Summer gets busy, busy for everyone, Katie and I are no different. Our crazy summer schedule seemed especially hectic over the last few weeks, so we were excited to escape to Rustic Pines for a couple of days of quiet chainsaw harmony and the beat of hammers. Obviously, neither chainsaws nor hammers are quiet, but the quiet isn’t one of an audible nature, but more of a mental one. Each trip north, we experience a series of mood swings. Days before we leave, there is the excitement of organizing and planning our trip. The day before, and the day of, our departure, stress levels rise as we struggle to load the truck, and make sure our checklist is complete. We also stress over the very thing we are attempting to escape from: the clock. Probably a mistake, we arbitrarily set a time of departure – one that most certainly is at least a half hour before it’s physically possible to leave. As the three and a half hour drive wears on, you can tell by the tone, subject, and frequency of conversation that our minds start to settle. We’ve picked up the habit of putting an audio book on during the drive…. I think it serves as a distraction of sorts… Something to quiet my head and break the ties of the life I’ve been living. From Elk River to Duluth, depending on traffic, is about two and a half hours. For that portion of the drive, I’m always fairly tense, if not for the traffic, for the normal worries of life. As we make our way through Duluth, the last vestiges of the concrete jungle give way to the tall pines and the majestic views of Lake superior. It’s this visual landmark, that must trigger a subconscious call for us to begin to relax. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this is also the point at which our cell phone signal starts to dwindle.
We left Elk River promptly at 6:45 PM on Friday night… exactly 45 minutes after our planned departure time. Each time we go, the truck looks a little different. As we get more established, more gear is left up north, and doesn’t need to be hauled up again. The funny part is, for every item left up north, it would seem that two or three new items find a way to take their place. This weekend was no different. As with any new venture, you acquire needed items specific to the venture. Friday, I had to load the ATV in the back of the truck, because the ATV trailer was occupied by a twelve foot cattle gate, and a mower deck for cutting trails.
If you did the math, we arrived after dark. This isn’t remarkable on it’s own, other than the fact this was the first time Katie arrived in the blackness of night. I had made one previous trip with my nephew Anthony, where we arrived at night, and I was amazed at how different it looked. The lack of daylight changes things… it morphs familiar surroundings and landmarks into unrecognizable features. I asked Katie what she thought when we arrived. She said she was excited because it looked like so much new vegetation had grown in the short time we had been away, but the real impact wasn’t a big one, but thousands of little ones. Yes the Minnesota State Bird (unofficial), was swarming as we exited the truck. I watched as Katie ran for the cabin…. mosquitoes hot on her trail.
Saturday morning greeted us with overcast skies and a cool 4o degree temps. I got the coffee started and built a fire in the wood stove. We discussed the day’s plans, and once again, we would need to venture back into the city to acquire needed supplies, and a bonus find. I had originally planned to pick up the windows for the cabin and outhouse earlier on Friday, but as luck would have it, I simply forgot, which wasn’t really a bad thing, as I had no room in or on the truck for them. Our bonus find? A Navy buddy who lives in Duluth, had come into possession of an athletic tub – the big oval stainless steel tubs you may have seen in a locker room, or at least in the movies, where a football player might be nursing sore or injured muscles. He gave me a call and asked if I was interested, and we responded with an exciting “YES!” Katie and I are constantly on the hunt for items that we can re-purpose to fit our needs, and the less expensive, the better. We had seen several DIY hot tubs that were wood fired “off grid” solutions to the lack of indoor plumbing. Katie likes a good hot bath as often as she can take one, and this provided the perfect answer to the perplexing problem of building on my own. Sure, a giant stainless steel tub doesn’t look like it belongs in the peaceful natural setting of the north woods, but after we clothe its exterior in cedar harvested from the low land in the north east corner of our property, it will not only look like it belongs, it will hopefully provide relief from a hard days work on the land. We stopped at a big box store for the windows, acquired the tub, and headed back to the land.
Once back, I set my sights on installing windows, while Katie set out to clear more land. Our temporary cabin sits on a hillside, located on the northern edge of a small pond. It’s quite a picturesque location which has some of the more level landscape on our property. The cabin is about 60 feet from the waters edge, and although the pond is visible, there is plenty of thick growth which if removed, would give a nicer view of the pond, and more usable space. Her goal was to clear the underbrush, and plant lupine – a northern Minnesota landmark flower – along its shores. She worked tirelessly all of Saturday afternoon, and most of Sunday morning in her efforts. I must admit, the change was fantastic. After seeing what she had done, I began to imagine sitting in chairs on a small deck next to the water, listening to the frogs and watching the dragonflies buzz from cattail to cattail… I guess I have another project to plan.
