Oops, I forgot some things! I wanted to post some pictures of the scenery we have seen along the trails. So here you go!
An interesting sign along the trail!And what we were being warned againstMaples were changing colorsA bit of yellow in the aspen and birchesTrails had some nice bridgesThis was more mining history in Babbitt, one of our stops
I love the mosses, and they are abundant here. I’m not 100% sure these are real mosses – they might be some type of lichen – but I like them.
Oddest oneThe moss is beneath the leaves
There weren’t too many flowers left, and a lot of the ones that remained were pretty beat up. I got a few pictures though.
This flower was still abundant, and the bees loved it.Only a few of these left
And hopefully that is all I forgot! We are in Silver Bay Municipal Campground now, and I can see the lake and Wisconsin from our site. Not too well, but I will take what I can get! Oh, and if you have a choice about how get to Hwy 61, don’t take MN Hwy 1! The surface was awful, and we kept activating the collision warning on the dash cam!
We have done so many things here and ridden so many trails that it doesn’t make sense to do a day by day summary. We road pretty all of the Prospector Trail, a good chunk of the Taconite Trail, and a small section of the David Dill trail, so I just grouped things together, and I think it works.
First we haven’t seen many animals. That is as expected because the RZR is so noisy! We did see a few though, and I even got pictures of some. We saw more deer, squirrels, and various ground squirrels of course plus a few eagles and hawks – no pictures of those
Spruce grouse (I think)SwansOne of the few deerA different kind of animal I can’t get away from!From the Ely Harvest FestivalHow could I not get this fellow?
There were a few wood carvings along the trail to Ely. A few had cancer ribbons also carved. I didn’t look into the back story.
Couldn’t decide between “animal” and “quirky”
And then there was this fabulous laundromat in Ely! First, it was clean. Second, it was reasonably priced. Third, the names! This is just four; all of the ones in the entire place had this type of label. We walked around laughing at them.
Ely laundromat had all their washers and dryers named!
Yesterday we went to Voyageurs National Park. We had lunch at Arrowhead Resort, a respectable tenderloin. It wasn’t quite up to real Iowa standards (though it was labeled “Iowa style”), but the onion strings along with it were great. Here’s a bit of photo dump from that trip.
The park tour boat we tookInside the boatThe only eagle I got a picture of. We saw a number of others.First stop – guy lived here for about 50 yearsSecond stop – Hoist Bay with its logging historyOne way to “camp” in the park. Note the hot tub on top!The way I would prefer. All the sites we saw had a dock for the powerboatAnd a sunset picture with a loon – classic Minnesota
Today we go to a campground in Silver Bay on the shore of Lake Superior.
I have been delinquent in posting because the keyboard case for my iPad broke! I absolutely despise typing anything but the minimum on a display keyboard, and I delay it outrageously. I tried to get one from Amazon, but because it has a lithium battery the options are limited. Sigh. We finally bit the bullet and had it delivered to Duluth yesterday, the closest pickup spot that would accept lithium batteries. Kevin needed a repair kit for the toilet too, so two birds with one stone! So there are lots of things to post. I will do it in two phases.
I ended the last post before we took the dinner train in Duluth. It has a museum, so we planned a 45 minute tour. That was NOT enough. What an absolutely fabulous place. Much of the rolling stock was under cover so it would be fine to even visit this location in the winter. Here is just a smattering.
Inspection carMr. Crooks was the owner of the rail line. This was a reproduction of the first engine.It gets snowy up hereRotary snowplowHand carsOldest hand carSelf propelled log loader
A slag dump car from the mill
We only got partway through! Then it was time to get the tickets for our dinner train. There were 4 person tables, and we shared with a couple from Fargo, ND. He was a rail fan that retired from the track maintenance crew of one of the big railroads, though I have forgotten which one! The ride was very nice, and the food was great. I thought I took a picture, but I didn’t, so you will have to imagine a fabulous salad, the beef rib, perfectly roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, and a crème de pot for dessert. Yum. Everything was perfectly cooked. I wish the trip was closer to the lake, but I guess the railroad wanted some space between it and that sometimes very story place!
