We have some great cabin guests who want to know all they can about the Gunflint Trail.  So not surprisingly, Les asked if there was someone who would take her birding.  I called my good friend Ann Russ and she jumped at the chance to share her love of birds with a traveller from Florida.

We decided to meet at the fire ring at 6 am.  As we chatted about what we’d track down we looked up and saw this Robin parent bringing a breakfast of bugs for the little ones in the nest.  A good sign!

We wandered down the road in search of birds and bird songs.  We heard Winter Wrens, Northern Water Thrush, lots of woodpeckers, White Throated Sparrows and Robins before I had to head off to work.

Ann and Les were joined by other cabin guests and they were lucky enough to see Magnolia Warblers, Chipping Sparrows, and other birds of the woods before they headed back for a yummy breakfast!

nhs

Any open sunny spot is punctuated with hovering and darting dragonflies.  They’re everywhere.

Knowing they feast on mosquitoes and other annoying flying insects, makes us love their arrival.  We’ve had very low numbers of mosquitoes–hope there’s enough for the dragonflies!

nhs

Sorry - no $100 aluminums canoes.

We are clearing out some camping gear - timberline tents, thermarest sleeping pads, packs, paddles and a few odd items.

The best deal is a 1997 25 hp Johnson Outboard motor with electric start.  It’s a two stroke, mechanically sound and runs well but looks a bit rough.  $660 or best offer.  Includes the tank and hose.  If you need a motor for Sag or Gunflint this is a good one.

There will be a few other items out for sale too: canoe racks for a dodge caravan, kerosene heater (never used), who knows what’ll end up out there.

Have a great weekend!

Dave

No distress call - just celebrating that May is finally here.   It was going to be a bit anti-climactic since the weather has been very May-like for nearly a month.  Except for the total lack of rain.

 It rained quite hard last night.  The earth fairly sighed with relief form the dryness.  A few lightning strikes may present some problems later but the wet feels really good for now.

A quick walk around the yard this morning found a few little spring blessings.

Strawberrys are already blooming in the sunny spots.

These marsh marigolds are always one of the first things to bloom in the creek bed.  It’s a very cheery color.

I love to see them in the ditches along the side of the road and in the drainages through the forest.   Sometimes they bloom right next to that last vestiges of snow banks or ice from the long, cold winter.

Elderberry bushes are creeping in around our cabins.  The leaves are just starting to pop and they come with these little purple blossoms.

These perfect little blossoms are about 3/16th inch across.  Wild currants hold their pink cast for a few days after they open. 

Things are greening up all over the forest.  The hillsides have poplars with light green, tiny leaves and birches holding back just a bit, still showing purple buds.  The rain will push both forward over the next few days.

It’s a lovely May day.

Ham run Tomorrow!  Gunflint green Up next weekend.  It’s a great time to be on the Trail. 

Let’s just hope the rain keeps coming.  Do your dance.

D

No, not that kind of shot across the bow.  More canoe bow shots from a solo trip. 

The early ice out and warm weather made it entirely too hard to stay out of the woods.  I got out for three days just because it was the earliest ice out ever and I had time.

The ice actually went out while we were away on vacation in the Black Hills so our usual ritual of breaking ice and watching it sink and break up fell by the side this year.  When we returned on April 10 we could hear lapping waves against shore.

I started out a week later on April 17.  I went down East Bearskin to Alder, Canoe, Crystal and explored that whole area.

I got to camp fairly late but it was warm and calm so I sat near shore and watched the sun set.  This little gal came to visit along with a few of her friends.  I was kind of shocked to see mosquitoes but it has been quite warm and that first batch to hatch just seem to come from nowhere.  She died shortly after this portrait was taken sans her final meal.  Don’t worry - I could count the number of mosquitoes I saw on my fingers.  It does raise the issue of how this early spring will affect all the cycles of the forest.

No, this picture is not upside down.  Just having been in the black Hills and seeing the caves out there this "stalagmite" caught my eye.  It is moss hanging from the underside of a rock ledge.  It looked as though it had been disturbed from the edge of the rock and continued to grow in it’s new orientation.  Sort of had that Chia Pet thing going too.

One of my goals for the trip was to have a better look at Spalding’s cabin.  He was a miner in the area about 130 years ago.  His cabin still has two walls standing - well sort of standing.

