This is part 5 (the final part!!) from Two Harbors to the end of the trail at the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. Make sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 as well!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 15

Two Harbors to Fox Farm Pond – 25.6 mi – 10 hours, 10 minutes

Michael and I are on the final stretch of the Superior Hiking Trail! Woohoo!

Our goal is to stay at the last Superior Hiking Trail campsite – there are no SHT campsites through the Duluth area – tomorrow night, which means we need to cover 42.5 miles over the next two days. Because of where the campsites are placed – there is no dispersed camping – we planned to do 25.6 miles today and 16.9 miles tomorrow.

25.6 miles was an aggressive goal, but it was either that or only 18.2 miles. The weather looked perfect and the terrain seemed to be pretty flat, so we believed we could do it. Plus, tomorrow’s forecast is calling for rain, so we saved the shorter miles for the icky weather day.

Neither of us wanted to repeat the 6.3-mile road walk from yesterday, so we called Jeff from Cadillac Cabs last night to see if he could give us a ride to the trailhead. He said he could pick us up at 9:30 am. It was a little bit later than we wanted to start, especially since we had big miles planned, but it still worked. As a bonus, we got to sleep in a little bit. Our bodies appreciated the extra rest!

We woke up, showered, packed, ate breakfast in the lobby, and then got picked up by Jeff.

We started from the Reeves Road trailhead right at 10:00 am.

Most of the day was spent hiking through trees – a typical day on the Superior Hiking Trail. As we figured, the weather was great and the trail was flat. There wasn’t even a lot of rocks or nasty roots! We were able to hike quickly with ease.

The first 22 miles weren’t very scenic. We didn’t get any views from ridges or glimpses of Lake Superior. We did hike by some swamps and this mushroom was really cool.

We stopped at a couple different campsites for breaks – one to use the benches to sit and filter water and another to use the latrine. During both stops we met thru-hikers. The couple at the first stop had a few days left of their adventure and the guy at the second stop was just starting his. We wished them all luck. We have only met a few other thru-hikers, so it was fun to meet and talk to more!

By mid-afternoon we knew we were going to be able to reach our goal campsite for the night, since we were averaging 2.5 miles/hour. To get to Fox Farm Pond by sunset we just had to stay focused and move quickly. It was a race against time!

The last few miles of the trail were rolling hills alternating between thick forests and young, open forests. The sun was starting to set, the temperature was cool, and everything looked so pretty. The scenery was a good distraction. I was starting to get tired.

We got to camp shortly after 8:00 pm and about 15 minutes after sunset. It was getting dark fast!

It was completely dark by the time we set up our tent. Then it was headlamp dinner time – a tortilla wrapped around instant mashed potatoes. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it was actually quite satisfying.

And now it’s bedtime. I’m excited that I hit my first 25-mile day on the trail! I can tell that my body is getting stronger. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do 25 miles as easily 10 days ago. It’s a great feeling!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 16

Fox Farm Pond to Bald Eagle – 16.9 miles – 7 hours, 45 minutes

Michael and I woke up to rain at 4:00 am. We knew it would come, but hoped that it wouldn’t. We fell back asleep until about 7:30 am. Once we decided that the drops falling on the tent were from the trees above us, we started to pack up.

We were happy it wasn’t actively raining, but it stills sucks to pack up a soaking wet tent.

Since we only had 16.9 miles to hike we took our time in the morning. We had one more Mountain House breakfast skillet, so we cooked that up to make breakfast burritos and heated up water for coffee. It was nice to have a leisurely morning!

We left the campsite at about 9:30 am with our rain pants and jackets on. We figured the trail would be pretty wet and that it would rain most of the day.

First view of the day? This swamp.

An hour into the hike Michael and I had enough of our rain jackets. It was so humid! We ditched them and kept moving.

Sucker River was the first stop of the day. We needed to filter water.

The trail was similar to how it ended last night – rolling hills through thick and young forests.

I was starting to get way too hot and decided to ditch the rain pants. I was drenched in sweat and it felt so freeing to walk in shorts and a t-shirt.

