Explore the Northern Wilds
Starting June 30, a group of canoeists will set out on a 350-mile canoe expedition to celebrate the centennials of Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park and Minnesota’s Superior National Forest.
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The Minnesota DNR is looking for volunteers in Itasca, Lake and Cook counties in northeast Minnesota to perform a one-day loon survey this summer.
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You don’t need any special clothing or equipment to fly like a bird at speeds up to 50 mph at Eagle Canyon’s aerial adventure trail, the Zipline.
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There is a time in summer when daylight lingers long into the evening, as if the sun is reluctant to set. It’s a great time to be on the water, fishing for just about anything, but especially for walleyes. The fish have recovered from the spring spawn and are actively feeding on a wealth of aquatic life, from bait fish to insects. In other words, the walleyes are biting.
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North Americans are discovering the ancient practice of labyrinth walking for contemplation, meditation, spiritual renewal, and healing. Labyrinth walking is a walking tradition that goes back thousands of years. In Thunder Bay, as part of its 100th anniversary centennial celebration, St. Paul’s Anglican Church has constructed a classic, 11-circuit labyrinth on the northeast corner of its gardens.
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Eighteen inches of snow at the end of March does something to your psyche. The North Shore was slapped by the sloppy tail of the blizzard that wreaked havoc across the Dakotas last week. The snowing and blowing didn’t let up for two days. When it was over, any modest progress we’d previously made toward spring was buried beneath new snow.
But snow or no, the show that is spring must go on. So, too, must those of us who participate in this crazy, mixed-up season. A couple of days after the storm ended, I went trout fishing. I trudged through knee-deep snow to reach the river, which was low, lined with three-foot-thick shelf ice and partially ice-covered.
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On the first day of March I found a sure sign of spring on a south-facing ridge high above Lake Superior. Cautiously skiing on my Alaskan snowshoes as I made my way down a steep slope, I came upon a spot of bare ground scarcely larger than my hand.
I looked at the dried up leaves and dirt on the ground and knew spring was coming. Sure, we’d get more snow and this patch of ground would be covered up, but as soon as the sun came out, it would return. And every sunny day it would grow, slowly at first and gaining momentum until, weeks later, the whole hillside is free of snow.
The following morning, I watched a raven fly across the highway carrying dried grass for a nest in its beak. These northern birds, the outsized kin of crows, are early nesters. Somehow, they know spring is inevitable, even though blizzards and below zero nights may intervene.
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Andrew and Ann Goldman give a face to Ely through photographs of residents and evocative essays about the people and the region.
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Anglers should be careful attention to the progress of a bill proposing to close state fish hatcheries by 2012 and buy fish for stocking from private suppliers. The bill also proposes closing state nurseries by 2014 and buying seedlings from private nurseries. The lead author of the bill is Rep. Denny McNamara, R-St. Paul, and Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, is a co-author.
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Buck Benson, who lives a few miles east of Grand Marais, had an unusual visitor last week. While home for lunch, he noticed a lynx sitting just outside his basement door. We was able to watch and photograph the animal at close range during the afternoon.
The lynx took up a spot beneath Benson’s deck, where he feeds the birds. Seeds scattered by the birds subsequently attract mice—and the northwoods mouser. Benson twice saw the cat pounce in the snow and capture mice.
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Going about my business in the backyard, I was suddenly surrounded by deer. About a dozen in number, they were all around the yard, though the sunflower seeds scattered beneath the birdfeeders were their likely destination. The deer were intently watching me, but they didn’t appear wary or afraid. One scruffy fawn even approached me. She and the rest of the herd wanted something to eat.
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Driving a dog team, or "mushing" as it is known in the sport, is an activity that many people want to try. Being a child in the 1960’s, I had to wait until young adulthood, when I moved to Alaska, to learn about dog teams and raise and run my own team.
Since that time, there has been a resurgence of interest in dog teams and dog team racing. Viewing dog teams in action, or even reading about dog teams of the North, leads to fantasies of driving your own team through the boreal forest, along crystalline iced-over waterways. Your dog team glides silently across a frozen lake, with only the whisper of the sled runners and gentle pad of the dog’s paws on the hard trail.
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Some people like to get away from it all for a weekend. Brian and Dayna Gallagher are there all of the time. After living on the Gunflint Trail and spending a few years in Alaska, the couple moved to the North Shore woods north of Hovland and started building a dog team.
"We drove back from Alaska with two puppies and a pregnant female, explains Dayna. "In three years we had 21 dogs."
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Lakota, a 15 1/2-year old wolf at the International Wolf Center, was euthanized last Nov. 7. A consultation with the Center’s veterinarian, Dr. Chip Hanson, led to the assessment that Lakota’s metabolic system was declining; she had stopped eating and was unable to deal with ambient conditions. While anti-inflammatory medication provided some relief, her condition continued to decline. Wolves in the wild may live eight to 10 years; captive wolves sometimes live as long as 14 to 16 years.
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Casey, our old yellow Lab, needs to step out a couple of times each night to answer nature’s call. Taking him outside has become my nightly routine. I don’t mind it. In Hovland, we have silent nights and the dark sky sparkles with thousands of stars. While Casey totters about the backyard, I stand there and take it all in.
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This handy pocket-sized book is a great guide to the many historical locations along the Minnesota portion of the North Shore.
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Campers will discover a ton of useful information crammed into this 132-page book.
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Born in 1902, Bill Magie spent much of his life in the Quetico-Superior canoe country and was instrumental in establishing the area as a wilderness. Dave Olesen met him late in life and collected these stories—unvarnished and occasionally stretching the truth—about an era when the canoe country was the realm of Indians, loggers, trappers, surveyors, and others who lived beyond the reach of civilization.
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Our Northern Wilds has in its midst the world’s largest freshwater lake—Lake Superior—yet many northerners have never actually been ‘’on’’ the lake waters. Now thanks to Sail Superior, an afternoon day-tripping can take urban adventurers sailing past the breakwaters and out into the open waters of Lake Superior.
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Luke shouts, "Big wave!"
"What?" I ask, before a frigid wall of Lake Superior smacks me. I snort water out of my nostrils. My rain jacket is now a soaking joke. And we haven’t even started racing.
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