From the deepest canyon to the highest mountain - or the things we will do for pizza!
Posted by Zach Johns on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 Under: Hiking
Fact: Sven and Ole’s in Grand Marais makes the most delicious pizza on the planet. Period. Without a doubt. No questions asked.
Well…now that I think about it…perhaps it’s possible that it might not be as awesome as I think it is. The truth is, the only time I ever eat there is after a week of paddling the Boundary Waters or a 50 mile backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail or some other exhausting activity after which even shoe leather would taste like filet minion.
Take for instance last week’s adventure which started in Minnesota’s deepest canyon, made its way to its highest mountain, and ended with three pizza-faced grins.
My boys, Nick and Jackson, and I began our journey Tuesday afternoon at the Superior Hiking Trail’s Pincushion Mountain Trailhead just off the Gunflint Trail. Pincushion is a true adventure hub featuring a fantastic trail system for hiking, mountain biking and cross country skiing.
As we hiked, we were treated to an abundance of raspberries from the side of the trail (Mmm … Nature’s bounty…).
About two miles down the trail we came to Pincushion Mountain itself. A spur trail led us to a sweeping vista overlooking the Sawtooth Mountains, and, as big as life itself, Lake Superior.
Superior can take your breath away from anywhere on its shoreline, but I REALLY enjoy it from the Grand Marais area because it’s far enough north that you can’t see Wisconsin or Michigan anymore. Without a shore on the other side, no matter how faint, you can truly appreciate how enormous the greatest of lakes actually is.
After resting on Pincushion’s summit for a bit, we descended into the Devil Track River valley. The canyon is so steep we could hear the roar of the river from high above. Straight down we went, almost to the rushing river, then a bit upstream to the campsite located where the Superior Hiking Trail crosses on an A-frame bridge.
Now, in the interest of being truthful, we weren’t camped in the EXACT deepest point in the deepest canyon in Minnesota - that’s a bit downstream. - but it was very dark down there. The steep walls didn’t let much direct sunlight in.
Even though we were only two and a half miles from our car, the canyon felt very remote. We attended to our camp chores, put up the tent, made supper, purified some water, then hung the food bag off the bridge and climbed down to enjoy the cascades.
Now, there are a lot of great campsites on the Superior Hiking Trail, but my favorites are next to rushing rivers. There’s nothing more relaxing than falling asleep to the sound of roaring water. So as the forest began to darken (we had no idea of when the sun had actually set) we retired to the tent, read a couple chapters of The Hobbit and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning was the start of our BIG day. We woke fairly early and the boys raced to the bridge to grab the food bag for some breakfast. A couple of ClifBars and swigs of water had us fueled. Gear was loaded into our packs, straps tightened, and off we went.
There was almost a sense of dread as we walked along the river, glowing beautifully in the morning light. Then the climb began. Then it was over.
It’s amazing what fresh legs can do!
Sure it was steep and pretty long, but we ran up it like pros, even with our heavy packs. Heck, Eagle Mountain was going to be a piece of cake.
After stopping at Cascade River State Park to secure a campsite (we wanted a nice, easy spot to crash after the day’s adventure) we drove to the Eagle Mountain trailhead.
There were quite a few cars in the lot, many with license plates from far-off states such as Virginia and California.
"High Pointers” from all over the country flock to Eagle in their quest to climb all 50 state high points. After filling-out our wilderness permit (since it is located in the BWCA all climbers must possess a permit which is available for free at the trailhead) we hit the trail.
All guidebooks and Forest Service literature suggest wearing heavy-soled footwear because of the rocky, root-covered terrain. I recommend taking that advice - much of it is like hiking over a dry stream bed.
After nearly three miles of pretty dense forest, we came to Whale Lake, located near the foot of Eagle. It felt so good to soak our feet and cool our heads in the lovely water before the big climb.
After the break, we laced-up our boots, shouldered our packs and began the ascent. It wasn’t super-steep, I think the excitement of hitting the high point gave us extra energy.
