Superior Hiking Trail (#2)

The following morning we head out for the 2 1/2 hour drive back to Grand Marais. We decided to try around a 10 mile hike and picked the Cook County Road 58 to Kadunce River Wayside section of the trail which indicated 9.2 miles. This is our first time on a trail with elevation changes and uneven surfaces for any length. We have done 15 milers on flat surfaces and thought we could maintain a minimum 2 miles per hour pace. It took us a little over eight hours! While Michelle experienced little problem, I had great difficulty.

We met our shuttle at the trailhead at CC Road 58. To our amazement the driver is Jack who is the owner of Stone Harbor. He picked us up and drove us to the trail head at the Kanduce River Wayside. We planned to hike back to our car from there.

We got our packs on, equipment adjusted and headed out on the trail.

Off we went!

 

The trail wound southward to the east of Route 61. The country is stunning and soon we could not hear the traffic on the highway, a real wilderness feeling. The trail was full of tree roots, rocks and the air full of mosquitos (we had sprayed liberally so not a great problem).

 

Over time the unevenness of the trail started to take a toll on my knees and right foot. We certainly were not keeping to a pace of 2 miles per hour. I was surprised the difference from a trail with even ground to this type of trail. Yet hiking like this was what we want to do and there was only one way to go: southbound to the car.

About four hours in we stopped at a trail camping area. Every few miles on the trail are small campsites for those doing overnights or thru hiking. At this point the energy was still high and felt good to stop and eat. We did get lost at one point, the trail came down to a foot bridge heading to the right and the trail keep going straight. We went straight which lead us to another campsite and had to back track several times to the bridge and get back on the right direction. Personally I thought the trail should have had more blazes, but that was the only time we felt unsure of our direction. The vistas were incredible looking out over the lake from the hill. 



 

We meet very few fellow hikers. Our first was a couple just out for short hike looking for mushrooms. I am not sure where they got on the trail as they has no packs and only carrying water bottles. They passed us shortly heading back the way they had come, she saying the humidity was to much. Coming northbound was a man who said he and his family were hiking for a week. He said a group of kids were heading our way. He told us to look for blueberry patches that we would come to shortly. A group of young folk passed doing a healthy pace with loaded packs - to be young and strong! The blueberries were delicious!!

 

 

 

By the time we reach this meadow I was not doing well. This about 7 1/2 miles in. Everything hurt particularly my knees. I was cranky the trail heading upwards as I thought the trail map put us closer to the last two miles.

The last two miles was a steep downhill back to our car. By this point just stepping down was very painful. Thank goodness for the hiking poles. I felt like a near invalid at this point and just wanted the hike over. Every step was painful and slow.

Of course we made it back to the car. Our usual post hike treat are McDonald's milkshake, but no McDonald's exists in Grand Marais! Dairy Queen did the trick along with dinner. We headed back to the campsite, another 2 1/2 hours driving but now in the dark. We finally made it back after 10pm, exhausted from both hiking and driving with lots of lessons to ponder......



Superior Hiking Trail (#1)

Our week long vacation took us north to Lake Superior, the Superior National Forest and The Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). We left on Sunday, August 17 and headed to my daughter's home outside Madison, WI for my grandson's first birthday party. She and her husband Nate live on a large, rural piece of land with their house and a large shed (where we store our pop-up camper during the winter). We stayed overnight after the party and left northward the following morning.

We stayed the next night on a friend's lake front property on the shore of Lake Superior just east of Duluth in Wisconsin. I have heard many tails of "The Cabin" from my step children and was great to finally have the chance to visit. We had the place to ourselves on a rainy, stormy and misty afternoon and night.

The waves were constantly crashing against the shore and the mist stayed most of the night. Sleeping in our camper on what seemed the edge of the world was exciting and spooky at the same time. Thanks to our friends for having us stay over the one night on the way north.

Here is a view looking west. On a clear day you could see Superior, WI in the distance. As you can see, our friends have a small cabin, shed and outhouse behind that. What a spectacular area!








The next morning we headed north. Our first stop was the at the Superior Hiking Trail Association office in Two Harbor, MN about an hour north on Highway 61 from Duluth. The office is a small house on the highway with a great store. The folks in the office were friendly and answered our questions. We bought a map for the area we planned hiking and again headed north.

Our destination was to Grand Marias, MN where we planned to hike. Grand Marais is about 45 miles from the Canadian border and our first stop was to Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply. I had some emails with the store about shuttling us for our hike the next day. The folks there were so helpful and kind as we purchased some gear and arranged the shuttle. They did not expect any remuneration (I tried) and arranged to meet us at the trailhead off route 58 north of town at 10am the next morning.

I discovered after making our camping reservation the Fall Lake Campground is 2 1/2 hours from Grand Marais. Most of the road is through forest lands which are beautiful but a daunting drive.
We arrived in Ely a small and now touristy town, got some supplies and headed the few miles out of town to our campsite.

