Hungry for adventure?

 

Off the beaten path is a relative term. Cook County, which is roughly 5,000 people living on 1,400 square miles of land, is off the beaten path. It’s why many of us live here. It’s why many more visit. But there’s off the beaten path and then there’s up the Gunflint Trail.

It’s no secret the Gunflint Trail is 57 miles of some of the most scenic terrain in the state of Minnesota. Originally – hundreds of years ago – the route was just used by Ojibwe, fur traders, and the most intrepid explorers. Today the Gunflint Trail is a Scenic Byway (awarded for its archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic qualities) and available to any and every one looking to unplug and reconnect with nature.

Halfway up the Gunflint Trail, you’ll find Hungry Jack Lodge. Nestled on the Hungry Jack Lake, the lodge first went up in 1924. They offer cabins and cottages and campgrounds for a variety of budgets. In the summer, there’s plenty of fun to be had on the lake, starting with swimming. Guests can rent canoes and kayaks to traverse the lake. Others venture a little farther, taking day canoe trips to Rose Falls and the Stairway portage. But there’s plenty to do right on Hungry Jack Lake. Take a pontoon to explore and/ or fish for smallmouth bass and walleye. (If you bring your catch to the fish house, they’ll clean it for you.) The hiking is almost unending.

No matter the time of day, the view from the dock at Hungry Jack Lodge is breath taking. Staff photos by Rob Perez

It’s tempting to think that a destination this remote could remain beyond the grasp of the pandemic. But not so. In 2020, the winter season ended early for Hungry Jack Lodge when they were forced to shut down around St. Patrick’s Day. And those months leading up to their summer season, uncertainty around the pandemic grew and travel plans changed. Guests were cancelling and rescheduling their visits. “Huge blocks of time opened up,” remembers Forrest Parson, who officially took the reins for Hungry Jack Lodge from his father in 2006. “Our campgrounds were shutdown until June 1st and we headed into our biggest season with uncertainty and a little bit of panic.”

But June 1st came, their campgrounds opened, and suddenly Hungry Jack Lodge was busier than ever. “We closed all those openings even tighter than we went into the summer. We noticed a lot of new guests coming to the area, not just Hungry Jack but all of Cook County. Maybe instead of a more exotic destination, this was the option at hand,” muses Parson. “Families were coming and staying well past Labor Day for the first time. Because our internet is so good, kids were able to do their online learning and still be here.”

In the end, 2020 was the busiest year in the lodge’s history. By a lot. 2021 is shaping up to be even bigger.

The business did transition. Parson observes, “The tourism business on the Gunflint Trail used to be more hardcore fishing. These days, at least for us, it’s more canoeing, camping, boundary waters, attracting a lot more families.”

Forrest Parson estimates the business used to be 60 percent returning customers and 40 percent new customers. But the pandemic brought in many folks interested in discovering the charms of the Gunflint Trail for the first time.

For Spring Break this year, Mark and Rebecca Sorenson were skittish about air travel but needed to get out of Edina. “We desperately needed to unplug from online living and craved a change of scenery and big nature.” Rebecca remembers. So, they packed up their four kids and new dog and found the Gunflint Trail.

How did it go?

“The fiery sunsets and quiet night sky brought us the magic we craved. In no time, I’m not kidding, we were howling at the moon. Despite being locked down together for a year, it was the Gunflint that brought us back together.”

Their story is a common one. Parson tries to sum it up, “At the end of the day, the pandemic brought a lot of people here, gave us a lot of exposure. Maybe we couldn’t have gotten to some of those folks up here otherwise. But the situation forced people to find something new.” Of course, it’s not for everyone but many discovered the charms of The Gunflint Trail for the first time, somehow both right in their own backyard and still off the beaten path.