Seeing it Differently

    Magnetic Rock Trail Gunflint Trail

      Labor Day Weekend has come and gone just like most of our summer staff.  We are fortunate to have Chelsea, John, Ron, Elsa and Kristi still here and Eric helping out sometimes as well.  The options for who to hang out with after work have dwindled and I happened to be sitting nearby when Chelsea declined Kristi’s invitation to hike the Magnetic Rock Trail.  Kristi must have noticed my sad puppy dog eyes and then said, "You don’t want to go hiking do you Sue?" 

     So there we were hiking the Magnetic Rock Trail, Kristi for the first time and me for the who knows how "manyth" time.  I hiked the trail before the Ham Lake Fire and have hiked it quite a few times since the fire.  I look at it with pre-fire eyes.  I imagine the canopy of trees that hung over parts of the trail, the towering pines that shaded the path, the thick woods that lined it in places and how you couldn’t see the rock until you were right beneath it.

     Kristi had never seen the Magnetic Rock Trail before.  She was filled with "oohs and ahhs" and "wows and oh my gosh’s."  Every few moments she had her camera out taking a picture of this or that. The stream, the hills, the rocks, the plants they all looked beautiful to her.  She was so excited and in awe of the beauty surrounding her I couldn’t help but start noticing it too.

     I saw a mushroom.  I noticed how tall the jack pines were growing.  I examined the intricate design on a burnt tree. I saw beauty in the way the sun filtered through the clouds and casted shadows on the hills. 

     Then I asked her, "The burn doesn’t look ugly to you, does it?" "No, this is so cool, it’s so different than anywhere else on the Trail." 

   So true is the statement, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  Thank goodness no one else was around to go hiking with Kristi or I wouldn’t have been lucky enough to experience the Magnetic Rock Trail through her eyes.  I’m glad I can start seeing it differently.

  Magnetic Rock Hiking Trail  Magnetic Rock Gunflint Trail