The cabin was built using burned timber.  You can see the charring on the edges left on the fallen timber. This would have made the logs, dead, dry and much easier to shape.  Not to mention that the bark was mostly removed.  All the logs in the cabin were flattened inside and out to make for a flat wall with uniform thickness.  All with an axe!  This guy was planning on being here a while.  The cabin was palatial by the standards of the day, about 18x 20 feet and full 8 foot walls.

There was a huge fire in the region in 1863, 1864.  It would be reasonable to assume that these trees were burned in that fire complex and would have been standing dead when Spalding came to the area a few years later to look for silver.

More on Spalding another time.

While looking for the actual mine shaft I found several "artifacts".  Mostly broken crocks and old tin cans that probably dated to later use of the cabin.  I was looking at the enameled coffee pot when I tripped over backwards.

I fell backward over the horizontal log in the center of the frame.  After dusting myself off, I noticed the dovetailed log corners four feet either side of me.  You can just barely see the ones on the left.  I tried to find an angle that showed the whole structure but the heavy growth - some of it coming right out of the corner log work - and the serious degradation of the structure made it impossible to take it all in with one picture.  The building was very small, perhaps 4×8 and a few feet tall.  It’s a typical size for a small trappers cache but the logs were 6" to 8" in diameter and very carefully notched at the corners - not your typical trappers shack.  It could have been a root cellar but it was on a South facing slope and near the creek.  So it’s purpose is a mystery to me but I doubt anybody slept in it.  I’m thinking it might have been explosives storage since it was fairly far from the original cabin and in the direction of where I believe the mine shaft to be.

I explored the area for several hours, pushing through heavy brush and blow down.  I knew that this would be a good time since the leaves were not out and the snow was all gone.  I never found the mine shaft or any significant equipment but I did happen upon another treasure.

I looked for about a half hour to find the matching one but to no avail.  I did move the antler to take this picture, it was too dark where it lay, but it’s still out there.

I headed back to camp and dinner with more questions than answers but greatly satisfied with my adventure so far.

After dinner I wandered in the woods around camp. It seems there is a very healthy wolf population in the area judging by the number of droppings.  I found these two moose bones just down shore.  I’m not exactly sure which bones but leg bones would be a good guess.  The upper bone has two punctures on opposite sides effectively cracking the bone in two.  The lower bones is neatly snapped off in the middle.  Both show chew marks from rodents but also larger gnawing marks form wolves snacking on leftovers.

The next day I hiked over to Johnson’s Falls.  The outflow creek bed was surprisingly dry for spring but keeping my feet dry was a welcome change from the normal muck slog it would have been.  In fact, the amount of water in the creek and the saturation level of the soil would compare more to late June rather than mid-April.  Spooky.  As you can see there was still ice clinging to the vertical wall at the lower falls.  It seemed very out of place.

Someone had a bad day skiing into Johnson’s Falls this winter.

It would have made for a slower trip back to civilization.

Later that day I moved to Alder Lake and stayed at a very nice campsite.  In the process of setting up and a bit of wandering I found all this.  It does not include the ball of aluminum foil I later pulled from the fire pit.  All of it was laying right on the ground in obvious places and so I imagine it came from winter campers.  Things do tend to get lost in the snow but this a bit ridiculous - especially the bean can lid.  Oh well.

Mr. Beaver came to investigate and dutifully splashed his tail every time I got tired of trying to get a picture of him splashing his tail.  I also had a close encounter with a couple of Mergansers who nearly flew right into me while cruising the shoreline.  I heard the sound of wings in time and ducked down.  I think they were as freaked out by the sudden movement as I was of there inattentive flight path.  They missed me by just a foot or two.  I guess they thought I was a tree. Or they were blinded by the sun in the next photo.

I was treated to a beautiful sunset for my efforts.  The sky was absolutely clear and the lake was as calm as I ever see.

It was very special to be out so early - not a single human track in front of mine.  It was eerily quiet though and the fire restriction made for long evenings and early bedtimes.  But having time to explore and just soak things in were worth any lack of companionship.  After all I had Mr. Spalding, Mr. Moose, Mr. Beaver,  several loons (you can’t tell Mr. or Mrs.) and the kamikaze merganser couple to keep me company.

D

Gunflint Green Up     May 7 & 8

Look at this lovely little Red pine seedling.  Don’t you just want to help it grow to a big, towering, 200 year old tree?  You can if you join the Gunflint Trail community during Gunflint Green Up!

