Outdoors
Positive Energy Outdoors seeks help
Can you imagine spending your honeymoon with 16 sled dogs? The founders of Positive Energy Outdoors did just that. It is emblematic of how Stephanie Love and Blake Cazier have devoted their lives to their mission of making outdoor education and exploration accessible to everyone, regardless of income level. Pictured above are two champions. On your left is Stephanie, and on your right stands SOTA, a champion lead sled dog who has won the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
As many of you saw in the Duluth News Tribune recently, they face the potential closure of this popular outdoor education center if they cannot resolve a dispute with Fredenberg Township involving access to public lands. All of us in St. Louis County have a stake in this matter. After all, it was our own county board of commissioners who gifted this land to the township with the understanding that everyone currently using the land would continue to be allowed to do so. Please consider signing their petition.
To learn more about this incredible nonprofit organization, located a scant 15 miles from Duluth, check out my current post on Ed’s Big Adventure. Please help to keep this valuable center of outdoor activity alive.
Minnesota wild rice, Adam, and his red canoe
Meet Adam Maxwell. He grew up in the Chicago suburbs. It took one Boundary Waters trip to hook him. Harvesting wild rice started out as a hobby; now it’s part of his daily life.
Video by Old Saw Media
Music: “Fight the Sea” by Josh Woodward
Aldo Abelleira’s Lake Superior Autumn Trip
Aldo Abelleira of Aldo Design took the cruise up from Minntonka to Lake Superior’s North Shore this fall to document the waterfalls, autumn colors and occasional fox hanging out in the road.
Lake Superior’s North Shore Witch Tree
“Manido Gizhigans” to the Ojibwe people, the Spirit Little Cedar Tree (known as the “Witch Tree”) has been keeping a keen eye over the shores of Lake Superior in Grand Portage for an estimated 300-400 years. CBS Minnesota did a “Finding Minnesota” story on the Witch Tree. Travis Novitsky was interviewed for the story and said “You’ve got this tree that’s growing out of the rock for at least 400 or 500 years. And just to stand in the presence of something that’s living, that’s that old, to me is mind-boggling.” Sorry for the brief commercial before the video starts.
See the full story by clicking here.
Copyright for the above photo belongs to Travis Novitsky. www.travisnovitsky.com
North Country Trail nears connection to Superior Hiking Trail
A new 4-mile section of the North Country National Scenic Trail, located 17 miles southwest of Superior, opens Saturday, bringing the trail another step closer to connecting to Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail.
The new segment crosses the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s MacQuarrie Wetlands in western Douglas County and features scenic overlooks of the Nemadji River Valley and the basin of Glacial Lake Duluth. It also crosses a section of Douglas County Forest and Wisconsin DNR lands.
Fifteen-year journey on the Superior Hiking Trail complete
The champagne bottle popped shortly after noon today. In what must rank among the laziest accomplishments in endurance sports history, I completed the final stretch of my quest to hike the entire Superior Hiking Trail … 15 years after I started.
The 296-mile journey was tackled in about 45 different hikes spread out between Sept. 24, 2000, and Oct. 11, 2015. The longest single hike was about 15 miles. The shortest was today’s hike, which was less than a mile. Perhaps some day I’ll gather stories from the journey into some sort of narrative, but for today I’ll just present a simple breakdown of the mileage per year. (more…)
Boundary Waters 2015
Video by Jeremy Schendel.
Grey Timberwolf near Brighton Beach
Ken Greshowak sent PDD this photo shot near Brighton Beach on Sept. 27.
North Shore Fall Colors Fly Over
See the stunning autumn leaf colors on Partridge Ridge in this short aerial fly over. Location of aerial drone fly-over was here: https://goo.gl/maps/
Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2015
With today the first day of fall there is no better time to post the MN Fall Colors map for 2015. We are really starting to see pockets of great colors in Duluth and along the North Shore. You can also use the MN DNR interactive map by clicking here to help track the colors as they change. What are you seeing in your area? Post you favorite tree picture as it changes in the comments.
Temperance River GoPro – Lost & Found in a Beautiful Place
Two summers ago Kyle Puelston lost his GoPro jumping into Temperance River up the North Shore. He figured it was gone forever. Luckily, a year later, Chris Flores and his brother Kyle Puelston found it while snorkeling at the mouth of the river. (more…)
Time Inc. looking for ATV riders
Time is looking for local ATV riders for a video they are shooting soon.
A production team will be in Minnesota to film a short 2-3 minute video for a series that we produce quarterly. This particular shoot will feature an SUV and up to 6 subjects on an off-road trail in Gilbert. Shoot days are October 1st and 2nd.
