East Bearskin to Crystal
by aerosen
On the day before our entry, we drove from Duluth to Grand Marais. We grabbed our last few grocery and camping items in town before heading up the Gunflint Trail to Hungry Jack Outfitters (HJO).
When we arrived at HJO at 6:30 pm, Dave greeted us and went over our planned route. Our initial plan was to do a loop heading southeast from East Bearskin to Pine (for Johnson Falls) and heading back west through the Caribous and south through Deer and Moon. Thankfully, Dave had another idea.
He suggested that we choose a base camp and avoid carrying our gear over the Canoe - Pine portage. This would allow us to still enjoy the falls but to also enjoy our days. We found his advice to be sound, so we decided to base camp on Crystal.
After tossing our gear into our bunkroom, we headed down to Trail Center for dinner. It was a fun atmosphere, and some locals taught us how to play cribbage.