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Courtesy Mike Link & Kate Crowley
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Kate Crowley (in front in cap) and Mike Link lead a group of supporters who walked with them the final blocks along Duluth’s Lakewalk after their more than 1,500-mile circle of Lake Superior. The couple are now writing a book about their experience.
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Courtesy Mike Link & Kate Crowley
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Bob King of the Duluth News Tribune angles his way to a photo of Kate.
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Courtesy Mike Link & Kate Crowley
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Mike Link and Kate Crowley take a break in Larsmont Cottage’s Ledge Rock Grille.From the end of April until September 2010, Kate Crowley and Mike Link walked around Lake Superior on their Full Circle Superior adventure. They sent dispatches - time delayed - about each section of their journey for Lake Superior Magazine. This is the last leg of that trip, which they completed September 18. They are working on a book about their Full Circle. More information at fullcirclesuperior.org.
by Kate Crowley (with Mike Link)
On the last day of August, a warm, sunny afternoon, we crossed the international border at Pigeon River and set foot in our home state of Minnesota.
It was an exhilarating moment when we both realized we had completed the greater portion of our walk around this Great Lake.
I tossed my baseball cap in the air, and we embraced, while Amanda, who is driving the support RV, videoed the entire episode.
“We made it,” Mike said.
“We’re back,” said I.
Then, laughing, we walked on. At that moment, we both knew we would complete the journey, even with Mike’s deteriorating knee joints. We felt relief and disbelief.
And we were grateful that Mike had chosen his counterclockwise route because in a way, it would be our victory lap. On this shore, we would celebrate all the way with people we knew.
Minnesota has eight state parks along Lake Superior, but most of the shoreline is privately owned. We could not walk it without permission from landowners. Some gave us permission and some even walked with us, like Dick and Andrew Slade, a father and son who accompanied us on a stretch of wild coast from the Caribou River to the Manitou River.
When we couldn’t walk the shore, we took to Highway 61, which runs parallel and close to the Lake most of the way. At least we were able to see and hear the Lake from the highway.
Our first two nights in Minnesota were spent at the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino and its campground, all owned by the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The band, one of our sponsors, gave us permission to walk through its land. We were met one afternoon by Travis Novitsky, a band member and a young naturalist at Grand Portage State Park. Also a skilled nature photographer, his work often appears in Lake Superior Magazine.
Travis offered to take us to the well-known Spirit Little Cedar Tree or Witch Tree, open to visits only by band members or those accompanied by band members. For Mike it was a moment and place where the spiritual quality of the Lake and the sense of being home came together.
This old cedar has stood on this rocky shore for as many as 400 years, a witness to raging storms, ice and waves and calm summer evenings. Trees like this give me a great sense of comfort. There was another old cedar on the Michigan shore that demonstrated the same strength and perseverance, and I wrapped my arms around it, wishing to absorb its energy and wisdom. Yes, I am a tree hugger in every sense of the word.
We walked along Grand Portage Bay on the reservation with Alan Aubin and his young sons, Jaden and Biidaash. With the sun flashing off the water, I couldn’t help but think about the many generations of Ojibway people who have lived beside the great Kitchi Gami. Alan gave us tobacco he had grown near his home to use for ceremonies. We thanked him and promised to use it with appreciation on our return to Duluth.
Walking down Highway 61 with our videographer, Jim Radford, on a grey damp day, we saw a truck pull into a drive and turn around. Three people emerged and came toward us. They were beaming and stretched out their hands to grasp ours. Bill and Cassie Gamble and a local pastor, Kris Garey, had read about our journey and knew we were headed their way.
“Everyone is so excited about what you’re doing,” Cassie exclaimed. They invited us to have lunch, but instead we invited them to eat with us at the Chicago Bay Marketplace. We’ve passed this little eatery-store set off the main road near Hovland many times over the years. Thankfully on this trip we stopped. We ordered the best homemade cheese and pepperoni pizza we found on the trip.
A day later, as Mike and I walked toward Minnesota’s Brule River, we detoured down a driveway to find the lakeside home of the Gambles. They led us to the rocky shore and told us we could follow it all the way to Naniboujou Lodge. Unfortunately, it was a wet morning and the black rocks were deceivingly slick. Not wanting to have our trip end badly just short of our goal, we opted for the highway.
