MnGCA

uffda320 · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:54 am Post subject: Cass Lake/Migizi storm damage

The Cass Lake area took a direct hit with Monday nights storms. The entire Cass Lake area, including the Migizi bike trails have extensive damage from downed trees. The Migizi bicycle trail is still closed, while the feds work to clear the trees. Norway Beach Campground is closed until further nortice, due to storm damage. Pike Bay Campground is also closed at the present time.

I haven't had a chance to check on any caches yet, as they don't want gawkers in the area. Once the area is open for traffic, I'll check on the Migizi caches and report back to the cache owners.

In the meantime, avoid the area.

Thank you.

Hunter-Killer · Geocacher Joined: 25 Apr 2009 Posts: 222

Great!!! 3 nights non refundable just booked Thursday night. Arriving Sunday. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. Does that include Rail 2 Trail Series One ? Good grief.

uffda320 · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:45 am Post subject:

I believe the only bike trails that are closed, is the Migizi bike trail. The Migizi winds it's way around Pike Bay in the Cass Lake area. While the entire area had a lot of wind damage, the hardest hit was the Cass Lake/Pike Bay/Lake Winnie/Norway Beach areas.

All the other bike trails...Heartland Trail-Walker to Park Rapids; Paul Bunyan Trail-Walker to Bemidji and Walker to Brainerd are all open. I was just on the trail between Walker and Akeley yesterday, and all the trees have been removed, with just a few small loose twigs and leaves, here and there remaining.

Hunter-Killer · Geocacher Joined: 25 Apr 2009 Posts: 222

Good to hear. We had done the migizi a few years ago and plan on doing the ones at Bemidji lake state park. Thanks for the update, appreciate that.

uffda320 · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:56 am Post subject:

I had a chance to drive around yesterday and look at some of the damage. What a mess. The US Forestry is out in force, patrolling the closed areas, to make sure everybody stays out. There are A LOT of trees that are either snapped in two, blown down entirely (roots and all), or are bent so far over, they'll come crashing down at any minute.

Pike Bay/Migizi bike trail - The main road is open, you can drive to the boat landing/picnic area, but the campground is closed. You can only drive to that area. The forestry road beyond the campground (the road that goes around the east side of Pike Bay) is closed. If you look into the woods, you can see A LOT of trees down. I didn't get a chance to ride the bike trails, however, just by looking down the bike trail from the road, you can see a lot of trees over the trail. My cache, Uffda's Bison Tube survived the storm okay. I was afraid it was floating in the middle of Pike Bay by now...but, it survived the storm!
I would advise to stay away from the Migizi area for the next few weeks, to allow the USFS to clean up the mess. It's no fun to be riding your bike down a trail and have a 50' tree come crashing down on top of you.

Norway Beach Campground - You can't even access the road to get to the campground, off Highway 2. The road is completely blocked off, with USFS trucks sitting at the entrance. I spoke to another cacher that tried approaching the campground by boat, and there are signs along the beach warning people to stay away, the campground is closed until further notice.

Scenic Highway (between Highway 2 and Blackduck) - Scenic Highway sustained a lot of downed trees, especially on the west side of the highway. Again, a lot of trees are either down completely, or are bent so far over, they'll have to be cut down. The road is passable, although some of the trees are very close to the highway.

Lake Winnie Campground (west side of Lake Winnie) - The campground is closed. A barricade blocks entrance and a USFS truck is patrolling the area to keep gawkers away. The main forestry roads are open, but smaller spurs are blocked by downed trees.

Basically, there are thousands of trees either uprooted, fallen, snapped or bent. The USFS wants people to stay away until they can properly clean up the mess. Even the bent trees pose a serious hazard, as they could come crashing down at a moments notice.

RudeRat · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 719

Grand Rapids took it hard with huge trees down all over town. I lost about 30 trees with the worst being the 84 foot ash that hit the cabin. Neighbor up the road lost over 100 trees, and there are some spots in the area that took it harder than that. I'm glad I built with logs rather than 2X4's. Only damage is to the roof.

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Ahhhhhhhh, the power of cheese!

loneeagle_24 · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject:

This is the same type of thing that happened at lasalle rec area north of Itasca state park on Thursday the 5th. From what I could see ( I walked as far as the kiosk even though the area was closed). I would have to guess that 1/4 of the trees are down in the area. Looks like some were uprooted and others were broke off about halfway up. Lots of trees to clean up and I'm guessing it will take a couple of weeks to get the place safe for the public again.
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They put that cache WHERE?