One of the outstanding natural features of this piece of trail- of the entire NCT- is Magnetic Rock. It's a 60-foot tall monolith that begs the imagination. How did it get there? Well, supposedly as a result of the glaciers. But seriously, why is this one rock standing on end? Maybe aliens dropped it from a spaceship. Maybe Thor hurled it there.
The rock is primarily iron ore, and it makes compasses go nuts. Bill held one near it in several different places. On one side, using the sun to determine the correct location of north, we could see that the rock pulled the compass off by 90 degrees.
Marie is doing the two day hikes with us, and she chose today to celebrate her 100 Mile Challenge. We haven't kept close track of her miles, but she has to be well over 100.
We needed to cross the Cross River on a road bridge, and were a little concerned as we approached, but the bridge is there and we didn't even have to beg to walk through the construction zone. Whew!
After that, we climbed to an overlook above the river. (We also had to hunt a bit for the trail, but Marie found it!)
Marie and Bill above the Cross River.
In the afternoon we were south of Gunflint Lake with some beautiful views. The water in the foreground is Gunflint, and beyond that narrow place (which incidentally is near the Cross River Bridge) is Magnetic Lake.
More day hiking tomorrow with the 3 of us.
Miles today that count: 8.0 (and 0.2 that don't count). Total miles so far: 3537.4.
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4 comments:
What state are you in? Still Minnesota? The upright rocks is amazing!
Interesting rock.
Lulu: "I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens."
Minnesota
Lulu- I think you are right
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