We’ve got a long and busy day today, we’re planning to join Gloria’s birding walk again at Bearhead State Park, then go on to Cook to check out the Lion’s Club weekend rummage sale, and return home via the Echo Trail, which we’ve never been on.
Up at the crack of dawn (5:30AM) for the birdwalk, and as we drive into the park we pass a momma snapping turtle laying her eggs not far from the road.
Road into Bear Head Lake State Park
Momma's pretty oblivious to her surroundings at the moment
The eggs will help contribute either to the next generation of snappers, or to an enterprising fox’s dinner.
The birding group is larger and more congenial this week since the mozzies have dwindled to a manageable herd rather than the dense clouds of a couple of weeks ago.
Rita, Dave & Dave, Jim & Nicole, Jan, Judy, ?, Gloria
The scheduled two-hour walk turns into a leisurely three-hour stroll, and we’re well-rewarded for our efforts with two bird’s nests, a large variety of warblers and a spectacular American redstart.
A hanging nest...
...with baby vireos??
Our next a stop is at SOS (“Soudan’s Only Store”) just down the road, for a “trash tag”, a prepaid card allowing us ten visits to the dump (aka “Solid Waste Transfer Station”), then on to the Tower Cafe for breakfast.
Our drive to Cook includes a stop at the nursery for parsley and Thai basil plants to add to Jan’s garden. And the Lion’s Rummage Sale is HUGE…we pass up the charming sled adapted into a carriage and the wonderful old rocker, and we pass on the opportunity to make a silent auction bid on a beautiful working Singer treadle sewing machine and a set of loon-decorated dinner plates.
Then we’re heading back home along the Echo Lake Trail, some fifty miles of gravel road through a variety of woods and geological formations.
The Echo Trail...that's a deer down the left side of the road.
We stop to walk a short an interpretive trail and are beset by black flies-ouch! These are evidently one of Mother Natures’ little jokes, it seems they’re necessary to pollinate blueberries. Sigh!
Fire & Ice interpretive trail.
The nature trail is called “Fire and Ice”, and illustrates the roles of forest fires and glaciers in shaping the geology and ecology of the area. We try to remember what it’s called when a glacier deposits a lone boulder far separated from its colleagues. “Accidental”? “Sporadic”? A half hour later the Magic 8-Ball of our memories settles down and the answer floats to the surface – it’s an “Erratic”.
Glacial erratic.
The sign says that this guy weighs some 80 tons. We didn’t confirm it.
We get back to Glenwood Lodge via Ely (where we indulge in yet more hardware shopping), and as we’re loading up the Bayliner at the dock Bonnie Sibert comes down from the bar and invites us to join her and Dick for a beer. Tonight is Karaoke Night and the joint is jumping! There’s a DJ with an enormous selection of songs (but not “Oh Donna”…that’s another story), Dick and Bonnie are two-stepping and there are several volunteer singers. We stay for a beer and a short chat but then head back across the lake. Karaoke is just too loud for our tender ears now accustomed to a great deal of silence.
A gorgeous sunset closes out the first warm and sunny day we’ve had in three weeks, and there’s a fish that’s been taunting us by periodically splashing at the surface near the end of our dock. So I get out my rod and reel and manage to catch a lively 11” smallmouth bass. It’s tomorrow’s lunch.