Outdoors
First Thursday Motorcycle Ride
We ride again! Bring your jacket, it’ll officially be September. Last month’s ride was great. If you missed it, you missed out. Prepare for about 60-70 miles, and maybe a beer afterward!
Duluth Parks and Recreation Master Plan
PDFs of the most recent draft:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapters 4-5
There will be a public meeting to review the draft plan on Monday, Aug. 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Parks and Recreation Offices, 12 E. Fourth St. It’s your chance to talk to consultants, city staff, and the Parks and Recreation Commission and tell them what you think.
“Habitat Here!” Festival is for the Birds …
… as well as birders and non-birders alike who enjoy Laura Erickson’s “Speaking For the Birds” program on KUMD (Laura will be speaking at the festival!). The event is an essential for gardeners or non-gardeners interested in native landscaping; and/or all your friends and neighbors!
*Wild Ones Arrowhead Chapter and Hartley Nature Center invite you to the second annual:
Habitat Here! Festival and Native Plant Sale
Sunday, Aug. 22, 10-3
Hartley Nature Center, 3001 Woodland Ave. Duluth, MN 55803
A free, open-house style festival to celebrate habitat and learn to create a haven for nature in your own yard; featuring:
- Garden Tours
- Speakers
- Native Plant Sale
- Expert Advice
- Kid’s Activities
Lightning?
3:31 am — Single flash of light and a long rolling thunder… or was it the ship coming to a stop? Keep your eye out for cover-ups.
Anyway, it just seemed strange without any other lightning that I can tell.
Nevermind, there’s the second one, and I saw it too. That’s some huge creepy lightning I tell ya. Hope Lakeside is still there in the morning. Or do I? Yeah I guess I know some people out there.
Good story.
-A
Chester Creek Artist
Can anyone tell me anything about the beautiful artwork under the Ninth Street Bridge on the east side of Chester Creek? I’m going back with a camera today!
Favorite Duluth Area Swimming Holes
I have a simple question. Seeing as summer is about to draw to a close, what is your favorite Duluth area swimming hole? The deeps, the shallows, the Lester River train bridge, Lester Park, Twin Ponds and the spot beneath the bridge crossing the St. Louis river on the Willard Munger trail all come to mind. Does anyone have any other favorites aside from spots along Lake Superior?
Spot for Stargazing?
If you don’t know, the year’s best meteor shower happens next week, in the wee hours of the morning of Aug. 11, 12 and 13. From what I read, the Perseids are one of the most active showers, with up to 50 meteors an hour – should be a nice show!
I’m hoping to get out and watch a bit; I’m wondering if anyone has any favorite or secret spots? Although there are nice bare spots above Skyline or along Park Point, I’m hoping to escape the glare of city lights. I was thinking Stoney Point might be nice, or perhaps Gooseberry? If someone has suggestions of closer spots, that’d be even better.
So, whatever happened to testing Lake Superior beaches for E. coli?
According to MPR, tightened budgets led the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to decide beach testing should be done by an outside contractor, because the issue was more of a public health concern than an environmental one. But the contractors haven’t started the work yet, meaning Lake Superior beaches like Park Point aren’t being tested.
Here’s the full story …
Beachgoers beware: Not all beaches are tested for bacteria
Gravel time
A friend pointed me to an article in the Wall Street Journal on communities that are replacing paved roads with gravel in order to save money. Which led me to think… Duluth really ought to de-pave Hawk Ridge and Seven Bridges Roads as soon as possible.
I think it was only in the last ten years or so that the city splashed a half-assed layer of asphalt on those roads–within a year or two, they had deteriorated to the point where the “pavement” was bumpier than the gravel it was supposed to cover. By now, those roads are a barely navigable moonscape. Judging by the condition of various residential streets and important thoroughfares, I anticipate the city will probably have sufficient funds to properly re-pave Hawk Ridge and Seven Bridges about ten minutes before hell freezes over–so why not admit defeat on this one? Would it be all that expensive to run a grader up and down there every week or two in the summer? Is there some other compelling reason to stick with the mess that’s up there now?
There’s always something in the fine print
After hearing about all the great berry-picking this year, I decided today to go on a mission to pick wild blueberries for the first time. I headed up onto forest backroads way north of Two Harbors, in search of a good patch to harvest, and then of course keep as a closely held secret. Miles off the pavement, in the middle of nowhere on a rutted, rocky, bumpy single-lane track, I came around a curve and saw this…
Summer break becoming a drag?
