Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

leaf change in the porkies
by dogwoodgirl

Trip Type: Hiking
Entry Date: 10/04/2009
Entry & Exit Point: Other
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 1
Day 2 of 4
Monday, October 05, 2009

I'm up and at'em early, make coffee for the road and we're off. I grab a sandwich in Iron River, then back in the car. It always seems like such a long drive, doodling across Wisconsin on Hwy 2. Really, it's not even 200 miles total, so I shouldn't whine. I pick up WTIP beaming at me across the lake from Grand Marais once I get to Michigan, that's a nice treat! The cabin key is hanging on the clipboard outside the ranger station, and then were parking the car and grabbing the pack. After so much canoeing, it always feels a little odd to just have one pack to carry. Log Camp Cabin is 2.5 miles from the lot, not bad at all.

For some reason, the first mile feels like hell- I stop to rest a couple times. Feeling like an old geezer until I glance at my topo map and see that yes, it IS all uphill. The 2nd mile feels easy though, and it's still uphill, so maybe I'm just adjusting. We follow a porcupine for a couple hundred feet down the trail- Stella really thinks I should let her run ahead to chase the "big fat squirrel". It finally turns off at the East Vista lookout, and we keep going. No rain so far, a comfortable 50 degrees.

Then the cabin is ahead through the trees- it's a beauty! Small for a 4 bunk, maybe 12X14. It will be perfect for me. The woods around are a mixture of young maple, older paper birch and yellow birch, and some aspen and spruce.

I unlock the cabin, dump the pack on a bunk, and go out to cut wood. If it really does rain the rest of the time I'm here, I'll be pretty happy not to be cutting wood in a downpour. There is a ton of down wood on the forest floor- mostly young maples and aspens that could make it with all the taller trees grabbing the sunlight. It doesn't take long to have a pretty good supply of wood in the cabin, and enough cut to have a fire outside tonight. I do love my campfires!

Stella and I take off on a hike to the ski hill area....one of the attractions of this cabin is that it's surrounded by XC ski trails, and is close to the downhill ski area. Lots of loop hike potential, and great views from the hill. We do a short loop, and sit at the top of the ski hill for awhile. It's cloudy, so the colors aren't as sparkling as they might be, but still very beautiful and peaceful. Because this is not in one of the more popular old growth areas of the park, and there aren't any rivers/waterfalls here, I never see a soul on these trails. All the hardwoods make for nice fall colors, too.

We hike back to the cabin and make dinner, just spanish rice with chicken, eaten right out of the pot. Then I sit around the fire until it's full dark. Owls are calling in the trees around us. It can't be much later than 8 PM, but I'm bushed. I put out the fire and settle in to my bunk...no need for a fire, it's not very cold at all.