Wooden Frog Campground and Day Use Area, Minnesota, United Statesugust 24, monday - Woodenfrog State Campground - near Voyageurs National Park MN
I woke up early again, but since I didn't hear any noise around me, I stayed in the tent and read until I heard people up.
Then I made my blueberry muesli and started taking things down slowly. I went over to the campground office to get coffee and the manager said it was going to rain possibly so I decided it might be better to take down the tent even if a little wet. The tent was pretty dry but the tentfly was a bit wet. After decamping, I lost the desire to go to the mine, esp. if it was rainy and cold. I had put on my jeans, wool sweater and even my down vest in anticipation of the 55 degree cold in the mine. There was still a smokey smell to the air and it was pretty hazy.
I managed to get a small bag of ice at the Zup's market in Tower. I took a short cut to Rte 53 and marveled at the smokey air. I saw a sign for the Superior National Forest Visitor Center so I decided to stop and learn more about the forest. I learned about boondocking - or car camping wherever, like at a rest stop, or somewhere. I also learned about a National Forest policy for camping anywhere in the National Forests - but with pretty strict rules - like 200 ft from road, waterway, and something else.
It might come in useful. The nice ranger gave me a brochure. I asked if she had a brochure on the Superior National Forest, and she was surprised to realize that they didn't have one. While we conversed, I mentioned not going to Voyageurs because I only had a car and tent and no backpacking equipment. She told me of several visitor centers reachable by car and some had hiking trails. She encouraged me to check them out. In order to do that I had to retrace some miles, but not too bad. At first, I went to the Kabetogama Lake VC.
At this Visitor Center, a ranger was just moving her things to an outside table and she was terrific. She marked up a map for me with a campground I could go to after visiting the centers and taking some hikes. She marked out the hikes for me too. They were all around the Ash River Visitor Center so I had to backtrack a bit farther to get there. I had almost made it halfway originally, but thought I wasn't going in the right direction so I had given up.
This visitory center was closed but there was a short walk from it that the ranger had recommended - it was only a few 100 yds maybe but she said it gave a microcosm of the entire park - a wooded path, an open area and a rockly cliff overlooking the lake. What more could you ask for??
On the second walk I took from the VC, I started with the Blind Ash Bay Trail. I came across another path going to a lake overlook but I continued on the one I was on until I came to a road. I looked at the map and could not figure out how I could have gotten to a road. On the road, a sign pointed back and said to the Visitor Center. Since I was so confused, I figured it was better to return. At the previous intersection I ran into a couple and we worked out - or the husband did mostly - that the trail I wanted continued across the road. I had not seen anything to lead me to consider that....unless I looked at the map and assumed I had been right all along and it just felt like miles and I had only gone a quarter of a mile. After this failure, I decided I needed a short, doable hike so I took the Beaver Pond Overlook. It was short and pleasant. I saw no beavers, no dam, but the pond in the hazy smokey light from the overlook was very serene and beautiful. After that success, I took on the 1.0 mile Sullivan Bay Trail. It was almost entirely in the woods - with lots of ferns, little oaks growing, leaves turning color and rocks and roots.
Very pleasant. At the end was a reward. On a rock overlooking a lake was a picnic table and a fire pit. But I doubt that fire pits can be used with the danger of fire here.
I forgot to mention that after the Superior National Forest Visitor Center briefing, a man told me about a short wetlands loop from the VC. I took it and had fun - this was my first walk of the day. I got back to the car and was snacking when a youngish ranger with beard and messy hair came up to my car window - which was open - and started telling me (since he saw my NY license plates that he was in Lake Placid in 1984 for some high school hockey championship and his team lost to Bowling Green but it was the best hockey game ever. He named the players, told me when he ran into their relatives, he ran into the uncle of some star hockey player, and everyone always remembers and talks about that game.
After I left the Sullivan Bay Trail, I headed back north to the state forest campsite. I seemed to be going on forever to get to it.
My GPS didn't work when I tried to put it in - it might have later but I didn't try. Then I got here. There are almost 70 sites. Most are in the woods - not bad at all. A few are along the shore. I thought I would have one like Kara and I had in Michigan so I picked one where I could see water. The place is not even half filled but there were a few sites with water views still available. Then I had to drive forever to get back to the registration place and I wasn't sure I would find my way back to the site. But I did. It is not exactly what I thought. You can see the water, but you have to scramble down a steep bank to get closer. I might walk to a lookout spot later to see the sun set - if it sets in that direction. Since I thought about sleeping in the car, I would have liked the car to go deeper into the site, but as it was I backed up inches from the picnic table. I have since moved the picnic table.
Now that this blogging is done, I can tidy up the car, get some food for my dinner, and prepare my sleeping nest for tonight. I also learned that Voyageurs main Visitor Center is open and east of International Falls so I plan to head there tomorrow morning - early. Tomorrow will be a hotel/motel....I need a shower. This is a basic campground with no shower facilities.
2025-05-22