Seagull Lake from our campsite at Trails End.
Ah, April, when the cold finally starts to break, even if sporadically, and we get a hint that summer might actually be on its way!
This is the time of year when campers like us start to get really antsy, because getting a weekend free to head up into the North Woods is still impossible what with work/school commitments, but the weather makes us long for long hikes in the woods, meals prepared over an open fire, and campfires to gaze into for hours.
Everyone has a special place they enjoy. For some lucky folks it's where they live so they don't have to dream about being there. For us it's up in the North Woods, as far north as we can get in the time we have. When we have a week or more, we head further up. Lately our favorite destination has been the BWCA, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of upper Minnesota, where if you spit across the lakes you might hit Canada, and we have to be careful where we take the canoe because we don't all have passports. We used to head up to Bear Head Lake near Ely on the western edge of the BWCA, but for the last two years we've gone up to Grand Marais on the eastern edge. Take the drive up the Gunflint Trail heading north out of town and you'll find quiet lakes to set up camp and relax on and around. Head back into town and enjoy the spectacular beaches on the peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior, the coldest water I've ever enjoyed swimming in!
In fact I fell in love with Grand Marais so much, that driving home from it last year I dealt with my unhappiness at leaving by beginning a story in my head of someone who fell in love with a local while being seduced by the natural beauty. The result is going to be published on May 1...a contemporary erotic romance called For The Love Of His Life. I've made a page for the book but there's no link yet. I hope the excerpt gets you interested enough to want to read the rest, so you can join me in my love for the far North Woods of the BWCA in Minnesota.
This is the time of year when campers like us start to get really antsy, because getting a weekend free to head up into the North Woods is still impossible what with work/school commitments, but the weather makes us long for long hikes in the woods, meals prepared over an open fire, and campfires to gaze into for hours.
Everyone has a special place they enjoy. For some lucky folks it's where they live so they don't have to dream about being there. For us it's up in the North Woods, as far north as we can get in the time we have. When we have a week or more, we head further up. Lately our favorite destination has been the BWCA, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of upper Minnesota, where if you spit across the lakes you might hit Canada, and we have to be careful where we take the canoe because we don't all have passports. We used to head up to Bear Head Lake near Ely on the western edge of the BWCA, but for the last two years we've gone up to Grand Marais on the eastern edge. Take the drive up the Gunflint Trail heading north out of town and you'll find quiet lakes to set up camp and relax on and around. Head back into town and enjoy the spectacular beaches on the peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior, the coldest water I've ever enjoyed swimming in!
In fact I fell in love with Grand Marais so much, that driving home from it last year I dealt with my unhappiness at leaving by beginning a story in my head of someone who fell in love with a local while being seduced by the natural beauty. The result is going to be published on May 1...a contemporary erotic romance called For The Love Of His Life. I've made a page for the book but there's no link yet. I hope the excerpt gets you interested enough to want to read the rest, so you can join me in my love for the far North Woods of the BWCA in Minnesota.