Sign the kids up for Camp Miller! We have openings in every session and a special deal for registering your camper for Session 8 — a $50 discount! (Write “PDD” on your registration to receive.)
Every child should have the experience of summer camp and the Y Camp Miller has been making memories that last a lifetime for 112 years! Check out why this tradition is still going strong!
Berry picking in northern Minnesota
According to the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture, blueberry patches from Stillwater to Cambridge are reporting a bumper crop.
While blueberries are peaking in the southern half of the state, they might not be ready for picking in northern Minnesota until July 17 — which is this weekend.
There are 26 blueberry farms statewide listed in the Minnesota Grown Directory. As for the wild ones, well … I’m not telling.
GPS Help
I’m thinking about getting a handheld GPS. We’d use it hiking, maybe try geocaching with the kids and when paddling. So if was waterproof and usable in the car, that’d be great, but not necessary.
Anybody have recommendations or have one they want to get rid of?
Lakewalk extension
Anybody who lives in Lakeside has presumably figured this out by now, but others may be interested to learn that construction on the latest phase of the Lakewalk extension–from 47th to the highway– appears to be rolling along. It looks like the section nearest to 47th may take a little more preparation than the rest due to the slope, but the part farther east might be pretty close to ready for pavement. Based on the work the past couple summers, it doesn’t seem too farfetched to think they’ll be done before fall.
Lack of Duluth Summit Cheeseburger Attempts
What is a Summit Cheeseburger you ask? Well, the mission of the Summit Cheeseburger Project is…
“To encourage, enable, and document the consumption of a Cheeseburger on every summit on earth.”
Granted most people are completely and totally unaware of the sport of Summit Cheeseburger-ing and perhaps that is why there is a lack of said activity in St. Louis and Douglas Counties so I will forgive you, good people of said counties. But, now that you are being educated on this activity I see no reason for easy targets like Ely, Bardon’s, Moose, Sugarloaf, Pike, and Sugar Camp Hill to be conquered with zest, vigor, and zeal!
Summit Cheeseburger Locations near Duluth
Do you like to hike, bicycle, drive, or just generally get off your couch and go do something but are looking for an excuse? Then attaining a Summit Cheeseburger just may very well be for you!
1. Grab a cheeseburger and your camera
2. Visit the Summit Cheeseburger website and find a summit.
3. Hike (bike, drive, fly, whatever) to the summit.
4. Photograph yourself nomming down a cheeseburger.
5. Post it to the S.P. site.
6. Repeat!
I’ve tagged summits in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana but Minnesota, and particularly Duluth is full of virgin first ascents just waiting for some PDD’ers to start tagging. Bon Voyage, Happy Trails, and Bottom’s Up!
Knee High By The…..
Happy 4 July.
The Ojibwe Experience – Learning Opportunities
This week I had a chance to glimpse some of the immense cultural riches of the Ojibwe people who along with other Native American people have occupied this area for thousands of years. And you can check them out too, if you want.
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First Thursday Motorcycle Ride
Hello! Once again, time to fire up your bike and get to the co-op for a ride! Have you got a good secret road you wanna share? We’re running out of new places to go, and with the road construction, it’s a little harder to get out of town. So come one down, and let’s ride.
Help COGGS build Duluth into the best in the Midwest
COGGS is a local nonprofit cycling advocacy group that builds and maintains many of the single-track trails in Duluth, including Piedmont, Spirit Mountain, Lester Park, etc.
In the past six months there have been some incredible things happening with COGGS that I wanted to take a moment to share with the rest of the Twin Ports community.
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Seagulls on Wisconsin Point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNV_axc-jxo
1882 Duluth Pack for sale – $50,000
On eBay:
1882 Duluth PATD “Poirier Pack Strap Sack” Backpack Bag
Vintage Leather & Canvas Bag Camille Poirer Rucksack
Item condition: Pre-owned
Price: US $50,000
Western Middle School site. Discuss.
As a hardcore environmentalist and a Red Plan critic, I am rather befuddled by all the talk of an EIS for the Western Middle School.
To be quite honest, the Western Middle School on the chosen site is the one part of the Red Plan I actually support. As an avid outdoor explorer, I think I’ve made tracks in just about every wild spot in Duluth, this one included. I can tell you the “pristine field” critics talk about is mostly an invasive buckthorn hell. Putting a middle school there, if done right, could lead to ecological restoration and native landscaping to improve a highly disturbed ecosystem.
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