Gunflint Trail Association

Today the ol’ west wind has been blowing the golden aspen leaves past the Chik-Wauk windows. It’s been a beautiful autumn.

In the shady areas you can still find clumps of asters and pearly everlasting.

We’ve passed the autumn equinox and the nights are growing longer while the days grow shorter. The golden and red leaves filter the evening and morning sunlight.

The moose maple has turned crimson.

While fall seems to be making its last stand in the Gunflint Trail forest, Chik-Wauk’s still open until October 17th. Come see it as we make the graceful transition from autumn to winter.

If the inclement weather of late has you escaping to Chik-Wauk, you might be tempted to wrap up in some of the weaving on display in the gift shop.

Three very talented local weavers have their weaving for sale at Chik-Wauk.

Doris Durey spends her summers on the Gunflint Trail. She has a number of scarves for sale at Chik-Wauk, including a collection of tartans which reflect her Scottish heritage. She holds a Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis on weaving from the East Tennessee State University.

Annie Greeno can often be founding fishing on a Gunflint Trail lake, winter or summer. When she’s not fishing, she’s weaving rugs on her 60-year-old loom which she purchased from the previous owners of Tuscarora Lodge.

Lennie Sobanja has operated Sugarbush Fiber Arts since 1994 on Maple Hill, just outside of Grand Marais. She learned weaving in Stockholm, Sweden in 1977-78. She weaves a wide variety of items, including place mats, blankets, rugs, curtains, and table clothes. Currently one of each her rugs and blankets can be found at Chik-Wauk.

The Gunflint Trail Historical Society needs your help!

The Historical Society is currently in possession of an original Chik-Wauk cabin which stood on the property back when Chik-Wauk Lodge was in business. The cabin is in pieces and the plan is to reassemble the cabin in its original location on what is now Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center property. Once the cabin is standing again, the GTHS will outfit it to appear like a typical 1950s-60s rental cabin which museum guests can visit.

But we have some questions. . . .

When Chik-Wauk Lodge sold to the federal government, the government auctioned off all the buildings on the property except for the lodge. The buildings were taken down and the winning bidder got to take their building home in pieces. But no one seems quite sure when that auction was held . . .

In addition, the people who bought the GTHS’s cabin  never reassembled the building. We’re wondering if there’s any one lurking out there who might have bought one of the other 10 Chik-Wauk cabins at the auction. If so, we’d love your insight on the best way to go about reconstructing the cabin we have.

Do you know when that auction was held? Do you have one of the cabins? Do you know how the cabins were constructed and how we might go about reassembling one?

If you have any answers to our many questions we’d love to hear them. Leave us a comment or send us an email at info@chikwauk.com. We’d be thrilled for any information you might have to offer.

We’re hoping it won’t take all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to put this cabin back together again!

The Gunflint Trail Historical Society needs your help!

The Historical Society is currently in possession of an original Chik-Wauk cabin which stood on the property back when Chik-Wauk Lodge was in business. The cabin is in pieces and the plan is to reassemble the cabin in its original location on what is now Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center property. Once the cabin is standing again, the GTHS will outfit it to appear like a typical 1950s-60s rental cabin which museum guests can visit.

But we have some questions. . . .

When Chik-Wauk Lodge sold to the federal government, the government auctioned off all the buildings on the property except for the lodge. The buildings were taken down and the winning bidder got to take their building home in pieces. But no one seems quite sure when that auction was held . . .

In addition, the people who bought the GTHS’s cabin  never reassembled the building. We’re wondering if there’s any one lurking out there who might have bought one of the other 10 Chik-Wauk cabins at the auction. If so, we’d love your insight on the best way to go about reconstructing the cabin we have.

Do you know when that auction was held? Do you have one of the cabins? Do you know how the cabins were constructed and how we might go about reassembling one?

If you have any answers to our many questions we’d love to hear them. Leave us a comment or send us an email at info@chikwauk.com. We’d be thrilled for any information you might have to offer.

We’re hoping it won’t take all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to put this cabin back together again!

Centennial Trail - Newest Hiking Trail

In the late 1800s there was a rail line from Thunder Bay that traveled across the country’s border and went to a mine near the end of the Gunflint Trail. Listen as WTIP uncovers the story “Rails, Mines, Madams, and Crooks” as part of their ongoing History Speaks series.  It’s a real life tail full of intrigue, mystery and wonder.  Learn about the famous Madam Mag Matthews and her house of ill-repute located near Gunflint Lake, the Italian laborers that endured many hardships to build the rail line, and the crooked businessmen who secured funding for the project in some questionable ways.  Take a look at the new Centennial Trail that was completed by the USFS this summer that helps preserve this important story.  Connect with WTIP to hear a Superior National Forest Archaeologist talk about the Centennial Trail.

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“What’s the bird with the spike on its head?”

The sight of a ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) alongside a gravel road is such a common sight on the Gunflint Trail that residents sometimes forget that for visitors, it’s not every day that you see chicken-sized birds running all over the place.

All season long, a ruffed grouse family has been on the loose on the Chik-Wauk grounds. They’ve grown up from little chicks into small adults who are often seen strutting across the driveway when you turn into Chik-Wauk. This ubiquitous fowl can be disarmingly friendly — the one in the picture up crept right up to the Chik-Wauk volunteer taking the picture–  but more often than not, an encounter with a grouse is nothing more than the flapping rumble of wings and flash of tail feathers as the bird escapes to the forest’s cover.

