My Boy's back in town!

We left for camp on Saturday morning at 5. little boy snoozed a bit, I drank a lot of coffee. We stopped for donuts in Grand Marais and headed up the Gunflint Trail.

Big Boy's group was the first into camp just after 2. The ever-exuberant engages had told the parents sitting on the kitchen dock to "hide" and "don't make any noise." Contrary to our previous parental experiences at camp, this was (yes, now I'm Yoda). The boys waved at us as they passed by on the pontoon and they looked a little confused as to why we parents weren't snapping pictures and hooting and hollering.

We all headed up to the dining hall to await our boys. little boy was across the lake on a long run and I wasn't sure when he was going to get back. The Copperminers came up the stairs, looking dazed and confused and although Taylor's mom hugged Big Boy before I did, I didn't take her out at the knees or anything. We chatted for awhile and looked at the map in the dining hall and ate the best kettle corn I've ever had and then little boy was there and oh, Big Boy had a beard (much better than last year's). Then the Copperminers were off to get checked out by the nurse and sauna and get cleaned up for the banquet at 6. The food was excellent and the four groups who'd been out on long trips and their associated families all went down to the point for a bonfire and end of camp skits that each group puts on. After that, back up to the dining hall for more stories about their adventures. I managed to stay awake for both boys' groups stores, but I was falling asleep during the first girls' group stories and I knew there'd be no way I would be anything but unconscious for the last girls' group story. So, I headed up to bed as discreetly as possible. Good thing my headlamp worked this time. There was more than a half moon, but wow it's dark up there. I stopped for a bit on a bench and watched the sky for a little while, until I started falling asleep again. Then I headed up to the cabin and fell asleep. At least until the other 19 people I shared the cabin with came in and every single one of them let the screen door slam.

Next morning, we had breakfast and lots of coffee, the best scones I've had in quite awhile. little boy had been an honorary engage for the evening, so he'd ended up staying awake for 23 hours and then getting 4 or so hours of sleep. Big Boy hadn't fared much better, the long trippers shared pictures and stories until after 1:30am. Long good byes were said, but we stayed back until after lunch. Big Boy took me on a short paddle (with a short paddle, there are 15 groups out and equipment supply is low!) to one end of Bearskin Lake and back to camp. We finally left around 2:30 and headed back to civilization.

Part of our trip back included taking a look at some property outside of Two Harbors. I won't be making an offer. It's priced way too high and, well, the description following is what I emailed to a friend of mine.

The land was just a little too raw. The county road was great, even though the section where the property is located off of is gravel. The logging road up to the cabin was less so, but was fine until the last mile to the cabin, which I shouldn’t have driven in the Jetta. Even in the Subaru, I’d have had to drive no faster than 5 mph. At the gravel pad that allowed me to park and an opportunity turn the car around, we headed off to the cabin.

After a mile of hiking, where we crossed a stream on a “bridge” made of rotting plywood, we got to a high rocky point (think those big exposed rocks that actually make up the land near Lake Superior) we got to the cabin. It has a relatively newer roof, but the 90’s era door & windows were cut in badly and not hung level or plumb. Once inside, the cross beam logs that hold up the roof were only 2 inches above little boy’s head. The wood stove might not have killed us with carbon monoxide if it didn’t burn down the cabin first.

Although advertised as looking down on the river, we couldn’t see the river from the clearing where the cabin was located, nor could we hike down to it. Too much underbrush, no trail to speak of. I’m not entirely sure how the owner uses this for hunting – there are no trails but the state-maintained snowmobile trails which are adjacent to the parcel, if you could even find them. The last time the land was surveyed was 1967.

Something between this and a condo on the lake is what I’m looking for. I don’t want to have to buy a truck (or a Hummer, that would have got us almost up to the cabin), a four-wheeler, a snowmobile, and have to pay for an actual gravel road to be put in. Eh. Plus the county was logging 2 miles away on an adjacent parcel.

I’m not all that disappointed. I was a little worried about parting with that much cash.