Walking from the Naniboujou parking lot, we saw owner Tim Ramey heading up the sloped driveway on a three-wheeled, arm-pedaled bike. We hoped to catch him for an interview, but by the time we reached the road, he was out of sight. We found a shoreline to walk, and though it was narrow and made up of small stones, we relished being close to the water once more. Small waves made a rhythmic rattling noise as they pushed up onto the rocks and swept back down.
The sky was filled with heavy gray clouds, but the rain held off. I got ahead of Mike, and it was then that I saw Tim go by on his bike. He heard me call out and stopped. We have known Tim for a nearly 30 years, and I wanted to interview him to record his thoughts about living next to the Big Lake. Because he is paralyzed from the chest down and there was no other place to park the bike, I interviewed him on the edge of the road with the traffic roaring past. Tim and his wife, Nancy, have been at Naniboujou since the early ’80s. Twelve years ago, a tragic firefighting accident changed their lives dramatically. Tim, a volunteer firefighter, was paralyzed when a chimney fell on him while fighting a local fire. With great faith and determination, the couple have continued to operate the beautiful and historic lodge and continue to find joy in the guests who come year after year.
We spent two nights in Grand Marais, lodging in a beautiful apartment at East Bay Suites, compliments of an anonymous donor. An entire article could be written about the charms of this small lakeside village, with its abundance of talented artists and artisans, its fabulous restaurants and fun shops. We stopped by the North House Folk School to chat with Executive Director Greg Wright and to make plans to return as keynote speakers for the annual Unplugged Festival later in the month.
Over the years we have spent so much time driving up the shore, but walking gave us a better appreciation and a different perspective on this often busy two-lane route. Sadly, we found that drivers did not show much consideration of those not in a vehicle. As we got closer to Duluth there were more options for walking off the road on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail and the lake section of the Superior Hiking Trail.
We stayed with our good friends Bill and Beth Blank for several nights, at their lakeside house near Lutsen, a place where we feel most ‘at home’ along the shore. One morning we stopped at the Lockport Store, where proprietors Nan and Deb fulfilled their promise made last year to fix us breakfast when we walked by. My brother Tom and his wife, Susan, came from California to spend two days walking with us along the shore and on another stretch of the Superior Hiking Trail. Each encounter with friends and family added to our sense of excitement as we got closer to our destination.
But the culmination - the final day of our walk - exceeded all our expectations. We began in the parking lot of Brighton Beach. Friends Mick and Nancy Sommer of Colorado had flown in the night before to be with us, as had my sister from Seattle and my mom and two brothers from Iowa.
We began walking through the parking lot toward the Lester River, when suddenly my son Jon and his wife, Kristin, popped into view. They had driven overnight from Bozeman, Montana, to join us on this most auspicious day.
Mike and I were nearly speechless as we looked at the two of them. Then I managed to sputter, “What are you doing here?”
Kristin, 38 weeks pregnant, was about a week away from her due date! They assured us that they had checked out all the hospitals between Duluth and Bozeman just to be safe.
The day turned out to be perfect in so many ways - the weather, the people, the mood.
We marched down the sidewalk toward Leif Erikson Park like a mini version of Forrest Gump’s crowd. As we neared the park, we saw people hanging over the railing above the railroad tracks, waving and cheering - many faces we recognized and loved. After lots of hugs and expressions of amazement, we all set off for the final act on the beach where we began four months and three weeks earlier. The people kept coming and our smiles kept growing. I was glad to be home and looking forward to the end, while Mike felt he would miss the daily adventure of walking in new places.
With everyone gathered around us, we once again offered tobacco to the Lake in thanks for a journey accomplished with amazingly good weather, good luck and good people.
Before adjourning to the Canal Park Lodge and a reception organized and hosted by Lake Superior Magazine, we turned and looked once more at the Lake.
There it was stretched out before us, this magnificent body of fresh water, a source of life for so many and now so familiar to us and even more precious for the countless experiences we shared, full circle, along its shores.