Since we arrived on a Sunday there were not many campers. We both agreed the bath house was the cleanest, well maintained in any of our recent campgrounds. The hordes of mosquitos proved daunting and we put up the screen house for sitting outside. We highly recommend his campground and a big salute to the US Forest Service.

Another 15 Mile Hike

Last Saturday we hiked the Des Plaines River Trail south from Dundee Road (68) to Higgins Road (72). Since out last hike we purchased Osprey water bladders. This time we will not run out of water as we did last time. The filled bladders were placed in the refrigerator overnight and were nice and cold when loaded in to our packs. We were surprised how cold the water kept over the five or so hours we hiked.

River Trail Nature Center

Along the way we stopped at the River Trail Nature Center for a break. We sat on a nice porch admiring the countryside taking a quick snack. The center has a bald eagle in a cage. I was rather sad the beautiful bird could not soar as an eagle should.

We were prepared for the bugs this time around and liberally used out bug spray starting the day. What a difference! We could actually stop for breaks and lunch without fear of becoming a huge insect haven.

A Road Along the River

 

This bridge is one of the few the trail went under. Versus the northern hike we took hikers found it necessary crossing the roads and highways bisecting the trail. Running with a pack across traffic is great fun.

 

Our stamina and hydration was much improved this time. Adding the water bladders increased our pack weights to between 23 - 25 pounds. I could defiantly tell the difference yet we both managed the weight well. Training with our packs has certainly been a huge help for our hikes to come.

 

Snakes on a Trail

 

Well one snake anyway. Since this trail is an urban trail and never far from interstate highways, busy suburbs and a heavily used trail, wildlife is not abundant in the sense of actually seeing any. So snakes are about it!

 

Fifteen miles is still a stretch for us. The last few miles were still difficult, but we are getting better. Next week we are off for hiking some "real" trails and will report how it goes. We are looking forward to more hiking!!

 

 







Training - Up & Down

All the hiking we do around home is essentially flat. We training for the ups and downs of the trails we are looking forward to hike, especially the AT next summer. Our thoughts are changing about when to do the Georgia, our first section, AT hike. The first thought was going in August, but watching the weather lately there seems rather warm, or a better word is hot! So our thoughts are moving back to the middle of June.

We have ten and a half months to get our legs, especially knees, strengthened for terrain that has elevation changes. We are going to join a health club for over the winter months but have found a perfect outdoor training site while the weather is good.

Our town has several overflow drainage ponds for heavy rainstorms to keep water from backing up and flooding neighborhoods. The one we discovered the other day has very steep sides.

Using our trusty GPS we determined that going down and back up equaled 0.8 of a mile. Last Saturday Michelle and I took our son and a picnic lunch to start training for elevation. We decided to make the round trip twelve times which is just short of a mile.

We did it and will continue to use pond to strengthen our knees over time. Our plan is to head over several evenings a week and keep using this as a training method.  Here is a better perspective showing Michelle coming back up.

 

 

At some point we will add our packs and keep on trucking Up & Down.

Longest Hike Yet

Last Saturday we hiked out longest mileage day with our packs and learned some valuable lessons. We planned to hike about ten miles on the Des Plaines River Trail. The trail runs close to the Des Plaines River through Lake County, IL and Lake County up to the Illinois Wisconsin border.

We used two cars parking one at the furthest point north we planned to hike. The original place did not have parking so we had top go up a further two miles than we planned. So we drove back to our starting point and started hiking. The trail is mostly gravel without much elevation.

Yes, a bunny rabbit crossing the trail

 

By the time we passed over on the Lake-Cook Road bridge and got into the woods we realized our first mistake. The bugs were all over us and we brought no bug repellent of any kind. Opps - a feast day for mosquitos! We longed for those open places in the sun for relief. Stopping to do anything, we were in a mass of bugs.

 

 

 

Then we ran into several detours, one that we estimate added another mile to our hike. A large property blocked the path so we hike out to Milwaukee Road around the property. We stopped at a convenience store hoping for bug spray, but no such luck.

 

 

We would have been fine at ten miles and doing ok at twelve miles....but we found fifteen a bit long.

 





Rest break and still happy at 12 miles!

 

The last three miles was drudgery and difficult. About a mile out from our car we ran out of water. So we did make fifteen miles which we are proud. But we learned several things, plan better for the mileage, bring bug repellent, rest more often (which without bug spray we could not do), make sure about water and water resupply and make a good stop for lunch.

 

 

It was difficult walking the next day, but this morning we did our usual three mile morning walk with our packs. This is one learning experience with many more to come. 

 

On a "Real" Trail

 

We did not do as much hiking on our vacation as we hoped. However, we did a six mile hike on the Mid-State Trail. This trail runs mostly north and south Pennsylvania. We stayed at R.B. Winter State Park which the trail runs through.