We’ll be releasing some of the 100,000 young seedlings that were planted in 2008 and 2009.

What’s releasing?  It’s cutting away the competing vegetation from around the pines.  Letting the sunshine in!

Green Up is more than a fun day in the woods.  It’s also a time to connect with the human community on the Gunflint Trail.  Whether you’re an annual vactioner, a seasonal resident or a year rounder, you’re part of the gang and guaranteed to have fun.

Friday:

2:00 Find out about Chik Wauk

3:00 Hike the new Centennial Trail

5:30 Welcome Dinner with music by The Pincushion Warblers 

7:30 Bill Lane’s "Owl in a Night’s Work"

Saturday:

9:30– Releasing

5:30 Thank You Dinner with music by The Sivertones

7:30 Wrap up and Dance to the Trail’s End Band!

Yes, we’ve had snow the past two years.  With the record breaking early spring this year, it’ll probably be t-shirt weather.  BUT, remember to come ready for the conditions.

Want to join us?  Please register at:  Gunflint Green Up

Do you need lodging?  HJO is offering a 2 for 1 deal for the Gunflint Green Up weekend.  2 nights in a cabin for the price of 1 ($150)  OR 2 people for the price of 1 in the bunkhouse ($18) 

Give us a call–      800-648-2922

Hope to see you on the Trail for Gunflint Green Up 2010!

nhs

Goldfinches don’t lie. 

Look at that, have you ever seen a feeder filled with totally yellow Goldfinches?

Yesterday the mercury hit 70 in the shade, I guess these little birds are just soaking up the sunshine!

Lucky me that they were sitting still for a moment so I could get this picture.

Just take a look aren’t they spectacular?

Look how fat and plump they are.  I read how high fructose corn syrup is in everything these days.  I wonder if it has even creeped into their feed?

nhs

No this isn’t ice…  but it is a sure sign of spring in Cook County.  Buck’s Hardware has removed the snow shovels, ice melt and washer fluid from the front of the building. 

There are garden rakes and thatch rakes and leaf rakes though not very many of them yet. 

Nancy and I were in town yesterday and noticed the shift.  It seems a bit early but since all of our snow is gone and the edge of the lake is looking liquid by mid-afternoon most days now I guess it’s right on time.

We don’t usually start measuring ice depth for a few weeks yet.  Mainly because it’s really quite disappointing to have warm spring days, muddy roads and guests arriving within a few days, only to find out that there are still more than two feet of ice on the lake.

I couldn’t resist today.  There is a pressure ridge on the lake indicating the ice is moving.  I just had to drill a hole and find out how thick it is.  The fact that the dock has popped up through the ice is evidence enough that we are well ahead of schedule.  But when I punched through the ice I was surprised how quickly it happened.  There are about 5 inches of soft ice which is saturated with melt and the rain we had yesterday and about 9 inches of clear ice below that.  14" total!  We’ve had that much ice on May 1st some years.  I really couldn’t believe it so I wallowed the tape measure around in the hole several different directions just to be sure.

I also can report the South Brule River is open and flowing - has been for about a week.  According to the "Justine Kerfoot phenology prediction method", the ice should go out of the smaller lakes up the Trail within two weeks and the larger lakes will be out within three weeks.  This one has been fairly accurate in my time on the Trail and have no reason to doubt it.

No joke. No April fool.

I’ll start planning my early spring trip!

D

…but the numbers can.

Weeks ago our temps were up to 60 And the goldfinches were mostly a drab brown. 

This morning it was 5 degrees and last night the lake was whomping away between the 25 mph gusts containing horizontal snow.  But look at that yellow on the goldfinch wings!  Compare that to my last post-the photo was taken one week ago.

These little guys are working overtime trying to bring spring to the woods.  It makes me wonder how bright they’ll be a week from today.

Today’s bonus is one of the purple finches that has been showing up frequently.

Between his red, the Goldfinch’s yellow and the blue, blue sky we have it all.

nhs

You’ll need some imagination…there’s about 12 Goldfinches flitting from perch to twig and back to perch…they flash their glowing yellow…and…they turn their backs to the camera.

I tried and tried, but didn’t quite capture the growing intensity of their feathers.  The whole point is that they’re changing-rapidly.  It seems that the longer days can be measured in the altering plumage of the birds. 

I’ll keep trying.

nhs