Today it feels like we skipped fall all together and went right into winter.  The temperature got down to 22 degrees last night and my house is finger freezing cold.  That’s when you’re typing and your fingers get so cold you can barely find the right keys any longer.  The same thing happened when I was a kid practicing piano in our basement or was it just because I wasn’t any good at playing piano?  In any case it’s really cold out right now.

     The good news is it is supposed to warm up into the 50’s today.  The winds are only predicted to be mild and it looks like a great day to paddle.  The kids are home from school today so we may just take the canoe out for a ride.  The school schedules half-days every once in awhile and I can’t see making them ride the bus for 3 hours for 4 hours of school time.  We’ll learn something up here at the end of the Gunflint Trail today instead.

     I’ve already learned a few things this morning and the day has just begun.  Checking up on fall colors I found a new way to determine when it is going to snow.  The USFS Gunflint Ranger District had this posted online along with a photo this morning.

Another indicator is the condition of the Fireweed wildflowers.   I’ve heard that people used these flowers to predict when it will be time to start moving the fragile things indoors and when the first killing frost may occur. Watch the progression of blooming of the flowers on the stalks. When the last couple rows of buds begin to bloom at the top of the stalk, begin counting TEN DAYS from that date. You will find that the first frost for your local area will occur within a day or so of that predicted date.   Now that most of us have had a frost, we can’t check that prediction, but here’s another.  Once the Fireweed wildflowers have “feathered” out to the very top of the plant, winter (or snow) is six weeks away.

     The USFS also has an Air Quality website with a webcam of the Boundary Waters.  This is kind of neat to see along with their Fall color report..  There’s lots to learn and see if a person has time.  Unfortunately my typing time is up, my fingers are frozen!

     The wind pounded Northeastern Minnesota yesterday and well into the night.  Winds gusted up to 35 mph on the Gunflint Trail while down in town it had to have been even more.  Whitecaps could be seen everywhere with 2-3 foot rollers in the Grand Marais Safe Harbor.  A boat blew off of our neighbors dock and into the water and anything that wasn’t tied down was airborne.  What a site to see. 

     Trees were blown down all over the County cutting off electrical service to many residents and businesses in and around Grand Marais. We decided to spend the evening in Grand Marais last night since we had the Subaru and no chainsaw for the drive up the Gunflint Trail.  We were also convinced we wouldn’t have electricity up the Trail but ended up having as long of an outage in Grand Marais.  It was a short one, less than an hour, but it had everyone in town scrambling.

     Today clean up continues and electrical crews are out trying to restore power to the over 1000 customers still without it.  The temperature is cool along the shore about 44 degrees and up the Trail it is in the 30’s.  Brrrr.  That will probably affect our average high temperature for the month of September!

     The good thing is there are still leaves on the trees.  We thought they might all get blown off or all of the trees would topple over!   Our colors along the North Shore are slower to turn this year and the best is yet to come.  Come up for a visit, just hold onto your hats!

     It started with a spot here and there about one mile from the Dome.  Then as we got closer it was like an ocean of purple with waves on every sidewalk and every street. You couldn’t look in any direction without seeing purple and lots of it.  Talk about Purple Pride, it was absolutely amazing to see so many people showing their support for the Vikings.

     And how about those Vikings?  And what about Brett Favre! I just wonder why they waited for the last two minutes of the game to let him strut his stuff.  What an awesome football game to attend.  I know I was complaining yesterday about being in a concrete wilderness and feeling like a fish out of water.  But I feel like I fit in a little better now wearing my new purple Favre jersey.

     I’ve left my lovely northwoods for a completely different wilderness experience.  It is a strange place where instead of pine trees towering in the sky there are hotels and office buildings blocking out the sun.  Instead of rushing around inside of buildings to get outdoors like when guests are at Voyageur  people rush around outside hurrying to get inside.  Instead of a meal around a BWCA campfire or by a lake I had dinner in a restaurant inside of another building, needless to say, there were no windows with a view.  It’s a very scary place to be and I wonder how people can live in this concrete wilderness called the Cities.

