Bear Head, As I Recall It, Sitting Here, Satisfied and Re-Charged: Part 1

Or, a Trip to Bear Head Lake State Park

Sunday, Sept. 28: Getting There, and Mineview in the Sky:

The previous week, with the opening of the new play fast approaching and trying to work ahead, as possible, at my job, we were really under the gun in trying to get packed and prepared. Nevertheless, we were pretty much ready to go by leaving-day; having actually even packed the car the night before with the exception of a few bare essentials.

We were ambitious in the packing with me throwing in my fishing gear (I'd not fished in about three years), as well as my daily yoga practice book and my knee brace for much-anticipated trail running. With Rose at a robust 23 months of age, we were hoping for our smoothest road trip in quite some time (even considering our expected total of four and a half hours on the road), as well as the opportunity to pursue assorted personal pleasures, free from the need to hover over kids constantly, and in a team effort.

We were able to get out of Dodge by about 9:00 am (not too shabby), and it was, indeed, a joy of a car ride, as both kids got involved in assorted freestyle art and imaginative play, all the way up I-35 past Hinckley (home of a fascinating, historic great fire, as well as the possible site of a future great fire, at Grand Casino Hinckley), past Banning State Park (where I precariously-led Sharon's 9-month pregnant belly up and down rocky, icy trails in February of '03), past Duluth (a few miles West), and up for a stop by Virginia, which lies in the heart of the Mesabi Iron Range.

Funny, but a number of years back, when I was in the process of becoming a Minnesotan and had a keen interest in geography, but pre-internet, I was a little confused by the "Mesabi Iron Range," thinking it referred to a group of large hills - possibly akin to the Ozarks of southern Missouri, but probably somehow connected to the Sawtooth "Mountain" range along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Now, I realize that the term simply refers to "range" as it relates to a geographic extent. This particular "range" is the area in which there were and still are vast deposits of iron ore, which has influenced Minnesotan political history and culture far beyond what one might expect at first glance. A majority of the historical and famous shipping trade out of the Twin Ports of Duluth (including the fateful journey of one Edmund Fitzgerald) has involved the transport of taconite pellets (iron-rich rocks) from Minnesota's iron range, the mining unions has produced an impressive rural Democratic voting block that has helped contribute Minnesota being the state that has gone longer than any other without lending its electoral votes to a Republican Presidential candidate, and the worlds biggest open pit mine is actually located right outside Hibbing. It's apparently quite a spectacle and I would loved to have seen it on this trip, but I wasn't quite that willing to trust my kids' temperment to that kind of roundabout excursion. As it was, we decided to stop by a similar, but slightly smaller, open pit mine & exhibit right outside Virginia, called Mineview in the Sky.

It should be noted that iron mining is not "your father's open pit mining." While digging gigantic holes in the ground where there used to be forests can never be considered, how do you say, "good for nature," you can see, in the years after a mining operation closes up shop in a particular area, that the result appears almost more like "terraforming" than "doing a Borg." Iron mining is a relatively clean operation, as the iron - in it's pre-milling state is a relatively soft metal, and close to the surface. And it is not poisonous. Case in point: there are actually game fish stocked in the Mineview in the Sky former pit. Dare I say, the I found the site rather breathtaking.

At that location, also, was a retired old son of a bitch who hauled over 17 million tons of taconite out of the mines for 80,000 working hours for 10 years. We paid our respects and my girls posed in front of 300,000 pound "King of the Lode."

Incidentally, this area and its industry was featured a fairly recent movie about a 70's-era sexual harassment trial, called North Country. Haven't seen it, but my impression is that it paints a very low-income impression of this blue-collar region. And there may be a history of this but - I can say only what I saw, but Viriginia was clean and friggin' well-off. Brand new big box stores (but even no-vacancy and spanking shiny strip malls), clean & fancy parks, and a well-maintained Mineview in the Sky exhibit, for crying out loud. In the midst of this shithole economy. My theory (rather uninformed, but a wild guess): rampant development in China = good to be in the steel industry.

Anyway - we'd considered stopping by the town of Tower either on the "there" or the "back again" portion of the journey, for a visit to the Soudan Mine (Minnesota's oldest, deepest underground iron mine - and now a state park); but elected on this day to continue on to our destination to try and make it before dark. About smack dab between Tower and Ely, but a few miles to the south of either, is the remote Bear Head Lake State Park, home of the lake by that name, as well as resident populations of wolves, bear, moose, and loons. A few months back, as the four night blocks of available state park camper cabins were dwindling, I'd managed to eke out this spate of time from Sept. 29 - Oct. 2. And here we were, at about 3 pm, rolling into the fruits of that forethought. Sunday night in a state park. Hardly the time when a park is buzzing - even a popular park in prime camping season. Bear Head Lake was nearly deserted. Maybe two to four other sites in use at any given time during our stay. Wonderfully quiet and remote, and our cabin was just up the hill from a beautiful little inlet from the larger lake. Colors were just getting to about 100%. The timing was excellent, except for the forecast of clouds & rain. This afternoon, anyway, there was some spotty sun, and in a little foray down to the lake, I was able to break out the fishing gear and help Lucy catch her first fish ever: two little bluegills, right near the tiny fishing dock. Note: these would be the last two fish this party would pull out of the lake.