We hiked three miles out and then back with our packs. Finally we hiked a trail and not a flat service around our neighborhood. As noted in most of the AT blogs we follow, PA has lots of rocks and this was true on the portion of the Mid-State we hiked.

The trail elevated most of the first three miles with lots of PA rocks on the trail along with some good tree roots and limbs across the trail. In many places the tree limbs were close to the trail and Michelle hiking first received all the spider webs.

The trail uses orange blazes and was well marked. As much as going up a rocky trail coming back down was interesting too. When we started the bugs were few and far between. About 2.5 miles in we passed standing bog/pond and the mosquitoes had a field day from then on. A lesson learned, always bring the bug juice along!

Michelle decided I should lead the way back down the trail. Ya gotta love spider webs across your face.  We both enjoyed
some "real" hiking. I was surprised to be sore not in the expected places, but at the top of my legs. I felt it every time I crossed my legs, moved them driving the car and other times - a complete surprise. But we finally hiked!

Appalachian Trail Planning

Our plan is to do our first section hike of the AT during the 2015 summer. Our plan is to hike from Springer Mountain, GA to USFS Road #71 in North Carolina. That way we complete the Georgia section of the trail.

I am current contacting by email several places to find out about staying overnight on the nights prior to hiking and the night we come off the trail. Some items to solve is where to keep the car and shuttles. Our plan (see below) calls for us to stay at two hostels over the six night we are out. That way we can re-supply and lessen food weight during the hike.

Using various sources our plan looks as below (Comments appreciated)

Day	Mileage	Total Mileage	Location – Overnight Resupply	Information (Water)
1	8.1	8.1	Hawk Mountain Shelter	Shelter, sleeps 12, privy, picnic table, water (stream 300 yards behind the shelter), bear hoist cables. Next water six miles.
2	7.1	15.8	Gooch Mountain Shelter   -or-	Shelter, sleeps 14. Privy (moldering), bear cables, covered picnic table, shelves, good covered "front yard patio. Water (100 yards behind shelter)
2	1.5 (9.2)	17.3	Gooch Gap	Camping, water
3	3.8	21.1	Woody Gap	Shelter, picnic table and privy – water (A spring is on a poorly marked side trail west of the A.T) Suches, GA is 2 miles if needed)
3	10.6 (14.4)	31.7	Neel Gap - Resupply	Hostel – Mountain Crossing http://www.mountaincrossings.com (first come, first serve – bunk, shower, towel, laundry, $15pp per night) Resupply food
4	11.5	43.2	Low Gap Shelter	SHELTER, CAMPING, WATER- Sleeps 7. No privy. Right via side trail into cove. Food-hoist cables available. Water source is crossed at the shelter; a second source can be found 30 yards in front of the shelter. The water for this shelter should be treated. There are a lot of good spots nearby for tenting.
5	5.0	48.2	Chattahoochee Gap	Water - A blue-blazed side trail leads east to Chattahoochee Spring, source of the Chattahoochee River that supplies drinking water to Atlanta.
5	10.4 (15.4)	58.6	Tray Mountain Shelter	Shelter- —Sleeps 7. Privy. Food- hoist cables. Excellent overnight spot for taking in the sunset and sunrise from the summit or from viewpoints along the 0.2-mile trail to the shelter. Water source is a spring located 260 yards behind the shelter. The side trail to the shelter has some of the most scenic campsites on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. An amazing amount of wind that can funnel directly into the shelter
6	4.7	63.3	Sassafras Gap	Camping, water
6	6.3 (11.0)	69.6	Dicks Creek Gap (Hiawassee, GA)	Hostel – Top of Georgia Hostel http://www.topofgeorgiahostel.com Call for reservations 706-982-3252 Resupply, free shuttle to town, bunks, laundry and food.
7	8.9	78.5	Georgia/North Carolina Border
7	2.9	81.4	Muskrat Creek Shelter	SHELTER, WATER- Muskrat Creek Shelter (rebuilt 1995)—Sleeps 8. Privy. It has a picnic table under the roof overhang. Muskrat Creek and water is available from the spring next to the shelter. There are Several decent tent spots in the woods around the shelter.
7	4 (15.8)	85.4	Deep Gap	USFS Road 71 PICK UP Reached via highway US64 and Forest Service 71. From Franklin, NC, go West on US64 13.6 miles (from overpass where US23 turns South toward Atlanta) to FS71. Turn is just past top of hill with 'Clay County' sign. From West, follow US64 East past Hayesville, NC, make long climb up mountain, and near top of second climb, watch for sign for FS71 on right. FS71 is a 6-mile single-lane gravel road, normally quite passable for autos. Note that this road is closed during the Winter -- usually between Jan. 1st and March 15th. Follow FS71 to parking area at end; the AT crosses through this parking area.