Greetings from Gunflint Lake! I am sitting here in the great room of the Cross River Lodge watching football as I write this. If it weren’t for the pounding headache that I have, life would be awesome. I’ve had a good day for the most part and I am certainly looking forward to tomorrow.

So this week has been a very busy week for me. This is my second kick at some fieldwork in less than a week. On Tuesday I decided to take the boys with me and walk a bit of the railway near the former village of Flint. I mentioned in my previous post the Flint is a village no more since most of the area has been washed away by the Whitefish River.

We started our hike where Diana Road ends along the river and headed north. It was going to be a 3km round trip, which I thought was well within abilities of the boys. It unfortunately was a cool night, so there was a heavy dew which made everything dripping wet. In areas the grass and vegetation growth was much thicker than I expected, but the boys took it in stride (much to my shock) and were real troopers about it.

When we arrived at our destination, which was a crossing of the river west of Harstone, we spent some time examining the remains of the bridge there. We then headed back and checked out some of the eroded sections of the grade. In one area it there was what appeared to be the remains of a diversion of the river. The engineers diverted the river is several places along this stretch of the railway and this could very well have been one of those locations.

When we passed through Flint we made our way down to the river to see what might still be lurking in the area. We could see some of the remains of the bridge across the river but no traces of the former village. From there we crossed the Silver Creek and finished our little adventure.

So that brings us back to Minnesota. I made the drive down to this very beautiful area today to give a talk at the Chik-Wauk Museum on the railway and the Paulson Mine. I’m sticking around for a few days to do some hiking on Gunflint and hopefully Mother Nature cooperates!

After stopping for some supplies in Grand Marais, I arrived at my “home” for the next few days, the Cross River Lodge. I’m staying in the main lodge and my room is amazing. Even as I sit here on the main floor I’m struck by how well appointed this resort is. What is even better is the hospitality of my hosts, John and Rose Schloot. They have been nothing short of fantastic and the staff is equally wonderful!

The presentation today had the makings of an interesting experience since it was outdoors and I had no technology assistance (other than my tablet for my notes). It was well attended (I didn’t count the number of people) but I’d have to guess there were about 50 people. I managed to stay within the one hour time frame and I fielded many questions about the railway and the mine. I’m looking forward to doing it again at some point in the future!

Following the presentation I returned to the lodge for a bite to eat and then headed out for a bit of exploring along the Gunflint Narrows Road. My main goal was to try to locate the turning wye that was situated just north of the crossing of the Cross River. I had spent a bit of time examining the area on Google Earth and I was pretty convinced that I would easily find this unique feature. Unfortunately as I began to walk it became apparent that I would not find it. I crisscrossed the site many times but I could not see any definitive traces. I guess the wye is where we thought it was all along, obliterated by a gravel pit.

Well, I’m heading off to bed since my head is still pounding and I have a long day tomorrow. I will hiking the eastern end of the lake and let’s hope I don’t get rained on. Then my host John will be taking me to the Gunflint Narrows to look at the railway there and maybe even see something neat!

Until tomorrow…