Come along on a fall hike with us

Susan, Dash Riprock and I went for a hike today. Within a two hour drive we have 100's and 100's of miles of trails to choose from. Rather than get in the car and drive to a trail today, we walked out our back door, walked the road uphill for one mile where accessed the Superior Hiking Trail. The trail traverses the ridge line above Duluth, Minnesota.

Imagine walking with us on a gorgeous fall day. The colors are at peak, the sun is bright as it filters through the canopy of colored leaves. We walk through a mature hardwood forest on top of the ridge before coming out onto the open ridge line where you can see our neighborhood below, across the St Louis River into Wisconsin, and the city of Duluth in the distance on the shore of Lake Superior.

We should stay close to home more often. Hard to believe we can do a hike like this right in the city.

Fall Hike

Susan had a work function to attend today. She needed to leave by noon. Somehow we managed to get out early enough for a beautiful hike. Sunday is typically our lazy day. We don't always get up and moving very quickly. It was such a gorgeous, cool, crisp, sunny morning we were both pleased we squeezed in a short in town hike on the Superior Hiking Trail. We hiked on the section between Magney Snively Ski Trail parking and Bardon's Peak. One of my favorite sections, even more so in the fall because of the mature hardwood forest on this section. That's Dash Riprock ripping up the trail. I think he likes hiking even more than Susan and I. He sprints up the trail and back to us repeatedly over the first couple of miles. He travels twice the distance we do. He really needs to learn how to pace himself. But he does have a blast whenever he's in the woods with us.

Susan crossing one of the small creeks along the trail.

Normally the trees would be at, or past, peak color this time of the month. But the fall has been delayed by the warmer than usual September weather we had. The picture above should have nothing but oranges, yellows and reds in it.

It was a spectacular morning to be out on a trail.

An overlook with a view of the St Louis River valley and Wisconsin beyond. Later in the day I would take a bike ride on the other side of the river.

Evidence of yesterday's dusting of snow.

It doesn't get much better. And to think this is all in the City of Duluth's city limits a short distance from our house.

Two down, Sixty-Three to go

Susan and I have set our sights on a new hiking challenge. We've started the Minnesota State Parks Hiking Club challenge. What is it? You buy a Hiking Club Kit at any State Park. It has a booklet with all the State Parks in Minnesota listed in it. Each State Park has a designated Hiking Club Trail. They are marked with blue signs.The trails range from 1-7 miles in length depending on the park. At the midpoint of the hike is a Hiking Club sign with a password. To keep you honest, you have to write down the password in your booklet.
We've seen these signs as we've hiked various State Parks in the past, but weren't clear what the Hiking Club was until last summer when we had dinner in Duluth with the Yams. They had recently completed hiking all the parks and received the honorary plaque. We were intrigued and thought about it for a year. A month ago we went to Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth, bought two Hiking Club Kits, and started hiking (no pictures of the first hike, I forgot my camera). It's not as lofty a hiking goal as our past goals like learning to backpack so we could see the Grand Canyon from the Colorado River, or thru-hiking all of the Appalachian Trail, or learning to desert camp and winter camp. What it is is something we can do together and it will take us to parks we would not have otherwise gone if it wasn't for the hiking club. There are 65 parks, one in just about every corner of the state. Total Hiking Club trail miles is 194.5.

Yesterday we went to Moose Lake State Park. Even though it was close by, we were barely aware it existed. What we discovered was a really nice park with a newer Visitors Center and an excellent geological display and gem and mineral collections. We both actually learned some things we didn't know about the geology of Minnesota.

The colors are really late this fall because of the warm September weather. However, there was some color on the hike today.
The Hiking Club Trail was 2.0 miles at this park. We walked it twice because we walked right by the Password sign and neither of us noticed it.

Dash Riprock was a sprinting fool. He loves to go for a hike in the woods!!

63 parks and 189 miles of hiking trail miles to go!

Backpacking weekend

This summer was supposed to be a summer where we got back to more backpacking. So here it is, late August, and we're just getting out on our first backpacking overnighter. When we saw the weather forecast and with the summer winding down, we knew we had to go. We threw everything together Saturday morning. Drove an hour up the shore and were on the trail by noon for a short out-n-back over night trip. We fell into a nice rhythm and into the moment shortly after our feet hit the ground. It's such a great feeling to be out hiking in the woods. It's one thing that Susan and I have always shared together. Heck, our first date 12 years ago, was day hike. Soon after that we learned to backpack together.

