High winds took down trees all over the county last week, blocking roads and trails, like this big pine in the Hovland area.
Although the wind speeds on November 18—averaging 14 miles per hour with gusts of approximately 30—are not considered gale force on the Beaufort Scales of wind measurement— it was enough to down trees on roads and trails throughout the county.
Cook County Law Enforcement fielded calls for several days about downed trees at all ends of the county.
The first call came in at 11:09 a.m. on November 18 from Jim Wiinanen, reporting two trees down on the Caribou Trail in Lutsen, one a halfmile and the other about a mile south of Caps Trail. The Cook County Highway Department was sent out to clear the trees.
Highway Department crews were in the area of the next call, just south of Squint Lake on the Gunflint Trail. An emergency responder called in to say a tree was blocking the Gunflint and Highway Department workers overheard and responded to clear that tree.
Another call came in from Wesley Lane in Grand Marais of a tree blocking the road. The busy Highway Department again responded to clear that tree.
Sheriff Deputy Jesse Johnson reported the next tree down on Two Island Road in Schroeder. Deputy Johnson said vehicles could make their way around it, but asked law enforcement dispatch to contact the U.S. Forest Service which maintains that road.
Sheriff Deputy Christopher Schrupp encountered a number of downed trees on his patrol up the Gunflint Trail. He removed a downed tree from the road near Pickeral Pit, one at the Poplar Lake boat landing and another further up the Trail.
Deputy Schrupp encountered more trees down in the Hovland area on November 20, apparently from the same windstorm. The first tree down was at the McFarland Lake campground, blocking entrance to the campground and another was down on Shoe Lake Road. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service were contacted to remove those trees.
On November 20, it was also reported that there was a large tree down on the Clearwater Road between Flour Lake campground and Aspen Lake. The Highway Department was dispatched to remove the tree.
Surprisingly, with all the downed trees, Cook County Law Enforcement only received one power outage call, on North Pike Lake Road at 9:08 p.m. Arrowhead Electric Cooperative crews responded to work in the blustering winds to get the power restored.
A number of trees fell on area trails as well, creating wintry work for DNR, Forest Service and trail volunteers.
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