North Shore Morning

Split Rock Lighthouse, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, celebrated 100 years in 2010.  A year later, the lighthouse was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.  In this edition of Moments in Time, Historic Site manager Lee Radzak talks about the lighthouse and its history.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

During the last five years, we’ve learned to love rocks at the end of the Gunflint Trail. When the Ham Lake wildfire roared through the area in spring 2007, the fire consumed over 75,000 acres of forest, more than 100 buildings, and a large amount of the topsoil covering hills of granite bedrock. The fire left charred, branchless tree trunks scratching at the sky, and exposed dark pink granite cliff faces.

Each winter it seems the snow scours the granite, making the rocks’ rosy and ivory hues gleam brightly from the roadside in the springtime. The proper geologic name for the granite is Saganaga Tonalite and it’s some of the oldest rock in the world. Until the wildfire, towering pines and brushy undergrowth stole the spotlight from this million-year-old rock. Now, moss is slowly regaining its footing in the granite cliffs’ nooks and crannies and soon the rock will once again disappear under a shroud of green.

Jack pine seedlings crowd the top of these granite hills. The tiny trees nestle so closely that their branches overlap and interlock, making them appear ready for the ultimate game of Red Rover. Each spring, the trees grow a little taller and stronger and now most of them are at least two feet tall.

Many people who pass these jack pine stands comment on how happy the little trees look. From their perch on hilltops, the little jack pines do seem friendly and decidedly less stand-offish than the remaining towering pines who stand sentinel with a rather bored dignity. These little trees are even newer to the world than we are and since they haven’t reached the size where they have to compete for their spot in the forest yet, they seem especially fresh-faced and optimistic.

Whenever I come close to stumbling into the cliché of marveling that fire was five years ago already, I remember that five years ago those cheerful little trees were nothing but the speck of an idea of a tree, tucked inside jack pine cones which require 122 degree Fahrenheit temps to release their seeds. The charred tree trunks that stood straight and inky blank in the days after the fire, now lean precariously and have faded to a silvery brown. The burnt trees that have fallen now disintegrate into a shower of rot when tapped with a foot.

There’s also no denying that I’m no longer the freshly minted college graduate who arrived on the Gunflint Trail May 19, 2007, exactly two weeks after the fire started. I spent that summer working for a canoe outfitter and shuttled many a slack-jawed tourist through the burn area as I transported them to the starting point of their canoe trip.

Now when I drive up the Trail, I’m heading home.

Five years have definitely passed. The evidence is everywhere. Cabins have been rebuilt, millions of trees planted, and landscapes that once stretched out all gray and black to the far horizon, now glimmer with the green of seedlings and undergrowth. We’ve all gotten a little older too.

I’ve never felt a need to dwell on what this little corner of the world would look like if it hadn’t caught fire in the spring of 2007, but perhaps that’s because I didn’t really learn this neck of the woods until after the fire. Still, I have to think that the sweet taste of blueberry pie, compliments of the bumper crops in the burn area, must wash away some of the angst and heartache the fire caused for so many.

There’s plenty of proof that this land will once again host towering pines it’s known for. But for the time being, I’ll enjoy the sight of happy little pine seedlings perched on top of bright pink granite cliffs, soaking up sunshine.

Airdate: April 25, 2012

Photo courtesy of Eli Sagor via Flickr.

The Cook County News Herald is truly a treasury of moments in time. In this edition of our historical series, WTIP's Jay Andersen, a former News Herald editor, interviews the current editor, Rhonda Silence, about the history of the newspaper.

Photo courtesy of Luc de Leeuw via Flickr.

It’s “tweener” time in north country, the period of each year when Gunflint residents celebrate quietness, separating winter activities and the mad rush of our fishing opener, along with ensuing summer vacationers just over the horizon.

At this keyboard exercise on Monday, April 16, the Wildersmith neighborhood is experiencing a winter storm. We are getting it all, blizzard conditions with snow, gale force winds and temps in the low teens.

For the second consecutive week, we started off with a white landscape. This winter shot left anywhere from three to five inches of fluff depending upon where one is located up the Trail. Many think of spring vacations along about now, but for the situation in border country, it’s spring that has suddenly taken a vacation.

All of this mixed-up weather happens just as the first wildflowers peeked out of their buds in the yard at Wildersmith. The tiny violet-like blooms, along with aspiring rhubarb shoots and budding lilac branches, are probably in shock, but hopefully not ruined for warmer time’s resurgence.

