Gunflint Trail Association

Last Saturday, it started to look like a celebration was headed Chik-Wauk’s way.

It started with a load of wood chips. Then a tent showed up.

After a couple hours of labors, a group of volunteers got a tent up on the site. On Sunday, another group of volunteers set up tables and chairs. And yesterday, Monday, we held the Gunflint Trail Historical Society Annual Meeting in the tent and allowed Society Members a sneak peek of the museum. Although the temperatures were a bit chilly yesterday, Society Members had a very warm response to the new museum.

Today, the tent’s still standing, begging for a really big celebration.

Luckily, our grand opening is only 5(!) days away! We hope you’ll have a chance to join in with us for the Grand Opening Festivities on Sunday, July 4th. We have a great day planned.

July 4 Schedule

* 11 AM Gates open – attendees will be assigned a “tour number”
* To avoid traffic we suggest you arrive early and & bring a picnic lunch. Picnic tables are available.
* 1PM Ceremony begins “under the big top”
* Key note speaker: Jim Sanders, Superior National Forest Supervisor, USDA Forest Service
* Ribbon-Cutting
* Museum tours in small groups
* Cake & beverages
* Hike the trails

If you plan to attend the Grand Opening this Sunday, please be prepared for a little event congestion. Because of limited parking space near the museum, parking attendants will be on hand and shuttle buses have been arranged to bring event attendees up to the museum from their parking area.

To make your grand opening experience the best ever, please:
* Allow driving, parking, and shuttle time of 2 or more hours from Grand Marais. (Gates open at 11 AM)
* Car-pooling is strongly recommended. Parking Flaggers in orange vests will be stationed at County Rd 81 (Moose Pond Drive), County Rd 11 (Sag Lake Trail) and Trail’s End Campground, giving instructions for parking and shuttles.
* Drivers should watch for ‘Flagger Ahead’ signs, slow down, stop, listen to and carefully follow directions.
* Each parking area will be filled completely in a pre-determined order.
* Shuttle vans and buses will move people from the parking areas to the special event tent at Chik-Wauk.

We hope we’ll see you on Sunday. It’ll be a celebration, for sure.

June 28, 2010: Annual membership meeting and fish fry is at Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center this year. Fish fry begins at noon. Donations heartfully accepted! Due to limited parking spaces, you may have to park a short distance from Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center. Shuttle service is available.
Drive to the intersection of Moose Pond Drive (Cook County #81) and the Gunflint Trail. Check with the flagger on duty for parking instructions. If handicap parking is required, please ask for specific instructions from the flagger.

Annual meeting includes election of board of trustees.

Silent auction.

Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center wishes you and yours the happiest of summer solstices. We’re a little shocked that midsummer is upon us already, but we’re so pleased to be drawing ever closer to our grand opening on July 4.

Outside the museum, the natural world has been busy, busy. Not only are there tons of strawberries out there so ripe they’re falling off the bushes, we also have birds flitting all over the place, not to mention some visits from Mr. Bear! A loon family’s been hanging out on a nearby lake.

Keep your eyes peeled for Bicknell’s Geranium on our Big Sag Trail. This petite wildflower with frilly foliage often appears in areas that recently experienced wildfire.

This week we start training in volunteers. We’re putting on finishing touches on the gift shop and this morning, we got in the very last piece of furniture for the museum: a burl table and chairs that once belonged to Chik-Wauk owners Ralph and Bea Griffis.

Chik-Wauk’s very grateful to have been awarded a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Fund grant from the Minnesota Historical Society. You can read the WTIP story for more details. The grant helped the Gunflint Trail Historical Society finish up the installation of all the museum exhibits.

It’s official, tomorrow marks the first day of summer on the Gunflint Trail.  The Summer Solstice not only marks the beginning of summer but also the day when the sun will be out the longest.  The next few days we’ll actually see about equal hours of the sun.  The sun will rise just after 5am and will set after 9pm; plenty of time to paddle great distances in between!

Come on up to the Gunflint Trail and enjoy these long and lovely days of summer!

Posted by the Boundary Waters Blog Lady from Voyageur Canoe Outfitters

The finishing touches are being put in place around the museum and the nature center. The beautiful gardens which have been a labor of love for the last few years have been filling in nicely. Every day a different variety of iris seems to bloom!

Out on the grounds, we have new plaques which describe the history of a wide variety of items that have found a new home at Chik-Wauk. Among these items is Eve Blankenburg’s stove. We won’t be cooking any of those infamous hams of Eve’s that always seemed to lead to bear problems at the Blankenburgs’ home; instead we’re cooking up a big batch of flowers.

