Candlelight Snowshoeing in Lindbergh State Park: January 24, 2014

Temps had moderated a bit, there was a fresh coating of snow on the ground, Joe and I had Friday evening off...time for a snowshoe trip!  Lindbergh State Park was hosting a Candlelight Snowshoe event on January 24th, so we strapped on the snowshoes and headed out.

Candles in the snow

The candles lit the path so that we weren't stomping blindly all over creation.  There were also plenty of other people around - lots of kids too, fun! - so there was little chance of falling into the Mississippi.  It was fun to be in the winter woods at night - perhaps we'll have to try it again without the candles and the crowds.  

Hello, snowshoes!

It was not easy to take pictures in the dark, in the snow, or in a location that was solely lit by candles.  I was glad to hand off the camera to Joe so that he could try to get a picture of me in my Snowshoe Pose - one of the few that actually came out.  

Gooseberry Falls State Park: March 23, 2013

Snowshoe time!  Joe and I headed out to Gooseberry Falls State Park for what may be the last snowshoe trip of the year.  We got to the park at about 2pm, and it was PACKED.  I was surprised at how many people were there - it was warmish (maybe upper 20's) and it was a Saturday, and it was also Spring Break for the local kids.  But I did not expect the crowds of people.  Perhaps we're all just so sick of winter that any ray of sunshine or warm breeze will get us outside.

Snowshoe shot

I've been teasing Joe about how I'm the Footwear Girlfriend.  First I required him to get a pair of snowshoes, then I required him to get a pair of hiking boots, and then I mentioned casually that I would be buying a new pair of running shoes at some point, and would Joe ever be interested in running?  I think he put his foot down to that one.  Ha.

Joe crosses the river, survives, cheers

One thing that I am ridiculously worried about is falling through ice.  I know, it's Northern MN and the ice gets pretty thick up here.  I'm MORE okay with walking on frozen lakes than frozen rivers, because rivers rarely are frozen all the way through.  I could HEAR the water under the ice.  The cold, unforgiving water.  Joe was brave and crossed the river to the other side, resulting in this great picture.

Joe on the Superior Hiking Trail

We followed the Fifth Falls Snowshoe Trail, which goes up the southwest side of the river, crosses the bridge above Fifth Falls, and then comes back along the northeast side.  We were on the Superior Hiking trail for a short time - first time this year?? The path was pretty well packed down.  We went off the path a few times (and sunk in up to our hips), but for the most part we were going where many had trod.  I suppose this is what skiers talk about when they proclaim the wonder of "fresh powder".  Note for next year: snowshoe right after a snow before everyone else can pack it down!

nice bench!!

I loved this bench, half buried in the snow.  It was so comfortable that I think Gooseberry Falls State Park should build all of their benches without legs.  Getting up was a bit of a trial, though.

Overall, beautiful day for snowshoeing but it will likely be the last of the season.  Spring is in the air!  The Soo Locks opened on Monday, March 17th and soon I started to see Ore Boats in the distance.  The docks have been hopping for the last few days, and the Presque Isle is scheduled to come in today.  There is nothing like the sweet sound of a foghorn shaking me out of bed in the middle of the night.  Sounds like spring! 

Two Snowshoe Trips to the Lake County Demonstration Forest

Of course!  Now that winter is almost over (I hope), I suddenly become interested in snowshoeing.  It's been a long cold winter but it's almost done.  Meteorological Spring has arrived (March 1st), the Equinox has gone by (March 20th), and the snow is starting to melt.  But before it all melts, we needed to get some snowshoin' in.

On Wednesday, March 20th, Thunderdog and I celebrated the first day of spring with a walk in the woods: the northern, 1.5 mile loop of the Lake County Demonstration Forest.  And, because we JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF SNOW NOW, we went back on Thursday morning for another mile on the southern loop.

o hai Thunderdog!  

I bought Joe a new camera for his birthday, so he gave me his old one.  SO much better than my cell phone camera!  Although you'll probably see better pictures eventually, please be patient with me as I figure out how to use it.

Happy first day of Spring!

Ah, spring.  The birds are singing!  The grass is rising!  Verdant blooms and warm breezes and...

...nope, still over two feet of snow on the ground and freezing temps.  But it looks nice in pictures, eh?

First beings on this path

Thunderdog enjoyed both of our hikes, but it was hard work for her.  If she stayed on the path (well-snowed over, but underneath the snow was somewhat packed from earlier snowshoers) all was well.  But if she went off the trail?  In she went up to her shoulders.

