Bears, wolves and trees, oh my!

Before even leaving the motel this morning my hopes were dampened by a conversation I over heard in the parking lot. A biker lady a few doors down was talking to a "neighbor" (room 5 I believe) about road conditions between Two Harbors and Ely (pronounced Elee). His description was not being met by much enthusiasm from her, and I was likewise unenthusiastic. The road, he said, is not good. It winds endlessly, nowhere to pass, can't make good time.

I headed north on Highway 61 and crossed pretty Beaver Creek

knowing I had only a short ride along Superior's coast before turning inland. A short 7 miles or so later, on the north side of Silver Bay,  I went through a nice tunnel. On the far side of the tunnel, to the right of the highway, was a walkway. I pulled off the road at the north end of the walkway and went for a short hike up the hill, paralleling the highway. It turned out to be a hiking trail on the remains of the original highway. In 1994 the highway was replaced by the current route through the new tunnel.

New tunnel replaced older byway-turned-walkway

Walkway now allows access to the scenic overlook

A short distance north I picked up Minnesota Highway 1. The Girls had directed me to turn to the northwest, but I began to wonder if they had errored when I came to this sign

This may require a LARGE U-Turn!

The next 69 miles of highway was a delight. The road report we had heard in the parking lot was not viewed from the handlebars of a motorcycle but from the steering wheel of, perhaps, a family sedan. The "continuous low speed turns" were sweeping 30-45 mph beauties. The majority of the route was lined with trees 

with the sweeping turns rolling left, then right, then back again, it was a delightful morning in the saddle. The bumps were few and far between and certainly off-set by the graceful folds of blacktop that unfolded between them.

I had been striving to stay ahead of a dark cloud that was encroaching on the highway as I moved north and successfully beat it to Ely.

Ely is one of the major hubs for outfitters who service the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota.

Ely is also the heart of Minnesota's North Woods and therefore central to the Department of Natural Resources. Because of this, two volunteer organizations have set up shop here. Just on the east side of town is the International Wolf Center, an education center that partners with zoological accredited facilities (they don't do rescue or rehab) to provide a home for (currently) 5 wolves including 2 pups, of 3 Gray Wolf sub-species. Their aim is to educate, not participate in the controversy over re-introducing wolves to the North Woods.

On the west side of town is the North American Bear Center. These volunteers keep (currently) 4 Black bears. 

Nine year old Lucky, who was rescued the day before he was scheduled to be euthanized 

Their goal is education, but they also do rehab and rescue. Interestingly, the Black Bear is a coward, according to these people. They will defend themselves and can be food aggressive, but are otherwise prone to running away or climbing a tree if they come into contact with humans. They claim that they will not become aggressive even when you find yourself between mother and cub. They will get the cubs up the tree and often follow them. I know, but that's what they told me.

From there it was on to Tower, Mn. where I found a steam locomotive to board. 

It was also at Tower where I found this

A picture board commemorating February 2, 1996, when the temperature hit -60 degrees!

From there it was a dash north to one of the coldest cities in the U.S. each winter, International Falls, Mn. Because of the time spent touring with wolves (not dancing with wolves) and bears, I skipped lunch. This also allowed me to beat the rain clouds to the border. They have severe thunderstorm warnings north of the border tonight and the skies are black in most directions. The early stop (5:00) allowed me to get a motel room and eat with this guy

before the weather soured. Tomorrow I'll check out the Falls, maybe the border crossing, then head toward North Dakota!