Tom Rukavina Bridge - Day 280

  The Tom Rukavina bridge and this route is totally new since I was here last. You can see the bridge beyond the chain link fence, but I couldn't get high enough to get the fence out of the picture.


It seems that the old route for the highway was on mining company land, and they wanted to mine it. This bridge-- 1132 feet long, and 200 feet high-- is the result. It carries the new route 53, the Mesabi Trail and an ATV trail across the Rouchleau Mine pit. It is named for a Minnesota Representative who came from the Iron Range. A sign says, "Tom Rukavina lived a big life for big reasons and this big bridge stands in his name."


The pit is 3 miles long and a half mile wide. It's 450 feet deep, making it one of the deepest mines in the range. You can really see the line where they hit limestone instead of ore. I don't know why they went deeper unless maybe they thought the limestone was just going to be a layer they could dig through.


Look down near the bottom. Isn't that one of the doors to Middle Earth?


Today we said goodbye to Julie and Doug, aided by darling Josie. They were great hosts, feeding us lots of garden goodies.


Tonight we are at a campground, and it is really near where I start hiking tomorrow so I can get started early. Today, we got a late start and had to drive a long way. This meant that I ended up hiking in the hot part of the day, and it did get warm enough to make me feel droopy. Marie stopped with cold drinks a couple of times along the way. I really appreciated it! Pasties (yes, with rutabaga) for dinner from a local shop.


Several cute laser-cut signs had been placed along the trail. I like this one.


Miles today: 15.5. Total miles so far: 3322.4.

See Mountain Iron