     We’re in the Twin Cities to see Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings play football in the dome.  Not my first choice of things to do on a September weekend but it’s part of the give 110% to your spouse thing.  Last night we had dinner with friends inside the Mall of America at the Twin Cities Grill.  While they have the most delicious parmesan crusted tenderloins you’ll ever taste the subterranean feel of the restaurant makes me feel like the walls and ceiling may collapse on me at any given time.  But then again, the entire Mega Mall idea and that many people inside of the same building tends to freak me out.  Therefore around noon today I will be really uncomfortable inside of an air filled dome with who knows how many people.  Wilderness solitude it won’t be but a sold out crowd to see Brett Favre in purple will indeed be wild.

     Before I become trapped indoors for the day I am going to go outside and enjoy some familiar territory.  We stay near the airport and the Minnesota River.  There’s a great trail through some marsh and along the river that makes me feel more like I’m at home.  When I block out the bridges with traffic and planes taking off and landing I can actually relax and forget about the concrete jungle that surrounds me.  

     By tomorrow I will be back in my natural habitat of woods and lakes and be comfortable once again. Until then I’ll try not to get lost or get too scared by the strange noises I hear in this concrete wilderness of the Twin Cities. 

     Tired of searching through pages of our website or blog looking for that one piece of information you can’t remember where it was? I was but no longer will be with the Google Site Search tool on both the blog and the Voyageur Site.  You can now enter a search term and Google will find results from both of the websites.  I think it’s awesome so be sure to try it out and tell me what you think.

     Be sure to enjoy this first weekend of Fall!

     When I go walking on a beach I usually don’t get very far.  I don’t get much exercise either because I spend most of my time bending over to pick up interesting looking shells.  By interesting I mean pretty much any shell  since each one is as unique as a snowflake and looks interesting to me.  It’s very similar to when I walk along the Gunflint Trail this time of the year.

     Litter has a way of finding its place along our Scenic Byway.  After an entire summer of fishing guides pulling their boats, construction crews with their pick-up trucks without toppers, businesses hauling garbage and a few naughty people there’s garbage everywhere you look. 

     Don’t get me wrong.  The Gunfint Trail is probably one of the cleanest roads you will ever travel and to the person driving by in a vehicle most of this garbage goes by unnoticed.  But to me, walking along the Trail, or even driving, trash has a way of jumping out at me(I hope there isn’t a deeper meaning to that). 

     The litter on the Trail is like shells on a beach to me.  I can’t seem to walk past it without picking it up.  The majority of the trash is empty bait containers, bailers, fishing line, ice bags and tackle wrappers that have flown out of boats that weren’t cleaned out before leaving the landing.  Then there are the numerous empty plastic bottles that probably flew out of someone’s boat or vehicle.  Lots of pieces of scrap lumber, flattened down cardboard and small pieces of paper are also found.  A hubcap, empty gas can, baseball cap and other miscellaneous items appear as well.

     All of this litter has a way of interfering with my walk since I am continually stopping to bend over to pick the garbage up.  I never bring along a bag because I think I will be able to resist the temptation to pick it up if I don’t have an easy way to carry it.  I find myself putting dirty socks, cigarette butts, soggy coffee filters and other nasty things in my pockets only to remember them much later(Usually after they have been through the washing machine). 

     When I come home from my walk I sometimes receive quizzical looks.  Scrap metal, trailer hitches and rusted out barrels have ended up coming home with me.  I have no clue how many pounds of garbage I pick up but I know it must be alot.

     What I am looking for are blinders or a no care attitude.  I’m thinking I’ll have better luck finding blinders but it might be difficult.  They would need to block my vision so I wouldn’t be able to see down or to the side.  The only problem I "see" with that is then I won’t have as many things to blog about.  For with blinders on I would no longer be able to see the bear poop or the tar on the Gunflint Trail.

     I can’t think of a better way to spend the summer than being out in the canoe country.  I know I live close to the Boundary Waters and Quetico Park but there’s a difference between that and actually being in the woods.  I’m not dreaming of being on a portage crew either, that’s too much work.  But the job I wish I had was that of Layne Kennedy.

     Layne Kennedy is a professional photographer who is working on a new book about the canoe country.  He has been out paddling and camping in the BWCA and Quetico almost all summer long.  His work involves taking pictures.  WOW, isn’t that a job so many of us dream about having?  I love taking pictures and I love the wilderness and I would love his job.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job too, but I think I would love his even more.  

