Posts Tagged With: Laurentian Environmental Center

2017 Trip Six: Summer Camp for Seniors: Aug. 25-26

Posted on August 26, 2017 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

St. Paul, MN. Saturday Aug. 26

Friday afternoon paddle on Arrowhead Lake

Friday morning camp continued but after breakfast of pancakes and sausage, etc., we skipped morning classes and went for our own walk in the area around the Laurentian Environmental Center. Nothing dramatic, just an opportunity to be on our own, get some exercise, and observe nature. Temperatures were in the low 60s with clear skies.

The first afternoon class was on biomimicry. Biomimicry is the study and use of natural actions to improve human life. Some examples that were given in class included: 1.) the use of the shape of the bill of the kingfisher bill to redesign the engine of the Japanese bullet train to reduce the boom-like noise made when the ultra-fast train exited tunnels along its route: 2.) how the plants with burrs helped imagine the development of Velcro; 3.) the whale fin with ridges helped improve the design of wind turbine blades; and 4.) the German paint company Sto used the features of the lotus plant to design exterior coatings that are highly water and dirt resistant. Another intriguing animal was the wood frog which remains frozen for eight months during the winter and then defrosts over two days and goes back into a normal living cycle.

Bald Eagle perched in tree on Arrowhead Lake MN

After that class we went out for another canoe ride on Arrowhead Lake. We saw a bald eagle perched in a tree, a loon fishing for food, and a family of ducks. I only had my iPhone and not the camera so I was unable to zoom in for a great picture. You will have to endure less than dramatic photos.

Archery class

Archery class was the final afternoon adventure. Ten of us went out to the archery range on the property. The last time I shot a bow and arrow was probably 50 years ago, with a long bow that gave me a burn along the left arm holding the bow. We used compound bows set for 20 pound pull. Result: I am not Robin Hood. I got one bulls-eye in the practice target and three minor touches on a fake deer. I won’t tell you how many arrows in total I shot. P.S. the targets were not set a great distance from the stand. But it was fun.

Friday night’s musical presentation

Our evening entertainment was a two-hour musical presentation put on by one of the staff and a friend of his; one of our participants sat in for a portion of it. The music was usually familiar and the patter of the two musicians was a blast. The group viewed it as a highlight of the week.

Saturday morning while there was a walk with a humorous twist, it was raining and so after brunch, we left for St. Paul.

So what did we think of this adventure? We both enjoyed it. Chris would go back next year in a heart beat; I might prefer to try another new adventure. The instructors were knowledgeable and friendly. The courses were interesting. The food was good and well-balanced. Each day, three to four blocks of time were set up and one was able to pick and choose from numerous classes, hikes, and service projects. One was able to leave the property and explore other area attractions if desired. The participants were friendly and pleasant.

The lodging was great from a camping viewpoint, plenty of hot water, clean, no creepy-crawlies, spacious enough and bunks long enough although somewhat hard. The lodging would not qualify for a AAA star, as long as your expectations are reasonable, you would be comfortable.

Did we tell you the price? $210 per person for five nights lodging, 15 meals, use of equipment, and programming. Can’t beat it.👍

Ed and Chris. St. Paul MN. Aug. 26

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2017 Trip Six: Summer Camp for Seniors: Aug. 24

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Britt, MN. August 24, 2017

We played hookey from summer camp today. The lesson on loons and on lake ecology were well recommended but one of our goals for this trip was to visit two state parks: Bear Head Lake State Park and Lake Vermillion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park. Bear Head is a popular destination, despite its distance from the Twin Cities. It was a 60 minute drive for us from the Laurentian Environmental Center. The geology of the park reflects the glacial action ending about 12,000 years ago to form hills, lakes, and rocky landscape over the 4,000 acres of the park.

The Norberg Trail at Bear Head Lake State Park in northern Minnesota

Chris and I hiked the Norbert Lake Trail, a 3.5 mile loop that traversed numerous hiking terrains. We started out on a smooth, wide, well-marked trail with soft pine needles on the trail. The trail switched to a narrower, grassy trail under birch trees. But, the last two-thirds of the trail was on rocky, hilly ground that slowed us considerably. Those rocks translated into a hike of 1.75 hours to traverse 3.5 miles.