The subjects we’re looking for are ATV enthusiasts, with their own ATVs, who are rugged, athletic, between 35 and 50, and local to the Gilbert area.
Participants will be expected to ride their ATV on a closed off-road course and then enjoy a ride in our Expedition on the same or similar course on video.
Time Inc. will compensate each applicable participant featured in the video $150 for their time during the two day shoot.
If interested, please email me at emely.torres@timeinc.com for more details.
Please include a recent photo of yourself, and one of your ATV, full name, height and address.
This offer is on a first-come basis so please reply soon and feel free to share this offer.
Puppy Love: East End Dog Park folks need fence help
My dog Nero pleads with you! The Duluth City Council approved the East End Dog Park for Riley Road, and the buyers of Morgan Park Middle School have offered up the chain-link fencing. We just need muscles and some tools to help get that fencing down.
Info can be found at duluthdogparks.com. If you have a few hours and a love of puppies, show up Friday, Sept. 18, and/or Saturday, Sept. 19, both days starting at 9 a.m. Come when you can and stay as long as you are able.
Items needed: People, ladders, socket sets/ratchets, work gloves, people, bolt cutters, crescent wrenches and people!
Duluth Bombardier Hat
Does anyone know where I can purchase a local bombardier-style winter hat, perhaps leather exterior but not a fur interior? I have not been able to find one myself. Thanks in advance.
Something for a rainy day
I’d heard about Rainworks quite a while ago and filed it away in my mind as something awesome that I’d never be lucky enough to see. And then they had a Kickstarter. I’ve already made my pledge, in the hopes that they reach their goal and I can put up some rain activated artwork in my neighborhood but I think the Twin Ports would be a great candidate for lots of this … something to make us look forward to rainy days instead of dread them. However, there are only seven days left in their Kickstarter and there is a ways for them to go!
Teachers and parents, think of the potential for you! Anyone really. If enough of us got this set up, you could have rainy day scavenger hunts all over Duluth or Superior.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain.”
New 360° Video – Minnesota in 360
First 30 seconds is from the North Shore. Click and drag to pan the video line-of-sight.
Lutsen New Gondola
Lutsen Ski Resort began erecting a new $7-million gondola on June 23. It should be operational by the 2015-16 ski season. Above you can see they are sticking with the iconic red for the new eight-passenger gondola, which will speed up the gondola lines.
Video Archive: Paul Hlina on the Superior Hiking Trail in 1995
With a fused spine and partially paralyzed legs, Paul Hlina hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail on crutches in 1995. He is credited as the first person to through-hike the trail, which at the time spanned almost 200 miles. It’s about a 300-mile trail today.
Woods by College of St. Scholastica
Woods by CSS with xylophone bridge
Does anyone know of a map to these woods — the one with the chimney from an old cabin, an empty grotto and a super-sized Jesus statue?
Does the place even have a name? My tickling of the Google has not been fruitful.
More Underwater Dog Footage
Mocha the dog and her owner Chris of Duluth.
2016 Minnesota DNR Trout and Salmon Stamp
Duluth artist Dean Kegler won the 2016 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources trout and salmon stamp contest with this painting of a brown trout. His artwork was previously featured on the 2009 pheasant stamp.
The trout and salmon stamp validation is sold for $10 along with fishing licenses and is required for Minnesota residents age 18 to 64 and non-residents older than age 18 and under age 65 to fish designated trout streams, trout lakes and Lake Superior, and when in possession of trout or salmon.
Cute Lil’ Cave
Just a cute lil’ cave.
Freediving the Harbor Buoy (Slomo version)
This slomo version is a composite of already released raw footage. I made three 30-second dives at the buoy. I am bad at estimating depth and I don’t have a depth gauge. I just wanted to reach a confirmed 30 feet, and diving the buoy was a way to do that since its depth is known. Maybe next year I will hang out down there a little longer since I can stay under a minute. But I was freaked out; although small potatoes in proper freediving circles, it represented a personal best and I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be. I also wasn’t sure what I’d find down there or what the visibility would be, so I approached it with trepidation. Visibility was decent but not great, so I remained wary of a small fear of being startled by fish emerging from the gloom. There had also recently been a prominent death in the freediving world. So to get psyched, that morning I read the comic-book version of H.P. Lovecraft’s horror story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” about a man who (spoiler alert) discovers he is part of a lineage of half-human, half-fish monsters (found in “The Lovecraft Anthology vol. 1” edited by Dan Lockwood, published 2012 by SelfMadeHero.) As usual if I die, my brother is instructed to recover the camera and post the footage to PDD immediately.