As my dad always says, “it’s not so much the heat, it’s the gosh darn humidity.”

It’s so true!

On top of the 90% humidity there were also tons of mosquitoes. It’s hard to keep the Deet on when you can’t stop sweating!

At about 1:00 pm the sun came out. We were both pretty shocked, but glad that we could lay out the tent and sleeping quilts to dry.

We were so excited to have a dry tent and crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t have to set it up in the rain.

The majority of the last 8 miles were spent on snowmobiles trails. We got our feet soaked by a flooded beaver pond, walked through cobwebs and overgrown grass, and got attacked by mosquitoes. Not the most fun hiking conditions. Fortunately, the trail was mostly flat and went by fast.

We got to our campsite, Bald Eagle, the last southbound campsite on the Superior Hiking Trail, at 5:15 pm. This was the earliest we’ve ever gotten to camp.

Bonus, it wasn’t raining yet!

We got everything set up and started making dinner. Another night of mashed potato burritos. I’m a fan.

We crawled into the tent early and waited for the storm to come.

Michael was watching the radar closely. Reading the warnings – 90 mph winds! Golf ball hail! Mobile homes will be destroyed! – made me very nervous. I distracted myself by reading The Pursuit of Endurance by Jennifer Pharr Davis (highly recommend) and crossed my fingers that hail wouldn’t ruin our tent and the winds wouldn’t knock down a nearby tree.

The first thunderstorm cell went through. There was a lot of rain and lightning, but wasn’t too terrible. The next one went through about 45 minutes later and was much worse. There was blinding lightning, booming thunder, and howling winds, also rain and hail. It was pretty scary laying in the tent. Fortunately, it passed without any damage to us or the tent. Whew.

Quite the experience for our last night in a tent!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 17

Bald Eagle to Haines SHTA Trailhead – 20.8 miles – 10 hours

We woke up shortly after 7:00 am. After the night of storms neither of us slept well. It was hard to get moving, especially when we knew everything was soaked.

Eventually we stirred up enough motivation to get moving. We shook out the tent and let it sit in the sun for a few minutes before folding it up. Since we didn’t have anymore camping we weren’t super concerned about it fully drying.

We hit the trail by 8:45 am. We spent about a mile on the trail and then switched over to our last stretch of snowmobile trails. We were so excited to be done with these.

After 3 miles of snowmobile trails and a short road walk we were at Martin Road.

Most thru-hikers that we’ve met on the trail started/ended here and skipped the Duluth section. Had we known this going into the hike we probably would’ve stopped at Martin Road too, but we committed to hiking the whole thing and both of us are too stubborn to cut it short.

With that said, we made it to the final map!

It was back on a trail for the Superior Hiking Trail. We walked along rolling hills through the trees and the occasional neighborhood. We walked through the Hartley Nature Center, where we could stop to use the bathroom and fill up our water bottles.

It was nice to be on trails again and we got a nice view of Lake Superior.

From here we walked through parts of the University of Minnesota and Duluth and then down to the Rose Garden. It was steep downhills on sidewalks that were a little rough on my feet and shins.

Afterwards we walked right along Lake Superior on the Duluth Lakewalk. It was sunny day and beautiful views, but since it was the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend it was pretty crowded. Everyone was out enjoying their last summer weekend and we were walking by smelling like sweat and garbage. It was uncomfortable, but also very pretty.

Then we decided to go into Fitger’s Brewhouse for a beer and burger break. It was a good idea. If we have to hike through a city we might as well make the most of it!

We finished up the lake walk, which meant we got to start walking on trails again. Unfortunately, the trail on initial ascent up to Enger Park was pretty gross. There was broken glass everywhere, empty bottles, discarded clothes, and an old tent. It wasn’t a nice area to walk through.

Once we were further up and away from that area we took a break.

