Farm Lake Sunset

Here's four sunset images (taken from our dock on Farm Lake). Which do you prefer? Why?

16 Mile Paddle

On the 2nd, the wind wasn't quite so bad, so Erin and I went for a paddle right from Timber Trail. The goal was to paddle across Farm Lake and Garden Lake, portage to Fall Lake, and then paddle up the Shagawa River to Shagawa Lake, showing that we could make it from our cabin to Ely town by canoe, and return home.

I estimated the paddle beforehand at 14 miles. We didn't complete the full plan, and it was still 16 miles. Ooof.

Portage beach at Fall Lake.

Two frog rocks taking, um, romantic liberties with one another.

End of the line! We'd dragged the canoe through one rapids already, and the prospect of more shallow paddling and rapids did not seem appealing, particularly at 3:30pm.

The paddle went under two pairs of culverts like this. Cool!

Note the fisherman eyeing us. We'd just zoomed out from the culvert, thankfully missing any sharp fishhooks. Hmmm.

Painted turtle.

Our cabin, from the lake. You can see Erin's white Honda through the trees.

Review: Sir G's

I was a little skeptical of small-town ethnic food, but Sir G's on Sheridan in Ely was delicious. I was extremely impressed. If it were in Minneapolis, I'd be a regular, and I'm sad it's not and I'm not. Sir G's will be a regular stop on future trips up north.

I'm not qualified to evaluate authentic, but they make all their own pasta and it sure tasted great to me. I particularly recommend the lasagna and the combination red/white sauce. Portions at dinner are very generous, so be warned.

Hegman Lake Pictographs, with Carnivorous Plants

On July 1, we decided to go canoeing no matter the weather, up to but perhaps not quite including tornadoes. With the help of the Timber Trail outfitting staff, we loaded up an aluminum beast and went out to Hegman Lakes to see the pictographs. They were pretty nice, even coming from someone who's spoiled by the excellent pictographs and petroglyphs of the Southwest. But a little ways beyond the pictographs was a floating bog containing tons of carnivorous plants - pitcher plants and sundews (and also a few iris, which are not carnivorous). Wow!

Kawishiwi Falls

On the 30th, we spent some time checking out the Kawishiwi Falls nature trail just outside Ely.

Wolf Center, Including Feeding Time

We visited the International Wolf Center in Ely. The exhibits weren't very exciting, and the presentation we saw was downright awful, but feeding time was pretty cool. These photos are of wolves hanging out, and then feeding time. They get fed once weekly with some snacks midweek. It's a little gory but not too much.

I asked my wife if she would bring me my food in a wheelbarrow, but she said no.

Pioneer Mine

On a dreary day, Erin and I visited the Pioneer Mine in Ely. I thought the mood was just right for visiting an abandoned mine.

Headframe and some main buildings.

Decrepit retaining wall.

Abandoned lockers.

A 2nd group of buildings. This one was wide open and you could walk right in (we didn't). Strange.

When the mining ended (it moved to the nearby Mesabe Iron Range), the pumps were turned off and the mines collapsed and flooded, forming this lake.