The Gunflint Trail, Minnesota

  The Gunflint Trail is a scenic drive into the most northeasternly part of MN next to the Canadian border - our first introduction to the Boundary Waters Canoe area that we've been anxious to explore.

 The drive is a 57 mile in and out route (dead end) that some guide books recommend 3 hours to drive.  We spent the whole day exploring as the forest changed from maple to conifer and then to boreal with lots of lichen woodlands.

   A large grey wolf ran across a gravel back road we explored, but it was too fast for our cameras.

   We talked with two men in a canoe paddling in to pick up last minute supplies.  They drove from Maryland to travel by canoe for the next 3 days.

   We saw cabins and wondered what Minnesota woods would be like to live in . . .

  . . . and felt right at home cabin-wise when we spotted a border sign.

  Nothing fancy at the end of the drive.  In a cloud of mosquitoes and other flying biting bugs sits a tiny cafe that also sells travel patches and lots of bug spray.