Seen along the Norberg Lake Trail at Bear Head Lake State Park in northern Minnesota

We passed two lakes, Norberg and Bear Head. Some of the red and white pines were quite tall; they were too small to cut in the late 1800s when wholesale logging decimated the area and have had 140 years to grow. Small bushes, ferns and flowers occupied the undergrowth. Deciduous trees are starting to fill in.

Lunch was at the “Good Ol’ Days Bar and Grill” in Tower MN. Food was quite tasty but Chris was a little nervous as it took a while for the food to be served and we had a 2 PM tour at the Soudan Underground Mine. But we were able to enjoy the meal and drive to the mine with plenty of time before the tour started. The bar has been in business for 13 years but its roots pre-date Prohibition. They have a little paper “broadsheet” that re-publishes old news tidbits from the Tower Soudan area. The old newspapers seemed to delight in listing the mis-deeds of local Finns.

The mine tour was excellent; while the young man never worked here, he has conducted local research to go along with his geology degree. The mine is in Soudan, the town of Tower was the business-residential center for the area. Together their current population is less than 1,000. (The broadsheet listed above reprinted one article from 1893 that enumerated 22 bars in Tower.)

Soudan was named after the African country Sudan as being the opposite (heat) from the extreme cold of the Tower-Soudan area. Tower was named after Charlemagne Tower, a Pennsylvania industrialist who financed the initial prospecting and mining here. Tower’s accumulation of land seems to have been fraught with illegalities, particularly in regard to the acquiring of small plots of land owned by Native Americans. Eventually he sold out to eastern steel interests leading to ownership by U.S. Steel.

The tower hoist above the Soudan Mine shaft

The Soudan mine is considered the oldest, the deepest, and the richest in Minnesota. Its best days were in the late 1800s as its ore was extremely rich in iron and could be used directly in steel furnaces. However, it was expensive to mine given that its ore seams have to be mined underground, and its use lessened but did not die out until 1962. The iron ore here had a percentage of oxygen in it that was crucial to the operation of Bessemer blast furnaces. As the last Bessemer furnace was closed in 1962, so was this iron ore mine. The Mesabi region of Minnesota, south of here around Hibbing, which utilizes open-pit mining of low-grade ore to convert into taconite pellets, surpassed the output of the Soudan mine in the early 1900s and continues to be the largest U.S. source of iron ore.

Charlemagne Tower, despite the questionable land purchases, innovated in that he paid his first workers twice the wages they were making in Michigan mines, promoted home ownership over company rented housing, and encouraged local shopping over company stores, all grievances held by miners prior to this time. The Soudan mine is located in extremely hard rock that provided safer working environments for underground mines with low rates of water infiltration. These circumstances led to high miner loyalty and good wages; not perfect conditions but better than that found in comparable mines of the day.

Our carriage awaited us 2,341 feet below the ground at Soudan Mine

Our day included going underground in two steel cages, down to a depth of 2341 feet below the surface, over 700 feet below sea level. Our cages descended at a rate of close to ten miles per hour. Once down at stage 27, we rode 3/4 of a mile in a tracked car that resembled a Disney ride with sharp turns and minimal lighting. At the end of the ride, we walked and climbed around the mining area as it was when it closed in 1962. Another part of the tour described the working conditions of the late 1800s when candle light was used–after the workers walked the 3/4 mile to the work area in pitch blackness.

Our canoe ride on Arrowhead Lake in northern Minnesota

After the tour we returned to summer camp and went for a half hour canoe ride before dinner. The weather was perfect; calm, sunny, 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Dinner was tater tot hot dish. After dinner was a presentation on bats; it seems currently there is an effort around the U.S. to educate people about the positive benefits of bats.