And, I might add, the first mosquito was buzzing me a day or so before the “s” word made another return. I hope that it froze its little tush off!

As clouds of the winter storm built, the preliminary act was some much-needed rain. In fact, before the rain gauge froze during the ferocious main performance, liquid in the amount of three-quarters of an inch filled it up.

This was a welcome refresher, at least temporarily stifling wildfire danger. Coupled with the new layer of white that is soon to be melting away, we should feel safe for the next few days.

My saga with the Wildersmith raccoon extends without resolution. The decision to live trap and dispatch the masked intruder to another heavenly place has produced no results.

The trapping experience has outraged a couple pine martens in the area, though. Baiting appetizers of bacon strips and ham have excited the curious critters. Thus, they are the only ones to have been incarcerated to date.

No plea bargaining required, but releasing the angry animals has been an experience in itself. With long arm-covering leather gloves, I was a little nervous about what to expect upon opening that trap door for the snarling wild creatures.

A friend shared an unintended otter trapping experience where the animal darted out of the trap, went a short distance away to apparently compose itself, and then came back and bit the releasing jailer on the boot before heading off into nature. So I was un-sure of what might happen in my situation.

Following considerable angst of growling and jumping around trying to get at me, I found it amusing that once the cage door was opened, the escape to forest freedom seemed hard to figure out. I would have expected it to zip out of that temporary jail like a shot from a gun.

Once released however, in both cases, the lush brown animals casually meandered away and perched themselves on a deck rail close by to check me out. Guess maybe I wasn’t such a bad guy after all!

Meanwhile the Wildersmith folks continue to undo the winter preparations in spite of current atmospheric happenings. Deer protection fencing around baby trees is coming down and freeze-protecting straw has been pitched from the septic mound. The usual clean-up of fallen forest debris continues, never ending. I’m confident that others throughout the area are in the same mode. So when warmer days are here to stay, we’ll be ready for deck/dock reflecting and bug swatting.

Keep on hangin’ on and savor the greatness of the northern outdoors!

Airdate: April 20, 2012

Photo courtesy of Tundra Ice via Flickr.

In the edition of the Gunflint Notebook, there are those that HAVE hit a deer with their car and there are those that WILL hit a deer with their car. Just a few weeks ago, Steve's time came due.

The Cook County Community Center Steering Committee held a public input meeting on Tuesday night. Over 30 people attended the meeting, and WTIP’s Kelly Schoenfelder has this report.

Deane Morrison is a science writer at the University of Minnesota, where she authors the Minnesota Starwatch column. In this edition of Northern Sky, Deane gives us an update on the crescent moon and the Lyrid Meteor Shower, and explains Walpurgisnacht.

Read this month's Starwatch column.

Photo courtesy of S.L.M. via Flickr.

The Cook County High School Band recently returned from a special trip to Memphis, Tennessee and Orlando, Florida. WTIP’s Julie Carlson spoke with two band students, Sterling Anderson and Bjorn Johnson, about some of the memorable moments from the trip.

With April rapidly reaching its half way point, the boundary country weather has leveled off into being more typical. Following that record breaking March, we have experienced some stunning spring days with warm sun, and nighttimes where some good hard frost sparkled from morning roof tops. The Smith’s even awoke to another white landscape this past Monday morning, snow is still stunning!

Moreover, a few days saw a skim of ice on shallow ponds and Mile O Pine road side puddles froze solid. It is sad that conditions now are right, but too little, too late for the maple sweetness producers. This should have happened about a month or so ago.

After a week of wetness there were glowing hopes for drought improvements. At the upper end of Gunflint paradise however, the past week has reverted back to dry times with little moisture to which we can get excited. Wildersmith counted only sparse amounts in a couple shower attempts since our last radio/website visit.

County-wide burning restrictions now in place, has not calmed the nerves for yours truly. With the ability to still have camp fires out in the woods, the area remains as an accident waiting to happen. Folks out this way will never forget how that Ham Lake tragedy might have been averted if camp fires had been nixed during arid times like now.

I have proceeded to get into the lake and set neighborhood wildfire sprinkler system lines for which I’ve assumed responsibility. As soon as comfort is reached that we will not have another bitter cold snap, systems will be primed and fired up in readiness with hope that they are never summoned into an emergency mode

By the way, getting into the lake for that job was no real treat. Donning my wet suit and scuba boots made it tolerable. However, bare hands found the liquid numbing cold in a matter of seconds. The Gunflint water at that time was a cool 39 degrees.