Trail dog Dash Riprock ready to hit the trail. He loves hiking as much as we do. He could barely hold it together for the short car ride to the trail head. He knew we were going hiking as soon as Susan and I started packing.

We started at the Castle Danger trailhead. From there it's a short quick climb up onto Wolf Rock.

There are excellent views of the big lake from Wolf Rock. Wisconsin could be seen clearly with the crisp cool dry air.

Susan working her way up the last part of the the climb up Wolf Rock.

The forest changed frequently along this section. Above is a shady grove of Cedars.

Then it was onto a younger hardwood section. This must be pretty in the fall.

Then there were many sections of transitional forest where most of the birches were dying off.

Back in 2006 and 2007 when Susan and I were contracted to paint blaze over 200 miles of trail, this was one of the first sections we did. We haven't been back to this section since. Some of our painted blazes were holding up better than others.

The view from Mike's Rock. A great lakes freighter can be seen out on the lake in this picture.

The Gooseberry River. Gooseberry Falls is one of the most visited spots on the North Shore. However, very few people see what the river looks like before it tumbles over the falls towards Lake Superior. Only those that hike this trail.

Our campsite, East Gooseberry, was situated on a hillside along the river. You could see the river through the trees.

Like all established campsites along the trail, this one had a fire ring and benches.

Further up the hill was a nice grassy tent pad.

Ahhh, home for the night....I love sleeping in a tent.

I enjoy a nice hot meal at the end of a day of backpacking. On a short trip with cool temps we tend to carry fresh foods rather than dehydrated. Susan comes up with the concoctions and I'm the backcountry chef.
For this delicious dish I started by sauteing fresh veggies in some olive oil.

Then I added foil packed chicken, rice pasta, milk powder, dried green onions (fresh onions are a bit too smelly for the back woods), freeze dried peas (they hold up better than fresh peas) and salt. At the end I added fresh sage from our garden, fresh grated Parmesan, and some fresh grated lemon peel. It was delicious!!

For desert? We packed in some chocolate brownies. I made a raspberry sauce to put over the brownies. I made it with freeze dried raspberries, a little water, sugar and corn starch. Very yummy. Although once we got there we discovered we could have had fresh raspberries. They were everywhere along the river and surrounding our campsite.

Gooseberry River under the morning sun.

The stretch of the trail along the river gets a bit brushy at times.

Dash never misses a chance to cool off in a river....or lake...or even a mud puddle!

Dash and I on Mike's Rock.

It was a great get-away. Susan and I have so much experience at backpacking, it enables us to get out and thoroughly enjoy ourselves without all the worries and concerns we had when we first started backpacking. It really is the definition of carefree.

Long time no post.

I haven't hiked since last fall. I broke my arm in November and missed out on all the winter hikes and winter camping. This past Sunday Susan and I did our maintenance check on the section of the Superior Hiking Trail we volunteer to maintain. It was my first hike since doing our maintenance check last fall. Back in March a ice storm hit northeastern Minnesota. The storm hit us in Duluth. The worst hit areas included our section of the trail which is about 80 miles up the shore of Lake Superior from where we live in Duluth. We saw much storm damage on the drive up. But it was still a shock to see the extent of the damage once we got out in the woods. It often looked like a tornado hit. Above is the Skou Road spur trail we take to get to the Cross River crossing where our section starts.
Trees were snapped off all over the place. The first half of the section is mainly second growth birch. It doesn't stand up well to ice and wind.

The view of the Cross River just to the east of the trail bridge crossing.

We happened to be out on the day they were airlifting in the new bridge for the trail. We had to get special permission to pass through the work area.

Susan and Dash Riprock crossing over the old, barely stable bridge. The pier for the new improved bridge is on the left.

Another view.

A view of the raging Cross River as it narrows through the rock under the bridge.

Just up river from the bridge is another place it narrows and drops through some rock. May 17th and there is still ice hanging off the walls. The SHT website says this area still had 2-4 feet of snow on the ground as recent as May 4th.
We carry some hand tools to take out smaller blowdowns. Susan swings the axe. Bigger trees we write-up and a chainsaw crew cuts out. Luckily for us a trail crew had come through less than a week before us and cleared out the storm damage. Still a lot of broken and damages branches and trees have yet to come down.