This was my lowest point of the trail. Michael and I were so disappointed that we spent the last day hiking on snowmobile trails, then on pavement through a city where finding blazes was like a scavenger hunt, and then a sketchy area. Morale was low. I was upset with myself for not loving the experience and for having a bad attitude.

After the break we continued to hike and the trail opened up to a beautiful park, Enger Park. It was exactly what we needed. Finally a beautiful, open space in nature! It even had bathrooms and a water fountain with cold water.

We walked out of the park with refreshed attitudes.

The trail continued to a big climb up Piedmont Knob, where there was a beautiful view of Duluth. I’m so glad we got to end our day on a positive note.

From the viewpoint we headed down to the Haines Trailhead and decided to call it a day.

We got an Uber to the hotel. Then showered, did laundry, ordered Pizza Luce (oh, how I’ve missed Pizza Luce!), and called it a night.

Superior Hiking Trail Day 18

Haines SHTA Trailhead to Grand Portage Trailhead – 20 miles – 8 hours, 40 minutes

The second-to-last day on the trail and neither of us wanted to get out of bed. It didn’t help when we realized a storm would be rolling through mid-morning. Is it not possible to have nice weather two days in a row?!

We got ready and ate breakfast in the hotel lobby. The best part about the no-camping-in-Duluth thing is that we could “slack pack” today, meaning we didn’t have to pack our sleeping quilts, sleeping bags, electronics, etc. We essentially just brought our rain gear, toiletries, food for the day, and water. My pack is already pretty light, but today it probably weighed about 5 pounds. So nice.

We contacted an Uber to pick us up from the hotel and bring us to the trailhead. As we got in the driver ask, “You know it’s supposed to storm soon, right?”

Yes, we knew. We didn’t need the reminder. We also couldn’t wait to start hiking until noon.

We hit the trail at 8:50 am. It was raining within 20 minutes. Luckily the storm broke up a bit and we only got rain for about 40 minutes.

At about noon we were walking through the Spirit Mountain area. We were feeling pretty beat by the humidity and came across the chalet. We joked about getting a beer. Then decided to go in a get one. Might as well make the most of the experience!

It was a nice break.

From there it turned out to be a pretty good day! The scenery was beautiful and the trail was well maintained. There were a lot of up and downs, but it actually felt like a nice challenge after hiking a few flat days. It was so much better than yesterday!

We finished the day at the Grand Portage Trailhead. My phone had very unreliable signal. Fortunately Michael had enough to get an Uber. We crossed our fingers that the Uber would arrive before his phone died, since he only had 5% battery life left. It did!

Then we when back to the hotel and immediately got into our leftover Pizza Luce. So delicious.

Now we’ll rest up and get ready for our last day on the Superior Hiking Trail!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 19

Grand Portage Trailhead to Minnesota/Wisconsin Border – 16.3 mi (including 1.9-mi spur trail) – 6 hours, 30 minutes

Last day on the Superior Hiking Trail! What a crazy feeling.

We wanted to get an earlier start, so that we could finish by early afternoon. I told my parents to meet us at the trailhead for the southern terminus around 2:00 pm. We woke up at 6:30 am, got ready, ate breakfast, and got an Uber to the trailhead.

Michael and I started hiking at 8:15 am. The trail started out with a walk along the St. Louis River.

There were a couple of steep uphills and downhills and before we knew it we were at the Jay Cooke State Park Visitor’s Center. It was cool to see a sign saying that we hiked 298.2 miles and only had 7.8 miles to go!

We made it there in good time, so we took a nice long break ate a lot of snacks.

Side note: The best part about a hike like this is that you can pretty much eat all the snacks you want. The worst part is that you get so sick of eating the same snacks over and over again. Variety is the spice of life!

Afterwards we walked along the swinging bridge and admired the beautiful river.

We continued to hike on various trails through Jay Cooke State Park. The trails were nice and wide; it was refreshing to hike side-by-side and chat through this section.

After a couple more uphills and downhills we were at the final trailhead of the trail. Woohoo! It was just 1.9 miles to the southern terminus of the Superior Hiking Trail.

