30 July 2015 The Journey to Ely

Our last major stopping point was going to be in Ely near the Boundary Waters. We planned to cache our way there with the first stop at the very scenic Temperance River State Park.

Most parks we visit these days are over-the-top with limited access to increase safety. At Temperance, it was easy to view the gorge-cutting power of the water.

We stopped for a rare earthcache find at this peaceful harbor before turning away from Lake Superior. Scenes like this make me wish a bit for having sailed.

This week included many, many raspberries enjoyed along the trail along with some beautiful wildflowers.

As were approaching Ely, we stopped for a series of caches which really annoyed me. The Duluth Complex is a large stand of non-ferrous metals which are under very heavy pressure for approved open pit mining. The activity would forever scar this region. As a geocacher, I like the guideline which prohibits caches with agendas. I couldn't believe the caches in this series got a pass from the reviewer. To me, besides supporting the mining agenda, they are clearly commercial based in that they are pro mining.

Waters near the proposed mining lands.

Once in town we stopped for a few easier finds including one with this pileated woodpecker nearby.

The trip had been opposite extremes of the food spectrum so far. We found a nice Italian Restaurant in Superior which served tasty flat bread pizzas. We went to the other end of the spectrum with the worst meal I have ever had at a pub like restaurant in Grand Marais. We followed that with nice dinner options at the restaurant at Cascade Lodge. This evening we stopped at Insula in Ely. The restaurant had just opened in June and was listed as a fusion restaurant. We were really happy with the choice. The staff was friendly. The food was very good. We were also treated to a visit in the restaurant by a bat while dining. The staff seemed unbothered by the presence of the bat. They nabbed it with a net and quickly released it outdoors. Apparently bats in restaurants in Ely are not unusual.