We snowshoed 1.5 miles on Wednesday afternoon - the Orange Trail, if you're familiar with the LCDF.  On Thursday we snowshoed .9 miles on the River trail (the Blue one).  Both were untrodden upon, with the exception of the section of the Orange Trail that is part of the Superior Hiking Trail.  That one looked like it had seen visitors within the last day or so.  Hardy folk!  As with every other time we've been there, the forest is eerily quiet and we didn't encounter any other critters.  No wait - we saw a Downy Woodpecker, pecking away at the trunk of the birch tree.

What's THIS???

I'm so glad I got this picture.  Whenever Thunderdog hears/smells something interesting in the snow, she will unreservedly and enthusiastically plunge her head (and whole front half, if necessary) into the snow.  She'll root around for a while, and when she backs out she's covered in snow and perfectly happy.

 

Okay, it was a nice day

Ah, I can't complain.  I got a call from a good friend at about 5:15 on Wednesday.  She was driving home from work and talking on her Bluetooth.  She asked what I was doing - I said that I'd just gone snowshoeing for an hour or so on the Superior Hiking Trail.  I am a lucky, lucky person that I can do this.  Here's to getting out there and enjoying it!!  Spring!!  Come to me!!

Meteorological Spring

Meteorological Spring began on March 1st.  The Spring Equinox is on March 20th.  Then there's the first day that really FEELS like Spring...and the first day that I can have the windows open, the first hike of the year, the first camping trip of the year...there's a lot to look forward to.  But first we have to get through what looks like a cold, snowy March.

We are still MIRED IN WINTER up here on the North Shore.  Last year we had an unusually warm March (as evidenced by our snow- and jacket-free trip to Sibley State Park on March 18th last year), but I do not think that is going to happen again this year.  As a matter of fact, it is currently snowing like crazy outside.  There is a bright side though - the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is this weekend, it looks like there will be snow for the pups.  And I'll have a few more chances to get the snowshoes out this year.

Hello from the land of ice and snow

As much as I appreciate the four seasons and the beauty of winter up here, I am so ready for Spring.  I have been putting in hours on the stationary bike at the gym, getting my legs in shape for a spring-summer-fall of biking and hiking.  Joe and I have already started filling in our calendars with hiking trips, biking state trails, road trips to amazing new destinations, and getting the next Hiking Club badge (75!).  Until then, it is all about waiting, waiting, waiting...

Near Death on the Rails

So, we had over a foot of snow earlier this week.  Joe came up here on Friday afternoon, just in time for another few inches of snow.  We decided to go snowshoeing...for only the second time together this year.  It's been a crappy snow year all around!

We tried to leave town and go up to Gooseberry, but the wheels on Joe's car just spun on the icy roads.  Instead, we decided to just snowshoe down the train tracks.

It was beautiful outside.

Joe on the Bridge

Me with a giant snowflake over my face

We snowshoed to a bridge just north of town...

...where we found some rather sweet graffiti.  It's nice to know the kids have community pride.

As we were on the way back, Joe suddenly stopped.  "Do you hear that?" he said.  I stopped.  "Is that a train?" I said.  At that exact second, a huge locomotive came around the bend no more than 50 feet behind us.  The annoyed conductor blared the horn at us as. We went "AUGHHH!".

Joe looked to the left, I looked to the right.  Both of us found steep embankments, so we each looked the other way: still steep.  "Come on!" I shouted, and we slid down the one on the side closest to town.  I slid all the way to the bottom, but Joe was able to stop himself a few feet down so that he could take a picture of the locomotive as it rumbled by:

"Get off the tracks, you morons!!!"

Luckily, we survived.  Granted, the train wasn't going that fast.  But for a brief moment, we both thought "This may have been a stupid idea".  By the time we were walking back to the house, though, we were talking about what would be involved in building a little handcar so that we could roll down the rails on our own.

Part II of the BWCA Trip: Hello Canada, and a Polar Bear Plunge

Quick! Post about the second half of my BWCA trip before I forget everything!

I woke up on the morning of Saturday, February 11th after a good night's sleep. I had NOT slept well the day before (sleeping bag, sharing a space with 6 strange women, freezing cold) but after a hard first days worth of dogsledding and snowshoeing, I was zonked and slept soundly.

It was a bit surreal: the cold, the wind, so much white

We got going around 10am. We didn't bring our snowshoes this time - some of our group had gone to Rose Falls the day before, and they suggested that we leave the snowshoes behind. The path was too narrow, windy, and steep for snowshoes to be of any use, and they thought that it was a huge pain to carry them around when they needed their hands for scrambling up the hills. So we started off hiking in just our boots (Yak Trax for those smart enough to bring them) across Bearskin Lake again. It was cold, windy, and very bright out. Even when the sun is hidden behind clouds, it still feels bright out. So much white snow and clouds.

