Heading up the Gunflint Trail, we made a quick stop at the Laurentian Divide. We had a nice discussion about divides and how water from here flows towards Hudson Bay or Lake Superior...
Waking up the first morning while on the Gunflint Trail, we took short drive to another scenic overlook. Past Gunflint Lake in the distance is Canada..
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We then took a hike to Magnetic Rock, a large piece of iron formation that glaciers left standing vertically. The hike is a 1.5 mile, out and back through the Superior National Forest...
Along the way, Lukie and Lex tested whether the rock was magnetic. Considering the rock along the entire trail was the Gunflint Iron Formation, most of it was magnetic...
There are numerous overlooks that provide great views...
Magnetic Rock. Lukie and Lex for scale...
And yes, magnets are attracted to it...
The hike back...we tend to take more rests on the way back...
Here they are looking at what I suspect is a stromatolite...stromatolites are numerous in the area. Stromatolites are fossilized algae and are the reason the iron formation was deposited in the area. About two billion years ago, the area was under water, under an ocean. Small grained sediment was being deposited and the water contained lots of iron. As the algae went through photosynthesis, the iron rusted out of the water and was deposited in the fine grained sediments. Layers and layers of this built up and now we have the iron formation (the same process happened on the Mesabi Range at about the same time)...
Way off in the distance you might see County Road 12, the Gunflint Trail...
We had the trail to ourselves...100 feet from the trailhead, we saw two people beginning their hike...it was a great morning...
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