I would caution water craft enthusiasts to play it safe during these early open water conditions. An accidental dip in the lake at this time of year can be catastrophic!

Organizers are gearing up for the annual Ham Run Half Marathon. The event which also features a 5K and little runts run will happen Sunday, May 6th @ 9:30 am. For entering and more details, check out the website www.hamrunhalfmarathon.com or www.VisitCookCounty.com it’s the “Race without a Trace,” greenest in Minnesota.

In the ever evolving warming of our north land, critters that don’t usually habituate these parts continue to move in and make themselves at home. One species that’s becoming more and more prominent are those masked bandit raccoons.

We had one visit the Wildersmith deck last fall then didn’t see it again all winter. Thinking I had a bear checking things out on our deck over the past weekend, it turned out that this ring-tailed bandit has found his way back.

I would have thought that it might be a cold season wolf snack, but guess not. It some how survived and is in fact, quite pig like in size. These animals are about as welcome as those annoying, but more common, woodchucks and skunks of the northern forest.

The chore at hand is how to humanely rid the neighborhood of this menacing pest. If anyone has a recipe for raccoon stew, let me know and I’ll deliver, if and when.

Keep on hangin’ on and savor a wilderness critter happening!

Airdate: April 13, 2012

Photo courtesy of bdearth on flickr.

This first weekend in April finds the north woods celebrating the full pink maple sugar moon. During the fourth mature lunar experience of 2012, spring is full speed ahead throughout the upper Trail region.

A minor set back to the vernal movement occurred as March bade farewell. The territory had an unexpected return visit from the “old man of the north” as he dropped by with what will probably be his last calling card for the next several months.

At Wildersmith the frosty old devil deposited just shy of three inches while areas in the mid-trail snow zone looked to get considerably more. The drab gray/brown earth was white for about three days, and now we are back to getting on with our green-up of the Gunflint.

Speaking of green-up, the fifth annual Gunflint Green-up is taking on new character for this year. Leadership and organization for the event is coming from the folks at Gunflint Lodge.

If you are interested in the continued recovery from the Ham lake wildfire, find details on the Gunflint Lodge website home page. I’m told that the focus for green-up activities this year will be around the Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center site and the revitalization of the old Gneiss Lake Trail as far as Blueberry Hill.

It’s appropriate that with Easter Sunday at hand, the north woods bunnies are beginning to get in tune with the traditional fashion parade. With the surprise disappearance of winter, most were caught in their lush white coats and nothing to hide behind.

Our trip to Grand Marais last weekend for Palm Sunday services found the Smith’s encountering any number of the hares along the roadways. With multiplication in their DNA, the “wabbit” population is going to have the local lynx and fox seeing more than double in months to come.

They were observed parading about in turned coats of anywhere from dirty white to almost warm weather brown. As fast as they are transitioning, next week should find them well into summer garb.

That Palm Sunday trip to town turned out to be quite reflective. For once, the air currents were still, and trail side open waters were mirror smooth. It was a great occasion to see the lake side forests upside down in a double exposure mode.

Although the total green-up of the forest is still a ways off, the coniferous reflections on the polished liquid surfaces were a sparkling renewed green, indicating that warm time juices are flowing early.

Our spring migration has found several species here and gone from border country. This weeks’ feature has involved hoards of juncos. The lively slate colored critters have been busy sorting through the leftovers from the nearly three hundred pounds of sunflower seeds that winter birds and squirrels have scattered beneath the feeders.

Another avian gang has also been busy sorting through winter remains. For the past two or three weeks, it has not been uncommon to have a dozen or more crows yacking around the yard each morning. Their conversation is often quite annoying, but their ability to clean up and loosen the forest duff for potential new plant re-birth makes them at least half way tolerable.

One more natural treat happened my way after the surprising snow. Regardless of the winter season, early or late, fresh snow always makes for great animal tracking. During the most recent such event, I came upon some not often seen imprints of paws, and what looked like a single sled runner.

At first, I was not tracking, no pun intended, when suddenly, I realized what I was following was that of an otter. Prancing foot prints and a dragging tail, how neat, made me wonder what it was up to, probably some adventuresome prank. I never did get a glimpse of the jovial one, but ahh, the mystique of winter, captured one more time!

Keep on hangin’ on, and savor springing ahead!