We have driven the little Bronco all over the place. Not a fan. It took quite a while to turn off all the nanny features, but I managed. If I ever reach a point where I need car automation to stay in my own lane, I will give up my license! It wasn’t even very good at it, disconnecting whenever the side markers on the roads moved away from the lane or were just hard to read. And it could not stay well centered on curves, moving left then right before the road straightened out. Ugh. But it took FOREVER for the truck to get repaired!!! The one week we were promised turned into 3 weeks and 6 days. And even then the only reason it happened is because I have a friend who shall remain nameless that is high enough up in the state government they could put pressure on the dealer. They had asked earlier if they could help, and I said we were going to wait on the dealer a bit longer, but I finally gave up. Shockingly the truck was ready at 1:00 pm the day they took them to task. The holdup had supposedly been that they didn’t have a replacement driveshaft and couldn’t get one. Umm, guess there was one in the store room somewhere! I am still grumbling.
The lack of a vehicle to carry to RZR led to Kevin having some interesting rides between campgrounds. We stayed at the West Forty Campground until Monday 13 September. We then moved to back to the Lake Vermillion OHV campground. It meant a 45 mile drive on the trails for Kevin, but they were well marked and not too rough. We stayed at one site here until Thursday, 17 September when we had to move to another site. We are staying here until Monday morning now. Here was our view this morning.
Not bad, hey? However this lovely quiet campground is now getting full of some big groups that are much noisier than the ones here last weekend. Sigh. We have just been amazingly lucky, but it had to run out sooner or later.
We have taken some great rides in the RZR, but I am going to put that info in the next post. This is long enough as it is!
The appropriate sign you are in northern Minnesota in late August, early September is that sandals with socks is perfectly acceptable!
We moved to the DNR State OHV Campground near Soudan on Sunday, 30 August. The sites are HUGE, 60-80’ long pull throughs with picnic tables, and fire rings. There are pit toilets one each of the three loops plus a central flush toilet/shower facility. It even has a OHV wash area. Absolutely no trees, but hopefully they plant some next year.
Our campsite
Once we got settled, we drove the truck to Hibbing on Monday because we had a leak in the differential. Oops! Bad drive train, and the dealer said it was unsafe to drive. Big ouchie. They have to order parts, and it will be a week, so they gave us a loaner car. It is a brand new Ford Bronco, and it is a dog. I admit it is the lowest level of trim, but it is not comfortable at all. Hopefully we only have it a bit over a week.
Ugh
We visited an historic Finnish homestead, the Wirtanen Pioneer Homestead. It is an original homestead site begun by a single bachelor farmer/logger in 1904. The first thing built was a sauna, of course, but the house and other outbuildings are impressive. It has an obviously loving historic association taking care of it.
Wirtanen farm houseNice stove!A few outbuildings
While we were in the Soudan area we took one long RZR RIDE, 90+ miles, on the Prospector Trail. The most notable site in my opinion were the boardwalks over bogs. There were a number of them, but the longest was a full half mile in length! They are controlled by gates that enforce the 65” maximum width of the trail. Lots of those along the boardwalks and bridges.
Half mile of motorized boardwalkGates
The trail itself is jointly maintained by DNR and local clubs. This is one of the nicest trail stops I have ever seen. There is also a fire pit and a large collection of split firewood in a covered area. Oh, and a spotless two hole outhouse!
Nice facilities on the Prospector’s TrailVery, very clean!
We also spent a day just sightseeing around Ely. Back when I could move better, we did a number of wilderness canoe trips out of the town, and we re-visited the area. The trees are just starting to turn, and it was generally beautiful. Wednesday was Kevin!s birthday, and we had an absolutely fabulous dinner at Insula Restaurant in Ely. Good food, good service, and a great rye whiskey Old Fashioned! What can be more Minnesotan than walleye and wild rice?
On Thursday, 3 September, we moved to the West Forty RV Park in Gilbert. Sites are crowded, but FHU and we met friends here. We have been camping with the Lopers occasionally for 25 years or more, and it was great to catch up. We are now planning on staying here through Thursday night. We need to be in Duluth on Friday for a train trip, so I sure hope the truck is fixed by then!