Ed and Chris. Aug. 25

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2017 Trip Six: Summer Camp for the Senior Crowd: Aug. 22-23

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Britt, MN. Wednesday August 23

Looking at Laurentian Environmental Center across Arrowhead Lake

After lunch on Tuesday, most of the participants gathered to take a hike to the “Meteorite Site”. With 25-35 hikers, with a mix of hiking speeds, it took us a while to hike through the forest to the site. What is the “Meteorite Site” you ask? Well, it is a hole in the ground, 60′ deep, and 300′ around. The people here have been researching the hole for over twenty years; with no special funding the research has been piecemeal and dependent on the goodwill of various research groups.

Three theories exist. One, a meteor crashed here. Two, glacial action created the hole. Three, mining activity resulted in this round depression. Our guide discussed each theory in detail and the research undertaken in an effort to support it. For theory one, scientists calculate a meteor the size of a softball would have been required to generate a hole the size of this one. But, there is no obvious residue that would be associated with a meteor.

The large group hiking to the Meteorite Site on Tuesday afternoon

For theory two, since the bottom of the hole is uniformly dry, glacial action would have also created an outlet for the water that falls in the depression. Searching over numerous years has revealed no outwash from the depression. For theory three, the size of the trees indicates that mining activity would have had to have occurred by Paleo-Indians and again, there are no remnants of copper mining and the depression would likely have had a more gradual exit from the pit rather than the uniformly steep sides that exist.

So the conclusion is no conclusion. No scientific evidence exists, so far, to back any of the three theories. We all hiked back in time for dinner of pork bar b que, potato salad, etc with home-made cookies for desert. After dinner, one of the participants made a slide show presentation about owls. He covered each of the owls found in Minnesota with pictures and audio of the sound they make.

Chris and I debated an evening canoe trip but the on again-off again drizzle discouraged us until the weather is definitely clear. Instead, I played cribbage with two other women. I won one game and lost one game.

Paper birch trees: several tall ones on the right; on the left stumps. Paper birch last about 70 years, then they start to rot and frequently the top of the tree falls off.

[The following sections may be a little confusing in style as Chris and I took turns writing about the activities we each undertook separately.]

Wednesday morning breakfast was French toast sticks and bacon. After breakfast, Chris and I split. Chris went to a popular presentation on dream interpretation. The morning talk was presented by a retired ER doc from the Twin Cities. While I (Chris) went more to support a fellow camper, I found her talk rather interesting. A comment made by a member of the group was “we all dream, so there must be a reason”. So true. She talked about how to remember dreams (put them in a notebook), to having a dream buddy to share your dreams with. She talked about how to analyze dreams (are they symbols, represent feelings, point to emotional/physical issues now). She talked about how to “program” your dreams and how to ‘confront” your nightmares (turn to the demon and ask “what do you want).

The group session Ed skipped to go hiking worked on cleaning apples. The end result was a very tasty apple crisp to go with our lunch.

After lunch we split up again with Chris going to a talk on fire ecology and Ed joining an art project. The fire ecology talk focused on the three elements needed for fire (heat, fuel, and oxygen) and how these elements are found in our world and sometimes work against successful fire suppression. It, too, proved an excellent talk by a member of the Center’s staff that had great discussion as we answered the question “are fires good?”

Ed’s art tile creations

I (Ed) went on a solo walk in the morning, able to set my own pace. I learnt less than on the group walk but enjoyed the time to myself. As Chris mentioned in the two paragraphs above, the afternoon was a real role reversal. Art made by me would not be my first choice and while fire ecology seemed interesting, I chose the less obvious path to make some personalized art tiles. Store bought ceramic tiles were covered by sharpie pens in our design and then sprayed with isopropyl alcohol which allows the colors to melt and blend. When dried they are covered with a clear spray enamel to protect them. The eight tiles I produced may not win any awards but now we have eight more drink coasters.

The second afternoon session again saw us separate. Chris was with the group that had a demonstration on how to make deep dish pizza. While she said that it seemed ‘doable”, I will not be holding my breath to have this anytime soon. The work done by the group led to the preparation of several varieties of pizza which we had for dinner-along with salad, canned pears, cut veggies, etc.

