Wildersmith on the Gunflint - May 24, 2019

Wildersmith on the Gunflint     by     Fred Smith     May 24, 2019    
 
The Memorial Day weekend sends us off into the final segment of month five, and unless conditions have changed in the last few days, one would find it hard to believe the territory is at the un-official start of summer. The past week has been two steps forward and one step back for this blooming season.                                                                                                                      

While spring has been working to take complete control, we at Wildersmith had a morning where frosty roof tops and a little making ice was a reminder of days gone by. So it isn’t over until it’s over, and yes there’s still snowy evidence in a few places.                                                

Meanwhile, on the days we have stepped forward, slow gains are being made on the green-up. As one gazes across the rocky landscape, a green haze is hanging just below the skyline. And in spite of those days when we have stepped back, the verdant fog is growing by the day.                                                                                                                                                                                           

In the bustle of living in organized territory, I seemed not to have had time to catch many of simple wonders of this re-birth time. However, in the golden age of retirement, I find wonder in keeping a watchful eye on a juvenile birch tree outside the kitchen window. The once green tipped buds bulge ever so slightly with each passing morning in anticipation of soon being a grown up leaf. What a joy to be a part of Natures’ unfolding.                                                                                                      

The chilly days of the past week or so have not slowed the return of hummingbirds to the upper Trail. While we have not seen any at Wildersmith, neighbors have had them humming about in search of a little sweetness.                                                                                                                  

A friend over on Loon Lake reports one flew in through the open door of his wood shop. The impatient bird zipped around his head as a reminder it was back and then headed out. Recognizing a call to duty, he hustled right out and proceeded to get the nectar jar filled as this diminutive north woods tough guy summoned. Let alone several four legged neighborhood species, even the birds have many of us in a caring mood.                                                                                                          

During one of many recent trips up to Trails end, a couple neighborhood buddies and I had the rare pleasure of meeting up with a cross fox. In twenty years of living in the woods I had never observed one. Our sighting took place on the Sag Lake Trail, so perhaps folks residing in that neighborhood have seen this handsome critter, and if not they might be on the look-out for it.                                                                                                                                                                        
           
In the week following the fishing opener, the Gunflint Trail has come alive with visitors. It’s as if someone opened the gate at bottom of the hill in Grand Marais. Most of the countless vehicles are either towing or toting water craft of some variety. Without regard for the un-summerlike weather last weekend, the magnetism of this place in the universe has people clamoring to hit the lakes and hiking trails for a bit of wilderness calm and adventure.                                                                                       

With the growing visitor influx, it is timely that the Gunflint Trail Historical Society announces the opening of the Chik-Wauk Campus. Now beginning its tenth season, gates open Saturday, at 10:00am.                                                                                                                                      

2019 is an exciting time in history of the Society as the Campus of Gunflint Trail history opens its long awaited Watercraft Exhibit Building (The WEB). This display of vintage canoes, boats and motors and the role such watercraft played in lives of early settlers, is set in a new timber frame building along the entrance lane to the Museum and Nature Center. Not only are the exhibits awesome, the structure housing them has a contemporary history of its own.                                               

If this is not enough excitement, in the Museum, a new temporary exhibit is being presented. The 2019 display features the “life and times of Tommy banks” and his unlikely friendship with pioneer resident Billy Needham. Tommy was a bootlegger and gangster from Minneapolis in the 1930’s who had a cabin on the Northshore of Hungry Jack Lake.                                             

Folks will want to plan a visit to this magical place at end of the Trail in the coming weeks for all kinds of adventures, from territorial history to many energizing Nature Center activities for both young and old. And speaking of things new, in the Nature Center, the GTHS welcomes, Ed Moran who takes over naturalist duties. Don’t miss stopping by to greet the newest Chik-Wauk staffer.                                                                                                                                                                             

For WTIP, this is Wildersmith, on the Gunflint Trail, where every day is great, watching the brown earth turn green!