And then… we were there! We were at the end of the trail!!

We celebrated with a hug and kiss, then took our finisher pictures.

The southern terminus itself is a little disappointing with a trail register and a simple sign on a tree, but… whatcha going to do.

After we took as many pictures as we could we hiked the 1.9 miles back to the trailhead. It was perfect timing, because my parents had just pulled up a few minutes prior.

There were hugs, clean clothes, sandals, and more pictures. Shortly afterwards there were burgers and beers.

I’m so excited to have finished this trail and to have completed this goal! It’s even better that I was able to do it alongside Michael (and that we still get along and love each other).

I’ll do an overall recap post soon!

SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL MILEAGE TOTALS

Part 5 miles: 97.7 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 1.9 additional miles = 99.6 total miles

Total miles: 304.4 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 16.2 additional miles = 320.6 total miles

This is part 4 of our adventure: Silver Bay to Two Harbors. Make sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 5 as well!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 12

Silver Bay to Silver Bay – 0 miles

We took a zero day!

This wasn’t our initial plan. We went to bed last night with the intention of hiking.

We woke up at 6:30 am to very gray skies. There was rain in the forecast and we weren’t looking forward to getting soaked again, especially not after we were so dry and clean and not smelly.

After getting ready we headed down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. We talked about it a little more – Could we finish on time if we took a day off? Is it worth hiking through a storm? Does the hotel have rooms available?

We came to the conclusion that today we would our first, and hopefully only, zero day.

“Zero day” meaning that we stayed in town and didn’t hike any miles.

We spent the rest of the morning being very lazy. In the afternoon we headed into town for lunch and to grab some things for dinner from the grocery store. It was 80 degrees with 88% humidity. It was terrible.

I had been feeling guilty about taking a zero. I though that I should be out hiking and pushing myself, but after I walked a mile in that heat and humidity I was glad that we decided to stay off the trail today.

Also, there is something about hiking in the high humidity that makes me more worried about my heart. I know everything with my heart is fine now, but the humidity takes so much more out of me and I get exhausted more easily. Then I just get worried that something will go wrong. I’ve put my heart through a lot of tests this summer and everything has been totally fine. I don’t really have a need to worry, but it still happens occasionally.

Anyways, at about 4:00 pm it started storming – rain, thunder, lightning. It lasted for hours.

I hope the hikers out on the trail made it through while staying relatively dry!

Overall, I’m glad we ended up taking a zero. My body got to rest one more day and take in additional calories and we were able to avoid the terrible weather.

I’m hoping the trails aren’t too flooded tomorrow!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 13

Silver Bay to East Gooseberry River – 23.6 mi – 10 hours, 20 minutes

Michael and I got back on the trail today!

After waking up, getting ready, and eating breakfast we called Cadillac Cabs to get a ride to the trailhead.

Yesterday while buying groceries, Michael’s clerk ask if he was hiking. Of course, Michael said yes. The man gave Michael his business card for a cab service, Cadillac Cabs, and said he’d be around to give us a ride to the trailhead.

YAY!

The 3-mile ride cost us $10 plus tip and it was totally worth it.

It was a cool, dreary day that felt like fall. It was about 55 degrees with on and off sprinkling/misting. This meant the rain jacket was on, then off, then on, then off, then on, then off, then on for the rest of the day. That’s not an exaggeration. I get too hot wearing it when I’m hiking up and down hills and it’s not raining.

The first 15 miles of our day were spent hiking through rolling hills in the trees with about a mile of it along Beaver River.

Today we finally got to the “persistent beavers” section of the trail.

A week before we started hiking we were researching the trail on the Superior Hiking Trails website. On the Trail Conditions page there is a bullet that reads, “Just north of Fault Line Creek Campsite, a short section of the trail is flooded due to persistent beavers. The trail is fordable, but prepare for wet feet and legs. Some hikers have walked across the beaver dam.”

Michael and I though the phrase “persistent beavers” was (still is) the funniest thing. We’ve been passing a lot of beaver ponds, so we’ve been saying it a lot.

