Hike to the Top of Mt. Baldy

Upon returning home from our hike on the North Country Trail in my last post, our second Airbnb guests of the season had not yet arrived. I reached out to them on the road to see if they would be interested in having me heat the sauna for them. Getting an affirmative response, I headed down to the lake to throw a fire in the stove. Stepping back outside from the changing room, I found myself face-to-face with the weasel which was curiously looking my way from between the neighbors’ fence and the seawall.

It actually gave me enough time to get out my phone to capture a photo of it and only walked away when I took a step toward it.

Over the last weekend we got out for dinner with friends and also put in a 6.9 mile hike to the top of Mt. Baldy near Eagle Harbor. After a rainy Saturday, we enjoyed sunny weather for our hike on Sunday!

The blue sky reflected beautifully on Lake Superior!

Mt. Baldy offers a commanding view back over Eagle Harbor!

From the top you can take in the view of the surrounding peaks including Brockway Mountain! We also saw a handful of bald eagles soaring overhead!

The hike back down takes considerably less effort!

In the course of our hike back down we bushwhacked to a waterfall on Cedar Creek!

You can see my GoPro video from this hike at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

Monday would start with a 2,500 yard swim at MTU’s SDC ahead of a walk at Maasto Hiihto with fellow Hancock Trails Club board members and Copper Shores Community Health Foundation President/CEO Kevin Store and members of his staff. The walk provided the opportunity to discuss the club’s bridge project. This would be followed by an early evening Chassell Recreation Committee meeting with representatives of Northern Natural Gas and SEMCO to discuss the potential use of part of their pipeline easements for a snowmobile trail between Chassell and the Bill Nichols Trail.

Tuesday I would type up the minutes from April’s Chassell Planning Commission meeting and get those sent out to the commission members ahead of Thursday evening’s meeting. I would also receive word from Sean Gohman with the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission that we will be awarded the $8,000 grant for the wiring and lighting retrofitting project at the Chassell Heritage Center! I would promptly follow up with Keweenaw Power & Lite and they will get in to do the work during June which will have the deliverables in place for when we open for the season in July. I even managed to slip in a two-mile rail-trail run.

Wednesday morning I attended the Keweenaw Chamber’s breakfast where I heard an interesting presentation by Bill Mattes who is the Great Lakes Section Leader from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. His talk focused on the Buffalo Reef which is a 2,200-acre cobble field located in Lake Superior on the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The reef, which provides important spawning habitat for Lake Trout and Lake Whitefish, is being threatened by stamp sands that were dumped into Lake Superior at the Mohawk Stamp Mill in Gay during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The stamp sand is also encroaching on the nearshore juvenile fish habitat areas. Bill talked about a proposed jetty to limit the movement of stamp sand and a plan to move the remaining sands to a location inland.

I would then head back to the VFW Post 6507 in Chassell for a presentation of checks to me in my capacity as President of the Chassell Historical Organization by the post’s President Braden Archambeau, the post’s Auxiliary President Donna Byykkonen, and Chassell Lions Club President Steve Palosaari totaling nearly $3,600. Judy Evert who is the CHO’s Vice-President and also a member of the Lions Club board joined in on the presentation. The checks represented the proceeds from the Benefit Breakfast the VFW, VFW Auxiliary, and Chassell Lions put on at the VFW back on April 20th.

Pictured above at the presentation of the checks: Donna Byykkonen, Braden Archambeau, me, Steve Palosaari, and Judy Evert.

From the VFW I made my way over to the Chassell Heritage Center where Bach Mobilities was completing the measurements for the stair-climbing units that they will be installing at the Heritage Center. Fortunately, Ed Kautto from our maintenance committee was there to do some scraping ahead of some painting so he was able to let them in.

That evening Julie and I would pick up two bags of trash from along the rail-trail as part of a better than two mile walk between our place and the pavilion at Centennial Park and back to get a jump on Saturday morning’s highway clean-up on the two miles of US 41 cared for by the Chassell Lions Club.

Thursday Julie and I would run errands and along the way I would stop by the Houghton County Building Department to bring in the application for the permit and inspection for the stair-climbers at the Chassell Heritage Center. In the course of our travels we grabbed a late lunch at Joey’s in Houghton.

The Thursday evening Chassell Planning Commission provided a great opportunity to get everyone up to speed on recent developments. The Reader’s Digest version: Dan Palosaari indicated that the house next door to the Mercantile site came back negative on the asbestos survey and the construction drawings are being costed for the project; Brian, Steve, and I briefed everyone on Monday’s meeting with Northern Natural Gas and SEMCO; I noted that I learned from Jeff Ratcliffe that the demolition of the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church will likely take place in late summer or early fall; I noted that I had spoken to Lowell Miller from Feighner Dock and he will be out in three weeks to add the ADA transfer to the canoe/kayak launch; bidding will close on the 16th for the SPARK grant component related to the ADA walkway between the pavilion and the waterfront; and we discussed the Rent-Fun kayak/paddleboard rental system.

On Friday afternoon, Julie and I would drive down into the Ottawa National Forest with our friend Mark Roberts to hike six miles on the Peter Wolfe Chapter’s segment 30 of the North Country Trail to the southwest of Bob Lake. You can see my GoPro video from the hike at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

I will share photos from the hike next time!

Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.