In my previous report about canoeing in Woodland Caribou, I had mentioned making some life changing decisions. I went ahead with those changes, and after working on my degree 50+ hours and 7 days a week, I decided to reward myself with a short backpacking trip on the historic Grand Portage in northern Minnesota.
I drove up to Judge CR Magney State Park on June 8. A beautiful drive and refreshingly cool as I watched the thermometer in my car fall from near 80° outside Duluth to 60° just past Gooseberry Falls and into the 40°'s at Grand Marais. On the approach to Grand Marais, I spotted 2 eagles scanning the road from their perch and snapped a quick photo.
I had so far been unable to locate a decent map of the trail, so I made a quick stop at Lake Superior Outfitters in Grand Marais where I scored a couple topo maps of the trail. It was apparent the maps had been in their stock for some time. I hit Magney SP early evening and set up my hammock for the night before a quick hike up to the Devils Kettle falls.
The Devils Kettle falls are a unique waterfall on the Brule River just a bit over a mile hike from the state park campground. Most of the time the falls split in two halves. The east half of the falls lands below and flows another 1.5 miles to Lake Superior. The western half of the falls spills into a hole in the rock about half way down the falls and goes... well, no one knows where. I say most of the time however, as I have hiked to the falls a good half dozen times and every time has been either during spring melt or too soon after a good rain shower. Every single time I have visited the falls they have been flowing so fast that the mysterious hole has been covered by a torrent of water.
The hike may only be a mile, but be prepared to climb some stairs!
I pulled up to the Grand Portage Monument headquarters promptly at 8a.m. and exchanged greetings with a Park Service Ranger. He told me to keep an eye open on the trail because "Every time I run the trail" he said "I either see a bear of bear sign." Great.
And so it was with my senses on high alert, I hit the trail
It quickly became apparent that I had chosen a less than ideal time to hike the trail. Recent rains had made the trail a muddy mess in many places. This was a particular hazard on the sometimes steep hills where the mud was extremely slippery. My thoughts at that point were on the poor canoeist portaging the trail, and wondering how many twisted ankles the trail sees every year. I was also amazed to see wheel tracks in the mud and thought perhaps someone had tried to ride a mountain bike on the trail. Given the state of the trail, this would be a bad idea.
The Park Service has placed boards along places that are swampy or where little streams cross the trail. The water was high enough that in a few places the water was running over the boards. It was also evident that several trail improvements were being worked on this season as trail conditions have changed over time. In several places along the trail boards were waiting alongside the trail for installation.
There were about a half dozen downed trees across the trail, only one presented a navigational issue, and a second decided to strike out at me with a stray branch as a crossed over.
I had been hiking for about three hours, and the mud made it apparent that there was someone ahead of me on the trail. I was not surprised when I rounded a bend and saw a canoe resting against a tree ahead of me. I was a bit surprised to see the portagers locked in an embrace beneath the canoe. (Although I suspect they were more surprised than I). I was taking a breath so I could announce my presence from a respectable distance when I inhaled a bug and instead of shouting a greeting I found myself having a horrible coughing fit as I approached the canoe couple. They had recovered from the surprise, and I had recovered from my coughing fit by the time I reached them on the trail. I stopped briefly and we exchanged greetings. They were obviously working hard on the portage, but in good spirits and seemingly good health, so I quickly passed on and told them I would see them at Fort Charlotte.
A short time later I came to the Beaver Pond. The Beaver Pond is a quarter mile of trail on a rickety old bridge that will strike fear into the most stout of heart. The good news is that as I crossed over I met park service staff that were begining the replacement of the 30 year old walkway.
I arrived at the Fort Charlotte campsites at just a bit after noon. I took a bit of time to get the lay of the land, snacked on some gorp, refilled my water from the Pigeon River, and sat and watched a flock of Blue Jays across the river. I had a fair amount of time to kill, so I took my time setting up the hammock and collecting firewood.
I had read up on Fort Charlotte before my trip, so I knew that the trail had recently been diverted to avoid the historic landing and sites of the Northwest Company and XY Company posts. After setting up camp I set out to do some exploring. The old trails (with some help from the park service) have grown over quickly however, and I decided to turn back and enjoy a peaceful afternoon nap in my hammock.
Around dinner time, the canoeists made it to the other campsite at Fort Charlotte. They came by for a short social hour where we swapped a few canoeing stories and then they were off for an early bedtime. Rain came at about 8, and I retired early myself.
Up early the next morning, I hit the trail by 6:30 to head back. The rains had a definite impact on the trail and it was far muddier than the day before. About 100 yards up the trail from the campsite I spotted bear tracks in the fresh mud, and I was following behind Yogi. I followed the bear tracks for a good half mile or more when I came upon fresh bear "sign" (a polite term for poo). I had passed several deposits from bear and wolf along the trail the day before, there was no mistake that this was fresh.
The mud made for the best wildlife observations. I could see that at least 2 bears, 1 wolf and more than a couple moose had used the trail between my passing the day before and my return trip. One moose used the trail for quite some time, and it was a great help to see where he/she had slipped in the mud on slopes so I could avoid a similar problem. The only animals I actually encountered on the trail were a couple of ticked off red squirrels and one grouse that scared the heck out of me when she jumped out of the grasses all puffed up and hissing!
As I said before, this is a historic trail, not a particularly scenic one. Yes, the woods are great, but for scenery so many nearby trails offer everything this trail does and so much more. When I do it again, I will probably go back with a light day pack and carry water, lunch and some emergency supplies and just hike in and out in a single day. I would hate to be portaging a canoe in this trail, and not just because of the 8.5 mile distance... It has some very nasty spots for a heavily loaded portage.
Bugs? Not too bad (that being a relative assessment). My picadarin based bug spray lasted precisely 1 hour between sprays. The only time I was overwhelmed by mosquitoes was changing clothes under my tarp during the rain. I encountered a swarm of black flies during a rest at Old Hwy 61. The black flies attacked my navy blue backpack and left me alone however.
The trail needs, and is getting, some maintenance. Yes, I have been on far rougher trail in the BWCA, but they are not usually so washed out as this one is.
One disappointment would be the inaccurate signage from the Park Service. Nothing that would cause a safety or navigational issue though. Two examples would be 1) the trail length at both ends is listed as 8.5 miles. The distance given from the fur post to Old Hwy 61 is 3.7 miles, and from Fort Charlotte to Old Hwy 61 is given as 4.0 miles. It is about 80 yards crossing the road at Old Hwy 61, leaving a mysterious 8/10 of a mile missing somewhere. 2) at Old Hwy 61 heading to Fort Charlotte the sign gives mileage to the next road crossing and is off by 2 or 3 miles. Like I said, not a safety concern, and there is little chance of losing the trail anywhere along the way... just wondering why they are so inaccurate.
Being a bit of a history buff, I enjoyed the experience. I've always wanted to hike the Grand Portage, and with my measly 40 pound pack, a maintained trail, and better bug control through chemicals, it was challenging enough. I can't imagine what it must have been like lugging 100Lb packs across in the 17-1800s!
For one that has traveled a few trails in Northern Minnesota, it is a decent one to add to the list. If you only get to choose one trail however, this is not the one. Go hit the Superior Hiking Trail or the Border Route Trail instead. If you are a canoeist, think twice before portaging this trail. I understand the desire to do the Voyageur route, but this trail is a challenging portage.
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