Pineapple Mushroom

My second group afternoon activity was another walk. This one was planned to be faster with less interpretation. It was although the small group of six people still asked questions of our leader and pointed out numerous plants along the way-including a nice specimen of pineapple mushrooms. Our trek went out into the Superior National Forest and did create a little nervousness on our return as the path disappeared and we had to bushwhack through the underbrush until we landed back on the trail. All in all, I hiked over eight miles today.

After dinner, we had a sing along in the lodge, led by one of our participants who had brought along his guitar. The group of participants interact well together which makes for a very pleasant experience. Chris is already laying plans for next year. I am enjoying myself but would be more interested in spending this time next year continuing our explorations of areas of the U.S. we have not yet enjoyed.

Ed and Chris Wednesday Aug. 23, 8:30 PM

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2017 Trip Six: Summer Camp for the Senior Crowd: Aug. 20-22

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Britt, MN Monday August 21

Arrowhead Lake at Laurentian Environmental Center, Britt MN

Summer Camp for the Senior Crowd. My preferred title was going to be Summer Camp for Geezers but Chris tells me Geezer normally refers to men. My title succinctly describes what Chris and I will be doing for the next five days. We are at the Laurentian Environmental Center (LEC), a 30 acre property run by the Community Education Department of the Mounds View MN School District. The property is leased from the state of MN. It is located on what is called Section 16 land; land dedicated by the Land Ordinance of 1785 to provide for the use and benefit of public education. We are about 15 miles north of Virginia MN, about 50 miles south of the Canadian border, in the Superior National Forest, nestled in the Minnesota Iron Range.

Our bunk space at LEC

The LEC offers educational programs for school kids from Mounds View and numerous other school districts around the state. One week of each year, in late August, a program for senior citizens is offered. The official title is something like “Young at Heart” or “Summer Camp for Seniors”. Room and board are included in the fee; we are sleeping in bunk beds in the Cedar Lodge along with about 10 other couples. We can spread out, we are not lodged right on top of each other. We have our own bathroom and share a shower. There are other cabins for single women and single men. There are probably about 50 people here “at camp”. The oldest person is 87, down to about low 50s. There is a roughly 2/3-1/3 division between women and men.

During the five days we are here, there is a mix of loosely scheduled pre-set programs and activities and of free time and/or programs chosen/organized by the participants. In addition, if you really want, you can just take off and explore the broader Iron Range area. For instance, we are planning to visit both Bear Head Lake State Park and Tower-Soudan Underground Iron Mine during the time we are here.

Enger Tower, Duluth MN

View of Duluth Harbor and Lift Bridge

We arrived here around 11 AM today. We drove up north Sunday, stopping in Duluth MN to eat lunch at the Thompson Hill overlook rest stop providing a grand view of the St. Louis River emptying into Lake Superior. We made a visit to Enger Park and Tower, a city park in Duluth also contributing a view of Lake Superior and Duluth, this time from the top of an 80 foot tower on top of the bluffs overlooking the lake. Enger Park was a tip from Chris’ sister. It was our first visit to this park, despite numerous visits to Duluth. We spent the night with friends in Babbit MN. They live on Birch Lake, a quiet lake bracketed by a high percentage of land owned by the state or feds.

After checking in, we unloaded our stuff, picking out a section of the Cedar Lodge that seemed to provide a bit more privacy. Checking in early was a good idea; this year there are more participants than usual. We were allowed to pick our own location in Cedar Lodge; later arrivals discovered some couples spread out a bit more than the program had expected and the later arrivals had to be accommodated in cabins other than Cedar Lodge. Not a big deal, but some expectations had to be adjusted.

(A side note. Today is solar eclipse day. We did not get excited about it. We are at a location with only 75% coverage and we had cloud cover all day. If you are looking for fantastic news and photos of the solar eclipse, look elsewhere.)

Evening bonfire, Community lodge, our bunkhouse

Lunch was simple but good. Wild rice soup, sandwiches, cut veggies and grapes and pumpkin cake. They even had milk. We made name badges and spent time introducing ourselves. Chris and I did not know anyone but numerous connections are evident. This was the first year Mounds View advertised this program in the St. Paul Community Education booklet and numerous attendees have a St. Paul connection. I can overhear other conversations discussing topics and people who would allow me to chip in comments, but that would be rude. This appears to be the first time here for about one half of the people. The other half have been here three to 20 times. Some are returning after 15 or 20 years, bringing friends or siblings. The five staff have tenure ranging from 27 years to only three years.

