Chickcamp 2022 -- Day 1-5

Thursday July 18, 2022

Left home a bit late, 11am, because there were still things to tidy up before leaving. Went for gas, a few groceries at Lunds/Byerly's in Roseville, and some bootlegger. Saw Kathy E at Lunds and had a lengthy catch up on retirement. On the way by noon. 

On the way up did a cemetery in Isanti county. Salem Swedish Lutheran Cemetery. There was a sculpture in the cemetery or maybe it was a monument to someone, I couldn't tell. It was made of a hubcap, kitchen knives, and some other shiny metal pieces that were cut from something and welded together. The grave I was looking for was for a native man and he had the kind of grave with a small low house over it. There was a photo and items his grave. Many of the graves here had tokens and things. I like that. Also buried here is "Slim" Seel, who was part of the Apollo 11 team as Director of Production at Honeywell. It says that on his stone. 

Couldn't decide my route until the last minute and then I took the Duluth detour so I could get ice cream at Love Creamery. Then took the MN 135 (no, not I-35, numb er 135) route up towards Tower. 

Close to the end of my trip I did another cemetery. This was the Old Vermillion Pioneers Rest Cemetery, or Old Lake Vermillion Cemetery. First burials documented on the sign 1902 and last one was 1930; 45 people including 5 infants. According to the GC description, there are 2 cradle graves but the children aren't buried here, and I didn't know what a cradle grave was while I was there. Getting to the cemetery was a challenge because I forgot I drive a small low car. I almost ripped out the bottom of my car on the rutted, weedy road. The cemetery was overgrown and occupied by hordes of grasshoppers. 

Back out with my car and tires intact, and on my way to Bear Head State Park. I'm watching the weather radar because there are storms all around and lightning and thunder. I get to the park, I get to the site (#1) and it starts to pour. Hmmmm. I sit under the hatch for a bit and it rains harder and I move farther into the car and decide now is the perfect night to try out sleeping in the Fit. It worked fine! The moon was a bit bright and woke me up. Need to cut more of those reflective pieces so that I can cover the windows. No problem with bugs, they didn't fly in the rain. I was comfortable and slept well. I need to be more organized and bring less crap with me everywhere. Dinner was popcorn and bootlegger. 

Day 2. Friday. Woke up in the car, got myself out and went to outhouse. I didn't want to have my breakfast at the muddy campsite so I drove over to the picnic area and cooked my breakfast ramen and made coffee and charged up my phone. Cleaned up and did one GC that was nearby. 

I had a bee in my bonnet that I needed black gesso and stopped at art store (nope, they didn't have), then stopped at Piragis because I wanted a tiny fry pan but ended up getting a sort of small tiny pot ($13.95) to heat up my brats in. I passed by the sign for Sisu knitting and figured I go in there and look around. It's a very small store so you sort of have to buy something, you can't just look around and leave easily but that's okay. Small world syndrome too -- Leah Dvorak was in there (from decades ago nursing school). She lives in Ely, works for HCMC as a tele-nurse. Anna, the owner knows Peggy and Susan. The former owner of the store, Susan, is the sister to Norm, who built Norm's Fish Camp on Tofte Lake, where the theater camp is. Tofte Lake Center. Anna told me that the USFS Fall Lake Campground is a good place for northern lights watching, and that Miner's Lake just below the Pioneer Mine is a great swimming spot because it's spring fed (colder) and deep and clear. 

I do the Winton-Ely adventure and then start the mining adventure. When I get to the Pioneer Mine I see the sign that says it's open Tuesdays and Fridays 3-6. Maybe I'd come back. In the meantime I'm going to look for the swimming spot. As I'm wandering around i see the mine guy and he says to come up anytime he's already there. I swim. So nice at that spot! Basically it drops right off into deepness. Later I find out it's 164 feet deep. 