Thanks to prior planning, the windows went in well. I was amazed at how much light they let into the cabin! It was starting to look less like a shed, and more like a place you could truly relax in… it will never be the Ritz, but for our likes, it might as well be. I put a window in each side of the cabin, I even took the time to build a little shelf, or large sill on the window next to the door. Each of the windows have their advantage; The west window looks right down the driveway from the spot where we sit and rest or eat. The north window looks straight up another trail that leads to the old homestead. The east window looks down a trail that winds its way up a hill toward the tamarack forest. And, of course, the south window faces the pond. The best part is the nice cross breeze we experienced when it got warm on Saturday afternoon, it made a potentially stuffy situation into a very pleasant one.
Saturday evening brought a dinner of hot dogs and fried potatoes, and of course, an ice cold adult beverage. After dinner, we refreshed our drinks, grabbed the GPS, and our cameras, and headed out for a walk. I was stunned how much the landscape had changed when all those buds turned into fully formed leaves. What once was fairly easy hiking, had turned into a bit of a chore picking our way through the dense brush. We visited several locations I had marked on previous winter hikes… they were unrecognizable to me. It looks as though I will have my work cut out for me cutting and maintaining trails. As we hiked, I would often find myself alone and calling for Katie. When I would call for her, she would pop up like a prairie dog… she was busy taking photos of plant life, and I wasn’t going to keep her from stopping to enjoy the flowers. It did worry me a bit, so I called for her often. With an overcast sky, and thick vegetation, it made navigating by sight all but impossible. I’m no stranger to orienteering, but the conditions had me relying heavily on my GPS for direction. I think we’ll institute a “Stay on the trail” rule if you are hiking without a GPS, it’s incredibly easy to get turned around, and with miles of Superior National Forest surrounding us, getting lost in the woods could be a dangerous situation.
Saturday night found us enjoying the campfire, complete with the requisite assembly of S’mores. Note to self, buy wetnaps. There is simply no way to cleanly eat molten marshmallow with a beard. After a bit of beard cleaning, Katie and I retired to the cabin for a game of cribbage (Yes, I lost again). With the light of the fire within the wood stove casting dancing light on the walls and ceiling, we curled up, in the sleeping bag, dog claiming her place by our feet, and went to sleep.
The next morning, by the time the dog and I had decided to egress from the bed, Katie had already been up a while, had made coffee, and was watching the drizzle fall against our newly installed windows. We enjoyed a couple cups of coffee, and after a while, I went to the bear box to get supplies for breakfast. Bacon, eggs, & fried potatoes seemed like a great choice, and it was. I’m not sure what being in the woods does to your taste buds, but the meals seem just a bit tastier when we are up there.
Work had to be done, so after breakfast, we loaded up the ATV and trailer with the gate and chainsaws to head off down the driveway. Our driveway surprises us each time we go up. Every trip, time is spent clearing more of the trees that had been encroaching. We finish cutting, and stand in awe of how much wider it has become. The next time we go up, it feels like the trees uprooted themselves while we were gone, and inched closer to the middle of the road. We’ve gone from only being able to walk single file through the trees, progressing to navigating with the ATV, squeaking by with the truck mirrors pulled in tight, and finally driving in without rubbing branches with the truck. This weekend, when we left, it felt like driving on a four lane highway compared to what we started with. And to boot, Katie and I installed a cattle gate across the driveway near the entrance! Just a little reminder to others that private property is just that. Even with the work completed on the driveway to date, I still made a mental note as we left, of the trees that still needed to come down.
Before we left, Katie and I took some time to relax in the cabin and talk. Ok, I mostly relaxed while she did the breakfast dishes. Since retiring from the Navy, I was finally able to grow a beard. Along with the beard, came items that seemed out of place before. I purchased a pipe a while back as a prop for a photo I wanted to take. Somehow the pipe made it’s way to Rustic Pines, where at least once a trip, I fill it with tobacco and enjoy a good smoke. While Katie did the dishes, I fired up the pipe, and after a bit, started taking selfies in a vein attempt to capture an iconic northwoods photo. I never captured the photo, but the pipe caught Katie’s attention. She thought she might give it a try, and what I photographed was gold…
It will be a short week, and we’ll be loading up again. The American Independence holiday will afford us an extended four day stay at Rustic Pines. A plan is already starting to form in my mind, but Katie has informed me that Saturday will incorporate a “Surprise Date”, so I’ll have to prepare myself for an unknown day of fun.. All this work we do on the land is for not if we don’t take time to work on our relationship. So stay tuned… Surprise dates when planned by Katie can be quite humorous… Did I ever tell you about the time this 40-something man found himself flat on his butt on a roller rink as tweeners zipped by at mach 5? Yeah… you heard that right.
