Family Visits

When you own a resort on a beautiful lake, you love to welcome out-of-town family members. So it was that Eva's parents, Gary and Nancy Kurz, came up with one of their neighbors, Kathy Scully, for a few days. We always enjoy their visits and want to show them the best of the northwoods. Nancy came a couple days early and got the full benefit of Lee and Eva's guiding abilities.

The first day Nancy arrived, we all drove up to the end of the Trail for dinner. Going up the Trail a red fox jumped into the woods at about the Seagull Guard station. On the way home we saw a moose in the swamp just before the Magnetic Rock parking lot. Then there were two deer scampering into the woods near the Moosehorn road. But these animals were just a warmup for the next day.

On Thursday Lee and Eva took Nancy down Gunflint Lake to hike into Bridal Falls. As the boat passed the site of the Dutch Ovens, they saw Mama Bear with three little cubs. What a way to start the day! Because we had had a large rainfall during the night, water was pouring over Bridal Falls. It was another great northwoods experience.

After the hike the three of them drove into Grand Marais. While driving down the old Gunflint Trail (county road 92), another bear crossed in front of the vehicle.

The best animal sighting came on the return trip from town. They saw something in the middle of the road that look like a kangaroo - not an animal you would expect to see on the Gunflint Trail. It quickly became apparent that this was a huge wolf. The animal had his long tail standing straight up in the air because he was pooping right in the middle of the road! It's hard to anticipate what you will see animals doing.

The moral of this story is don't ever stop looking for animals as you drive up and down the Trail. If you see an animal doing something unusual, be sure to write to me about it.