Author: Sue Ahrendt

Thanks to Tom Younger for sharing some of his trip photos. If you click on this photo, you might get a good visual of what it means to “bite off more than you can chew.”

Get a load of Tom’s smile…he had one productive half hour on one productive lake!
….They even left us one–because they couldn’t eat them all. Lucky us!

Last week we hosted the 5th annual Tuscarora Triathlon. It’s unofficial really, originally just for a little afternoon activity for the staff here…..and it has morphed into an event for Tuscarora friends, neighbors, guests, other staff members too, maybe about 40 or 50 people this year. Actually, anyone is welcome.

The Course:
Start from Tuscarora beach and swim to the Round Lake landing (we’re guessing that would be an unofficial half mile).
Then, bike from there, do a lap around the outfitting yard back to the landing, and then back to Tuscarora (a very HILLY unofficial 3 miles).
Then run from Tuscarora to the mailbox and back. (about 2 miles). And that is ENOUGH for me.

The finish line, back on the dock, into the water. And finally, a little celebration dinner.

Some individuals completed the entire course, some competed on teams, some used noodles and flippers, some modified the course to fit their wishes—it was all OK, all very unofficial.

We did have a few official lifeguards on the dock and in canoes– .

Monica wasn’t discouraged, even though she was wayyyyy behind most of the swimmers in her kayak–where I heard she was towing a small pack of 10 year old boys.

Even a few of the coolest Grand Marais ninth graders were here chillin‘

Lindsay and Mike took the team title.

Tuscarora Andrew passed up
Grand Marais Chris Hegg at some point, to win the individual competition. Although, there was a bit of an age difference, we don’t have official categories in our unofficial traithlon.

Here we have Michael (Phelps) Hyde, a daunting competitor.

I heard, unofficially, that the guys from the Seagull Guard Station were still on the clock—that the triathlon counted as their fitness training for that day.

I think they have to pass some sort of pack-test, but maybe THAT test is too official for the flip flops?

Jana is a lean Lutsen machine.

Sarah looks tough, because you have to be tough in order to be on the housekeeping staff this time of year.

Can you hear Mike? He’s saying “piece o’ cake”

And at the end comes the finish leap…could be the best part.

And that was a wrap. Really fun, and you are invited next year. We’re considering actual triathlon t shirts. Maybe tye dye. Maybe not. I can’t tell you the exact date, some Tuesday or Wednesday in July probably….but….setting a date right now, that would be kind of official, and it is the unofficial Tuscarora triathlon after all….

by staffer Lindsay

We had to do it. The 515 rod portage between Paulson Lake and Seagull Lake has been calling my name for quite some time now, and after discussing a day off trip with some fellow staff members, we decided it was go time. Jen, Mike, Maggie and I left the dock at Tuscarora at 3:45 after work, and after paddling and portaging through Round, West Round, Edith, Brant, Gotter, Flying, Fay, Glee, Elusion, and Glossy Lake, we arrived at Paulson Lake just before 8 PM. That left plenty of sunlight to set up camp and make some dinner around the fire before hitting the hay.

Now we had to mentally prepare ourselves for the 515 rod portage that was lurking on the north end of Paulson, but for the time being, sleep was a priority.

After a good night’s rest, we awoke to a glistening lake complete with a fleet of loons. There were six loons coasting around the waters of our island campsite. I think they must all be old friends and Paulson is where they meet up for breakfast. All six paddled around for some time, a small cackle here and there. Then all of a sudden I looked out, and they were gone. A moment later I looked towards the sky and found the six circling above me before they split off in pairs and flew out of Paulson in three different directions. It makes me wonder if they do this often—head up to Paulson for a morning chat and a cup of joe? I might have to go back to investigate…

Well, loons aside, we hit THE portage at about 10:00 AM, and we knew in advance that we’d take our time. We made a few pack/canoe swaps and had a little snack part way through, but the 515 rod portage to Seagull was actually a pretty pleasant portage (as far as portages are concerned) with a spectacular view out across boundary country. We could see for miles, and each time we’d come up out of the next valley we could see just how much closer we were to Seagull. This portage may actually be my favorite portage. I have never seen so much of the Boundary Waters in one sitting (well, one portaging). We did it! We made our way across the 515 rod portage with our sanity still in tact. The four of us were pretty excited, however, to hit the water once again.

After the trip, we were a little tired. We did run into some not-so-fun portages and some rough spots along the way, but we felt very accomplished and pretty tough too. Now we just have to gear up for Grand Portage. What’s an extra couple of miles, right?

We really like it when we get notes from people with memories of their time at Tuscarora. They remind us that the history of the place is ever so much larger than us.

Thanks to Tim from Baltimore….

Hi,
All this stuff about the moon landing 40 years ago today got me thinking. 40 years ago, I was 12 years old and my family was staying at Tuscarora. We went every year for two weeks.At the time the Marks owned Tuscarora. I had never seen a TV there which of course was never a problem. But when man landed on the moon, they strung a TV antenna in a tall white pine tree so that we could get Duluth TV.We all gather in the lodge and watched the show. The funny thing is the picture was not so good and I had thought it was because of our location. Turns out that was how it looked to everyone on earth. Thanks for your time. Read Tuscarora News all the time. Makes me remember my childhood. Love the pictures, everything looks just as I remember. Hope to come back someday.
Tim D
Baltimore MD