There were eleven of us, so we had to split into two groups. Only groups of 9 people or fewer are allowed into the BWCA at a time. (The place we were staying was less than a mile outside of the BWCA - obviously, no big camp would be allowed in the BWCA.) I was pleased and encouraged by the fact that I was put on the "fast" team. After yesterday's trip to Caribou Rock, I felt quite encouraged, but still nervous about what what was ahead: a 5-6 hour hike, two portages, miles of lake walking (cold wind, blowing snow) and some bushwhacking.

Coming down the steep path on the Border Route Trail

We set out across Bearskin Lake again. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time spent stumbling in my boots and falling in up to my knees every third step, I missed my snowshoes. Once we got to the first portage, I understood what the other group said: snowshoes would have been worthless. We only stayed on the real portage for a short time, then we branched off to a small hiking trail, and then the Border Route Trail. It was SO MUCH FUN. Lots of uphill, lots of scrambling. I was usually first right behind the guide. I was having a blast! And the views were incredible.

Once we got over the top of the ridge, we half hiked downhill and half the time we slid on our butts down well-worn chutes in the snow. When I first arrived at the camp, I was kind of embarrassed by my giant snowmobile snowpants. Some of the other women had slim, snowboarding snowpants and I felt like I was wearing giant raver stovepipe pants. I LOVED them for sliding on my butt down the hill, and they were perfect for the deep snow.

Rose Falls as few ever see it: Frozen

After the portage/ridge, we were back to hiking on another lake (Lake Duncan). Once again, I missed my snowshoes. Breaking a path in vicious wind was kind of tough. But I felt strong and was really excited to get to Rose Falls. And they were so worth it! We portaged again for a short time, and came upon a beautiful half-frozen waterfall in the woods. There was a wonderful view over Rose Lake and a sheer cliff on the other side - O Canada!

After eating lunch (biscuits, frozen bananas, half-frozen banana bread, and half-frozen energy bars), we headed back via the lake. As much as I wanted to go back to the slip-and-slide hike between Duncan and Bearskin lakes, I didn't realize that the slides only went one way and it would be a huge pain to climb back up them. :) Six hours after we started out, we got back to the lodge. I immediately removed my piles of layers and lay in my bunk in my bra and undies. Man, it felt GOOD!!

I felt great. I felt strong and vibrant, healthy and incredibly proud of the way I scrambled up hills, encouraged my friends, and kept going even when it felt like the lake hikes were taking place on some sort of hellish treadmill. I am so proud of my strength and stamina when I was hiking, being the first one up the hills, sliding down on my butt and yelling "wheeeee!", pushing myself and succeeding - all while having a great time.

This would have been a fine ending to the trip. However, there was one more thing that I wanted to do before leaving the frozen north: a polar bear plunge.

Mandy and Mark were also game for a little jump in the lake. Yes, it was well below zero degrees Fahrenheit outside! We got on our swimsuits, piled our layers on top of them (I felt silly putting snowpants on over a swimsuit), and we headed to the lakeside sauna. We stripped off all but the suits and our wool socks (polar bear dippers should keep their wool socks on so that their wet feet don't stick to the ice...ugh) and relaxed in a nice hot dry sauna.

Then, one by one, we walked to a hole in the lake and jumped in! Under the millions of stars and by a roaring campfire on the ice.

This is me getting the fuck out of the water.
I dunked in up to my neck...didn't want my hair to freeze

I'm so glad that I went, and that I did all that I did. I have no regrets. Here's to the next spin around the sun.

 

Part of the 1%...of visitors to the BWCA that go in the winter

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is part of the Superior National Forest, a delightfully wooded area of Northern Minnesota.  It's over one million acres (the BWCA, not the forest - that's much bigger) of lakes and forests in which no motors are allowed: no motorboats, no snowmobiles, nothing.  Over 250,000 people visit every year - mostly Minnesotans - but only 1% of those visitors go in the winter.  This year, I became one of the 1%.

I went with a group from Wilderness Inquiry, which is a non-profit organization that arranges wilderness trips for people of all abilities.  This is the second trip I've been on with them - the first was a 5-day kayak trip in the Apostle Islands in 2008.  I really like their philosophy of inclusion.

My friends Mandy and Mark were driving themselves from their home in Southern Minnesota, and since I live just a few blocks off of Highway 61 they picked me up.  It was about 2.5 hours from my place to Menogyn Lodge, where we were to spend the next three and a half days.  It began to snow on the last dirt road into the wilderness.  All of the participants got there around the same time (those who drove themselves and those who took the big van from the Twin Cities).  We said hello, got out our snowshoes/skis, put our packs on our backs (or put them into sleds to pull) and set off 1.5 miles in the snow across the lake to the camp.  Some folks stayed in the lodge (those who could not easily stay in the cabin and deal with the outhouses), the rest of us were divided up by gender and got settled into our bunks.  Poor Mandy and Mark (who are married) had to spend the weekend with a wall between them.

