Friday, September 28, 2018

O-Kun-de-Kun falls to the Middle Branch.

On the way home from Ely, we stopped to hike from the North Country trailhead at Hwy 45 east to the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River.  Our pack had cleared this section some years ago, and we wanted to see its current condition.  This will be a large post with many, many photos.
We stayed at a motel in Ironwood and met many, many friendly
people there.

Now at O-Kun-de-Kun falls parking lot, we finally get out!

Arly says the sign here is nearly obscured by weeds.

Oh this is nice.  New signage was recently installed here.

We head east in some wonderfully cool, fall weather. 

We met friendly people from Saginaw MI along the way.
The portion to the bridge was quite brushy.

On top of the falls, the old dog says "this sure makes me nervous!"

It's time for lunch, so why not dine here,
at the prettiest place anywhere in the UP.

After that, we head east across the Baltimore river.

Soon, we find much lop-N-drop trail clearing was done here.

And the trail very hard to follow. 

We'll need to get out here and lend a hand.

Today we found many newer nails in trees, with some ribbon tied to it.
Lotsa brush, and many down trees.
Oh dear, there's also some new wind falls.

We stepped over 30 or more, logs across the trail.

Nothing a few work bees can't fix!


We lost the trail here.

We found it on the other side of this brush.

Puppies like to leap over obstacles!

The weed whacker will restore the corridor here.

The pole saw will come in awfully handy.
Ya! We made it to the Middle Branch.

Look at those fall colors!
We hiked about 5 miles in, and now it's time to go back.

We found much, much blue tape on the ground today.
 Maybe a whole roll of it.

We made it back to the Baltimore.
We did get rained on which does not bother trail mutts.
 
What a perfect day for a hike. We'll be back for trail clearing later!

Thursday, September 27, 2018

More vacation fun in Ely MN!

After the crew leader conference we went to Ely to stay a few days with Sandy's family.  We always have fun here!
Ya Ray, we don't get touched much ya know.

We never get any belly rubs either.

Did you know we really like toast?

We headed out for a romp at the Bass Lake trail.

First we got to Bass Lake.
Some puppies don't even know that they're not water dogs.

If you expand this photo, you'll see Dry Falls in the center.

Lots of nice little bridges will be crossed today.

Water's up everywhere.


Ya!  We bumped into a group who'd just came off the lake.

They were friendly.

We are so glad for cooler fall weather.

And colors!

Trail mutts don't mind rocky trails.
Which way are we going?
We've been around this lake a few times, but it's still a pretty hike.

One of a few blazes.

We met more friendly hikers.

Ya these two were friendly too.

Later, Grampa picked carrots just for us!
Oh ya Grampa, you know I love carrots.

Grampa didn't know I was a lap dog.

We had such a nice visit here.