Outdoors
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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Grand Opening of Playfront Park
The Junior League of Duluth will host the Grand Opening of the new Playfront Park this Friday, June 4, from 4 to 6 p.m. Mayor Don Ness and representatives from the Duluth Chamber of Commerce will join members of the Junior League of Duluth for the official ribbon cutting at 5 p.m.
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Movies in the Park 2010
After initially deciding to take a year off, Trent and Brita Edgerton, the amazing local couple that has produced MITP since 2006, sent me an email today telling me that the event is BACK on with a new sponsor, the Greater Downtown Council. Information about sponsorship opportunities and a TENTATIVE schedule is here.
That’s all I know.
Forest tent caterpillars in southern Minnesota — March to Duluth begins!
I came across several of these disgusting silken mats of forest tent caterpillars on Sunday in the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area, about 160 miles south of Duluth. I’m sure there’s some larvae busting from egg masses somewhere in the northern part of the state, too, but I haven’t seen any yet.
I think next summer is when things should start to get really gross around here, with a peak in 2012 … although I haven’t heard any official predictions yet. Anyway, it probably wouldn’t hurt to get stocked up on tin foil and dish soap, or whatever is supposed to keep the ravenous little beasts from chewing your trees bald. Perhaps someone can fill us in on good dish soap substitutes that are better for the environment but still make the “army” retreat. (It’s smart the way they invade every 10 years … just long enough for us to forget all their weaknesses.)
Name That Trail: The gravel one that goes from 63rd Avenue West, behind the zoo and under Ely’s Peak, out to I-35
Have you walked, biked, snowmobiled or whatevered this trail? It starts/ends just off of North 63rd Avenue West and Greene Street (though technically there are random sections of it that pop up further east) and goes west out to Beck’s Road and I-35, where it gradually disappears.
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