I took a quick snowshoe hike with a couple of friends Thursday.  We tromped up the hillside just behind the lodge and followed the hiking trail to Lonely lake.  Lonely lake is a small spring fed lake south of the lodge here close to the ridge between Gunfint & Loon Lakes.

It's not a long walk but climbs steadily for the first 7 minutes or so - great to get that heart pumping. Then we followed the Northwest shore of Lonely into the cedar swamp area along the Hidden Trail and popped out on the hiking trail again, near Lookout Point.  Lookout Point is a smaller cliff (perhaps a 50ft rise) that looks out over Gunflint lake.  It's a beautiful overlook with White Pines towering overhead.

On the way back we got a little creative and tromped along an older version of the Big Pine Ski trail, then onto the ski trail for short distance, back into the woods to loop around and take our original path home.  All in all we were probably out a good hour or a little more.  Great excersice, sunshine, fresh air and company. 

I must admit we were a bit lucky though,  Jaret's 5th grade class had been here last week and had already tromped the route so all we had to contend with was the 12 inches of snow we've gotten since then. 

Snowshoeing is a great outdoor activity for kids, and families alike. 

     The lake was a little slushy after the melt down a week ago Monday, but with all the new snow we received over the past week there was a crusty layer on top of the slush just under the fresh snow.  Since then we have had another 5 or so inches and cold weather so things are frozen up again.  The ski trails were all tracked and ready by yesterday and reports are that the skiing is great.

      The Holmes party of Cloquet/Duluth area had great weather on the lake last weekend.  Few fish were caught, but lots of fun was had.  Thanks for the picture!

Picture by David Miles.