On the mantel inside the museum, you’ll find a collection of old Hamm’s beer lamps. Hamm’s beer has a deep connection with Chik-Wauk and we’re pleased to have this nostalgic collection.

Don’t forget that next Thursday is the kick-off for this summer’s Becoming a Boundary Waters Family USDA Forest Service Presentations! We’re excited to have some very knowledgeable Forest Service personnel presenting on a wide range of topics. Next Thursday, June 24th, Erin Heep and Jack Greenlee will be speaking about the Amazing Orchids of Northern Minnesota. Erin has some beautiful slides to present. If you want to know where to spot the orchids blooming along Chik-Wauk’s nature trails, this is a presentation you won’t want to miss.  The presentation begins at 3:00 p.m. and will be held on Chik-Wauk’s front porch, overlooking the bay.

More information

Become a Boundary Waters Family with Voyageur Canoe Outfitters and other canoe trip outfitters on the Gunflint Trail this June 14-July16th.   We invite you to wet your paddle at various resorts and outfitters each day of the week.  Mondays at 1pm paddle from the end of the Gunflint Trail with Voyageur.  Check out the schedule to find more opportunities for paddling as well as presentations.  Hope to see you on the Gunflint Trail.

Posted by the Boundary Waters Blog Lady from Voyageur Canoe Outfitters

Nature brings gifts to the Gunflint Trail on a regular basis.  A fledgling Northern Sawwhet Owl was one of those gifts this month.

The Gunflint Trail Historical Society members are also hard at work on a gift to the community: Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center.  The museum components were constructed and installed by Split Rock Studios of Arden Hills, MN, in May.  The museum grand opening is July 4, and regular hours begin July 5.  Make sure you visit the website and the Chik-Wauk Blog, updated regularly by the museum manager with text and photos.

There’s plenty to keep your sense awake when you take a walk around the Chik-Wauk Nature Center these days.

Although people have been finding ripe strawberries tucked away in sunny corners for nearly a month now, it seems berry season is truly upon us. Small ripe strawberries peep out from beneath large leaves along roads and buildings. These strawberries might be teeny babies of berries compared to the ginormous strawberries you find in groceries, but these wild berries seem to contain one of the most concentrated bursts of sunshine there is.

As you walk up the road towards Chik-Wauk, you’ll want to keep your ears peeled.  In the Moose Pond just before Chik-Wauk’s driveway, frogs fill the woods with a croaky conversation. Near the bog, where the Rubaboo hiking trail begins, sparrows and warblers keep up a steady chorus of happy song. There are plenty of other winged creatures to observe along the Rubaboo trail too,  like this lacy-winged dragonfly. The bugs haven’t been especially bad so far this summer, but we’re always happy to see this little bug-eater out in action.

As for wildflowers, the extremely early spring seems to have put the wildflowers ahead by a month.  Last week, the twinflowers and dogbane sprung into bloom, as well as the roadside hawkweek and lupine. The wild roses are still in full bloom and they keep a lovely smell on the breeze now that the blooms on the lilac bush outside the museum have faded.

It doesn’t always feel as though there’s plenty of time to stop and smell the roses here at the museum. It can seem like all of our to-do lists are a mile-long before the big grand opening on July 4th! Still, at the end of the day, there’s always time to hike a trail or smell a wildflower, and soak up some of the peacefulness of this place.

Over the last week, temperatures cooled significantly at the end of the Gunflint Trail and some much needed rain quenched the forest and flower beds. Despite the cooler temps, the long evenings filled with lingering daylight remind us that summer is sneaking towards us on the calendar. It might seem a little tardy, but on Saturday morning, the Chik-Wauk museum committee gave the museum a good spring cleaning.
The museum installers who spent two weeks at the end of May getting all of the exhibits were tidy workers and they didn’t leave much a mess behind them. Still, some smudges had accumulated and dusty windowsills and shelves needed a “once over.” The crew made quick work of cleaning even the most out of the way nooks and crannies.

In just over two hours, the crew had the place sparkling, but plenty of work remains as the countdown to the Grand Opening begins to be measured in days rather than months!

It might be a little late to be getting around to spring cleaning, but truth be told, it’s always spring at Chik-Wauk. That’s thanks to the beautiful mural/diorama that greets visitors as they enter the museum. Since Chik-Wauk will operate primarily in the summer months, we wanted to offer visitors a glimpse at the springtime wonderment of the Northwoods. The diorama features spring blooms (irises, marsh marigolds, bunchberry and others) and a collection of baby animals, including this little moose.

Whatever the season, we hope you’ll swing by. We promise to keep the place so clean, you’ll think it must be spring!