Thankfully the crossing wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be.

It felt like most of the trail was on boulders this morning, which makes me a little nervous when the ground is wet – will this be fine or will it be extremely slippery? It’s hard to tell, so I tread carefully.

Despite the potentially slippery rocks, we made excellent time all morning.

We made it to Split Rock Lighthouse State Park right around 3:00 pm. Unfortunately, there is a bridge out on the trail over the Split Rock River, so we had to take a detour on the Gitchi-Gami bike trail.

We caught a glimpse of the lighthouse through the fog from a hill on the trail, but didn’t hike close to it.

It was about a 4.5-mile walk on the Gitchi-Gami trail. The bonus was walking on flat, paved ground, so we could move quickly. There were also some close-up views of Lake Superior. The downside was that walking on pavement hurts more than walking on trail, especially when it’s miles 16-20 for the day. Fortunately the miles only took us 1.5 hours.

The Gitchi-Gami trail led us right into Gooseberry Falls State Park.

We stopped in the Visitor’s Center to use the bathroom and refill our water bottles. Then we decided to sit outside on their nice benches and eat dinner. Dinner consisted of summer sausage, smoked cheddar, and tortillas (we eat the heavy things first).

From there is was only a few miles to the campsite. The first bits of the trail weaved through more of Gooseberry Falls.

The day of hiking finished with trails along the Gooseberry River that were so, so muddy.

Mine and Michael’s shoes are so disgusting. They smell worse than you can imagine and are caked with mud. They will be thrown away as soon as we get to the southern terminus. If they smell bad now I can’t imagine what another week of walking through mud and water will do to them. It’s so bad.

Anyways, we set up camp at the smallest campsite we’ve been to yet. It didn’t even have a latrine! Or maybe we just couldn’t find it? Good thing both of us are capable of digging holes if we need to take care of business.

Since we already ate dinner all we had to do was set up the tent and then crawl inside.

It was a wet day, but it was a good day. And at 23.6 miles it was our highest mileage day!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 14

East Gooseberry River to Two Harbors – 24.7 mi (including 6.3-mile road walk) – 9 hours, 50 minutes

We woke up shortly after 7:00 am, ate breakfast, got everything packed up, and were on the trail by 8:10 am.

The first 4ish miles of the morning were basically walking through mud. It was like an obstacle course of puddles, slick mud, and deep mud. Every time we thought it was over we came across more.

It wasn’t the worst thing. It just got old real fast.

We took a break at about 10:30 am. The sun was shining, there was a beautiful view of Lake Superior, and an open area to sit down and relax.

It was so nice to have the sun and some views!

We were coming up to a section of trail that had a river crossing, because the bridge was out. Our plan was to take the trail and hope that it was fordable; however the entrance to the trail was roped off with detour instructions.

For the second day in a row, we found ourselves detouring along the road. We started out on gravel, but spent most of it walking on the shoulder of a highway. The detour was 6.6 miles. I could’ve sworn that the sign said it was 4 miles. Needless to say, I was pretty peeved when I found out it was much longer. Oh well.

We finished the detour shortly before 1:00 pm and took another break.

From there we only had 6 miles left to hike.

The trail was pretty flat and most of it was along Silver Creek. There was, of course, plenty of mud to go along with it.

There were also some sections that were quite grassy.

We made it to the road at 3:40 pm. From there it was a 6.3-mile road walk into town. We were really hoping to get a hitch into town, but no one would pick us up.

It was terrible. It went by pretty quickly, but we were so tired and our bodies were hurting by the end of it.

Subway was the first stop, then we checked into the hotel, showered, did laundry, and re-supplied at a Holiday gas station. We ended the night with some ice cream at Culver’s. Fortunately, the Holiday and Culver’s were both right next to the hotel. Neither of us could walk normally.

Hopefully a solid night of sleep and a bunch of water (and maybe a beer) will help!

Michael and I have been on the Superior Hiking Trail for two whole weeks! Tomorrow we’ll start our last leg. Our goal is to finish on Labor Day!

