December 28, 2019
The alarm goes off early. We’re headed to up to Ely, MN today to get staged for required arrival at Northern Tier after 1PM tomorrow. Our Troop’s sister Venturing Crew has a Holiday Stay trek planned for over new years and I’m one of the adults who volunteered to go!
Today is going to be just driving as Ely is within the 10 hour max drive time imposed by the Guide to Safe Scouting. We could leave tomorrow at 3AM to get to base around 1PM, but that sounds torturous. This way we get to spend the night in town and have a good dinner and sleep, then visit the International Wolf Center before heading down the Fernberg Trail to Moose Lake, which is where Northern Tier is located.
We make it to and past Eau Claire in normal time, and then catch the last third of a winter system passing through the area. Things will be on & off snowy for the rest of our drive, which slows us down, but otherwise it’s an uneventful but pretty journey into the Northland.
Once in Ely, we stop at Voyageur North Outfitters to get the key to our bunkhouse for the night and then get settled. Later, dinner at the Ely Steak House fills everyone who attempts the Bucky or any of their other gigantic burgers.
Back to Trip Overview – Continue to Day 2