Hello and welcome to a crisp, cloudy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is October 22nd.
The entire Hruby family greets you from the 4th
Annual Hruby Camping Weekend on the North Shore. Yes, we’re coming to you live
from Eckbeck State Forest campground. While this is the fourth family trek,
this is my first. The WAKWIR* is by my side to give a quick recap of the
history.
“2019, my dad came up
with the idea of going camping over MEA weekend. The first year my brother, dad
and I went. The next year my dad took my brother, me and six of our friends.
That year we dubbed this kind of camping “Rosta camping.” Last year, my dad
took me and my youngest brother. And this year my mom and sister came along
while my older siblings are at college.”
We arrived Thursday night with the sun in the sky and plenty
of camp sites to choose from. We found a sweet spot right next to the Baptism River.
Hot tip: According to the DNR reservation website, all of the State Park
campgrounds in the surrounding area were full, but this state forest campground
had tons of empty spaces.
Camping and hiking are my husband’s favorite activities after
beer brewing. He impressed me with his take-charge capacity to organize all the
details including the cooking and food shopping. I really am just along for the
ride.
Nostalgic tendencies are a trait that he and the WAKWIR
share so the provisions usually look like this: meat for grilling, onions,
bread, apples, cheese, kielbasa, summer sausage, boiled eggs, yogurt, and gummy
worms. Gummy worms are a camping staple.
The first night we munched on our meat and bread while telling
stories around the campfire. In spooky voices we created characters like Jimmy
the Bernard (He’s not a saint!), famous archeologist Speer Johnson, and
Chainsaw Chad. Speer explored a tree-covered temple and Chainsaw Chad made a
1:1 replica of the Taj Mahal out of wood while Jimmy howled, “Where’s my boooooone?”
Friday’s hiking destination was Carleton Peak in Temperance
River State Park. The hike was about 6.5 miles. The hiking guide rated it as
having a moderate level of difficulty, and I have to agree. It’s spicy but not
enough to give you heartburn.
The hike kicked off with big thrills of a hidden waterfall.
Water rushed over rocks and through a gorge. Each step up the path revealed glimpses
of more waterfalls, pushing the watery gush through the glacial rocks. “Nature’s
drill bit” one interpretive sign said. There was lots of oohing and aahing –
and lots of people. But as we tightened the buckles of our backpacks and moved
beyond the first attractions, the crowd thinned until it was just us making our
way to the top.
Walking our way up reminded me of the wisdom gleaned from a
long ago read by Eli Goldratt, The Goal. The book is actually about
manufacturing processes, but my single biggest takeaway from the book was you
can only go as fast as your slowest moving part which, in our case, meant the
2nd grader. So he took the lead with the WAKWIR right behind to navigate. (See
my Corn Maze blog post in which we discover the WAKWIR’s amazing orienteering
skills.) Fueled by gummy worms every half hour, our little mountain goats
cheerfully (mostly) picked their way up the path of dirt and rocks.
Until the 2nd grader goat stopped.
“I’m tired!” he bellowed. “I’m hungry!” he yowled, reminding
me of poor old Jimmy the Bernard (He ain’t no saint!) Where’s my boooooone?!
We were on the rockiest and steepest patch of path we’d
encountered so far. We’d already pushed him onward with three “We’re almost to
the tops” which turned out not to be the case. So we stopped and lunched.
Another family with a dog passed us going up. After nearly a half hour we were
on our way.
The littlest mountain goat refueled, he took charge and led
the way up the mountain. Mama goat (me) was admittedly less peppy than the
littles, but who am I to suck the breath out of his second wind? In short order
we made it to the top: Carleton Peak, elevation 1,523 feet.
We celebrated with more gummy worms. The WAKWIR busted out
Mike & Ikes and even dad had a bar of chocolate.
But more than the triumphant arrival of reaching the top –
the sense of accomplishment bonded our group. The perfect weather – sunny,
bright blue skies, a light breeze – paired with gorgeous views of deep blue
Lake Superior rippling in the shining distance, Taconite Harbor recognizable
from our vantage point, and hill upon hill of forests colored in pine greens
and rusted orange and yellows of fall – all of it made us hug each other just a
little harder and love each other just a little more.
*Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence
In October of 1996, coincidentally, Chairman Joe, his sons Ned and Joey, and I climbed to the top of the Temperance River gorge on our way to a swimming hole the boys had swum in the year before, during a Karlsson Family Reunion.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a story about our trek in Volume 3 Issue 4, May S.L.O.D. October 1996, of The Raven, titled "Tragedy On The Temperance River" in which a boy drowned in one of the caves 'drilled' through the rock by eons of falling water tumbling toward Lake Superior.
The sight of rescue crews stringing a red plastic net across a place between two boulders, and the reflection of emergency vehicle lights on the very tops of trees, the serious faces of on-lookers tempered our climb to the top.