Highpoint #32: Minnesota

Vanity Shot at the Summit of Eagle Mountain!

Choosing to climb the highpoint of Minnesota during the winter made for one of my most adventurous outings yet!  I really had no idea what all I would be in for on this one.  Talk about an exhilarating ride!

Having finished up the highpoint in Wisconsin in the late afternoon, we pushed on by car to Duluth, MN.  It was at this point that the character of the roads changed considerably.  The pristine highways of Wisconsin gave way to snowy roads that were becoming worse by the minute with the incoming snow.  Coming out of Duluth, we were on state highway 61 for the rest of the way up, following the edge of Lake Superior.  Slick roads with white flurry conditions and poor lighting made for some tense, slow driving.  We eventually called it a night about half way up the shore line at the dubiously named, AmercInn (a local hotel chain apparently).  Really, choices were quite limited, over-priced, and mostly only open during the summer, so this would just have to do. 

The next morning I bid my wife farewell at the hotel and continued on solo the rest of the way up highway 61.  An easy out-and-back, I thought, with plenty of time to pick up my wife and head onward to points south.  Well, the drive alone was something else.  For the first few miles, it was pretty easy as I had the opportunity to follow a plow/salt truck – yay!  And then he pulled off the road – aargh!   From there it was careful driving until I passed the hamlet of Lutsen.  At this point I was directed to follow county road 4 for 17+ miles. 

I turned off and saw a huge snow covered hill with one set of tracks.  There was a lot of snow, so I wasn’t certain if my car would get stuck or not.  I followed the tracks though and slowly made my way to the top of the hill.  Okay, I will just keep proceeding tentatively, I thought, following one rolling hill after the next.  This worked pretty well until I was about 10 miles out from the main road.  At this point, the single set of tracks made a left, but I needed to continue straight.  With apprehension, I proceeded onward.  Now I was putting down fresh tracks hill after hill, mile after mile.  My car was doing surprisingly well.  I was keeping to the middle of the road so that I might follow the same tracks out later in the day.  I finally went down the last hill of this road, which culminated with a stop sign at a T-junction. 

At this point I thought I would be really clever and go slowly through the stop sign and following through with my right turn all in one motion since I was afraid of stopping at the bottom of the hill and getting stuck.  Well, my car kept going all right – all the way across the road into the embankment on the other side.  I blared my horn, but it was only me and my foolishness that was within any earshot.  I thought for sure the car was going to keep going into the trees, but fortunately I had slowed enough by this point that the snow bank stopped my car’s motion entirely with zero damage to my car.  Wow!  I got out of the car and assessed the situation.  

Car was Okay, but Note the Snow Cover in the Back!

A frustrating sign indicated that I still had another 4 miles to go just to arrive at the trailhead for Eagle Mountain.  Did I mention there was still an 8-mile snowshoe trek ahead of me?  Oh, this was going to be fun. 

Still not at the Trailhead!

Again, I proceeded carefully, laying down fresh tracks and quickly made it through the last 4 miles.  

The Road Ahead

I was finally at the trailhead.  It was very nice out by Minnesota standards:  -8F.  Yes, negative temps.  I definitely had to get my gear in order before heading out.  I made sure I brought my Alti mitts for this one.  

That was Supposed to be the Easy Part!

At the trailhead proper, there was a large kiosk topped off with a couple feet of snow.  The instructions were pretty clear that I needed to pick up a self-issued wilderness permit from the attached box, since I would be crossing into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) along the way to Eagle Mountain, and the pass would be required for that section of the snowshoe.  I did the needful. 

Kiosk at the Trailhead

Required Permit

Check out how much snow accumulated at the first sign at the beginning of the trail!  They get a lot of snow out here! 

That's a lot of Snow!

Here is the “after” shot:

Actually an Important Sign!

The trail itself had recently seen a visitor as evidenced by the deep boot prints.  This broke up the snow a bit, making for a slightly easier snowshoe.  Now it was time to commune with nature.  

A Walk in the Woods

Amid deafening silence, I trudged onward uphill weaving around evergreens caked in snow.  It was just so beautiful!  

Beautiful!

In the summer, hikers are plagued with mosquitoes through here, but in the winter it is a pristine wilderness that you can have all to yourself.  I was at peace, enjoying every minute of this. 

