Field Reports: Work in progress on Duluth Traverse

Trail work on Duluth’s cross-town single-track trail, the Duluth Traverse, is underway this summer, according to COGGS, the Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores.
Progressive Trail Design and Rock Solid Trails are finishing up the first six miles of trail at Mission Creek, and a COGGS trail crew is progressing on 3.5 miles of trail in Brewer Park. Early progress has been slowed due to the late spring and recent rains. At the end of the season, COGGS hopes that 25 miles of the Duluth Traverse will be completed.
Down the Rio Roosevelt
As you may recall from a News Tribune story on May 16, Paul Schurke of Ely and Dave Freeman of Grand Marais are paddling the Rio Roosevelt River in Brazil that Teddy Roosevelt and Candido Rondon paddled in 1913-14. Only three parties are thought to have paddled the river in the past 100 years, Freeman said.
Here are some excerpts from Dave and Amy Freeman’s “Wilderness Classroom” website from June 8:
“The hot sun brought an early end to our travels yesterday, but this was the start of several unexpected events. We stopped at an old farmstead, were greeted warmly by its sole inhabitant, Jose, and settled in for the day. When Jose commented that this old farmstead was the only one on this stretch of river, we checked our GPS. Much to our delight. It confirmed that our latitude matched that of the farmstead where Rondon and Roosevelt had camped 100 years before…
“After letting the heat of the day pass while exploring the farmstead and then catching a few hours of rest in the evening, we launched our boats in the moonlight and paddled, floated, joked and snoozed into the dawn. With canoes rafted together, we shined flashlights toward the shore to catch the bright orange reflection (of) caiman eyes as these South American reptiles hunkered in the brush. A caiman is similar to an alligator.”
For more updates, go to wildernessclassroom.com.