Loon Lake Tales

Each year three of my close friends come up from Duluth for a boys' weekend. We ski, snowshoe, hike whatever the weather allows. This year we hiked over to Bridal Falls which is located between Crab and Gunflint lakes. It was a great day. Weather was just right -- not too cold. It is about a 2 mile hike from the Lodge. Lots of wolf tracks and other signs of wolf activities. The Falls were great but the most amazing thing was the smoke. The area was burned in the Ham Lake May 2007 fire and it is still smoking! Water had been pumped onto the area during the summer of 07 but to no avail. The fire had burned down deep into the duff. Then last March the Forest Service planted dynamite and blew up sections of the area in an attempt to put the fire out but again to no avail. The picture shows the area that was blown up but the smoke is hard to see.

We also spent a day snowshoeing around the area. The conditions were tough. Even with snowshoes we had a hard time in the deep snow. We followed the creek coming from Little Iron to an area where it merges with a creek from Little Mayhew. It then flows into Loon Lake. It is a beautiful area that few people see. I think we will make a trail into the area for summer hiking.

Lots of freezing rain in the area as of late. Spring must be coming soon.