We relaxed around the lodge for the night, and the next morning we were up bright and early to work with the sled dogs!

Goofing around with the dogsled, dogs hardly amused

The dogs live outside (they apparently like it, although I imagined that Thunderdog would be terribly put out if I did not let her sleep on the bed with me, or even the couch!), and they were a lot smaller than I thought they would be.  They looked to be about 35-40 pounds of Dog, and only a few of them looked like "traditional" sled dogs.  As you can see in the picture on the left, the dogs went from white and curly haired all the way to black and wiry, and everything in between.

We learned how to hitch them up, and got them onto their sleds.  They really wanted to RUN!  The first time out the dogsled guides did the driving and the participants sat in the sled.  I was glad to go for a ride the first time out: the woods are amazing.  The surrounding forest was one of the few in the US that had never been logged, so there were huge stands of virgin pines.  Awesome to look at - especially zipping along in a sled.

It was a lifelong dream to do this!  I am so thrilled that I got the opportunity to ride - but even better, we stopped halfway through the trip we switched spots and I got to drive.  I had to stand on the narrow footing in the back, and use the two brakes: one was a big flat brake that I used to slow the dogs down, and there was also a big "emergency brake" that I used to keep them in place once we stopped. There was also an "anchor" that was essentially used as a parking break.  The dogs didn't enjoy just standing around, especially when other dogs are running.  I was scared but I did it!

That afternoon we decided to go for a snowshoe hike.  We went up the Caribou Rock Trail, a well-known summer hiking trail.  It's hard to gauge how far we went: we snowshoed across a lake, and then we went off-trail to get to the summit.  It took about 2.5 hours round trip, but it was SO very worth it:

Snowshoeing across Bearskin Lake

Here we are hiking across the lake.  Some of the group decided against snowshoes...they regretted it when we got to the portage!  The walk across the lake was cold and windy (I was glad that I had a gaiter to keep my face somewhat covered).  TheI used my snowshoes with my Sorels for the first time (I used my regular old hiking boots the one other time I used the snowshoes).n we had to climb up a steep hill (off the main portage), over a ridge, and then were were there: a wonderful view as reward for our hard work.

It was a real person personal challenge for me.  Although there's no way of knowing for sure, I feel confident that, two months ago, I could not have made the trip.  Eating right to lose extra poundage and exercising to improve my strength and cardio must have been a great help.  I felt proud and strong!

Later that evening some of us walked out onto the lake to do some stargazing.  It was clear out, so we had a great view of the heavens.  What amazes me the most about the stars and planets is that, in real darkness, you can not only see MORE of them, but you can see that they have different colors.  For example, Orion: Betelgeuse (the upper left star, his "shoulder") is red and Rigel (the lower right star, his "foot") is blue-white.  We also saw Mars on the horizon: it actually looked like a red disc.  It was amazing.

After a while it was just two of us on the ice - laying about 10 feet apart, looking at the sky.  I heard a strange sound: it sounded like an irregular thumping bass...thump...thumpthump...thump....thump.  I asked my fellow stargazer, "Did you hear that?" in a whisper.  "Yeah," she whispered back.  Then CRACK!!!!  There was a loud cracking sound.  Let me tell you, we were up and running in less than a second.  I grabbed my lantern and we got back to shore without even saying anything!  But once we were back, we were laughing, almost crying, and talking about how the crack was probably just ice shifting beneath the surface and that we were so silly.  I tell you, though - any logical person would take notice if they heard a cracking sound while they were on a frozen lake.

I'll write up my review of Saturday later.  Too much for one post.

Snowshoeing on New Years Day

Joe and I had long planned on going snowshoeing on New Years Day - but there was a glitch.  No snow!  Ordinarily the North Shore would be buried under snow this time of winter, but we can't have had more than 6 inches this winter - most of which melted away under an unusually warm sun.  Joe and I were worried that our plans may have been for naught.

The fates, however, smiled upon us.  We received three puny inches of snow over the last 24 hours, accompanied by a howling wind.  Truthfully, one could probably wear a pair of docksiders and successfully walk on snow that shallow, but we really wanted to try out our snowshoes.

We went to the Erkki Harju ski trail and snowshoed for about 45 minutes.  That was good enough for a first time out, especially considering the dropping temperature and the crazy winds (gusting up to 40 mph).  I'm glad to say that we survived our first snowshoe outing, and I look forward to many more.

Me fooling around in my snowshoes

Joe running in his snowshoes...nice action shot