Superior Hiking Trail Mileage Totals

Part 4 miles: 42 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 6.3 additional miles = 48.3 total miles

Total miles: 206.7 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 14.3 additional miles = 221 total miles

Michael and I are hiking the Superior Hiking Trail, a 306-mile trail along Lake Superior in Minnesota.

Here is part 3 of our adventure: Tofte to Silver Bay. Make sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, and Part 5 as well!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 8

Tofte to East Caribou River – 21.3 miles – 9 hours, 50 minutes

We slept in until about 8:00 am, got ready, and had breakfast in the hotel lobby. I didn’t hold back on the breakfast – waffle, ham, banana, yogurt, potatoes, coffee, basically a little bit of everything. The more you eat the more energy you have for hiking. This is how it works, right?!

Anyways, we left the hotel at 9:15 am and walked over to Bluefin Bay Resort. We heard that we may be able to get a shuttle ride to the trailhead. We walked in with our fingers crossed and asked. Jon, the part-time bike mechanic was totally willing! This was a huge relief. It would’ve only been a 3-mile road walk, but I’d rather spend that time on the trail. Michael tipped him $20 and Jon exclaimed that it (the tip) made his year and that if we made it back into Tofte he’d buy us a beer. Friendly folks!

We started the trail at about 9:50 am with an uphill to Carlton Peak. While taking a break to sign the trail register we met another girl who was also thru-hiking the Superior Hiking Trail southbound (SOBO). She was the first thru-hiker that we’ve met so far on the trail. We started hiking with her down to the Temperance River. It was fun to listen to her and Michael trade stories about the PCT.

A few miles later we made it down to the Temperance River, where we all took a break.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful spot right on the water.

I chugged about a 1.5 liters of water and ate a snack. Since it was actually sunny and not humid outside I was so hot and thirsty.

Michael and I got up to start hiking again. We said good bye to our new friend. I’m sure we’ll be crossing paths with her again.

The trail followed both the east and west side of the river. It was so pretty!

After the river we started a longer (~500 feet) hike up. Similar to the earlier hike up to Carlton Peak it was hot and sweaty. We took a break at the campsites near Cross River. These were beautiful! If you want to hike a section of the Superior Hiking Trail I would recommend camping here! Since it was only about 2:00 pm we just stayed for about 10 minutes and moved along.

The rest of the afternoon moved so fast! There weren’t any major climbs, the trail wasn’t too full of roots, and there was some pretty scenery. We covered 6.5 miles in about 2.5 hours.

Our next break was at Dyer’s Creek. We took our time resting up here and filtered some water. We were planning on camping at the next site 3.5 miles away. It was 5:00 pm, so we had plenty of time.

We hiked into the next site, Sugarloaf Pond, and realized that there was no water and no good spots to set up our tent. Since we still had plenty of daylight we decided to hike to Crystal Creek, the next campsite 2.4 miles away.

The hike to Crystal Creek was wonderful. You could see Lake Superior from the trail, the weather/temperature was perfect, and the sun was getting ready to set. Plus, this part of the trail was well groomed, which made the hiking easier on my tired body.

It all made me so happy.

Then we arrived at Crystal Creek to find that, again, there was no water and the ground was super slanted.

Fortunately, the next campsite was only a mile away. It looked to be a bigger one and was next to a river, so we had high hopes.

We rolled into East Caribou River at about 7:50 pm. I went to get water while Michael found a spot to camp.

We set up the tent and then made our way to the food prep area. There were about 5 other campers hanging out around a campfire. It was our first night with a fire. It was really nice.

We made dinner, chatted with the other folks, and then headed into the tent.

Our original plan was to hike 17.7 miles, but we ended up at 21.3 miles! This is the most I’ve ever hiked in a day. I think I can attribute it to my giant breakfast. I guess I should eat 3 packets of instant oatmeal, instead of 2, tomorrow morning.