Low-Lying Bridge:  Be Careful with Snowshoes

After crossing some low-lying bridges, I soon found myself in the BWCA!  I would have no idea where the transition point was, but for the sign.  

Officially in the Wilderness Now

I continued onward, again proceeding uphill.   A little while later, I made it to a snow-covered, presumably iced over lake.  This was Whale Lake, which I knew from the map.  With no map though, I might just think this was an open clearing.  Incidentally, this was the one place where it was really windy.  Everywhere else, trees were omnipresent and broke the wind.  Here though, I was the windbreak. 

Whale Lake

I followed the trail as it hugged the western side of the lake.  After a short while, I arrived at a split.  To the right was Brule Lake Trail where the boot prints continued.   To the left was the trail to the summit of Eagle Mountain.  This trail was untouched.  Indeed, it just led steeply uphill through snowdrift.  My workout with the snowshoes was about to get a lot more intensive. 

Thought I was Close at this Point

Generally, making new trail was straightforward enough.  I usually could figure out where the clearing was and keep going in that direction.  Sometimes it was a little less clear, but I just chose the way that led uphill since I was in search of the highest point.  Sometimes it was just drifted in, so I had to explore a little to see which way was viable.  It was a good exercise in routefinding, but never was it difficult.  

Route Finding Wasn't Too Bad

Just Keep Going "Up"

The only thing that misled me was that the summit was nowhere near the trail turn-off.  I assumed that since the summit was only 2300’ and I was heading up hill the entire time, that there couldn’t be that much farther to go.  What I did not count on was just how much the trail would meander working its way up this little mountain.  It seemed like it was taking much too long.  I eventually came to a clearing that provided a beautiful lookout into the wilderness.  I took an opportunity for a rest break to really soak in the view.  It was just gorgeous here. 

Best View of the Trek

I knew the lookout was close to the summit, but the not summit itself.  So I trudged onward.  

Not There Yet!

After a short walk, I was confused.  It looked like the trail was starting to dip downward.  Yikes, did I mess up?  I dug out my GPS and it was dead as was my phone.  Luckily I had batteries with me, so I changed out the old ones in the GPS, and got my coordinates.  I was a whopping 250’ from the summit!  With no clear path amid the snowdrifts, I decided to bushwhack along a beeline to the summit.  I soon found myself in the vicinity.  Now I had to do some detective work to find the – buried – summit rock.  I saw a mound ahead of me where it looked like the snow dipped some.  I wiped my glove over the top of the mound, and it read “Eagle Mountain”! 

I Can't Believe I Found It!

I wiped the mound of snow quite a bit more and made out the entire plaque inscription.  Sure enough I had found the summit rock!  This highpoint took quite a bit of effort to reach – what a journey! 

The Full Summit Plaque

Of course, this journey was only half complete.  I still had to get the heck out of here.  Fortunately, proceeding downhill along a freshly made snowshoe trail was mostly an exercise in letting gravity do the work for me.  A couple of times, my bindings got a little messed up as I slid down a hill, but it was pretty straightforward.  I soon rejoined the main trail and wrapped my way back around Whale Lake.  I kept up the push and was soon making my way back into the national forest and eventually the trailhead itself.  Towards the end, I picked up new snowshoe prints.  Apparently someone was just out this way for a short jaunt.  Talk about a popular place! 

I took off all of my gear and packed the car.  I still had that dreaded return drive ahead of me, and my car was effectively a metal icebox at this point.  Seriously, it took over a half hour at full blast heat before my car resumed a reasonable internal temperature.  Damn, it was cold out here!  Luckily, county road 4 saw some traffic in the intervening hours, so the road was packed down a bit more than the single set of tire tracks that I left behind me.  I even saw a few people out on the road this time around.  I finally dispensed with the 17+ miles back to the main road, taking that final hill down to the main road as slowly as I could for fear of sliding into traffic.  No worries.  I was back on the main road in no time, and it was in considerably better shape having seen salt and plow treatment all day long.  I made it back to the hotel and reunited with my wife who was none too happy that the trip took a little longer than expected (who knew I would have a car accident on the way?), but was happy that I was okay and, more importantly, that we were heading south to warmer temperatures.  Indeed, we called it a night in balmy, by comparison, Minneapolis.  Only one highpoint remained on this road trip before we could put a fork in it:  Iowa. 

Parting Vanity Shot at Overlook Near the Summit