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Friday, August 22, 2014

Hike and Awards

 
Today, I went on a 6 mile hike on a piece of trail that is North Country Trail and Superior Hiking Trail, above Duluth. This is a new piece since my time of hiking through this area. I always like to see places that the trail has been re-routed to something better.

We began in the fog and climbed from 123rd Street to the top of Ely's Peak. There are great views from up there, but we didn't see them today! This is all basalt bedrock where the stone outcrops.

ely's peak

The fog changed the feeling of the hike. And I roughly knew where I was, but it wasn't nailed down in my head in relation to other places I'd been there. And then, we came out on a road, needing to cross Stewart Creek on a bridge, and! And! It was one of the most memorable structures of that hike I'd taken in 2000. Beautiful stonework.

Stewart Creek Bridge

Back into the woods and we came across a lovely mushroom (some kind of bolete) that was longing to send a message to my friend Rainfield. Perhaps he will translate for us.

bolete

By the time we were nearing the end we began to be able to see a little bit down into the St. Louis River. These hills that encircle Duluth, and across the river, Superior, Wisconsin, are the former shores of glacial Lake Duluth.

St. Louis River

In the afternoon, I went to presentations on the Kekakabic and Border Route sections of the NCT. And after dinner was the annual awards program. It's always neat to see how many people receive recognition for hours of volunteer time, and then the special awards for outstanding service in various categories.

Some additional visiting and discussing of trail issues with friends afterwards. Another wonderful day.


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3 comments:

rainfield61 said...

I can know for sure it does not belong to Mario.

Rick (Ratty) said...

I've always admired your hiking ability. I wish I could do half as well.

Ann said...

That really is some heavy fog you started out with. Love the stonework in that second picture