About a half mile upriver from the bridge crossing and we could hear and see the helicopter being used for the airlift operation. If you enlarge you can see a long cable dangling below the copter.

With recent snow melt and a rainstorm the river was flowing very high and at a high rate of speed.

A new footbridge on a side stream already had some major damage. Perhaps too long of a span for the type of wood they used.

Downed trees and limbs everywhere you looked.

Devastation.

Dash Riprock, Trail dog extraordinaire.

More broken limbs and blown down tree tops.

Gasco Road, an ATV trail that the SHT crosses had visible damage to the trees as well.

Evidence that Boney's Meadow has a new family of beavers. It's not actually a meadow but a swampy wet area that often looks overgrown like a meadow.

Dash likes to cool off in every puddle and water source he can find.

One of the few views of the big lake from this section is from Tower Overlook. A beautiful, dry 65 degree day.

I find it fascinating how the leaves are just about completely out in Duluth, yet drive only 80 miles to the northeast and the trees have barely started to bud. But like I said, less than two weeks ago there was still 2-4 feet of snow here.

One other highlight of the day occured on the drive up. A wolf ran across the road right in front of us just outside of Two Harbors. It's the first wolf we've spotted in Minnesota. We did see one last year in Wisconsin. What a thrill.

It was great to be back out hiking in the woods. We hope to do a lot more hiking and backpacking this summer.

Fall Maintenance hike on the SHT

We are Section Volunteers for the Superior Hiking Trail. Our section is along the beautiful Cross River. Responsibilities include walking the section in the spring and the fall, and then turning in a report to the maintenance supervisor. Susan and I usually do it together. However, Susan is still recovering from the cold she got earlier in the week. This fall I went alone. We always do a bike shuttle so we only have to walk the section in one direction. The section is only 7 miles. The bike shuttle is only four miles. The road is much more direct than the trail route.
The bike shuttle includes some gravel on Cook Cty 1. I was surprised to see the fall colors so far along on the ridges above Lake Superior where there were hardwoods. There is still just a hint of color down the shore in Duluth where we live.

This is the Skou Rd spur trail.

This overlook of the Cross River is at the trail junction of the Superior Hiking Trail and the spur from Skou Road.

Just below the overlook is the river crossing. The bridge has some major structural damage suffered since last spring. Don't ask me how they got that center pier place under the bridge in the rapids. It's a temporary fix. If one big piece of driftwood hits the pier, that bridge is history.

I was a bit nervous going out onto the bridge. Last spring this bridge appeared stable. Not any more.

Fortunately they are building a new bridge with steel reinforced concrete piers. Just in time!

The river narrows through a small gorge as it passes under the bridge. The roar of the water over the rocks is deafening.

We aren't required to do any trail maintenance we aren't comfortable with. And we can't operate a chainsaw unless we've been certified by the National Forest Service. This section is in the Superior National Forest. But Susan and I do carry an ax and a saw to clear out the smaller trees that have fallen over the trail.

Now you see it....

...now you don't.

The river was swollen from rains and thunderstorms the previous night. It was running as high as spring snow melt. The river was flowing at a very rapid pace in the above picture.

The trail follows the narrow river valley for over a mile and a half. Here is a small waterfall at the upper end of the river section. I stood on a rock and watched a small trout try to repeatedly leap up the waterfall. Every time being washed back down to the bottom.

Now you see it...

...now you don't!

Up on the highest point of the ridge the maples were at their peak color.

A small hillside of maples rising above Boney's Meadow was also at peak color.

There happened to be some active beavers in Boney's Meadow, which is now Boney's pond. This birch had been taken down only a few days prior.

Now you see it... (you can see my ax in the tree just to the left of the blue blaze)

...now you don't!

I took on a little more than I bargained for with this removal. It took me at least 30 minutes of chopping. I think if Susan had been along she would have talked me into leaving it for the chainsaw volunteers.

This section only has one spot that has a view of Lake Superior, at Tower Overlook. However, there is a ridge that runs between the overlook and the big lake that is all hardwoods. This time if year its' quite a site. You can see the lake, it blends into the the skyline.

