The Centennial Trail is a 3.3 mile loop that has stations along the way telling the history of the short-lived early iron mining in the 1890s in the area...
We were ready, it was cool enough that we work sweatshirts...
In the several hours we hiked, we saw one other person...
There were five test pits dug (only one car load of ore was taken out), but what Lukie/Lex liked was testing the rocks around the pits for magnetism...
It wasn't hard to find, all the rock in the area is Iron Formation, so you can't miss...
The views were incredible...here Lex was looking for a moose...but with the low population of moose currently, we never did see one...
This was an important decision...take the wrong turn and 40 miles later we'd be in Ely...
This piece is one that I lugged in a backpack (that was carrying food, water and first aid supplies) because Lukie wanted it...it was heavy...Lex took a small sample she carried...
In this test pit, we could see the 120-year old timbers used to shore up the pit...
Along the way, we munched on blueberries often...when I first said we should eat some, Lex said 'we can eat these?' Lukie said they were the same that are in grocery stores...Lex was stunned...
Great views...bet there aren't many people in that view...
Way off in the distance is Gunflint Lake and Canada...oh, the highway is somewhere in their too...
There was only one steep section, throughout the trip, Lukie and I learned that if I said 'careful' to Lex she'd fall down (whether is was flat, steep, slippery or dry). Well, I said careful and she immediately slid 5-8 feet down on her butt...I stopped saying careful to her after that...
We celebrated by a lunch at the trail head...
A short drive later (500 feet), we were at the next trailhead...
This hike would be an out-and-back...on the return trip, we saw a beaver swimming around in this pond...
Breaks included testing rocks with magnets and building structures with the rock...Lukie built a prison and Lex made a tower...
Magnetic Rock is a 60-foot slab of iron formation tipped on it's end by glaciers...Kieran, Lukie and I had made this hike five years ago or so and we could see it coming for about a half mile...this trip, we didn't see it until we were right on it...thats the forest recovering from the 2007 Ham Lake fire at the end of the Gunflint...
Snacks and water are a must...
And you have to check it with a magnet...Lukie also found a nickel behind him here, only Lukie would find money in the middle of nowhere...
Like I said...it's big...
When your strength recovers...time to climb...
From this overlook, if you look closely enough, you can see the highway way off in the distance...
This is another great hike...
I think he's thinking "holy smokes that was crazy..."
After a couple of tough hikes, we cooled off by swimming at the only beach I know up there and it's a great beach on Sea Gull Lake...
I told them to walk out until the water was at their waist...
Eventually, I yelled at them because they were so far out...the water never got to Lukie's waist...it's a great beach...
Then it was time to play...
And sometimes they even get along...
Then it was back to camp for a quiet, restful night...
As the sun was going down, I was sitting quietly in my chair when I noticed these two sitting together on a rock watching the sun go down...I took this picture without them knowing...
Then they turned and I got one of them looking at me...
I like the first one better...a great day.
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