Hearts in Hawai'i
State Park #20--Bear Head Lake State Park
7/4/2024
Another day, another State Park! Today's journey brought Patty and I up to the Iron Range and then east between Tower and Ely. In Tower we encountered a ton of people with their lawnchairs out on either side of the highway. Apparently some kind of July 4th parade was about to commence and we made it through the town in the nick of time.
Thanks to Siri, the entrance to the park was easily found, but it was still quite a drive to the Park Office where we double checked our route to the parking area from where we would hike part of the Norberg Lake Trail which passes the north shore of Bear Head Lake's East Bay. This circle route is slightly more than three miles. We wanted to hike the eastern section which would hopefully afford us view of the East Bay. Unfortunately, this trail doesn't come close enough to see through the trees to the water. But we did encounter a ton of roots, some rocks and one muddy section (only about ten yards) where we had to chose between heading to the left of this mess and the right. I chose left, Patty chose right and sunk down a bit into the mess. Oh well, they're just shoes but it does point to how buying waterfroof hiking shoes or boots is a very good idea! Too bad Gander Mountain is no longer in Duluth but hopefully Dick's Sporting Goods or Tortoise and Hare has what I need.
After realizing "Shit, no lake views to be found here!", we doubled back to the fork between the east and west sections of this trail and struck out on the west fork. We made it aways before turning back to the parking lot.
This trail is pretty nice but, as I mentioned, hiking apparel would help especially considering how much rain has fallen this summer!
After getting back to the parking lot we checked out a picnic area with some very nice views of Bear Head Lake.
On the way back to Proctor, the highway was closed off through Tower forcing us (and a long line of cars) to navigate a narrow North 2nd Street until we finally rejoined the highway. There was a long line of cars parked on both sides of the highway extending for what had to be at least a half mile! If this is an annual event, we'd like to check it out sometimes.
Parking Lot leading to the Norberg Lake Trail
And off we go!
Fork in the trail; either way you go, you come out on the other side
Bear Head Lake
A final look at this lake
Previous: 7/3/2024--State Park #19--McCarthy Beach State Park
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last updated july 4, 2024
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