A weekend in Duluth

A weekend in Duluth

By Allan Olson

Perhaps there is such a thing as too much fun, but still not enough. That’s the way I felt when we parted company with my cousin and his family last weekend after hiking and touring the big “city on a hill,” a.k.a. Duluth. We arrived at our destination at about 7 p.m. on Friday evening. Once the van was unloaded, our kids quickly immersed themselves in the other kid’s toys, and we adults began to relax.

My cousin and I took off on foot shortly after we arrived to go find a geocache; he took me to the place where they found their first cache a little more than a year ago. From there, we trekked over to the UMD campus and attempted to find a cache located in the maze of the campus courtyard. The tall buildings impeded our GPS signal, and the looming darkness hampered our ability to conduct a thorough search of the grounds. Perhaps we will try another time – or, more likely, my cousin will find it before we visit again.

We walked back to his home and found the fire already started and brats ready to be roasted. We enjoyed a during- and after-dinner beverage and some brats, and visiting around the campfire. I was the first to retire, just after midnight (well past my normal bedtime).

The next morning we feasted on pancakes and fixings, and then set to work on our geocaching plans for the day. While the day’s temperatures started out a little on the cool side, it warmed up quickly when we were trekking through the forest trails of Hartley Park in Duluth. These weren’t our normal type of trails; there were some rugged, root and rock sticking out, stumble-if-you-don’t-watch-where-you-step trails. And we were making this trek with six kids, ages 3-10, and four adults. 

We made it to the first cache, with my cousin making the find, one of several just within the park. Our next stop was a two-stage multi-cache, it took a kid (Marcus) to find the coordinates imprinted on a metal tag that looked like it belonged on the fence. We entered those coordinates and planned a route to get to the final stage and pick up another cache or two along the way. The second stop was another long trek, and it took us to an old root cellar in the middle of the park. We searched high and low, and nearly gave up before the wives found the cache. The root cellar was impressive, and the kids enjoyed running in and out of it and then up the hill, but we put a stop to that before someone took a serious digger. 

Next we trudged back up a steep hill to route ourselves toward another cache – if we would have picked up a trail map before heading on the walk, we might’ve found an easier route, but hindsight is always 20-20. Onward we went, with the kids running ahead of us “old folks.” After about five minutes of searching at the next stop my cousin made the find again. We took the wrong way toward the next cache – the second stage of the multi – thinking it would loop around, but we were wrong. So we back-tracked and headed toward the vans; that’s when we discovered that a short distance down another trail would take us right to the second part of the multi. We scoured ground zero for a while; I was the one who found the ammo box stuck in the woods. 

We headed back to the vehicles, where we decided it was too much work to haul all the coolers and stuff the 400 feet to the picnic tables. Instead, we sat on the ground and in the vehicles to eat our lunch and discuss our next plan of attack. We were done with the park for this day, even though we only found four caches; there were at least 15 more to find in the park.

The next few stops were “must-see locations” that my cousin and family had discovered while geocaching. Included were a nice scenic overlook of Lake Superior and a graffiti graveyard underneath a bridge where talented artistry was displayed. Of course, that raised the question of whether it was art or vandalism. That is a tough one, since it is unauthorized and on public property – but it looked amazing. Next it was on to the park – where Marcus and his cousin Cael found the next cache before most of us could even get to it. Then the kids took off for the playground (with permission, of course).

After nearly an hour break, we headed out to do more geocaching. We took in some of the Enger Park trails and climbed the tower; we found several caches within the park and while enroute, but with daylight fading and light rain persisting, it was time to give it up. We headed back to the house. While we were stopped for some take n’ bake pizza, I went with five kids in the rain to find one more nearby cache. My cousin’s son directed us to it (he had found it previously) and then we dashed back to the vehicles. In all, we ended up with 15 finds in about eight hours.

The weather was not cooperative on Sunday, and since time was short, we packed the van and left my cousin’s home at about 11 a.m. in search of a few more caches before leaving town. Of the five we attempted, we only managed to find three. Then it was time to meet up with my aunt’s family for dinner. After a great visit with them and a stop for fuel, we were on our way home. I tried to sneak in a cache or two on the route home, but since the kids had school on Monday, we needed to get home to get them in bed.

My niece watched the dog all weekend so he wasn’t lonely, but she departed shortly after we got there. The van was unpacked and their homework was all done by 7 p.m., and an hour later all the kids were in bed. So was I an hour after that.

It was a very fun weekend – I can’t wait to repeat it!

Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories. School has started, so please watch out for the buses that are transporting our children. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.