Nietzsche once said, “Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.” True, but he must have written that in reference to other people’s forgetfulness, for no one in their right mind would say that when they themselves have forgotten. Most people would have said something akin to “ah, for God sake,” maybe replacing “God” with a few more colourful adjectives for good measure. The reality is folks that forgetting sucks, especially when you think you’ve got it all planned out or you’re a long way from home. Maybe it’s just a sign that you’re getting old or possibly providence telling you to quit while you’re ahead. In any case, it can really dampen anyone’s day or party!

Hey, it’s October kids! I know I have not written in awhile, a long while, two months to be exact, but I’ve been busy. You know the routine already, right? Work, family, football…the usual craziness. It gets faster, busier and more exhausting every year; maybe I am getting too old for this crap. Thankfully some of it is winding down, but that’s a story for another paragraph. My classes are good, but I have larger numbers than I’ve seen in recent years. It makes marking a bit more onerous with all those extra assignments, but I guess that’s why they pay me those big bucks.

So what else is exciting Dave? Well, it wouldn’t be a proper blog post without some gripe about the weather. The weather…sucks! Is that to the point enough? It’s been a crappy year in the regard. It’s been a wet fall, at least in September, especially compared to previous falls. It has been reasonably warm though, until this week that is. It’s amazing how it can turn on a dime; 15C one day and then feeling like -4C the next. They are predicting a cold and snowy winter, so I guess we’ll have to see how that plays out. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as they say. Today was about as miserable as it comes; wet and cold. Areas west of the city got a lot of snow while it just rained here all day. Football practice was fantastic! It’s supposed to turn to snow tonight, so it might be a snowy Halloween for the kids.

Now speaking of football, as usual, it’s my biggest preoccupation of the fall. Things are going well, but I find myself more drained than normal. Probably that getting old thing again. Thankfully I have great coaches around me to ease the burden. Our high school team finished third and is gearing up to play in the semi-finals on Sunday. We are taking on our cross-town rivals, St. Ignatius, and we hope we can avenge a previous loss we suffered to them a few weeks ago. Both Ethan and Noah’s team are in the finals on Saturday, which is very exciting. Unfortunately Noah has not played all season due to a concussion he suffered in the summer so it’s been a tough time for him. But with all the new information out there regarding this issue, it was best to err on the side of caution and take our time getting him back into sports.

As football winds down, something else has jumped into the spotlight in recent weeks. Although it was not that long ago that we were in Europe for our last school excursion, we have already started planning the next one. We will be heading back during March break of 2019 on a tour similar to the ones we’ve done in the past. This one, called from Vimy to Juno, will take us to many of the same places we’ve been before, with the exception of Berlin. I’m very excited to visit a new place to experience some different culture and sights. We met with the students back in September and just had a meeting with parents yesterday. Within the next few weeks they will start enrolling and the real planning can begin. Only 498 days to go!

As has been the case in the last few months, it been pretty quiet on the railway front. I’ve been just so busy that there is, at times, barely enough time to eat and breathe, let alone do any railway work. The lone exception to this was my annual trip to Gunflint was the boys on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. I was very anxious for the opportunity to go, to get away from things for a few days, do some field work and maybe most importantly, spend some time with the boys. Fall is so crazy that I don’t see them as much as I should.

Our adventure started bright and early on Friday morning. As I have done in the past, I took a personal day to extend the weekend a bit and get as much time there as possible. We loaded up the truck and boat, and after a brief stop for some food in Grand Marais, we arrived at the Cross River Lodge by mid-morning. Our room was not ready yet, so we took the opportunity to get the boat in the water and do a little work on the east side of the lake.

It was a gorgeous day, warm with very little wind…probably one of the best fall days I’ve experienced on the lake. My plan was to shoot some video at the narrows between Gunflint and Little Gunflint Lake, something I had wanted to do in the summer but I forgot my wireless microphone. Even though it was a nice day, I had to wade through the water in the channel that separates the two lakes and man was it cold. Talk about waking you up! My oldest, Ethan, joked that he should have recorded me in the water as well, as it was quite hilarious.

While we were in the area, I decided to shoot a little video of the site of the US Customs houses on the US side of the channel. I did make a dumb decision to leave my crocs on while I did it, which was it retrospect a bad call. They were wet from being in the water and I nearly killed myself a half-dozen times while I walked around through the bush, video camera in hand. I guess it added a little excitement to the day!

Gunflint Little Gunflint Narrows, October 2017.

On our way back to the lodge we stopped along the north side of the lake where the PAD&W runs right beside the shore. The blue sky and fall colours made for some fantastic photos, even with my iPhone. I had no idea why I didn’t take out my real camera and take some shots. We spent some time near the spot I call the “Retaining Wall” which contains cribbing work done by the railway engineers 125 years ago. It’s still in amazing shape for its age and I am always fascinated each time I am there. I figured I’d record a bit while I had the camera out and add it to my collection for the day. You can view all the completed videos here, here and here.

Railway grade, Gunflint Lake, October 2017.

Retaining Wall, Gunflint Lake, October 2017.

Gunflint Narrows, October 2017.