The grouse population, which is estimated based on the number of “drums” (when males flap their wings to attract a mate) heard in the spring, works in 10 year cycles. The population peaked last year, but there are still plenty of grouse to be seen this autumn.  Even in the lowest population years, Minnesota is considered the best ruffed grouse state in the U.S.

Ruffed grouse are associated with aspen trees. Young aspen groves protect grouse from their predators: owls and groshawks. Aspen, which is notorious for taking off in forest areas that have been clear cut or disturbances, has been prevalent along the Gunflint Trail following the 1999 blowdown storm and the  wildfires which followed.

You might also run into a spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) while out on the back roads near the Gunflint Trail. This bird, who breeds in the Boreal Forest, is  of similar size as the ruffed grouse but slightly less common than its ruffed cousin. You can tell it apart, the males at least, but the red streak above their eye.

Last night, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center was honored to receive a Preservation Award for “community effort” from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. Betty Hemstad, the first president of the Gunflint Trail Historical Society accepted the award last night at Laird Norton Addition to the Winona County Historical Society in Winona.

According to the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota website, over the past 26 years, nearly 300 projects across the state have received recognition through the Minnesota Preservation Awards program in the categories of adaptive reuse, addition/expansion, advocacy, archaeology, career achievement, community effort, education/interpretation, emerging leader, preservation planning, restoration/rehabilitation, stewardship, and sustainable design. A new recognition area for preservation publications was added this year to the education / interpretation category. Awards are presented not on the basis of size or investment, but rather on the merit they provide to their community.

Hard to believe that in just five years, Chik-Wauk went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

We couldn’t have done it without hundreds of volunteers and countless volunteer hours. Thanks too to all our visitors — all 9000 of you! — who have made Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center a success!

Last night, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center was honored to receive a Preservation Award for “community effort” from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. Betty Hemstad, the first president of the Gunflint Trail Historical Society accepted the award last night at Laird Norton Addition to the Winona County Historical Society in Winona.

According to the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota website, over the past 26 years, nearly 300 projects across the state have received recognition through the Minnesota Preservation Awards program in the categories of adaptive reuse, addition/expansion, advocacy, archaeology, career achievement, community effort, education/interpretation, emerging leader, preservation planning, restoration/rehabilitation, stewardship, and sustainable design. A new recognition area for preservation publications was added this year to the education / interpretation category. Awards are presented not on the basis of size or investment, but rather on the merit they provide to their community.

Hard to believe that in just five years, Chik-Wauk went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

We couldn’t have done it without hundreds of volunteers and countless volunteer hours. Thanks too to all our visitors — all 9000 of you! — who have made Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center a success!

A walk through Chik-Wauk Museum can get you thinking about the Gunflint Trail’s history. Luckily, just eight miles back down the Gunflint Trail, is a 3.3 mile hike that highlights historic events on the Gunflint Trail more than a century ago.  The Centennial Trail was constructed last year by the U.S. Forest Service to commemorate the centennial of the Superior National Forest. The Trail follows parts of the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railroad, a Canadian railroad that crossed into the United States at the Gunflint Lake Narrows  to access the Paulsen Mine.

Before the emergence of the resort industry along the Gunflint Trail, people spent a lot of time hoping to find their riches in the area. The Paulsen Mine was one such attempt. Prospectors had hoped to extract iron ore from the Gunflint Lake region and make their fortune.  As it was, only one train load of iron ore was ever removed from the mine.  However the test pits are still visible along the Centennial Trail today.

Tomorrow, as part of the Taste of the Gunflint Trail festivities along the Trail, USFS interpreter Steve Robertsen will be offering a guided hike of the Centennial Trail. You can meet Steve at the Centennial/Kekekabic Trail at 3:00 tomorrow (Saturday, September 11). Bring decent footwear, a water bottle, and be prepared for the hike to take approximately 2 hours. What a great way to cap off a day of history on the Gunflint Trail!

September and October are two of the best months to get out and hike in the Gunflint Trail area.  Many of the trails offer vistas overlooking lakes.  For example, Caribou Rock Trail begins at Hungry Jack Road (near the lodge entry you’ll find a parking lot for hikers).  The first overlook is West Bearskin Lake.  Follow the trail further to Moss Lake.  The trail extends even further, but a good map is required.  From the Clearwater Road access Honeymoon Bluff Trail, which overlooks Hungry Jack Lake and West Bearskin Lake.  It’s a steep but short climb, and well worth it.  Forest which once were towering red and white pine are visible from these overlooks.  Logging removed the true giants.  A few remaining pine exist, those that survived the 1999 Blowdown, and the new trees beginning to gain in height.

Fall colors on the Gunflint Trail lean more toward yellows than reds, although the ever-present moose maple turns its huge leaves a rosy red in the understory.  Birch leaves turn a peachy-yellow, and aspen a pale green-yellow.  But, wherever one finds fall color on the “Trail” the contrasting deep green of pine, fir, and cedar  make it known that you are looking at northern forest.

Fall sunrise on the Gunflint Trail

Voyageur Canoe Outfitters - fall waterfront

Explore Minnesota Tourism

Gunflint Trail Hiking Brochure – printable