Hubbard County Forest - Day 266

  I had to start the day with a road walk because there is such a serious blowdown blocking the trail that it is going to be salvage logged this fall. Meanwhile, there is a detour. Well, I can walk really fast on roads!

The best find on the road was an Io (say EYE-oh) Moth Caterpillar. Don't pick these guys up; the spines have a mild venom that will make you itch!


After I got back in the woods, I found several clumps of these elegant gray mushrooms. I'm pretty sure it's umbrella inky cap.

The trail today was mostly in Hubbard County Forest. This is all new trail since I hiked here before. Very pretty section. This is a wetland area, and I love the vertical trees with the abstract ponds and grasses.

My big news is that the mosquitoes were tolerable. I wore long sleeves, and kept a hat on for just a couple of hours to foil the divebombing deer flies, but it was heavenly not to have to be completely covered up on a fairly hot day.

Gage Lake was a nice area of open water. A lot of the smaller lakes are getting choked with aging water lilies at this time of year. Perfectly natural, but sometimes they don't look as pretty.

At the end of the day, Randy Cadwell of Lakeland PBS came out to meet me to shoot some video. There will be a number of hikers included in an episode of Common Ground this winter.


BONUS SECTION: Meeka's Story

Right at the beginning of the day Michelle and I saw a young woman, whose name we learned is Meeka, standing beside the road. She didn't seem to be hitching a ride, but she was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and we weren't sure what she was doing. Well, she had been trying to get a ride home (a few hours away) because she is starting a job tomorrow, and the guy she was riding with just dumped her out and left her. I said maybe we could get her to the next town (I didn't want to volunteer Michelle for a big project). But Michelle took her all the way home.

I'll try not to preach here, but gosh, kids, choose your friends with some care.


Miles today: 15.3. Total miles so far: 3121.9

See Detroit Lakes Fun

Detroit Lakes Fun - Day 265

  I solved TWO real world problems today, but there is still some paperwork to do for those, and a trip to the post office. But they are under control.

The big treat of the day was that I was invited to dinner by Matt and Stacy Davis. Matt is the Regional Trail Coordinator for the NCTA for ND, MN, and WI. Big job! I had not seen their kids since they were small. And somehow Teddy managed to escape this picture, so I can't prove I met them all. But Clara, Will, and Ruthy are there. I thought there would be time for more pictures, but there was not a spare second from 5 till 9 pm.


The program at Detroit Lakes library was well attended, and they seemed to enjoy the presentation.


Now, I need to hit the sack because tomorrow is a hiking day. We will see how many mosquitoes want to join me on the trail.

See Itasca State Park

Itasca State Park - Day 264

  Today, I walked through a really pretty section of the trail. This state park is where the headwaters of the Mississippi are found. However, the actual trail doesn't pass that place. You need to do it as a side trip.


I didn't get to enjoy the park very much though since the mosquitoes were even worse than yesterday, if you can believe it. I thought I was going to have to walk all day without eating my lunch, as it was impossible to stop for even a few seconds without being covered. Every inch of my skin was protected, but they were biting through my shirt all the time, and the pants too, if I stopped.

Other than the mosquitoes, the biggest challenge was crossing this beaver dam!


Stacy Davis had said that there are never mosquitoes near Hernando DeSoto Lake. I was sure hoping she was right.


And today, Stacy gets the win! The campsite was occupied, but the campers must have been taking a side hike because no one was there, so I sat on the log and ate lunch. I even took off the head net! Then I just had 4 miles to go. The skeeters got bad again, so I had to put it back on.


And just for your edification, here is their cache bag. They might as well have left it on the ground. It might be 8 feet from the ground, but it is too close to the tree trunk, too close to the branch it is hanging from, and easy access from the branch just below it. Pretty much any animal that wants to help themselves can do so without even having to work for it. .


And before I got to Itasca, Gardner Lake was pretty.


This was also the day I passed from the previous hike of western Minnesota in 2004 to the hike of central Minnesota in 1997. Western Minnesota is almost all different now, with huge pieces of trail moved off road. And most of the Itasca piece of the 1997 hike we bushwacked. Seriously bushwhacked, with pacing and a compass because at that time, the trail simply disappeared into Hernando DeSoto Lake! (Read "Tales from Paul's Woods" in North Country Cache.)

Tomorrow I give a program at the Detroit Lakes library. 7 pm- if you are in the area. I'll be taking the day off because it's a bit of a drive back there, and I also have to solve a real world problem via phone during business hours.

Miles today: 16.8. Total miles so far: 3106.6.

See Clear Trail

Clear Trail - Day 263

  I did a roadwalk around the section that was so blocked from the other day. From then on, for the rest of the day I had clear trail!


That picture above is also a small part of the Nichols-Chisholm Railroad grade. This was a local logging railroad that was unusual in that it did not connect with any other rail line. It was used to haul timber out of the woods to the Otter Tail River, where it was floated to a mill at Frazee. In its heyday, it employed 500 men.


This is a lobster mushroom, which isn't a mushroom at all. It is a fungus that parasitizes other mushrooms. It alters their form, color and chemistry. It often attacks poisonous Russula mushrooms, but the resulting lobster mushroom is edible! That said, I have never tried one. People who do eat them say they are choice.


The big news of the day was mosquitoes. Today was right up there in the top 4 worst mosquito experiences ever. It's hard to rank them, because there are other factors such as temperature, length of hike, etc. But from newest to oldest the bad ones are: today, Adirondacks 2022, Hiawatha NF 2009, and Chippewa NF 1997. (That's two in Minnesota for a win by the "state bird.")

Let's talk about today. If I stopped or slowed, they just swarmed on my clothes, attempting (and succeeding) in drilling through them, even my pants. I managed to cram down part of my lunch, but then I just had to start moving because I couldn't stand it.

This picture didn't focus, but I think you can get the idea, and I sure wasn't going to take the time to get a better picture. As I walked, the folds in my shirt sleeve filled with 15-20 mosquitoes every couple of minutes. I would do a mass murder event by wiping down my sleeve. Then we would start over.


After I ate lunch, I decided I couldn't even stand to have my hands exposed. However, I've had no luck finding some lightweight gloves that aren't huge. I wore the winter gloves in the Adirondacks, but they are knit and the skeeters just bit right through them. I did have two gallon zipper plastic bags, and I put those on and snugged the zippers around my wrists over the shirt cuffs. My hands were slimy-sweaty the rest of the day, but they were not being bitten.

When I got to the car and took off the bags and the long-sleeved shirt, my wrists and hands (from when they were exposed) were swollen from all the bites. They are back to normal now.

I stopped at a store on the way back to the trailer to get some groceries, and I said, "I am not leaving here without some kind of gloves." So, I have something. They aren't perfect, but they are going to be better than plastic bags.

It would be 100% OK with me if the mosquito population died off a bit. It's nearly the end of August!

Miles today: 15.7. Total miles so far: 3089.8.

See Sunny Moves Along

Sunny Moves Along - Day 262

  Today, Sunny and I moved to a new home. That helps me feel that I've made some progress. I've been well-fed, and gotten acquainted.

Many thanks to my last host in Frazee. Hank is a former mayor, and he is a member of the Laurentian Lakes Chapter of the NCTA. Frazee was the first Minnesota Trail Town.

Other than that, I did a little cleaning of the inside of the trailer. It still looks a bit like a dumpster, but I did sort a lot of stuff. And I did laundry. And I worked on a couple of computer projects.

See Misery Meter in the Red