey.
October 15, 2017
Duluth Harbor
46°45'29" N, 92°9'51" W
Elevation: 1060 Feet
Coming into town I did some quick research and found a place that makes very tasty and hearty sandwiches. We found it, bought our lunch, then sought out a high point and a park to eat and overlook the harbor. It was a very nice afternoon finish to a great little vacation. I would keep my eyes open on the way home for trapping opportunities but few presented themselves, and we were rather eager to get back home.
Minnesota is a Great State to visit, from all four corners and every point in-between!
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Trapping with the GoPro II
Here is another trapping video. This bird had a really interesting tail, but was not a keeper due to his small size.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Trapping with the GoPro
I've watched several videos on YouTube of hawk trapping. This year, I hope to capture some of my own. Here is the first one. I'll need to adjust the camera down to get more trap and less sky.
This bird was not a keeper as he was a small-ish male. The migration has not truly started yet, but should get going soon, hopefully in the next few weeks, as I have vacation time. I hope to trap a new, female hunting partner as the river of birds from up north start flowing through.
This bird was not a keeper as he was a small-ish male. The migration has not truly started yet, but should get going soon, hopefully in the next few weeks, as I have vacation time. I hope to trap a new, female hunting partner as the river of birds from up north start flowing through.
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