The distance between the Chisago County High Point, which I had just completed, and the Pine County High Point is over 50 miles. I was eager to bag this one, because it had never been done before. It was an overcast, and eventually rainy day over Pine County, though the weather forecast called for diminishing showers in the morning. What I incorrectly assumed is that the Twin Cities forecast would also apply to this area, 100 miles north. It was my fourth and last attempted county on August 7, 2004, and is located at 46° 21' 40"N, 92° 22' 24"W.
I went back 8 days later, determined to finish it, and did. To read that report, skip to here.
MY FIRST ATTEMPT:
From Minnesota State Highway 23 at Nickerson, a small town on the Carlton-Pine County line:
0.0 Turned right onto Main Street (all roads starting with this one were gravel)
0.2 Crossed railroad tracks and took immediate left onto Delong Road
0.9 Took a sharp right onto Carlton County Road 146 (washboardy road on county line).
Road changed name to Net Lake Road
2.2 Turned right
onto SFR 4A (going south)
3.5 Crossed Net River bridge
4.3 Turned left where Willard Munger State Trail turned right (parking area)
6.5 Turned right on unmarked road (labeled South Ext on Delorme)
7.3 Stream crosses road (slow down)
9.5 Road dead ends at circle turn around
I parked at the dead end, looking south for the trail, but did not see one. I did, however, see a large number of spent shotgun shells at the turnaround.
Although Delorme has a large number of trails drawn in this area, I did not see the one I was expecting from here. As it turns out, Delorme does not have this part of the road depicted.
I started going straight east from the parking area, following a faint trail through exceptionally tall grass, getting my pants soaked in the process, and got about 200 feet into the woods, when I noticed that my GPS was acting erratically, showing wildly fluctuating, or unchanging bearings, when it should have varied (for a while it told me to turn 29° right even though I was turning a lot more than that). I then realized that I had not marked my truck as a waypoint, and quickly returned to it, and marked it, then restarted my hike. Although it was mid-afternoon, it was cloudy and the few pictures I took were dark. This one shows the typical terrain for the part of the hike that I did go on.
Despite the erratic readings, I was slowly approaching the highest ground in the area. Nevertheless, it was sprinkling, and later turned to heavy rain. I was totally soaked within a few minutes after the heavy rain started, and I carried my clipboard with my notepaper upside down to try to keep it dry. I was mostly successful, but it still got a little wet. I was considering turning around, but decided that the effort for this summit pursuit was too much work to have to go through again, so I pressed on. The ground was getting muddy, and I sank in with increasing regularity.
I got to a point, almost a half mile into my hike, where I became very concerned about the time (my wife and I had planned a matinee movie when I got back), and about the rain, and about my inconsistent GPS, that I did finally turn around, 29 minutes after leaving my truck, though it seemed much longer. The rain got even heavier, and as I set my destination for my truck waypoint, I headed back. As I predicted, it was misbehaving on that trip, too. At one point, whichever direction I turned, it told me to go 116° left. I finally shut it off, and went by instinct, which was not easy due to the fact that I could not see the sun. Moss was growing on all sides of the trees. I knew that I needed to head west. I took a guess and started walking in one direction, which I hoped was west. After about 35 minutes of slogging, I turned it back on, and noticed that I was less than 1/6 mile away. I turned slightly left, and within a few minutes was back in my truck, drenched from head to toe. Although I was not cold, I turned the heater on anyway.
I decided to return here when the ground is dry and the forecast for this area is sunny.
I followed the same road back to Nickerson, then home, where we attended a nighttime showing of I, Robot. I had planned to summit Kanabec and Mille Lacs counties, but had to postpone those for another day.
On my second attempt, I followed the same route, but stopped at about mile 9.3, at a trail head. I had planned to approach the high point by way of the trail system that goes south, then northeast, then west to the top. Even though the topo map showed that the trail went through the swamp, I incorrectly assumed that it would still be walkable. It was indeed under water for a good part of it.
This is a shot of my truck at the trail head. The road continues off to the left, where it dead-ends about a quarter-mile southeast. That part of the road is on the USGS topographic map, but not on Delorme. The trail goes off to the right.
The first leg of the trail is a drivable road, with large puddles across it in several places for 0.6 miles.
I came to the abandoned tent and the Nemadji Hilton shortly before turning left.
The next leg of the trail turns east, where it is initially a vehicle-friendly trail, then goes through a wooded area, marked by orange and yellow ribbons on trees.
I lost the ribboned trail, but kept going toward the waypoint I had set. That part of the trail eventually turns southeast, to join the main northeast trail. About halfway through that part, it enters the swamp, never to exit, (for as long as I stayed with it). The part of the swamp closest to dry land feels solid, but I could hear squishing sounds under the vegetation, and could feel an up and down motion as I walked. That only happened for a short distance, though.
The main trail (the third leg of the journey) is wide enough for vehicle traffic, and may carry vehicle traffic, but it is under several inches of water for as long as I stayed with it.
Shortly after I started going along that part, I became conscious of the fact that going cross-country in a direct line to the high point could not possibly be worse than staying on the trail, and decided to leave the trail and head straight for the top by way of a ridge that went almost straight toward the apex, and would afford me some relief from the knee-deep and deeper swamp water that I had been going through. (Besides, from that point, it was about as far back to my truck as the high point would be). During this part of the trek, I dropped my clipboard in the water, just long enough to get my notes page wet, and lost some of my notes. The shallow water was warm, but got cooler the deeper it became.
That decision got me in a state of mind that would eventually enable me to stay out of the swamp altogether. On that ridge, I saw a rusted box of some kind, so I knew that people had been here in the last 100 years or so. A short time before peaking, I saw another orange ribbon on a tree, so the high point may have been touched by someone.
It took me 4.5 hours from the trailhead to the summit, because I had to go so slow, and got exhausted having to step over fallen trees and having to test the depth of the water.
I walked around the highest ground and saw that it was a fairly flat, long, east-west hill. There was a small moss-covered rock near the west end that I determined was the highest ground. I stayed there only a few minutes. I had intended to rest there, but the mosquitoes were the worst I have ever experienced, dampening the summit experience.
Immediately to the north, the ground slopes down fast, revealing yet another swampy area.
While at the top, I considered how to return without spending a lot of time slogging through swampland. I saw that there was a ridge going west from the high point, then southwest, then south, that came close to the end of the road where I had parked the previous Saturday. I determined that if I could stay on top of that ridge I could save time and keep dry.
I did follow that ridge, but lost it a couple of times and had to slog some. Nevertheless, it was a lot more enjoyable and quicker than either of the ways I had attempted before. I got back to the end of the road in an hour and a half. A good forest ridge-walker should have no trouble going from parking to summit and back in way under three hours. I then slowly walked/hobbled to my truck, about a quarter-mile on the road.
On my second attempt, I followed the same route, turning left on Minnesota State Highway 18, toward the Kanabec County High Points.
| Family Member | Count |
|---|---|
| Mark | 24 |
No other trip reports have been published. It was listed as a virgin county.
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http://www.topozone.com
Minnesota Atlas & Gazeteer by Delorme, 3rd Edition, 2001.
| File Name: | |
| Written by: | Mark Ness |
| Last Revised by: | Mark Ness |
| on: |