Soon we reached a spectacular vista of pristine forest as far as the eye could see. It’s very rare in this day and age to find a place where you can have such a big view and no sign of human development. What a privilege.
Another hundred yards or so brought us to another outcropping with several deep blue lakes below. The waters of the BWCA - just breath-taking!
We finally had to pull ourselves away from the vistas and hike a bit into the woods to the true high point of Minnesota which was commemorated by a large plaque on a boulder. We posed for a few triumphant photos, then began our descent, spurred-on by the thought of hot pizza back in civilization.
The return trip to the car seemed to fly by, and we were in Grand Marais before we knew it. A thick crust cheese for the boys and my thin crust “Meatzah” were set before us and we dug-in celebrating our big canyon to summit day. The pizza was amazing as always and within an hour the three of us were snoring in our tent by the Cascade River.
No Hobbit that night. Our feet were sore, our faces were covered in dried sweat, but our stomachs were full and content.
So were our souls from a great day in the wilderness.
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In : Hiking
Tags: "grand marais" "north shore" bwcaw "boundary waters canoe area wilderness" "lake superior" pincushion mountain "devil track river valley" biking skiing canyon minnesota peak "cascade river state park" "eagle mountain"
Zach Johns is an alpine skier, backpacker, paddler and all-around nature lover who lives on Minnesota‘s Iron Range. Originally from Osceola, Wis., Johns attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth so he could ski every day and be close to the trails of his beloved North Shore. There, he earned a degree in Communication and was editor of the student newspaper. However, the real education he gained at UMD was in honing his outdoor skills. He took courses in subjects such as backpacking, winter camping, rock climbing and canoe tripping. By the time he graduated, that was all he wanted to do. In January of 1997, he moved to the Range where he met a group of die-hard skiers dedicated to making turns at Giants Ridge every single day of the winter (when they weren’t out skiing the big mountains of the west.) Throughout the late nineties he built a very impressive ski resume, taking several trips to Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, British Columbia and Alaska. During the off-season, he took to the hiking trails. In 1997, he hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail during the single season (what had been completed until that time) and in following years, took trips to Yosemite, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. He also made two attempts to climb King’s Peak, the highest mountain in Utah, but failed to summit both times. In 1999, he attempted the infamous 43-mile Kekekabic Trail through the heart of the BWCA and limped out after only ten miles with a hernia. He did finally complete the Kek in 2005, during one of the hottest weeks on record. Besides hiking, he also continued dabbling with paddling, making several canoe trips to the BWCA and became an enthusiastic (yet very novice) whitewater kayaker. He is now a father of two sons, Nick and Jackson, who accompany their father on nearly all his adventures. Both were skiing fairly soon after they could stand and from 2006-2011, the three hiked in every state park in Minnesota, 195 miles of hiking in 65 parks. Since becoming a dad, Johns has suddenly realized that you can’t just be out there skiing, hiking, paddling, etc. without also working to protect the very things you love. With that in mind, he founded an adventure club at work to get co-workers outside who might not otherwise be inspired to go. The club has gone on hiking, paddling, winter camping and cycling trips and annually go on a trash pick-up hike to celebrate Earth Day. He believes that once you get people out into beautiful wild places, the more likely they will be to protect them. He has also done a lot of volunteer work for the Superior Hiking Trail Association including adopting a backcountry campsite which he and the boys maintain twice a year. It is of extreme importance, he believes, to introduce children to the outdoors early. Not only is it good for them, but they will be the ones protecting these places once we are gone. Future plans? There are a few local goals to check-off including hiking the Border Route Trail in the BWCA and Isle Royale. Mostly, it’s just to take the boys hiking and camping in more of our national parks, skiing the big western mountains, and more of their usual seasonal cycle: Giants Ridge in the winter, Superior’s North Shore in the spring, South Shore in the summer and back to the North Shore in the fall.
