Adventures with Marcus: Bear Head Lake State Park

Bear Head Lake State Park

—Ely, MN—

Fall colors on the drive.

We got up early the next morning for a long day of adventuring. We had five parks to visit and some activities to fit in, and we were excited to go. The drive was really pretty—the colors in this part of the state were pretty close to peak, so it just made every thing even more awesome.

The first park we visited was Bear Head Lake State Park. The main features of this park are its lakes. This is how the Minnesota DNR describes it: "Secluded in the Northwoods, this park contains pristine lakes; it is home to black bears, nesting eagles, wolves and moose. Stands of white and red pine trees tower over the birch, aspen and fir trees. Located just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the park shares a similar wilderness quality. Explore miles of shoreline by canoe. Swim at the beach, picnic in the shelter building, or fish for walleye, bass, crappies or trout. Trails in the park link-up with the Taconite State Trail and offer snowmobilers, skiers and hikers plenty to enjoy".

To Luke and I, it felt just like being the in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) without actually being in the BWCAW (this state park is only about 15 miles south of Ely and 30 miles south of the BWCAW, but it completely feels like you are in the BWCAW... except with roads and motor vehicles). The park was beautiful, and it is really popular. An interesting piece of trivia: Bear Head Lake State Park had actually won the 2010 title of "America's Favorite Park" in a nationwide campaign sponsored by Coca-Cola.

The entrance to Bear Head.

When we got to the park, Luke got out and explored the Visitor Center while I figured out where the first clue was going to bring us (it was only about 300 feet from the visitor center).

When Luke got back, I ran over and found the first set of coordinates. I had actually read the logs and already knew that they suggested driving to find the second spot and hiking from there. We always try to take the best advice, and that was our plan.

I was surprised at how busy the park was. When we went on the Lake of the Woods trip, the parks were dead, and it just seemed like everything was over for the summer. This trip was completely different: the parks were busy, and there were lots of people out, and ALL of the rangers stations were actually manned! I liked this a lot more.

The first set of coordinates brought us right to the trailhead for the Norberg Lake Trail. The clue was right on the back of the sign (very common... which is how it was tricky with how the ranger at William O'Brien State Park placed it in a hide-a-rock under the sign!).

It wasn't that far to the next stop down the trail (0.3 miles, so about 6 minutes easy walking), but following other's advice, we decided to head back to the car and find the next parking lot to stop in.

We jumped back into the car headed off. The funny thing about this trip is that the road we took went around the park and pretty much out of the way. I kept looking at the GPS while we drove, and we got farther and farther away from the second stage until we finally got there – then it was still 0.2 miles to the next location! We ended up in a parking lot that was next to a really cute building and near to the eponymous "Bear Head Lake."

We quickly found a trailhead that lead to the same trail that we saw from the other side. This was the Norberg Lake Trail – it was also the Minnesota DNR Hiking Club Trail. We got out of the car and got ready to start hiking it. The weather was amazing, and it was an almost perfect day.

Another gratuitous selfie... but I just liked this picture!

This was a really nice and wide trail... we didn't see any of the green menace (poison ivy), which is a really good thing whenever it is not around. We made our way up the trail... Marcus is a hoot. One moment he is walking, next he will run ahead, and then he turns around right in front of one of us and stops—this is his cue for one of us to pick him up—then he says, "Out!" and it is time to walk again... then he changes parents... this all happens in roughly 50 steps! It is awfully cute!

We hiked a ways down the trail and got close to the next location. This was a really odd setup. The box for the first clue was just sitting on the ground in a wooden box. I think that it could easily get misplaced just sitting out in the open like that.

Once we added the next set of coordinates, we could see that it was bringing us back towards the parking lot and then even a bit farther than that.

We stopped for a moment by the building... It was really pretty. Marcus LOVED the water fountain. I bring him to the great outdoors, and all he wants to do is play with the water fountain...

Now we were off to find the next location, so we headed towards the lake.

A bit about the geology in this part of the state, which sits on the very ancient Canadian Shield like most of northeastern Minnesota does:

"Volcanoes and ancient seas produced the bedrock of the Bear Head Lake area. The bedrock of Ely greenstone and giants-range granite was scoured and gouged by glaciers. Eagles Nest and Bear Head Lakes, along with the park's rolling hills, were formed from the glacial action. Along the lakes and road cuts, visitors can see many different shapes and sizes of rock left by the glaciers." —Minnesota DNR

We kept walking toward the final destination, and the compass kept pointing right toward that tree stump.

The final cache was "hiding" in the stump... (Just a quick Marcus fact: right now, according to him, everything is "hiding" all of the time as he says!)