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There and Back Again to Flour Lake
Jun. 19th, 2021 08:06 am Given my body type, I really did feel much like a Hobbit trudging my way along the Beaver Dam Ski Trail to Flour Lake. I left bright and early—around 9:00 am. I budgeted about four hours and am happy to say I managed the whole hike in three! I was back at the cabin just as my family was pulling a pizza out of the oven for lunch at noon. 
Image: boardwalk over boggy bits of the trail near Beaver Dam.
The destination this time? Hella worth it.
Image: The view from the cliffs over Flour Lake
This picture is actually on Ridge Run ski trail. I followed it around until it meets up with Beaver Damn Trail again. I stopped at a little ski shelter and had a trail bar and filled up my water from a second bottle that I’d brought along in my backpack.
Because I followed the edges of Rudy Lake a lot closer, I got a much better picture of that lake.
The funniest part of the whole Rudy Lake adventure to me is the memory of Mason and I reading that we could rent an oar boat if we made it to Rudy Lake. You had to pay a five-dollar fee, but you could do it. So, we brought along our money and headed off. Mason was small then, so I actually drove out along Summer Home Road and we parked at the spot where it’s only a mile hike to Rudy Lake. We found the sign that says “Boat Rental,” but got to an overturned oar boat, which we managed to right… only to discover there are no oars. Like, you can slip your five dollars into the slot for the self-pay, oars do not magically appear from behind the trees. I suspect we were supposed to carry them in?
Good news, here we are several years later, and the oar boat is still there… still no oars.
There’s not a lot else to report about this 11 mile hike. I did my usual thing where I stop and take pictures of odd things I see along the way.
Oooo, an abandon paper wasp nest!
OOoo, a caterpillar!
But, you know, it was mostly trees and path. I remembered to wear my bear whistle this time and I spotted several moose footprints in the mud, but I had no close encounters with any mega-fauna. Which, is fine with me?
Image: boardwalk over boggy bits of the trail near Beaver Dam.
If I can figure out where the trail head is today or tomorrow, I may attempt Bear Cub World Cup ski trail next. There is at least one destination spot on that trail as well, which is Bear Cub Lake. However tomorrow (Saturday—today, probably when I post this,) it is supposed to be the beginning of a rainy week. That will likely slow down some of my hiking.