Awaken this morning at Gunflint Lake Lodge, clear skies and 52F. Quite a change from 80-90F in Omaha, or even Minneapolis. We started with coffee in our cabin and eventually strolled to Justine's Bistro in the Lodge building for our first real meal here. A very enjoyable "Old American Breakfast" of 2 eggs, bacon or sausage and choice of toast. We added a shared side of hash browns, the least appetizing of the entries, as they were too greasy, but tasty.
Although the Lodge offers a host of activities we opted for an open day. We walked around the property, hiked a short easy nature trail, labeled as a "Quiet Short Walk," and then strolled up to the stables to look at the horses. We could have signed up for a horse ride and lunch, up along the trails with our choice of lunch. Deadline for sign up was last night. Oh Well, although one of us was a "horse person" in the past, this didn't really trip any triggers, pun intended.
Instead, we mounted our own trusty blue steed and took off to explore the rest of the Gunflint Trail. We journeyed down to the end of our Gunflint Lake Road South and noted two other resort areas and numerous camper positions populated by large camper RVs. Turning around we passed our Lodge again and headed along the Gunflint Trail Rd, Rte 12, towards the end point. This entire area is surrounded by the BWCAW and Superior National Forest, with a number of small land owners and cabins dotted along the road. We saw a few for sale signs, although, for the most part there is no hint of what the homes looked like as they are all nestled back in the woods, some fronting on the larger lakes, such as Gunflint, Seagull Lake, Loon Lake and Lonely Lake.
There are also a number of Canoe Outfitters dotted along the road, these being small outposts with canoes and associated equipment available for rent, offering guides, bait and supplies for sale. The area is thriving as it is the height of vacation time, the weather is perfect, and with enough Deet or Picardin, one can easily survive the onslaught of the Minnesota State Bird (mosquito.)
We eventually arrived at Trails End Cafe, the farthest most reach of Gunflint Trail, some 23 miles further on from our Lodge. This is a small cafe and "general store" attached to the Way of the Wilderness Outfitters camp. We arrived in the cafe, the only customers at 1:00 in the afternoon and ordered a small pizza and some bottles of water from the sole young lady working the cafe, the store and the kitchen. Fast food this is not, but pleasant little cafe with lots of articles about the area reprinted on the walls. Who knew that canoe racing was a thing. The pizza eventually arrived and it was hot and tasty.
We meandered back to our lodge and around 2:30 took up our seats in the Adirondack chairs fronting the lake, doused ourselves in chemical, and sat back for a lazy afternoon of reading. At 5:00, we broke out the wine and had a cocktail and then headed to the Bistro for dinner. We enjoyed a local beer and a non-local pinot noir coupled with a walleye sandwich and a set of triple sliders, one of walleye, one of pulled pork, and one of braised pot roast. All were good, although the accompanying Caesar Salad was overdressed and included some red grapes in the mix.
We strolled to the end of the dock, inquired about scheduling a dinghy with motor for tomorrow and then headed back to the cabin. We started a fire in our fireplace, which petered out quickly, and listened to the latest Mary Chapin Carpenter album which we had downloaded onto our phone. We read some more and were lights out at 9:45, a very relaxing day in the north woods country.
