Upper Midwest Tour, Day 9 - July 18

We climbed our second State highpoint today, along with a massive numbers of mosquitos.  Minnesota is known for its 10,000 lakes but they don't tout their 10 trillion mosquitos that use those lakes.  (Although the local features named Devil's Trail and Pincushion Mountain may acknowledge the situation . . .)  But we anticipated the pests (which are good for nothing) and were dressed for them and used lots of repellant.  However, the buzzing in your ears and the clouds that follow in your foot steps made the 6.65 mile roundtrip mentally challenging.  We climbed to Minnesota's Eagle Mountain, starting at 1,720 feet elevation, ascending 581 vertical feet to 2,301 feet elevation, in just over 2 hours.  The descent took nearly the same amount of time, because of the many rocks and tree roots protruding from the trail surface.  There were several downed trees but all the bog crossings had boardwalks.  

Before driving to the trailhead, we went to Grand Marais for coffee and breakfast at Java Moose.  Afterwards, we walked over to the harbor, with this view:

Nice protected harbor with a narrow entry.

This statue is called Bear Tree - in honor of female Black Bears, who "stash their cubs up trees for up to days," while they feed themselves.  We didn't see any bears.

The drive to the trailhead took about 40 minutes, part of the way on gravel roads (which are almost as nice as the paved roads).  We started hiking at 10:10 am after getting a wilderness permit for the Boundary Water Canoe Area.

The trail started out nice but didn't last long.

We crossed into the Boundary Water Canoe Area after one mile.  Note the tree roots and then the boardwalk over the first stream/bog. 

Beaver dam??

Whale Lake, where the level part of the trail transitions to the climbing part.

Chalk-fronted Corporal, a "skimmer dragonfly" common to the North.

A very friendly Chalk-fronted Corporal (dragon fly).

The plaque at the top.

And the USGS medallion.  The state of Minnesota is engraved on it, with the words "Highest Point."

Proof we made it.

View from the top looking southwest.

Panorama view from the false summit/viewpoint -- nothing but trees.

We heard and/or saw a variety of plants and animals.  The app SEEK was great at identifying the various plants, which included:  Spotted Joe-Pye Weed, Lowbush Blueberry, Pearly Everlasting, Spreading Dogbane, Common Selfheal, Wild Sarsparilla, and Common Cowparsnip.  We saw many of the plants from yesterday (which I have not listed).  (I have identified 187 plant species with SEEK.)

Variegated Yellow Pond Lilly

The app MERLIN, by the Cornell Lab, can identify the birds from their songs.  Thus, we heard, but did not see, a flock of Red-eyed Vireos (photo courtesy of the internet).

We heard and then confirmed with a sighting an American Redstart (male and very cute).  But he was too energetic to pose for a photo, so I have attached one obtained from the internet.

And, most surprising, I was able to verify with SEEK that this was a Spruce Grouse (female) and had enough time to actually photograph her.

We drove back to the Thomsonite Beach Inn, a different way mostly on gravel roads.  We showered, washing off the layers of bug repellant.   We went off to Grand Marais to buy gas for the car, to stock up on hiking food, and to get dinner.  We ate at Voyageur Brewing, sampling 6 of their beers and having tacos (Thai Chicken and Perch).  We came back to the inn to prep for for an early start tomorrow.  We catch a ferry by around 7:00 am from Grand Portage to Isle Royale.  I expect we will be out of touch for the next five days.

Cheers,