Around the Great Lakes

Exploration and Adventure Near Home

Years ago, a man named Jim had taught me to climb. I was in one of his climbing classes where he taught and guided some 50,000 people world-wide. He had traveled the world, put up over 600 new routes in the Andes, and still had time to teach climbing. Years after I took that climbing class from him, we ended up working together selling camping, climbing, and paddling gear. I’d come into the store with stories of what my friends and I had been doing over our days off, and I’d often bring in pictures of the places we’d been. Jim always seemed amazed. I remember one day the best, he looked at me and said I’ve been all over the world and I didn’t realize what we had here in Iowa.

And what we had in Iowa was pretty substantial. Through the years, exploring the steep gullies of the Mississippi River valley my friends and I discovered frozen waterfalls to scale, swift creeks to paddle, hidden perfect limestone to climb, beautiful valleys to camp in, steep trails to mountain bike, caves to crawl in, and much more. If I hadn’t believed that adventure can be found near home, I would have never discovered, seen, or enjoyed everything that my home state had to offer.

On one of my most memorial near home adventures that I would have missed if we hadn’t gone looking, my good friend Steve and I found a gully that we suspected was in Pike’s Peak State Park, but we weren’t positive. We started up the gully only to find a short frozen waterfall. We climbed up it to find another and then another. Eventually, we were below a steep 20 foot fall that I led. It was short, so I didn’t bother to put in any ice screws in, but I ran into a metal fence at the top. Somehow I managed to get under it, and reveled in the surprise on Steve’s face when he joined me at the top. At that point we knew we had left the park.

Another memorable trip was when we decided to run the Buffalo Creek, which I wrote about in Iowa Paddler. The Buffalo Creek runs only a few days a year after heavy thunderstorms. Steve, my friend Chris, and I decided to give it a go without knowing what would confront us. The creek was fantastic and provide great deal of swift water for Iowa. When we started to dodge cows standing in the water, we knew we were in an adventure, but the best part of the trip is when we discovered an electric fence over the creek. Chris couldn’t believe that it could be live until he grabbed it to push it over the boat. The result was quite shocking for him.

Over the years, my adventures started to take me away from Iowa. On my first big trip, I bussed to Maine and hiked to Georgia on the Appalachian Trail. I backpacked and climbed in Colorado. I moved to Rapid City and climbed in the Black Hills. I scaled Devil’s Tower. I road tripped to Vermont to climb ice in Smuggler’s Notch. Went to Mexico. I attempted Long’s Peak in winter. Lived in Texas. Climbed and hiked up several of Colorado’s 14ers. Backpacked 100s of miles in the Smoky Mountains. Tripped for countless days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Visited Yellowstone. Explored Aruba. Backpacked in Glacier National Park. Kayaked 560 miles of the Mississippi River. Canoed the Voyager Route. Kayaked and traveled in Norway.

As I’ve looked outward for my exploration and away from the place I live, I’ve ended up missing out of some local gems. The other day on a training paddle from our local surf break at 121 to Grand Marais, I explored the shoreline and discovered a cave I’ve kayaked by a couple of times and driven past often. There it was when I opened my eyes and looked for something new.

Just over the  winter, I ventured out onto a frozen Lake Superior to a cave that I guide people past daily in the summer. It doesn’t look like much in the summer as we paddle past, so I usually don’t point it out, but last summer it held ice until June, so this winter I decided to check it out. I found a beautiful ice cave big enough to hold 20 people and it had full ice pillars, an ice wall and an ice floor. Something that I took for granted all summer long turned into something spectacular in the winter.

As I leave on my upcoming adventure, I’m happy that I’m starting from and finishing in my hometown of Grand Marais, MN. It seems fitting to me that this adventure starts only a few blocks away from my front porch. And it seems fitting to me that I’ll be  able to explore, make personal discoveries, and adventure in the backyards of 33 million people.

When I think back six years ago when I left retail, I remember Jim talking about starting up his guiding business again to lead another trip to Africa and Kilimanjaro. It sounded like an fantastic adventure, and I wished that I could have gone. Still I can’t help but hope that my Iowa adventures inspired Jim to get out and explore his own backyard. I hope that by attempting this trip and by getting it publicity, I will be able to inspire people to adventure and explore the Great Lakes. And I hope that it will help people to see that great expeditions are possible near home.

Tags: adventure, Appalachain Trail, Buffalo Creek, exploration, IA, Iowa