Once we were back at the lodge and settled in, my next task was to prepare for the evenings events. If you recall, during my visit the previous year, I was asked to do an impromptu presentation on the railway. Afterwards, I told John and Rose that I would gladly do it again, but this time I would prepare myself a bit more. During my summer visit we discussed the idea and agreed it would be great to do it again. Since I had the opportunity to plan ahead, I decided to do a topic that I had not really spoken about before. A few of my presentations at Gunflint had alluded to John Paulson, the driving figure behind the mining efforts in the area in the early 1890s and the namesake of the Paulson Mine, but I had not elaborated much. With that in mind, I decided to dedicate my whole presentation to this somewhat mysterious man.  

I played to another packed house and the presentation was very well received. I also had a chance to meet some new people and connect with a number of familiar ones. I hope that this topic will form the basis of a lecture I plan to do at the Chik-Wauk Museum in a few years.

Our plan for Saturday morning involved some explorations of the Gunflint and Lake Superior in an area I had visited a few times before. We would ditch the boat for the day as our starting point was more readily accessible by road than by water. We would travel along the Crab Lake Extension of the Border Route Trail to where it intersects Crab and Whisker Lakes to look a few sites in that area. I was really apprehensive about how it would go, since it had been much wetter than in previous years and the ground could potentially be very soggy.

It’s about a 3 kilometre walk to the location, mostly along the south shore of Crab Lake. It was as I feared a bit wet, but better than I had expected. My first task was to trace a section of the railway grade along Whisker Lake, in an area I had missed on several previous visits. That was accomplished without much trouble, at which point I directed my attention to the grade along the east side of Crab Lake. In this case I was thwarted a bit by the water level on the lake, but I did make a few important discoveries. Our day was concluded by a nice meal at the Gunflint Lodge and a some down time back at Cross River.

Border Route Trail, October 2017.

Whisker Lake, October 2017.

Cylinder?, October 2017.

Pocket knife, October 2017.

Border Route Trail, October 2017.

Sunset, Gunflint Lake, October 2017.

Sunset, Gunflint Lake, October 2017.

Sunday took us back on the lake and to an area we had visited many times before. The calm waters of Friday were gone and it was quite a bumpy ride with the westerly wind blowing down the length of the lake. Having to reduce our speed made the journey a tad bit longer, but soon enough we were heading south on the trail toward Bridal Falls. The agenda for the day was to investigate a possible bridge spanning the Crab River where it is fed by the waters from Crab Lake. During my presentation at the Chik-Wauk Museum in the summer, a local resident had mentioned the possibility to me and I was determined to see if it was in fact true.

Like the previous day, I was concerned about the water levels near the railway grade as it winds it way southward from the falls to Crab Lake. As it turns out, where I thought it would be wet was dry and vice versa. I had noticed last year that it appeared as though a beaver had constructed a dam where a portion of the river widens into a small lake about 200 metres north of Crab Lake. That turned out to be true and it was a bit challenging trying to make our way around the lake., but once past there it was fine and we proceeded to the mouth of the river.

It was a bit challenging trying to get across the river as a beaver had built yet another dam at the mouth, and that was my first clue that the “bridge” may not have been what it appeared. Walking across the dam and examining the area around it I found no evidence that there was a bridge spanning the river, just the dam and a number of fallen logs. On the west side of the river, I swept the shoreline for approximately 100 metres and found no traces of a railway line, just some old beer cans. I guess that put that idea to rest, but I should have taken a photo of the phantom “bridge.”

With that part of the day done and feeling somewhat deflated at not finding any bridge remains, I decided to lift my spirits by shooting some video at the site of the former corduroy trestle that ran alongside Bridal falls. When we arrived there I began to unpack my gear and set the camera up to prepare to record. It was at that point I realized that I had left the wireless microphone on during Friday’s shooting and the battery was now dead. After scouring my tactical vest for a spare battery (I have a number of AA batteries for the GPS, but not a single AAA battery needed for the microphone) I proceeded to verbally berate myself for a) leaving the microphone on and b) failing to bring a spare battery. I had contemplated it before we left the lodge, but I figured I would only need the system for a few minutes and therefore not need a spare. Dummy! I have since placed several extra AAA batteries in my vest beside those AA ones so it does not happen again. To ease yet another disappointment, I took some time to take photos of Bridal Falls.

Mystery object, October 2017.

Bridal Falls, October 2017.

Bridal Falls, October 2017.

Bridal Falls, October 2017.

It’s always sad when I have to leave Gunflint as I really enjoy visiting there. I guess I’ll have to wait until May to get back. Hopefully my next trip will be more productive from a railway standpoint, but I think any time I get there it’s good for my stress levels. Next year’s plans involve more exploration of the Gunflint and Lake Superior, and in particular Camp 8. In the meantime, I’ll have more time to do some writing on my book when football is over. Hopefully I can get most of it done and just work on some of the loose ends once I get more field work done.

Anyway, I’ve babbled on too long so it’s time to get moving. I’ll be back soon, hopefully sooner than these last two posts. I’m sure there will be a lot to talk about in the next little while. Until then…