Superior Hiking Trail Day 9

East Caribou River to Leskinen Creek – 21.4 miles – 10 hours, 35 minutes

The forecast for the day wasn’t a pleasant one. It called for heavy rain in the morning with scattered showers the rest of the day.

We set the alarm clock a little earlier than usual in hopes that we would get all packed up before the rain started.

Luckily, we did. The rain started coming down as we were walking out of camp at 7:25 am.

Oh, and I did have 3 packets of oatmeal. I mixed them up in a Talenti container with water and a packet of Starbucks Via. It’s all about efficiency in the am.

It rained pretty solid for our first 2 hours of hiking. This made for cool, moody, misty scenery and very muddy trails.

I don’t know if it was more noticeable because of the rain, but the trail seemed to be so full of giant roots today.

We also had some steep uphill and downhill sections that were made up of large, slick rocks.

Because of the conditions we were hiking at a slower pace than yesterday. Also, we were both wearing rain pants and rain jackets, neither of which breath well, so if we went too fast it would get real sweaty underneath the gear.

We hiked along the Manitou River in George Crosby Manitou State Park. The highlight was coming across a 3-sided shelter. We figured we should take advantage of it and stop for a break. It was nice to be under a shelter for a bit!

In the afternoon we hiked along the east branch of the Baptism River, Sonju Lake, and Egge Lake.

After Egge Lake it was another 4.7 miles to our campsite at Leskinen Creek. I was moving pretty slow, so we took a break to rest a bit. We hadn’t sat down much throughout the day, so it was nice to rest the feet for 15 minutes.

We stopped to filter water for the first time of the day at a river and then had 2 miles left to camp. I was struggling a bit. I guess that’s what back-to-back 21-mile days can do to a person.

It didn’t help that we had to hike through a obstacle course of mud slop just before arriving at our campsite.

It also didn’t help that it started raining again as we were walking into camp.

After waiting out the rain for a bit we decided to bite the bullet and set up the tent quickly in the rain. We managed to get it done without getting everything soaked.

I’ll consider it a win!

It rained on and off throughout the rest of the evening. We basically didn’t leave the tent once we had it set up.

It was smart thinking for us to buy shooters of whiskey in Tofte.

And now I’m going to go to sleep and forget all about my wet socks and shoes until I have to put them on in the morning.

Superior Hiking Trail Day 10

Leskinen Creek to Round Mountain Beaver Pond – 18.5 miles – 10 hours, 45 minutes

I won’t sugar coat it – it was an icky morning. It wasn’t actively raining, but there was a lot of water dripping from the trees. The tent was soaked, the skies were gray, and everything was just wet.

One of the worst things ever: putting on wet socks and even wetter shoes. Although, truth be told, once they were on my feet for about 3 minutes I totally forgot about how wet they were. The act of putting them on is just kind of terrible.

We got everything packed up and crossed our fingers that the sun would come out for at least a little bit in the afternoon, so that we could lay out the tent to dry.

The plus side of the morning was that we allowed ourselves to sleep in a little bit. We didn’t get out of the tent until a little after 8:00 am. Since we got to camp last night at about 6:00 pm my body felt well rested and ready for another day of hiking!

We left camp at about 9:15 am with our rain gear on. The trail was pretty level and downhill to the Sawmill Bog. It was a slightly scary boardwalk. I’m so happy neither of us fell in.

Afterwards we had a pretty decent climb. At the top of the climb we were drenched with sweat on the inside of our rain gear and drenched with water on the outside. We took a break to dry off for a minute. Our break spot had some nice views even through the morning mist.

It was basically all downhill from there to the County Road 6 road crossing. We saw a group of people taking a break in the parking lot, so we decided to join them. It’s a rare treat to be able to sit down with a group of people to chat. We took advantage. Plus, we were starving. “Hiker hunger” is starting to become a real thing.

