Wisconsin! - Day 325

  First thing this morning, I crossed the "new" bridge at Jay Cooke State Park. This one was built in 2013 after devestating floods in 2012 took out the old one. However, this is actually the 5th swinging bridge in this location. The best known one was first built by the CCC in the 1930s and then repaired and raised several feet higher in 1950. This is my 3rd time here, and the first time I've crossed this particular bridge.

The water in the St Louis River, which the bridge spans, was the lowest I've seen it.

The St Louis River is actually the largest river to drain into Lake Superior. It's 192 miles long and provides connections westward with the Mississippi watershed. But today, with so little water, all the rocky ledges birthed small waterfalls. This geology is clearly volcanic. From what I can learn in a quick search, the glaciers removed the sedimentary rock from the western end of the Lake Superior basin- known as Glacial Lake Duluth- exposing the bedrock.

This makes some sense to me because everything near, but above the river on both sides is clearly glacial moraines and eskers. The soil isn't as sandy as that at home, but the topography of dirt shoved around by big sheets of ice is really familiar. After meandering along and over 8 miles of moraines and eskers, here I finally am. Wisconsin! This is pretty exciting, because most of our state lines have nothing special. However, this is a nice portal. The light wasn't good to pick up the lettering, but it says "Welcome to Wisconsin" on this side and ditto for Minnesota on the other. There is a bench, a trail register, and some other informational signs. I was sure happy to see the NCT emblem again. It's not used on the Border Route or the SHT. (Although since that only became official in 2019, and we are now pretty much past Covid, NCT signage may begin to happen.)

Next section of trail is through MacQuarrie Wetlands. The Brule- St Croix Chapter is actively building trail through that property. I have to say they are doing a superb job. The slopes are expertly graded (even over those glacial deposits- nearly painless hiking!), there is a hiker campsite, good solid bridges, boardwalks are being built, and there is an observation platform in memory of Atley Oswald (an NCT volunteer). I expected this to be largely swampy, and there is some low area and a number of ponds, but it's primarily nice woodland. I heard some trumpeter swans trumpeting.

The leaves are mostly down now- the vistas look more pastel. But there were other things showing bright red color. This is the umbel stalks of gray dogwood. The white berries have mostly been removed by birds, but the remaining stems with sun on them are nice.

OK, this picture was taken a couple of days ago. But I really want to show you. Green moss and a sedum gone red for fall.

And, at that wetland observation deck, there were several beautiful red dragonflies. Probably ruby meadowhawks, but the guidebook says they are so varied the actual number of species isn't even nailed down yet.

There are a ton of things I'm supposed to be doing, but by the time I drive myself around, fix my meals, do even a couple of errands, and blog... I'm beat.
Tomorrow will be mostly roadwalk, but there is one nice treat in the middle. Stay tuned.

Miles today: 16.3. Total miles so far: 3757.5.

See Ely's Peak