Lmst

The beautiful #NorthCountryTrail is a growing national treasure. The things listed below are minor things, in the big picture, but still a shitty result of the #Shutdown.

An email from the North Country Trail Association that talks about the effects of the US gov't shutdown, including Loss of Volunteer Protections, Delayed Work Next Year, and Federal Partners Not Being Paid.

Road walking is no picnic.
https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-one-step-finishing-north-country-national-scenic-trail

#Wisconsin #outdoors #NorthCountryTrail

Ranger Sarah found a American pasqueflower (Anemone patens). One of the first plants to emerge and bloom in the spring, pasqueflower has upright, bell-shaped flowers that develop shortly after the first downy leaves appear. Plants grow 5 to 8 inches tall, blooming in March and April. Most often found on prairie hillsides & outcroppings with dry, nutrient-poor soils

#adventuresofrangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah passes over a small bridge along the trail. The North Country trail passes through North Dakota / Minnesota / Wisconsin / Michigan / Ohio / Pennsylvania / New York / Vermont.
—North Country NST in Fergus Falls, MN.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah wonders if the whole trail is this well marked as she passes by another blue blaze. The trail was designated a National Scenic Trail by the United States Congress in 1980, and became an official unit of the National Park System in 2023.
—North Country NST in Fergus Falls, MN.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

This spot doesn't look like much, but a ton of frogs are singing to Ranger Sarah as she passes by.
—North Country NST in Fergus Falls, MN.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah passes another blue blaze as she continues along the North Country Trail. The trail runs from Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota to the Appalachian Trail in Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont,
—North Country NST in Fergus Falls, MN.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah continues along the North Country National Scenic Trail. The Trail is the longest in the National Trails System, stretching 4,800 miles across eight states from North Dakota to Vermont.
—North Country NST in Fergus Falls, MN.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah hikes along the rolling grass covered hills as she hikes the North Country National Scenic Trail.
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah takes a break before continuing her hike along the North Country National Scenic Trail
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah at a nice monument to Nature and the people who preserve it.
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah at the trail kiosk with a large marker for the North Country National Scenic Trail
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah at the first trail marker on this section of the North Country National Scenic Trail.
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Ranger Sarah has arrived a Fergus Falls One Mile Lake Nature Area in Minnesota where she will hike a portion of the North Country National Scenic Trail.
— in North Country National Scenic Trail.

#adventuresofrangersarah #rangersarah #Minnesota #hike #hiking #hikingadventures #northcountrytrail #exploremore #exploreminnesota #outdooradventures

Setting up camp above freezing, only to have the temperature drop to single digits ℉ overnight, means your tent stakes get frozen into the ground.

Raising awareness of state change—

• Store your water container upside down so ice doesn't prevent your pouring from it.

• Keep a smaller one in your sleeping bag with you.

• Consider traction devices for your boots, as the freeze-thaw cycle produces icy patches generally described as slipperier than hell.

It was a cold, windy, but beautiful weekend along the North Country Trail in northwestern Wisconsin.

There's a railroad track northeast of this campsite, from where you can hear the comforting sounds of ore trains passing in the night. Autonomous sensory meridian response.

A friend camping with us had helped develop this site as a volunteer with the trail association. He was rightly proud of it.

At Clear Creek campsite just east of the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, on the last day of meteorological winter, 2025.

#WinterCamping #outdoors #NorthCountryTrail

A green backpacking tent with door ajar, exposing a set of sleeping bags one inside the other, augmented by a wool blanket. This equipment was all it took to survive single-digit temperatures overnight.

In the background are a makeshift tarp shelter and a red plastic sled known as a pulk. You load up your stuff on the pulk and attach rigid poles to a belt around your waist to drag it through the woods.

Problem: not really enough snow to make this work as well as it could.

Better to have a dog.

The North Country Trail crosses the artificial Minnesota/Wisconsin border south of Duluth/Superior.

It's an interesting area of the Nemadji River watershed, in the St. Louis River Area of Concern.

There's a wetland just east of here named for the famed outdoors writer Gordon MacQuarrie. The wetland was created as replacement for lands filled in during reconstruction of U.S. Highway 53 in northwestern Wisconsin.

If you're lucky you might see an old-growth white pine or an ore train.

These individuals, including your correspondent on the left, have been palling around on various adventures since grade school.

St. Louis River Area of Concern:
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/GreatLakes/StLouis.html

Gordon MacQuarrie:
https://bahamuseum.org/macquarrie-history/

North Country Trail:
https://northcountrytrail.org/

#outdoors #SuperiorHikingTrail #NorthCountryTrail #newspapers

Three older fellows originally from Wisconsin are seen with hiking poles standing in front of a portal separating Wisconsin from Minnesota on the Superior Hiking Trail/National Scenic Trail on Saturday, Feb 1, 2025.

Picture taken at the southern terminus of the Superior Hiking Trail where the Brule-St. Croix portion of the North Country Trail picks up.

The North Country National Scenic Trail is the longest in the National Trails System, stretching 4,800 miles across eight states from North Dakota to Vermont, traversing forests and farmlands, remote terrain and bustling communities. Whether you’re looking to wander, hike, or run, birdwatch, camp, or backpack, the North Country Trail offers you a multitude of landscapes and opportunities.
— https://northcountrytrail.org/

Good morning from Minneapolis. We've clawed our way to Friday and the end of this awful month.

On Saturday I'm hiking with friends on a short segment of the North Country Trail up near Duluth/Superior.

A friend I went to college with designed this outdoorsy kiosk. Another friend helped build it with a crew of volunteers near that artificial border between the two states.

I thought it might make a good border control point between Wisconsin and Minnesota if we must partition the country.

Just kidding. Or am I?

Meanwhile, in British Columbia, a short chain-link fence, thought by some to be in violation of the Treaty of Ghent, has come down, reports the CBC.

"Update — Jan. 30, 2025: The Delta police department said the fence was taken down Thursday morning after the police chief and city manager met and concluded that it should be removed. …

"Monument Park in Point Roberts, which has grassy space that extends across the border into Canada, is a place where Canadians and Americans have historically been able to meet for picnics without going through border patrol. It became a particularly popular meeting place during the COVID-19 pandemic when the borders were officially closed."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/delta-fence-us-canada-border-1.7445048

#borders #Wisconsin #Minnesota #Canada #outdoors #NorthCountryTrail

"State Line Trailhead," a nice, metal-roofed kiosk made of brown treated wood members typical of outdoorsy construction practices. In the background a lone white pine stands on the horizon.

Wishing I was back at last weekend's end of season backpacking adventure on the #NorthCountryTrail #PicturedRocks #NationalLakeShore #LakeSuperior #Mosstadon Had to cancel the year before due to major storm, but this year lucked out with perfect weekend weather and we kept the total mileage short to explore more near each campsite, that was a brilliant choice.