Tuesday, June 3

Breakfast at a little café in Brainerd.  Established 1908 and we think maybe they are still using the same dishes J  but the breakfast was good  - pancakes, eggs and sausage for under $5.

We are into more woods now, more pines and smaller and fewer farms.  We stop by Mille Lacs Lake – it is so large that you can’t see the other side.  The sky is blue and the water beautiful blue with sun sparkles.   We look around in the state park nearby until the Mille Lacs Indian Museum opens.

Mille Lacs

New growth (candle) on pine

Pelicans overhead

The museum has history and exhibits of the Mille Lacs clan of the Ojibwe Indians who moved to this area from the northeast (Iriquois) over 200 years ago.  They were semi-nomadic people who harvested wild rice, fished, made maple sugar and did some hunting and farming, raising the "3 sisters" – squash (for ground cover), corn and beans, all planted together with the beans climbing the corn stalks.

Hides and reeds with birch bark cover

Reed wigwam with birch bark

They lived in wiigiwams, which were made from various materials, depending on the season. including : hides, moss and birch bark (winter), Reeds (spring and summer),  elm bark (fall).

Elm bark with birch bark cover

  American Indians didn’t become citizens of the US until 1924.  Before that there were many different treaties and agreements as the government attempted to move them west to reservations.  They managed to hold on to the Mille Lacs property and today there are about 2,000 of the 3600 members living on the reservation.  There is a casino and some small industry, as well as schools.

The land has become flatter and there are huge stacks of firewood at many of the homes.  We are back to the Great River Road and the Mississippi is much smaller now as we approach the headwaters.  Very windy today.  We saw several deer, two of which crossed just in front of us. Lots of logging and mills, with some areas re-planted and some not.

We head north to the “Lost 40”, an area that escaped logging due to a surveying error and so has many red and white pines that are 300+ years old.  Took a while to find the place and we finally resorted to stopping at a small home and asking.  Fortunately we were close.

Porcupine on the way to Lost Forty

large red pine

We parked and walked a little bit on the trail but were practically carried away by mosquitos, so took a quick picture and continued on.  We are on the Ladyslipper scenic byway (38S) but discover that the state flower has yet to show itself.

We are in the Chippewa National Forest and decide to try boondocking at a public fishing pier down a long dirt road.  Many fishermen, most with boats, arrive after us (6:00 on).  We talk with a few fishermen on the pier –one who caught this Northern Pike. 

9:00 sun begins setting and all but one of the fishermen are gone.  

BUT then the mosquitos begin to swarm.  We can’t figure out how, but they are getting into the Trek in droves, so we decide to move to a Walmart in Bemidiji, about a half hour down the road.
So much for back to nature!