Two programs were offered for the afternoon after intros. Chris chose a session of Night Sky which covered new and old information. She came away determined to sign up for a notification service that projects when the aurora borealis should be highly visible. If we see an upcoming night, we might just hop in the car and head north.

I took the outdoor class on phenology–the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to changes in climate and plant and animal life. For two hours the group went walking around the property learning about various topics. One participant had brought a cage with monarch butterflies in various stages of growth; releasing one of them to begin its long journey to Mexico. From that beginning we found milkweed plants and our instructor plucked a milkweed pod. The pod is at a time when the seeds are tasty even for us to eat, the pod and seeds could be tossed into a cooking pot and would taste like cashews.

Release of the Monarch butterfly

On our walk, it was evident the participants had a range of knowledge. Some people were able to educate the instructor on specific topics, others were more interested in watching the solar eclipse on their smart phones. We saw (and some were able to sample) choke cherries, hazelnuts, raspberries, and serviceberries. Serviceberries, also called June berries, were named serviceberries (according to our guide) since when people died in the winter, they could not be buried in the frozen earth. When the June berries blossomed the ground was soft enough to bury people and have their funeral service.

Our guide mentioned that northern Minnesota has not had the frequency of -40° weather that it needs to kill harmful insects. This has resulted in an increase in the number of wood ticks. One result that is still being verified is that the increase in wood ticks makes the moose population scratch their bodies more frequently against tree trunks, reducing the amount of fur they have on their bodies, leaving them less able to survive the winter. Our guide has seen his first raccoon in his 27 years up here due to the warmer weather.

Dinner was sloppy joes, corn, cut vegetables, etc. After dinner we had some down time in which I worked on this blog. A bonfire gathered many of us around 8 PM while others worked on puzzle, played cribbage and other games, or just talked. It is an easy group to set up conversations; and yes, daughters, even I did some talking although not as much as other people.

We were in bed by 9 but not asleep until after 10. Our neighbors spent an hour in conversation and lights out was not until 10 PM-we share a light switch controlling the lights in each of our bunk pods. We did not hear major snoring, just a loud clock going tick-tock-tick-tock all night. Neither of us hit our heads on the upper bunk. I slept no worse than at home, I was just lacking the ability to wander anywhere so I just tossed and turned in the bottom bunk.

Tuesday morning dawned cloudy and cool but we did have several hours of mixed sun during the morning. Breakfast was sausage, scrambled eggs, muffins, yogurt, and fresh fruit. Chris and I split up again for the morning session. Chris went to gourd making; a highly popular activity. The instructor was one of our participants and started with a 45 minute slide presentation about the art of gourd decorating. Participants would choose their gourd, cut and shape it if desired, and then decorate it. Chris stuck to a small gourd she only had to decorate.

Stuffed wolf at our morning class Tuesday.

I went to the session on Minnesota mammals held in one of the classrooms filled with skins, bones, stuffed animals, etc. The instructor began asking us to identify the four identifying traits of mammals–we could not. (Fur/hair; live birth, warm-blooded, and milk feeding of young) Then we progressed to examining the specimens and we were asked to identify the four mammals in the display not native to Minnesota and the three specimens that were not mammals. We did not complete the task until the very end of the 2.5 hours as our group digressed unto multiple topics, ranging from mammals, mining, bogs, etc. Some of the discussion involved simple questions I thought anyone should know, other conversation went to current scientific research, to personal experience with environmental and scientific travels we had undertaken, etc.

Before lunch,some people, Chris included, participated in a stretching yoga session on the lawn. Lunch was salad, sphaghetti, garlic bread, watermelon and chocolate cake.

End of first blog on Summer Camp for the Senior Crowd. More to follow.

Ed and Chris
Britt,MN. Aug. 22

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