Grand Rapids MN

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After a couple of nights in Fargo ND, we were heading back to Minnesota. The Itasca County Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids is our destination. When we figured out some of our fall travel plans a week ago, we picked this campground because there was a decent amount of availability even though it included weekend nights - and the sites are full hookup. It was a little over 190 miles and we traveled through a couple of cities we have already done day trips to including Detroit Lakes and Park Rapids Minnesota. Had we known back in the winter months when we planned the bulk of the travels for the year how our route would evolve, we likely would have planned for stops in both of those places. But it’s difficult to plan for such a lengthy trip and get every stop worked figured out months in advance. Plus if we had reserved the complete 2025 journey, we would have missed the chance to have dinner with my nephew and his wife who just happened to be in Grand Rapids from Ohio for her high school reunion - more on that later.

Family Visits Us in Grand Rapids

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we were greeted by the camp hosts. They assumed we were here for the big logging show this weekend and warned us that we may hear some of the heavy equipment being moved in and out during our stay. We explained we were just passing through and were planning on meeting relatives, but it was good to know about the show and glad that it being here hadn’t filled up the campground because there aren't a lot of other camping options in the area. We got setup and Chris took advantage of having a sewer connection to get caught up on some laundry.

The next day was kind of a dreary one with on and off rain. We knew our relatives were coming in today, but they likely wouldn’t be in town until late afternoon since they had to drive from the Duluth airport. We decided to head about 70 miles further north to a very old geocache placed in September of 2000. I’ve been wanting to make our way here since it is the oldest cache in Minnesota. The problem is it’s kind of remote and not really close to any other place we felt the need to visit. We had almost worked it into our drive to International Falls and Voyaguers National Park a couple weeks ago out of our stop in Bemidji but it would have made a long day even longer. We have a couple more stops planned in northern Minnesota after here, but this stop was going to be our best option. We stopped for a different geocache in the town of Chisholm on the way up. The fairgrounds here were really large but desolate that morning. The Minnesota Discovery Center is located here as well and if we had time, it looked like it might be an interesting place to visit. As it was, we just found the cache and checked out some of the military vehicles on display.

Helicopter Display

Tank

We had picked a route to and from the old cache that would form a bit of a loop so we got a chance to see other parts of the state. The town of Eveleth wasn’t really on the way, but Chris had discovered a highly favorited geocache that sounded like it would be worth visiting. For those unfamiliar with geocaching, an LPC (lamp post cache) is typically a very lame style of hide. Many lamp posts in parking lots at stores have a metal housing over the mounting hardware that bolts the pole to a concrete pier. You simply lift this skirt to expose the cache - typically an old film canister or something similar. We tend to only go for them if we need a cache in a given county and is the easiest one for us to get as we travel in the motorhome often in a Walmart parking lot. But this LPC had over 300 favorite points which is quite unusual. We pull into the parking lot and head towards the proper lamp post and lift the skirt and find the most creative LPC we have ever done. (GC2YQ0J if you find yourself in Eveleth)

Amazing LPC

We eventually make it up to the parking area along the road to start our search for Alvin’s Phone Line - the oldest cache in Minnesota. It is hidden a couple hundred yards into the woods and we were envisioning a total bushwhack to get to it. We were really surprised to find a well mowed trail with a sign at the start telling visitors to not enter the woods during November for deer hunting season. We decided to play it safe and grab our blaze orange gear from the car since mid September may be close enough that someone might be out with a gun. The trail was a little wet and muddy in spots but given the rain, it was surprisingly easy to get to.

Path to Alvin's Phone Line

It was lunchtime and we had brought along food with us but as we tried to find some sort of park on the way back to stop at, we got alerts on our phone about a severe storm heading our way. We discovered that if we skipped lunch and drove south about an hour, we might be able to avoid the bad weather. So we ended up making out way back to Chisholm and had lunch under the watchful eye of Iron Man.  He is an 85 foot statue that honors the heritage of the iron mining industry in this part of the state.

Iron Man in Chisholm MN

We made it back to camp by mid afternoon and got a call from my nephew who had arrived in Grand Rapids. They came over for dinner and got a chance to see how we live in our confined space. It was really good to catch up with them and had a nice evening.

The next day, the weather had improved dramatically and we were going to have a beautiful day. Since it was Saturday, the 71st Annual North Star Expo logging equipment show was in full swing. Since it’s less than a quarter mile to the show from our site, we walk over to see what was going on and see some of the equipment on display.

Entering North Star Expo

A Wheeled Harvester

It definitely reminded us of going to the Empire Farm Days show back in western New York years ago. This show is much smaller and the equipment is different, but it has the same vibe. We watched some of the vendors showing off their sawmills and firewood processing equipment. But the big lumber harvesting equipment was the most fascinating ones to see even though they were simply parked and not in use. They were going to have some competition events later but we decided we needed to get in some exercise and head out for afternoon.

Spotless Timber Truck

Firewood Processor in Operation

We had noticed a trailhead right next to the logging show called the Mesabi Trail. We headed back to the rig to investigate where it went and whether there were geocaches to find along the way since it would be a very convenient place to start a bike ride. We discovered that biking on this 150 mile long trail requires some sort of pass. It wasn’t all that expensive but seemed to be a hassle and if we simply go for a walk instead, no pass is required. There are plenty of geocaches hidden along the trail at least in the Grand Rapids area. It looks like the North Country Trail (NCT) also goes nearby and if we pick a different trailhead just a little north of the fairgrounds, we may be able to come up with a loop trail of about 6 miles. We start our hike on a short section of the Prairie River Trail which after a quarter mile or so will connect with the Mesabi and North Country Trails.

Prairie River Trailhead

This section of the trail is a nicely paved rail trail with a gravel section running alongside the pavement. Probably intended for ATVs or possibly horses. I suspect the ponds along the early portion of the trail are manmade given the huge pile of tailings from a mining operation years ago.

Mesabi/NCT Trail

Pond View

Island of Iron Ore Tailings

A little more than a half mile down the trail, we take the split to the left that continues as the NCT as a single track in the woods - more like we are accustomed to. Our intention is to follow this trail for a little less than two miles before cutting across what appears to be some sort of forest service road. We had about a half dozen caches to find along this part of the trail. One of them was a rather challenging puzzle cache that hadn’t been found in over 2 years. It was definitely a pretty trail and we had it to ourselves.

NCT Splits Off into Woods

Cool Mushroom

We were about 2.5 miles into the hike when we got to the fire road that would take us back over to the paved Wasabi Trail that we could then follow back to the car. All was going fine as we walked along the road until about a half mile later when we spotted a No Trespassing sign. We really didn’t feel like turning around and retracing our route. We had less than a half a mile to the Wasabi and we decided we could simply say we didn’t see the sign if someone stopped us. Plus we suspect the sign is more intended to keep ATVers off the road. We never came across anybody and hit the pavement without incident. Heading north along the trail, we found more caches and stopped at the Nelson Shelter for a snack.

Tim Nelson Shelter

The rest of the hike back to the car was nice. There was the occasional bicyclist but surprisingly few people out given how nice of a day we were having. We ended up with a 6 mile walk and found 16 geocaches with only 2 DNFs. While we didn’t experience everything to see in Grand Rapids, we got to experience a taste of the region and more importantly catch up with family. Next stop will be the North Shore.

Another Tailing Island View