How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Part II

Wilderness log- day 2, Poplar Creek, near the Gunflint Trail



I put in a small creek, just west of the Lima Grade Road. My small canoe could barely float in the shallow stream, I was hugging the shore at times, going from side to side, wherever the water flow was the greatest. A few hundred yards upstream I came to a small beaver dam. I knew then that my navigation woes were over. Stepping on top of the dam, I quickly pulled my craft over and began paddling up a much deeper stream, which widened into a beautiful bay:



There were families of ducks and, on the boulders which punctuated the water's surface, painted turtles were sunning themselves. This pleasant area soon gave way to a narrower stream, going for perhaps two miles, until another, much larger beaver dam blocked my way- for only a minute. Over I went into the wind-whipped waters of Lace Lake where a solitary dock meant I had left the wilderness, in a few days time, I'd be back in The Lost Forest, with a pipe in hand, my faithful dog Andy at my side, and Cherry in arms...

MARK TRAIL