North Shore Morning

Superior National Forest Update with Steve Robertsen, education and interpretation specialist with the USDA Forest Service.
Campgrounds won't have water or dumpsters available until next weekend.  For this and other SNF info, check out this interview...

Wildersmith on the Gunflint     by     Fred Smith
May 7, 2021    
           
The Smith’s are back in the woods once again. A swell visit to Iowa found us re-uniting with kids after sixteen months of COVID caused separation. While Zooming is an alternative, there is nothing like the presence of real hugs and face to face conversation.                                           

Here we are a week into month five, and winter is but a memory, except for counting five piles of snow holding out along the Mile O Pine. Ice is history on the Gunflint having made its official exit on April 24.                                                                                                            
Being out of the territory, I do not have reports from the other big lakes, but I presume they became fully liquid near the same date as Gunflint. It’s all about “cool, clear waters” lapping at the granite shore lines during the next six months for folks in this neck of the woods         

Absence of precipitation is haunting the upper Trail again. While away from this neighborhood, a mere one tenth of an inch was the only accumulation in the Wildersmith gauge. And there has been little more than a snippet in this neighborhood, since I commenced with this weeks’ scoop last Sunday evening.                                                                                                    

This being said, danger for forest ignition is at a serious level for a second time since March. We surpassed the fourteenth anniversary of the Ham Lake tragedy a couple days ago, and the nightmares still linger when it gets crunchy dry under foot. Residents and business owners are keeping fingers crossed for both a blessing from the heavens and no unnecessary or careless use of fire by humans.                                                                                                              

In the meantime, everyday has spring becoming more assertive. While the area is still a few weeks away from being fully verdant, progress is being made. I see green tip buds on birch and aspen around the house, chives and rhubarb are discernable and some unknown blue flowers are blooming up next to the house.                                                                                                           

Elsewhere in the wild land, I see hares, with exception of their white socks, have put on their summer camo and squirrels are molting in preparation for sultry days ahead.  It’s also a good bet fox kits, wolf pups and moose calves are coming into the world, and bear cubs are exploring new outdoor surroundings after several weeks of feeling their way around in a dark den.                                                                                                                                                     

Aside from avian, little things that fly are starting to buzz about. Common flies, moths, butterflies, and yes, mosquitos are beginning to occupy air space. On a related note, the loons have returned to their nesting site around the bay at the Chik Wauk Museum Campus.                        

I had one of those reconnaissance “skeeters” annoying me just a few days ago. Further, with creeks still gushing from rains of a several weeks ago, the annual black fly bloodletting spree is soon to be in the offing. So this rite of spring has me scrambling to find the bug dupe and head nets as I hang up the snow scoop and pick-up blown down remnants from the winds of winter.                                                                                                                                                                   
Oh, and on a final wild critter note, plenty of Arachnids have emerged. Spiders are busy at spinning their north woods fiber network, as I discovered while catching some of the silken stuff across the face while out in the yard a couple days ago.                                                                       

A reminder to area lake/ property owner associations and less organized neighborhoods, the annual Trail clean-up takes place this month. The County Highway Department will be picking up collection bags along the Trail on the afternoon of Thursday, May 27^th.                                                                                                                                                    

If you haven’t picked a spot and want to help spruce up (no pun intended) the Trail, contact the GT Scenic Byway Committee at 388-2275 to learn of an organizer in your neighborhood/area. Remember, littering begets more littering, so at your convenience, let’s get to picking, up.                                                                                                                               
Wishing all Moms’ a huge thanks and a splendid weekend, this is Wildersmith, along the Gunflint Trail, where the nurturing of “Mother Nature’s” is celebrated every day!
 

There is a lot going on at the Grand Marais parks, marina and golf course.  Parks Manager, Dave Tersteeg talks with North Shore Morning host, CJ Heithoff about the golf course opening, construction projects at the Rec Park and Marina, and caribou sculptures in this interview.

In this edition of "Money Matters", Scott Oeth talks with North Shore Morning host, C J Heithoff about the increasing buzz around inflation - what's driving the concern, how it has affected us in the past, and what we can do prepare and protect ourselves in the future.

"Backpacking 101's" Michelle Schroeder talks with North Shore Morning host, Mark Abrahamson about how to keep out feet, and the rest of us, warm and dry during the hiking "mud-season".

The Grand Marais Public Library has opened to walk-in visits again.  Library Director Amanda St John speaks with North Shore Morning host, Mark Abrahamson about hours, COVID-19 protocols, juggling kits, State Park passes and more...

Chel Anderson is a botanist and plant ecologist and she joins us periodically to report on what she’s seeing in our woods and waters right now.

This project is supported in part by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

"Northern Sky" by Deane Morrison
April 24 - May 7, 2021

 As the winter constellations head into the sunset, Mars struggles to avoid the same fate. 
     
May Day finds the red planet on course to glide between the bright stars Procyon, in Canis Minor, to the east and Capella, in Auriga, the charioteer, to the west. At the end of the month, Mars will be close to Pollux, the brighter Gemini twin. All the while, the planet is steadily dimming and, despite its relatively fast orbital motion eastward, sinking toward its inevitable exit from the evening sky this summer.
   
In the southeast to south, Spica, Virgo’s only bright star, is outshone by brilliant Arcturus, high above it in Bootes, the herdsman. To Spica’s lower right is a misshapen rectangle of stars marking Corvus, the crow. 
     
To the north, the Big Dipper—part of Ursa Major, the great bear—begins the month upside down, “spilling its water” on Polaris (the North Star) and Ursa Minor, the little bear. To identify Polaris, follow the “pointer stars” at the end of the Big Dipper’s bowl. Bracketing Polaris are two brilliant stars: Capella, in the northwest, and comparably bright Vega, in Lyra, the lyre, in the northeast. During the course of a night, or from night to night, this arrangement changes as the sky rotates counterclockwise around Polaris.
     
In the predawn sky, look for Jupiter and dimmer Saturn low in the southeast. Thanks to the resurgent sun, we have to get out earlier each morning to see them against a dark sky.
     
The night of the 25th-26th, May’s full “supermoon” will be large and luminous as it slips through the Crown of Scorpius, a line of three stars near Antares, the scorpion’s red heart. The moon undergoes a total lunar eclipse on the morning of the 26th, but sets before the moment of perfect fullness and also before the eclipse reaches totality. 
     
This will be the year’s closest full moon. It reaches perigee, the moon’s closest approach to Earth in a lunar cycle, only about nine and a half hours before reaching fullness. It edges out the runner-up, April’s supermoon, by a razor-thin margin. According to NASA, May’s full moon will be closer than April’s “by about 98 miles, or about 0.04 percent of the distance from the Earth to the Moon at perigee.”

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The University of Minnesota’s public viewings of the night sky at its Duluth and Twin Cities campuses have been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, see:
Duluth, Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium: www.d.umn.edu/planet
Twin Cities, Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics: www.astro.umn.edu/outreach/pubnight
Check out astronomy programs, free telescope events, and planetarium shows at the
University of Minnesota's Bell Museum: www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/astronomy
Find U of M astronomers and links to the world of astronomy at: http://www.astro.umn.edu
 

Superior National Forest Update with Steve Robertsen.
April 23, 2021

"Pack & Paddle" by Scott Oeth
April 19, 2021
 

There has been a surge in outdoor recreation over that last year, including canoeing.  Prices for used canoes have increased and they were hard to come by.  New canoes are often sold out and factories can't keep up with demand.
In this edition of "Pack & Paddle", Scott discusses ways to find and buy a reasonably priced used canoe.