To the Northeast

 21 Jun 2009 04:34:41 pm

This week we journeyed to the north east part of the state. Superior National Forest occupies a large portion of north eastern Minnesota...thanks Teddy Roosevelt!!! I was very excited to make the journey over; because this is one of the few spots in the state we haven’t been to. All and all it was pretty neat. Thick thick thick stands of pines, aspens, and spruces....So thick that it wasn't really photogenic. So just imagine trees and more trees. We were performing maintenance on ATV trails at what is called the big aspen trail complex. Hot, sweaty, dirty, and buggy is the best way to describe it. The bugs were so bad, it was mentally draining to keep swatting the black flies and mosquitoes. A few times I let the flies bite me and keep biting just to prove to them I could take the pain before I decided to off them with a quick right hand....pretty sick huh? Otherwise it was hard work that you have to push yourself through. It is nice though because you put your head down and the next time you lift it to check your watch 3 hours have gone by. You do that a couple of times and you find yourself at the end of your 10 hour day and it’s time to relax. We stayed at a camp site within the national forest which was nice. For the most part the residents were quiet and kept to themselves. We did have one nosey gentleman who just had to investigate the situation.

The nerve….Some creatures just have to see what’s going on.?.?.?

We did get a little bit of rain that chased us into our tents on Taco Tuesday. No matter plenty of stuff to occupy my time in my home away from home…The ‘ol trusty Coleman Sundome. I’ll give you the tour here, I know you’re curious.

Plenty of room, for the active young man on the go…or in this case sitting on his brain killing time.



If you notice the dryer located on the roof, with today’s batch of laundry drying from an evening swim…camping’s equivalent of a shower. Also the surround sound system is always a hit when poor weather strikes.

Onto the luxurious vaulted ceilings supported by tent pole trusses that take only seconds to raise… All kinds of head room.



As for other forms of entertainment…this domicile comes with a digital media station and carrying case…Also even vintage forms of entertainment in the hardback form, who’d a thunk?



To the right you can see the deluxe sleeping accommodations, complete with the hooded sweatshirts stuffed inside a pillow case pillow, for those nights when the ground just won’t do.



So work went well and quick... it came time to make our journey back home. North Eastern Minnesota is known as the iron range, and for good reason. Everywhere you look you can see remnants of old mining towns, and mine tailings…Very bad for the environment but neat to look at. Towns like Chisholm…where Moonlight Grahm was from in field of dreams… Hibbing where Bob Dylan was born…Just outside of Hibbing lies one of the world’s largest open pit mining operations, at one time it was the largest mine in the world. It is called the Hull Rust Mine…Here read up…



Really Really big hole in the ground……






So how did they move all of this dirt???? Ask Dr. Jones….Get it? Anyone???


No but seriously this is how the dirt got moved…check out this rig…



Here’s me driving it…



I’m kind of hard to see in that one….here’s me and Peter driving off the job site later that day, it’s a close up don’t worry.



Hahaha!!!!

Here is the engine that this truck had in it…it had something like 7 oil filters, and took 50 gallons of oil…it was massive.



Well that’s that…This week we finally get a break from spiking, we will be in town all week and even get Thursday off!!! Bring on the 4 day weekend. The week after that it’s the midyear retreat all ready and then A trip home for me…Can’t wait, hope all is well, and happy father’s day!!!!!!!!!!

Category : General | Posted By : paul | Comments [4] | Trackbacks [0]