Day 3 (Continued)
After traveling some 16 miles south from the Canadian border, we reached small town of Hovland. The lady at Grand Portage National Monument had suggested Hovland for buying fur products. While searching for the coveted shop that sells fur products, we instead ran into a shop run by a Russian lady. She didn't had a credit card machine but she still managed to give things off to my wife. I am now mailing a check. So beware
. Sadly the shop that sells fur products was closed - don't know why.
The Map Please refer to the map for the trail names, the link will take to Google maps. This is my first attempt and I am not sure if there's a better way to share a map. Suggestions welcome.
The trip is taking a different turn now. At Hovland we enter Superior National Forest leaving HWY 61 behind.
Lake Superior in the background
Just after a mile or so, the road sent our pulse soaring. Seeing unpaved road like this and no traffic for a few miles, we told ourselves - we have arrived.
The tree was shining that bright in sunlight.
We were on Arrowhead trail, having a ball, driving thru some of the most amazing views and first real sense of wilderness. Every couple of miles we will descent into a valley or climb a mountain or pass through some really old Pines and Aspen/Birch meadows. The Sawtooth mountains are not a real mountain range but were took shape when the glaciers receded after the last ice age. They have unique persona.
Road was becoming more gravelly and there was no going back for next 24 hours.
We soon hit the junction of Forest Road 313 and switched to it, as 313 will take us from Arrowhead trail to the Gunflint trail. We were getting ambitious each passing mile. And we decided to switch on the GPS.
Everything has a consequence. Amidst the noise of pure forest air, a digital voice screams at us that we should take a right at next junction. Our notes indicated we should continue on 313. But road to right (USFS 144) looked narrower and we told ourselves this is THE road we always wanted to take. The caution was thrown in to the forest wind that was kind of carrying us.
As can be seen from the photograph it was getting dark. But our world was lit. We were having the adventure that we came for. A big noise - what was that - the car's bottom just hit a boulder pretty bad. And then road kept deteriorating...
Slowly but surely the euphoria was settling down (even if for a moment). All my effort to keep car's bottom off boulders were paying some dividend but half a dozen boulders still managed their aspiration. It also meant our speed was less than 5 miles per hour. It was quite turning out to be a mini off road experience. I have already shut my camera couple of miles back. We were putting our trust in the GPS for guiding us outta here. It says Gunflint trail is now just a mile and a half ahead, so we press on.
Until we faced the eventuality. We hit a dead end. It was already 6:30 PM. Sun was barely peeping through the horizon before we get covered under a cloud of darkness. And here we are - after navigating a muddy dirt road full of boulders.
My heart suddenly sank to ground. I can't believe this is happening. The GPS says Gunflint trail is just 0.3 miles. But all I see is stream of flowing water.
All sort of thoughts are running my mind. I haven't felt worse in my life. I have two very small kids with me. We may have seen only a couple passing souls in last two hours. What if my car is struck in the mud. What if I hit the boulder hard enough to break the car. The mobile has no range. I don't think this is the kind of adventure I was prepared for.
I some how managed to turn the car. I had to drive EV couple of notches to get the picture below as we turned back.
My fear is driving me to speed and I want to ensure that I don't hit the boulder out of carelessness. So I kept reminding myself - you are gonna get past this, please don't do anything stupid. And for next 1 hour I kept driving with a pounding heart till we reached our cabin.
P.S.:
Deep inside jungle the logging still continues. I felt sad. But then in India we cleared all forests long back. In US logging is big industry.
P.P.S.:
When I look back at the incident, I got into panic mode too soon. But if the worse would have hit us, we would have found our way out.
To be continued...