There was a short road walk before heading back into the trees for a 2-mile climb up to Sawmill Dome. As we were approaching it the sun started to shine through the fog. It was a miracle! We laid out our very wet tent on the rocks to dry. I ditched my rain coat and pants. I felt so free! After about 45 minutes of the tent lying out, along with some shakes and repositioning, it was dry-ish. It wasn’t 100% dry, but it was close enough.

At this point it was almost 2:00 pm and we had only hiked about 8 miles. It was time to keep moving.

A few miles later we stopped at Kennedy Creek to filter water. We were almost out by this point, so it was good timing.

After crossing Highway 1 it was another nice climb. We decided to take another break and eat some snacks to carry us through our last few miles of the day. Looking at the elevation chart on the map it seemed like we had a pretty decent (~800-foot) climb ahead of us.

We were in Tetteguche State Park, so there were plenty of people around and some nice wide, groomed trails.

While we were on our climb up to Mount Trudee a group was hiking down all with beers in their hands. They commented on our hiking poles and we commented on their beer.

“Do you guys want one?”

“YES! Thank you so much!”

I’ve never been so happy to be handed a Bud Light. I don’t think they realized the trail they were on aligned with the Superior Hiking Trail and therefore didn’t realize the magnitude of their simple gesture. I’m sure they were confused why two smelly people were so excited to get Bud Lights.

Michael drank his right away, but I saved mine for the top of Mount Trudee.

Even though the hike up to Mount Trudee looked to be straight up on the elevation chart it was more of a gradual to steep to flat to down to steep to gradual to flat to steep type of climb. We made it up to the top and decided it was the most beautiful view that we had seen so far on the trail, but would, obviously, be amazing in the fall.

We took some pictures and I drank my Bud Light. Dang, it was delicious.

Afterwards it was a quick downhill to our targeted campsite for the night, either East or West Palisade Creek. Unfortunately, both of them were quite full so we continued onward an additional .8 miles (through a lot of mud!!) to Round Mountain Beaver Pond.

We had just enough light to quickly set up our tent and boil water for ramen. The mosquitoes were out and biting, so we ate in our tent. Bad, I know, but it was eat or be eaten.

Then we called it a night!

For the morning being so icky the day actually turned out to be really fun!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 11

Round Mountain Beaver Pond to Silver Bay – 5.9 miles – 2 hours, 30 minutes

It’s a town day! This one is well timed, because we were starting to smell so bad. After sweating in the sun on day 8, being soaked with rain on day 9, and a mix of both on day 10 we’ve been getting a little ripe. At one point Michael said, “we smell like wet garbage.”

Lovely.

Anyways, we woke up at about 8:00 am, went through our normal routine, and hit the trail by 8:45 am.

It was in the low 60’s and the humidity was at 93%. We walked up one hill and I was already drenched with sweat.

The whole 4.7 miles of trail to the trailhead were rolling hills. It was also full of overlooks out to Bear Lake and Bean Lake. It was a beautiful morning.

We met up with another hiker on our way to the trailhead and it was fun to chat with him for a few miles.

We made it to the Penn Blvd trailhead and started our 1.2 mile road walk to Northwoods Family Grille. Both of us were super hungry. My burger, fries, and Pepsi tasted much better than my typical Cliff Bar lunch.

We stopped at the grocery store to pick up food for our next leg of hiking and then to the liquor store for a 6-pack (our normal town activities). As we were walking to the hotel, someone pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride.

Yes, please!

He said he’s hiked most of the trail and tries to give hikers rides whenever he can. His generosity saved us 20 minutes of walking. I mean, it’s not like we couldn’t have done it, but if someone wants to be nice and give us a ride we’ll take them up on the offer!

After getting to the hotel we had to wait about 20 minutes for our room to be ready then it was our normal activities of showering, doing laundry, planning the next segment of the hike, enjoying a beer or two, and being lazy.

Always a good time in town!

Note: that picture was taken before we showered.

Superior Hiking Trail Mileage Totals

Part 3 miles: 65.9 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 1.2 additional miles = 67.1 total miles

Total miles: 164.7 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 8 additional miles = 172.7 total miles

We made it over the halfway point!