I go to the mine tour with 2 other people from Charlotte NC. The guy is a volunteer but not a former miner. His uncle and grandfather were miners. Not many miners left. History of mining and how these mines were different than the Soudan mine (the Cadillac of mines -- no dust) because they had dust and mud and the ore was different. The whole area of Ely was the 5 mines and it was flat and treeless. Flat until they dug it all out and it filled in with water after 12 years. Treeless because all the trees were logged off earlier. The volunteers who run this mine are trying to raise money to restore it sort of. It's designated a national historic monument or site and owned by the city of Ely and they can't tear it down. The guy showed us old maps of the mines. They are stored on-site, in a flat cabinet. Ancient one of a kind maps, in a dusty old cabinet in a damp hot/cold room with pigeons. 

Went to Lake Vermillion when Laura and Angie got there, we picked our cabin and unpacked and had cocktails. Marie and Mary showed up later and they took the other cabin. Marie cooked burgers that she assumed we all wanted to eat and we sat at their cabin but she had the radio on the whole time. In the woods. We couldn't hear the loons. 

Day 3 August 20

Soudan historic boat houses. Strib story. 

I went to to the Tower history museum/train museum/mining museum. Talked to the guy there for a while. He was from Chicago area now lives here, is on the board of the museum, does some of the restoration on the trains and writes grants etc. His brother worked at Fermi Lab. He's the one who told me about the boat houses and how to find them and that no one would mind me being down there. 

Tim, my new boyfriend with his boathouse. 

His family has had the boathouse because his grandfather was a miner. His father or grandfather bought property on Ely Island a week before Pearl Harbor. Tim's father was an only child and he had 9 children. I think the whole family uses it? He has torn down the old cabin and built a bigger house and works out there. He's an engineer for Hewlett Packard (in Chippewa Falls?). 

The rest of the people went to Ely for the day and Kawishishi. 

"I've camped on 4 continents." -- Mary

"Seattle and Portland are huge for glass. Glass people are like house surfers." -- Mary

"We have 14 tents." -- Mary. Hoarder. 

"If you're going camping in MN, go to Lake Chetek, it has a cart-in, we do the state parks. My favorite hike in is Charles Lindberg, with 2 hike in spots. The 2 are right on the stream. We grab both spots." -- Mary

"You've probably figured out I'm a very dominant person." -- Mary

Ok, back to normal -- I went to Wakemup but there was nothing there except houses. I went to lots of dead ends looking for a beach and I went to a bunch of PWAs to see what they were like. Lake Vermillion has mostly houses all around around. 

Dinner at our cabin, mostly eat whatever, no formal meal. Marie brought her radio but I said she can't play it at our cabin. 

Day 4. 

We pack up to leave and clean our cabins. There was some drama about the carts with other campers and Mary and the other woman and words I think. 

As we were leaving we talked to the ranger. I told him about the flat tire on the big cart and we loved the cabins we cleaned so well they wouldn't have to and have a sign about no ice and where is trash and recycling (besides in the little words on the sheets of paper). 

"Perry and I have property near Tofte and can't get a permit for Sawbill entry because we live to close." She tells the ranger, like he will know who Perry is and like he cares. 

"We do 4 to 5 state parks each year." 

We all left. I went to cemeteries. I think I went to 5? At two of them there were women who were doing the yard work. Ginny Leander was on the riding mower at Hillside Cemetery. I talked to her for a while. Her father in law was the sexton for 59 years and now maybe her husband is but she does the work? She did all the flower plantings along the driveway near the woods, and the little shrine things. She asked if I did FindAGrave and told me about two women who were going to photograph all the markers and she said she'd do it for them because she had a camera. The explained how the cemetery is arranged, in two blocks and then 12 or 19 sections and each section can hold 8. And that she wishes she had someone else to help her with the records because they have the names and then what block, section, and letter they are in and she said it would help to have someone double check and that many of the old records are handwritten in curly letters and hard to read. She likes the work. She apologized for skipping the weed wacking this time and I said I thought it was a beautiful cemetery. I mentioned the headstones with so much information--snowmobiles, heavy equipment, animals, flowers, pinecones, fish, and were the stones made locally? Yes, a guy in Cook does them and he does all the designing. What a cool job and so memorable forever. 

The other cemetery was the East Pike Cemetery and I talked to that woman who told me about how she takes care of the cemeteries and mows and trims and waters. How none of the people there complain and they don't talk much (joke). 

