Fishing!!!

I have been ntroduced to the wonderful world of fishing! I've gone many times before and never really felt a big draw but now that I have a good catch, I'm just as hooked as this Pike. The fishing is great up here in the boundary waters, especially if you are set up for a beautiful, semi-stormy day (that we so often have), a nice little boat to get you around, goodfriends, and a few leeches. My friends were awesome fishermen and we all caught something followed by a fantastic fish feast at my apartment building to celebrate our sucesses. If you have lots of fishing experience, or basically none like me, I'd still highly recommend this to you if you are heading up to the North Woods of Minnesota.

Kayaking to Canada

Yes you heard me right.  My new thing is kayaking to Canada. Gunflint Lake is a boundary water and in less then 30 minutes of relaxing kayaking, you can arrive (illegally) at Canada. I love it! It is so relaxing and the views are hard to beat.

Remember that spike in this post? Here it is close up!

I think I got a droplet on my lense but the water was clear as glass.

If you look real hard at the shore in this picture you can see Gunflint Lodge from Canada. 

This cute little place was on the Canada side of the Magnetic Lake and Gunflint Lake border.

Honeymooner's Bluff and the Old Gunflint Tower Hikes

There was a couple short hikes I was able to enjoy on the Gunflint trail. The first one, Honeymooner's Bluff, pictured above, was a real short outlook. Don't be deceived though, the stairs are plenty and they are steep. It was well worth the view!

The second short hike I tried on the Gunflint trail, was to the Old Gunflint Tower Outlook. The tower is now just a foundation, but the views along the hike as well as from the top were nice. I would've climbed a tree or something for a better view but I was getting swarmed. So, unless you want to donate blood, wear bug spray. 

 I know I

 it's hard to tell, but you can see almost perfectly 360 degrees from there!

Houseguests

When you live around nature, you are bound to find nature entering your house. We all expect the occasional mosquito or spider or even ant, but my houseguests have taken on a.... larger form. It began with the chipmunk, the bird, followed by the sneaky squirrel who managed to share a room with me for over a week before I chased him out successfully,  but this latest one was quite a trip. I came out of my room and saw something fly by me. I think "bird?" And walk foreword to investigate where I noticed it landed strange on the doorway down the hall. Now I'm thinking it's done sorry of giant moth,, since I've seen much stranger things.  But no, not a moth either.

As I proceed with caution it swoops away from it's perch and goes twords me, resulting in a scream like a little girl combined with a laugh coming from nearby. Now I realize that noise is coming from me, and this is an adorable little bat. 

I tried to be brave and catch it by myself but I ended out asking for help. When I paged maintenance to ask for help with a bat problem I got the reply "Please tell me your kidding" but in the end the rescue was a success. Dracula is safe and sound.

Oh Canada Oh Canada and additional hiking

I live on the border. I literally look at Canada every day. But it wasn't until this month that I finally made it. Just across from the Gunflint Lodge, is what we call "the narrows", a view of where Gunflint Lake goes into Magnetic Lake. That is our border.  The left is the United States,  the right is Canada. And I was so excited to explore a little bit of Canada. Now you are supposed to get a little hiking visa before you do this so don't go getting yourself in trouble because this excites you too, but I dropped on over to the Canada side for a nice little hike. I went to the highest point in the immediate area for these views and my oh my I'm sure glad I did.

I also dropped by the historic  Dutch Ovens. Next we moved on down the lake to check out a mysterious ladder on the US side.

It led us to a beautiful little trail.

And an adorable,  completely off the grid cabin.

Since obviously this little place has an owner out there, we abandoned our snooping to head on down to Bridal Falls. They aren't too big but oh my how I love something about falling water always.

I just had to climb it.

Watch out for tics though, I found them all over me, and for days after searching myself, showering and all.

Oh and I made a friend- I call him Buddy, but I scared him and he pee'd on me a little.

Last stop was a nice glance at Galliger Island . After passing the marker noting where the US-Canada border is, in Magnetic Lake, is this beautiful little private island owned by some awesome guys I've had the opportunity to visit with a bit. They claim the island has some mysterious things go about with it, but to me I do nothing but admire the history and architecture that has been preserved so carefully for our viewing.

Overall it was a wonderful venture on a rented boat through Gunflint Lodge. Good company, good views, good times.

Gunflint Activities

As an employee at Gunflint Lodge, I have access to certain activities that normally would cost money. The first one I took advantage of was horseback riding.

I am not an experienced rider by any means, but our guides were competent, interesting,  and funny, and the horse was gentle and well trained even though I was his first rider this season. I was so happy to enjoy this.

The second activity I enjoyed was ziplining! I love ziplining, so I wasn't concerned, but even if I was such as my first timer roommate was, the guides prepared us well and were assuring that our safety was their priority. We had a blast and the guides were such a key role in it all.

There are some awesome perks to living on the road and working at a cool place like this.

Lonely Lake and Outlook Point

Just minutes from my house lies a nice trail leading to Lonely Lake. It was such a nice walk and it made me look forward to a summer floating around in the waters. The water was warm and clear so I saw many small creatures including minnows,  Freshwater Leeches, and many many small bugs all over the water tops.

Such a nice little lake

Check out that leech! They were like mini eels!

On my hike back, I saw a sign that had an arrow to outlook point, so I decided to check I

it out.

I saw the begining of one of the ziplines!

And the view to the outlook point was worth the detour!

If you pass the outlook point, there is a nice little private view, bench and all.