Today’s hike was from Mountain Iron to Hibbing. But first, the back story! Last night I stayed at a campground in Chisholm, in between the two towns. The campground was in the middle of town, but this is a tiny town in northern Minnesota. Imagine my surprise to hear traffic roaring past all night!
Well, not actually a surprise. One thing I’ve learned from hiking is that you can be in the most remote spots in America, yet there is always so much more traffic passing than you’d imagine. It always surprises me.
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Learning Greyhound Bus History
I met my shuttler, Lee, this morning in Hibbing at the Greyhound Bus Museum, my end point for today, I didn’t know that Hibbing is the birth place of Greyhound Bus Lines and busing in general. It came about because the town realized, in the early 1900s, that it sat atop a 
valuable iron vein. So the town moved itself off of the vein so it could be mined.
But one problem: now the mine workers lived far from the mine. How would they get to work? Some people started a shuttle service that turned into Greyhound Bus Lines.
Heading to Hibbing
Lee drove me back to Mountain Iron and I began walking. I knew rain was predicted in the morning, but a very slim chance. It rained on and off all day. It was never terrible, although there were minutes when it came down pretty hard. But because of the frequent rain, I had my head down most of the day. I didn’t get to enjoy the scenery.
When I reached my car, it was about 4:10. I was excited, because the museum was open until 5 p.m., so I could still tour it. Unfortunately, it closed at 4 p.m. Fortunately, the women in charge said I could tour it and take as long as I’d like. She was 
happy to hang out until I’d finished.
For those of us old enough to remember when Greyhound was a revered institution, it was a wonderful visit. The only sad thing is that it has gone downhill a lot in the last 20 or so years. I rode on a Greyhound bus to get to the Continental Divide last fall. It was an awful experience. The bus was in very bad shape.
But that’s also life, right? No institution stays on top forever, whether that’s a bus company, a country or a civilization.
Snowshoe
MN NCT miles today: 21.5 (34.6 km)
MN NCT miles to date: 541.6 (871.6 km)
Total NCT miles to date: 2,560.1 (4,120.1 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 2,039.9 (3,282.9 km)
Today’s most valuable gear? My Six Moon Designs hiking umbrella!
