Outdoors Posts

North Country Trail in Wisconsin: Backtracking

Apr 20, 2024 3 Comments

Seven years ago I began a quest to hike the North Country Trail across Wisconsin. Similar to my 20-year process of completing the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, things are going slowly on the Sconnie side as well. In 2022 I completed just nine miles.

Despite my established reputation for tortoise-like hiking, I was determined to have a big year in 2023. Then I got busy with other things and ended up with exactly zero miles of NCT hiked that year.

I’ve already got one 2024 trek under my boots, but it kind of doesn’t count in terms of mileage. Which is why this chapter is titled “Backtracking.”

My only hike in 2022 began off Highway 53 on Holly Lucius Road, just south of Solon Springs. The previous chapter of my essay series concluded with a mistaken stroll on Highway 53, so I started my next hike by covering the path I should have taken at the end of my hike the year before. It wasn’t really backtracking, because I hadn’t walked this route yet, but it was a pause in my progression since it meant I would be arriving at Lucius Woods County Park for the second time.

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The Moss-covered Log: A Wildlife Hotspot

Mar 07, 2024 No Comments

An old, moss-covered log in Voyageurs National Park was a popular item last fall. The allure of the log caused some bears to temporarily lose their minds and the log paid the price for it. The wolves and some other forest critters were not too far behind the bears.

This trail-camera footage is from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park.


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Wolves and Other Wildlife on the Mithrandir Trail

Jan 25, 2024 No Comments

The Mithrandir Pack of wolves is the primary traveler seen on this trail camera footage from Voyageurs National Park, shot last summer and fall, but an array of other critters also pop in.

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The Lost Coast and the Ghost Choir of Mount Shasta

Jan 13, 2024 5 Comments

My one unexplained “paranormal” encounter happened on a trip to the so-called Lost Coast of Northern California. I camped there the summer of 1994 with my girlfriend Mary, in one of our relationship’s great death spasms. Near the end of this expedition, I heard the singing of a ghostly choir in the woods around Mount Shasta. It was singing Mary said she couldn’t hear.

This vacation was important to us. Austin transplants, we’d been cooped up at retail jobs in the Berkeley-Oakland sprawl for a year. We hadn’t explored the wilds of California like it really deserved. So when she caught wind of the Lost Coast, we arranged a matching week off to go find it.

We drove north from the Bay Area in her white Chrysler minivan. We were listening to a mixtape of J.J. Cale, perfect road music with his driving early drum machine sound: “They call me the breeze, I keep blowing down the road.” We also had some Jerry Garcia Band, which we’d been seeing at the Warfield during its unofficial residency. And, we were still coming to terms with Kurt Cobain’s suicide a couple months prior, three days before my 25th birthday. His widow’s album Live Through This was released within days and we were listening to that too. We couldn’t believe she recorded the line “Someday you will ache like I ache” months before he died. Now that line screamed across the radio like live anguish. So those were the vibes.

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The Slice: Amnicon Falls

Dec 02, 2023 No Comments

Amnicon Falls State Park, located about 20 miles southeast of Downtown Duluth, is known for its upper and lower waterfalls, carved through dark basalt and Lake Superior sandstone.

In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.


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Northwoods Creatures in Wild Remote Country

Nov 30, 2023 No Comments

This latest montage from Voyageurs National Park shows critters over a 1.5-month period this past spring.

The camera was set up by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park. But the otters kind of steal the show in this video.


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Summer Vignettes of Minnesota Wildlife

Oct 26, 2023 No Comments

This montage of trail camera footage from Voyageurs National Park includes a bobcat and her kittens, a black bear, a deer, a coyote and several moose.

The camera was set up by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park. This particular camera has been removed because the area is kind of swampy and there were no wolves traveling on the trail all summer.


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PDD Quiz: Happy Trails to You

Sep 10, 2023 No Comments

Lace up your boots and take a hike with this edition of the Perfect Duluth Day quiz, which highlights some local trails.

The next PDD quiz will review this month’s newsworthy events; it will be published on Sept. 24. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 20.

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Beating the Heat

Sep 03, 2023 No Comments


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Quarry Park: Let’s Have Sex

Aug 15, 2023 No Comments

Though it is important to first point out that painting graffiti on rocks or any other thing in a city park is just plain wrong, we should also not let the medium distract from the message.


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An Important Announcement from Kip

Aug 02, 2023 3 Comments

Duluth’s Kip Praslowicz has made a modest name for himself in recent years as a photographer and YouTube video producer. But now he stands on the cusp of mega-influencer status, having achieved an unprecedented feat in photography.


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What AI thinks “Lake Superior fish” look like

Jul 28, 2023 No Comments

I used stablediffusionweb.com to make these, using prompts like: “Lake Superior fish,” sometimes including “angler” and phrases like “catch of the day” or “look what I caught.” Then I switched to “a meal of Lake Superior fish,” “Lake Superior fish on a plate,” and so on. You will see some “breaded fried Lake Superior lampreys.” Bon appétit!

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Big Manitou Falls at Pattison Park

Jul 13, 2023 No Comments

The tallest waterfall in Wisconsin — and fourth-highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains — is just outside the city of Superior. Big Manitou Falls at Pattison State Park sends water plunging 165 feet into the Black River.

Video by Douglas Feltman.


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PDD Quiz: Waterfalls

Jul 09, 2023 No Comments

With summer in full swing, it’s the perfect time of year to explore the outdoors. This week’s PDD quiz spotlights some of the region’s many parks that feature cascading water. Both the Zenith City website and Tony Dierckins’ Duluth Historic Parks: Their First 100 Years were valuable resources for this quiz.

The next PDD quiz will be pubished on July 30; it will review the month’s headlines and happenings. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 26.

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History, Outdoors

The Slice: Sailboat Racing on Lake Superior

Jul 06, 2023 No Comments

Captain Chris Friese has owned the sailboat Radio Flyer for five years, racing with his crew in the A-Class on Lake Superior.

In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.


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