Common to both women is that they can't keep the grass alive and weeds out with the drought. I thought the grasshoppers were crazy many but they said it was worse a few weeks ago. At least they don't bite. 

Finally got on my way to Scenic and got to the park around 5pm. Site 76 (I think) was a nice site. In the Lodge campground. Met my neighbors in the popup camper. A couple from Duluth who have been coming to this park since the 70s. They were kayaking the lake and also brought their fishing boat. The guy was in the Air Force. The woman and a hip replacement or hip problems and used a cane. Both so chatty and friendly. They live a block off Arrowhead drive at 53. 

Ate my dinner of leftovers, had a fire, went to bed. 

Wrote email to the person who did the Rural Repose cemetery GCs.

Hi, I'm having a heck of a good time on your rural repose GCs. I had a few days in the state parks (Bear Head, Lake Vermillion, Scenic) and did some of the reposes. I'll log some of them but others I didn't get because I was having such a great time talking to the women who were doing the lawn mowing, trimming, watering etc. They gave me so much background on the plots, the people, and the history of how they were the ones doing the mowing and tending. After all that I didn't care if I got a smiley or not. At Hillside Cemetery, those crazy headstones are all made in Cook by someone (but now I can't remember) when I mentioned how amazing they are to the person who was there (I'd say her name, and maybe you know her, and her FIL was the sexton for 59 years before her). Besides the heavy equipment on the stones, the birds, flowers, pine cones, snowmobiles, fish, etc etc forever.

I might never finish the final because I'll lose all my notes for which letter=which number and really I'm not all that competitive with myself and I'm a solo geocacher anyway.

She wrote back: 

Hi! Thanks for the nice message! It's not often that anyone takes time to write a log any more, much less send a message...unless it's to complain about something. 😁 I'm glad you are enjoying the series - I sure had fun exploring those hidden-away cemeteries. I do hope you get around to visiting them all, as the final is one of my favorites. I'm happy to share coordinates if you do misplace the numbers.

Thanks also for the info on Hillside history. I think it's cool that you took the time to chat with the caretakers. That is something I've never done...I've had every cemetery to myself each time I've been there.

And finally, thank you for adding some of my caches to your trip. I sometimes get discouraged as they don't get many finders - mostly me doing maintenance!

--Jane

The Final is https://coord.info/GC6KYMX

Location of the final cache in the series is N 47 AB.CDE  W 092 FG.HIJ

G=2

J=5

I=7

D=5 (I think, some plastic where the letter was is peeled off. I think it is a D. First I thought it was an O but there is no O and the D is the other rounded thing. 

Went to bed sort of early maybe 9:30. Woke up once and figured I should pee even if I didn't have to, and look at stars. It was so quiet at the park. No wind, no animals or birds. Lots of stars. Very beautiful. 

Day 5. Aug 22. 

Out of tent around 7:30. Packed up, made breakfast (instant mac and cheese with porketta, and coffee). Started to head home and turned back to write these notes while sitting on a bench lakeside. 

Drove home a longer way. Did a few cemetery GCs but at one there was a whole crew mowing and at another the final was 23 miles away, and at another the final was deep in the tall brush and I was wearing a skirt. 

Got home about 5pm, unpacked, sat at the neighbors, met the new chickens, took a shower. 

What I didn't use/need: 

art supplies, knitting, books

fan

most of my food 

good raincoat (crappy raincoat would have been fine)

little folding table

hiking boots, hiking poles

insect repellent (probably should have used because I'm bitten up again)

2nd tent (that was because I couldn't decide; the Exped is easy to put up and lighter than the single anyway). 

headlamp and knitting lamp

What I'm glad I had: 

Benedryl gel

pillow

sleeping bags (2); yes, I used them both

Sleeping in car was fine! 

Solar lights and flashlight

crocs and flip flops

bathing suits (2) could have probably just brought the 1pc. 

light towel seems better than a thicker towel 

What I could have had more of: 

underpants

another long pants

another skirt

I was kind of sick of my clothes

my shoes are also starting to feel not so comfortable but I've been wearing them down so that I have a fresher pair for Iceland.