We were super excited to reunite with Carlisle, our youngest daughter, having not seen her for 6 months. She recently moved from Alaska to Ely, Minnesota. Transitioning to a new town, new job and strangers is never easy, but in true Minnesotan fashion, she was met with open arms. By association, we also felt the love. Hospitality must be genetic here. Unusually hot temperatures greeted us, but this quickly changed with gentle rain piercing the lake's surface and hydrating the brown grass.
Carlisle is living about 30 minutes drive from her job in Ely, in the small town of Babbitt. Babbitt is located on the Mesabi Iron Mining Range and is rich in history as well as recreation. Trails for snowmachines and atvs abound and one of the many lakes of the area, Birch Lake, lies just outside of town.
Ely has strong appeal to outdoor enthusiasts and summer vacationers making rentals nearly impossible to find. Word of mouth remains the best way to secure a place to live which was the case with Lisle. The many outfitters and boat rental businesses in Ely prepare paddlers for accessing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, over 1,000,000 acres of forest and water. The BWCA is bordered by 3,900,000 acres of Superior National Forest and Ontario's provincial park. This forested, aquatic playground is just a two hour drive from Duluth and twice that from Minneapolis/St Paul. www.fs.usda.gov
Our stay began with a visit to Carlisle’s workplace, Ely's USFS Seaplane base, the only float plane base operated by the USFS in the US. The airplanes based here are de Havilland Beavers built in the 1950’s. These workhorse airplanes are equipped for fire detection, scooping water for fire fighting, transporting firefighters, wilderness search and rescue, aerial tree seeding, fish stocking and wildlife surveying.
Lisle gave us a tour of the meticulously maintained hangar and airplanes.
We were soon introduced to Gracie, a USFS pilot based out of Colorado, who charmed us with her wisdom and riotous sense of humor. During the following days we became family. While Lisle worked, Gracie gave us a tour of the Ely Tanker Base at the Ely Airport.
It's here that the airplanes, helicopters, pilots and the firefighters so essential in extinguishing wilderness blazes, wait to be deployed. Much like a fire station sitting on a runway. Lightning strikes and a smoldering campfire were responsible for some recent activity. The USFS works alongside the Tanker Base conducting routine patrols and having the ability to extinguish small fires before they expand, and alerting the heavier aircraft if needed.
Fire Boss AT-802
Shannon, explained the use of his airplane in firefighting, think crop dusting with water instead of pesticide. It involves scooping 800 gallons of water in approximately 12 seconds at high speed while delicately skimming the water’s surface, requiring about a mile of lake. It's critical to maintain the correct speed when incurring drag while scooping, then lifting off before the lake ends and treeline is met. Despite sitting on floats, these amphibian airplanes are not designed to rest on the water. A synchronous ballet of lever pulls, button pushes, yolk and pedal work performed in a cockpit similar to that of a fighter jet, Doesn't everyone want to be a Fire Boss pilot?
Pilot of the hour!!
We also were able to see Gracie's Kodiak which she had flown to Ely from Colorado. This luxurious machine is used by USFS employees focused on forest health protection.....beetles, storm damage
The Quest manufactured Kodiak has all the bells and whistles including bear claw pedals!
Who wouldn't want to be a Kodiak pilot?
When at the Tanker Base we met Blake, who not only dispatches and monitors aircraft, but is also an Iditarod musher. I was thrilled when he invited us to visit his kennel of racing Siberian Huskies located about an hour's drive from Ely in Finland, MN. www.racingsiberians.com
The road to Finland wound like a slithering snake around lakes and across rivers. I expected to see a moose at any minute standing in water beside the road. Deer and moose live here as well as wolves. Knowing that mushers like Blake and his wife Jennifer make this their home, made it feel like Alaska. Swarms of mosquitoes completed the picture!
I was particularly attracted to Frosty who reminded me so much of our dog Fisher. Jennifer said she was a great team leader. I tried to pet her, but although she and all the dogs were incredibly friendly, she never let me touch her, preferring to watch me from her porch. Jennifer gave us a tour explaining how they care for 60 plus dogs. We were excited to meet their new puppies!
A portion of the property is fenced off allowing the dogs to be released to run and play while secure behind fence. I laughed when Jennifer told of Billie, mother of the puppies, jumping the fence and killing a chicken. Unpleasant memories of several domestic animals killed by Fisher quickly surfaced. On this day, not long after the puppies were returned to their doghouse, Billie made another dash for freedom. Vigilance, second nature in all Siberian owners, allowed Jennifer to see her outside the fence and quickly retrieve her. Her watchful eye and quick reaction to the escape reminded me of myself not so many years ago.
Siberians can NEVER be trusted!
Our four days in Ely were quickly filled. While Carlisle was at work we tidied the RV, did laundry, shopped for food and visited spots like the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center. Bucky and I don't usually gravitate toward attractions, but these peaked our interest and Lisle was able to join us on her day off. The habitat of both the wolves and bears, although limited acreage, appeared very natural. Both facilities had wonderful displays, films and taxidermy. There was a bit of a zoo like feeling with the bears, but I'm not sure bears could be housed differently.
Of course, the wolf at the back, Greyson, much like Frosty the Siberian, reminded me of Fisher. It's easy to see a genetic link both in appearance and behavior between wolves and Siberians.
Saying goodbye to Carlisle was sad. Spending the summer in Alaska without her energy and laughter will be different. However, Ely is in the gps for the return trip.