     If you want to find out more about his "job" then be sure to check out his website.  There’s a sampling of great photographs to look at too.  Now if I can just find a publisher who wants me to make a book about the canoe country wilderness…

     Sometimes your best experiences are the ones that happen on the spur of the moment.  It seems like you can make plans far in advance only to have something else come up at the last minute.  Planning a day to go for a paddle can be like that especially if the wind doesn’t cooperate.  Sometimes it makes sense just to grab your gear and go.

     I know not everyone is as lucky as I am and can’t just head out into the wilderness on a whim.  But most people have somewhere they can go to spend time in the great outdoors even if it’s only for an hour.  I used to think I needed to have at least 3 hours to go paddling or fishing but now I realize even an hour on the water can benefit me greatly. 

     The other day, every day this month except for yesterday, was gorgeous outside.  I had the need to go for a paddle.  I also had to be in town so I got a kayak loaded onto my vehicle, grabbed my fishing pole and headed out a little early.  I stopped at one of the lakes along the Gunflint Trail that I had never been on(imagine that!) and went for a quick paddle around the lake.  It was absolutely awesome!  Back at the landing I took a quick dip, loaded the kayak and headed to town.

     I got to town late, but I’ll blame that on the road construction not the paddling or the loading of the kayak.  But what a wonderful thing to just grab my kayak and go.

     We’ve been seeing lots of blue around Voyageur lately; the sky, the lakes and more importantly blueberries.  I can honestly say I have never had a Voyageur Crew as obsessed with blueberries as this year’s.  In fact, I can barely think of past crew members that even enjoyed picking them.  Maybe this year’s crew doesn’t even enjoy picking them, maybe they did at first, but I think it has crossed the line from enjoyment to an obsession.

     The word obsession may be a little bit harsh but I haven’t ever seen as many blueberries picked as this year.  Adam, aka Bluebeard can pick six gallon bags full in less than an hour!  I’m not sure how fast Ian or Irwin are but I bet they are close.  I feel like a loser when I come back to the truck with less than a gallon in the same amount of time.  It isn’t so much the fact they are picking the blueberries it’s what they are doing with them afterwards.

     One day I walked into the kitchen to find Adam up to his elbows in blueberries, literally.  He was squishing them with his hands before spreading them out onto a pan to dry into fruit leather.  This was after I asked him not to use my brand new blender and major kilowatts of electricity.  I walked into the kitchen after listening to the blender for over an hour from him zapping and blending the berries into a fine puree before pouring them onto the pans.  Before long every one of my sheet pans was covered in blue and sitting outside in the sunshine.  Once the earth around Voyageur was covered in blue the pilot lights in my ovens became dryers too.  Unfortunately I didn’t always realize there were berries in the oven before cranking the heat up to bake something, oops.

     I’m guessing this blue frenzy will be over very soon.  I can’t imagine there are many more blueberries out there to be picked.  If there are then I know who will be out there, unless they’re too busy looking for wild rice. 

     I wish I could quit ranting and raving about this incredible weather we’ve been experiencing on the Gunflint Trail but I just can’t.  It has been absolutely wonderful the entire month of September and this week’s forecast looks just as good.  The daytime temperatures have been in the 70’s with lows only down into the 40’s at night.  The wind has been almost non-existent and has made paddling the Boundary Waters and Quetico Park incredibly awesome.  When the weather is this nice it’s very difficult for me not to be out paddling. 

     If it’s sunny and calm then I want to be out on the lake.  Needless to say I have wanted to be out on the lake all month long.  When the wind is blowing or it’s raining then I prefer to be in the woods hiking.  A friend asked if I wanted to go for a hike the other day and she’s accustomed to me saying yes.  When I replied, "Heck No!" I think she was a bit shocked.  I had to explain my philosophy of paddling when it’s nice and calm to her and then she understood.  We went paddling and we’ll go hiking when it’s too windy to paddle.

     The grouse hunting season is now open on the Gunflint Trail.  Pick up trucks packed with four-wheelers could be seen driving up the Trail and on many of the side roads.  I read a book once where the author referred to grouse as a fool bird.  If you’ve ever seen one in the wild then you know why.  They sometimes like to sit in the middle of the road, absolutely still, hoping you won’t notice they are there.  Other times grouse will just fly right into the side of your car.  Hence the name fool bird I guess.  We saw some grouse on the portages when we took our day trip on Saturday and I saw one when I was walking on our road yesterday.  Not sure how the hunters fared.

     Anyway I guess that’s enough for today already.  Happy Monday everyone, I hope you get out and enjoy this wonderful weather.