2006 Journal Entries (Days 6-11)


Day 6: (Tuesday, February 21th, 2006) We left Crane Lake, MN . about 6:00 A.M. (CST) and rode south toward Duluth, MN. We started the morning with Betty cooking us breakfast (the cook at the lodge did not want to get up this early) We got about 6 in. of fresh snow overnight make the trails smoother, but resulting in a lot of snow dust being kicked up by the lead sleds, making visability difficult for the rest of the riders. About noon we found a little bar along the trail and stopped in for a hearty lunch of Chili and sandwichs. The locals were very friendly, including a 78 year old guy who had lived in this same area his whole life... he was very interested in who we were and what we were doing.... Over the course of lunch we heard the same phrase several times...... "You betch ya!" As we walked back to our sleds we passed the old guy's truck and sitting in the front seats were two old dogs looking like they were going to just drive away as soon as we were out of the way! We must be in Minnesota! We rode 198 miles today, arriving just north of Duluth, MN about 3:30 P.M., loaded our sleds in the trailer and portaged around Duluth to Superior, Wisconsin only about 15 miles. As we arrived at our hotel the Barker's Island Inn we noticed that their was "NO SNOW!" As we are sitting in our hotel room "It's snowing outside" we wonder if we will have to trailer the sleds another 30-40 miles east or if there will be enough snow overnight to ride from here????

Day 7: (Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006) We awoke to about 4 in of fresh snow, but not enough to try and ride the trail east toward our distination. We left Superior,Wisconsin about 6:00 A.M. (CST) and trailered the sleds about 15 miles east until we found a little more snow and unloaded the sleds and rode east toward Brule, Wisconsin, where we stopped for a hot and hearty breakfast!

Early morning start in Wisconsin

As we continued eastward through Wisconsin we had a lot of deer on or crossing the trail, several times having to slow down to a crawl to try and coax them off the trail in front of us. About 60 miles into our trip today, the trail just stopped, apparently the elders of the Bad River Indian reservation decided it did not want the trail cross it's lands, so we had to reload the sleds on the trailer and drive the 8 miles to the Bad River Casino, where the trail to the east was open ??? We unloaded again and crossed into Michigan's upper peninsula at Ironwood and headed northeast. We ate a lite lunch on the trail today of deer sausage and cheese sticks. We stopped at the Porcupine Mountain state park and visited the lookout over the "Lake of the Clouds", a spot on the top of the mountain where you can see a lake just below you and then off in the distance is Lake Superior several hundred feet lower. We arrived at our motel in Silver City, Michigan about 4:45 P.M. (EST) We had a yummy dinner of lake perch and local beer and called it a day.


Lake of the Clouds in the western Upper Penisula of Michigan


Day 8: (Thursday, February 23rd, 2006) We awoke to about 6 in of fresh snow about 10 above 0, windy and snowing. We left Silver City, Michigan about 7:30 A.M. and rode northeast toward Houghton and then onto Copper Harbor and then back down to Calumet, Michigan. On the way down from Copper Harbor we encountered a group of snowmobliers trying to get their buddies sled out of the ditch, with John's magic bungee, we quickly yanked him out! we also stopped at the famous bar in Gay, Michigan. Known as the Gay Bar, we just had to stop in and check out the action. After a couple of soda's, a cup of coffee and a couple of souvenir t-shirts we determined that there was no action, nothing but a couple of snowmobilers telling wild stories about their adventures...when we mentioned that we had been on the trail for the last week and had covered over 1500 miles ,3 states and Canada, they stared at us in disbelief! "No really!" After getting to our motel, we had to walk to the restaurant, which the clerk at the hotel said was only 4 blocks away.... It ended up being 8 blocks up hill both ways with the sidewalks piled about 8 feet high with snow... so we got to dodge cars, blowing cold winds and snow... it was easier out on the trail...


Following behind our leader,  George Pattullo


View of Copper Harbor, MI. this is 104 miles due south and the opposite side of Lake Superior from the picture on Day 3


Day 9: (Friday, February 24th, 2006) We started the day early with breakfast at 6:30 A.M., we got on the trail about 7:30 and headed southeast, we rode the worst trail and best trails of the trip today... The worst trail was between Michigammi and Champion, Michigan. The trail was so rough that it was like having a speed bump placed every 10 feet for 5 miles... ouch! The best trail of the trip so far was from Republic to Gwinn, Michigan. It was wide, had lots of sweeping turns and a good mix of straight aways, up's and down's, tall timbers and pines. About 2 miles from Gwinn, John saw out of the corner of his eye, two horses (no saddles or bridles) running down the road.. he confronted them and tried to get close enough to try and grab them.. (he commented that he needed to start carrying sugar cubes or apples!) they ended up running down the trail we just came from.... just about then a local pulled up in their truck and John told them about the horses, she responded with "this was a reoccuring problem and she would go back to her house and call for help"  We got to our motel, the Model Town Inn about 4:00 P.M. It started to snow during dinner and the forecast is for 8+ inches for fresh powder tonight...

                                             After Dinner                                                                    In the morning!

Day 10: (Saturday, February 25th, 2006) We awoke to about 8 in of fresh snow about 19 above 0, windy and blowing snow. We had a hearty breakfast of cream of wheat at Lynns Restaurant and left Gwinn, Michigan about 8:00 A.M. and rode northeast toward Grand Marais, Michigan. We saw more sleds and riders in 30 minutes today then we saw in the past 1800 miles! The trails were pretty crowed, or we're pretty spoiled! We stopped in Grand Maris for gas and had about 40 sleds lined up at the only gas station, since the only restaurant also looked too busy, we made up a lunch at the Gas Station. We then headed to Whitefish point where just a few miles offshore the freighter Edmonds Fitzgerald went down! We arrived in Paradise about 5:30 P.M. and had a great dinner and a beer at the Red Flannel Saloon!


A view of Lake Superior on just north of Grand Marais


Whitefish point lighthouse


Day 11: (Sunday, February 25th, 2006) We awoke to about 6 in of fresh snow about 7 above 0. We started at 8:00 A.M. and rode to Doug Teale's Cabin about 30 miles south of Paradise, Michigan. The ride down was absolutly beautiful! The tree's were all white with fresh snow and the trails perfect! Just as we got to the cabin, we had our closest near disaster of the trip! As Robert and George were pulling into the driveway of the cabin (at the apex of a sharp corner in the road), a huge snowplow came speeding down the road (driving way to fast), they saw it, but did not have time to signal! Pete was forced to make a split second decision and accelerated into the driveway, just as the plow sprayed snow over the back of his sled.... fortunately, Robert saw it in time and was able to stop! Whew! This was a very close call and re-enforces that you can never be to careful! Now that we were safe at Doug and Ida Mae's cabin we were ready for Doug's wonderful breakfast of huge pancakes, sausage and eggs! Even Hot coffee and orange juice, made this one of the best meals of the trip! We finished the ride to St. Ignace and the completion of our Circumnavigation of Lake Superior and the end to the 2006 Pattullo2000 snowmobile safari...


The view inside and out the front door of Doug and Ida Mae Teale's Cabin!

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