I was able to get all the blowdowns out except two that were bigger. Anything over 8-10 inches in diameter I leave for the chainsaws.

What a great day to be out on the trail. Temps in the 60's and beautiful sunshine most of the day.

Three day weekend at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

This weekend we drove three and a half hours along the south shore of Lake Superior across Wisconsin and into the U.P. of Michigan to the Porkies. It's a gem of a park a long way away from just about anything. It has 60,000 acres of nearly undeveloped wilderness. It is one of the few remaining large wilderness areas in the midwest. It also has the largest virgin hardwood-hemlock forests in the U.S. Many trees are over 200 years old, in an area where less than 1% of the virgin forests remain. Ever since I first learned of this park I've wanted to go and backpack some of it's 80+ miles of backcountry trails.

We attempted it the first time maybe four years ago on a Memorial Day weekend. We got our backcountry permit, drove to the trailhead. Before I had my pack out of the car I had 2 blackfly bites and a mosquito bite. It wasn't to be. We decided to day hike and return home. The bugs were too thick.

I've always maintained that the Superior Hiking Trail along the North Shore of Lake Superior is the most scenic backpacking you'll find in the midwest. This trip changed that view. There are options. This parks unbelievably beautiful scenery and virgin forests rivals many National Parks. In the last ten years I've backpacked over 3,000 miles in more than 20 states. This trip was one of the best. There are a lot of pictures in this post. I'll let them do most of the talking.

DAY ONE
We had the dog with us. We kept the miles to a minimum with a hot weekend expected. Dash doesn't do well in hot weather and we've never had him out on anything but an overnighter in the past. There are enough trails and backcountry sites that we didn't set a firm itinerary. We decided to make it up as we went. Backcountry sites con't be reserved. It's a first come, first serve basis. Although you do need a backcountry permit.

The first couple of days I didn't take many pictures. We had cloudless skies for most of the time. But the canopy of the virgin forests cut out a lot of light. It felt like nighttime much of the time. It was hard to take pictures in that lighting...at least with my limited photography skills.

Dash took every opportunity to cool off in every stream, river, lake and mud hole.

This is the Trap Falls. A beautiful spot in a ravine with towering trees all around.

The view from Government Peak at 1850'. That's about 1250' above Lake Superior a few miles away.

The first night we camped at this backcountry site just below Government peak. We slept both nights without our tent fly. We had a magnificent view of the stars through the trees all night.

On the map it looked like there should be a small pond here. It turned out to be a very wet meadow with a small stream running down the center. Good enough to filter water from.

The fire ring at this site. We didn't make use of it. We tend to only have fires when it's cold out.

DAY TWO:

The forecast called for temps in the upper eighties. We decided to take the shortest route to the Lake of the Clouds area. It's a holiday weekend with lots of backcountry users. There were 5 campsites around Lake of the Clouds. We figured they'd fill quickly. We thought we could head over that way, try to get a site and then dayhike from there.

The five miles over to the lake were mostly downhill in more virgin woods. What a thrill it was to walk in these old woods. It is so different than any woods I've ever been in. I was filled with a sense of awe the entire time.
Dash always leads the way. This is a bridge across the Big Carp River at the western end of Lake of the Clouds. We are only 3/4 of a mile from the Lake of the Clouds overlook. The bridges are always bigger when in reach of dayhikers.

We took a side trail to four of the campsites. The first three were set in the trees just above the lake. We arrived around 11 in the morning. To our surprise the first three were empty. The trail got a little more vague. But we kept going, maybe a full 1/2 mile from the start of the side trail, for what seemed like forever. We finally reached the last campsite, also vacant. What we discovered was a huge surprise. It was the best campsite we have ever scored!! We never seem to get the good sites to begin with. This site was on a small wooded piece of shoreline that jutted out into the lake. Triangle shaped with sandy shoreline all the way around. It also had a nice breeze blowing through it that was keeping the bugs down. We would both agree this was the best backcountry campsite we had ever stayed at. It was spectacular!!

The view to the east from the campsite.

The view to the north.

The view to the west.

North again.

East again. Dash did a lot of cooling down in this lake. It must have been deep, because it wasn't particularly warm.

And another view to the west. The highest point in the right of the picture is where there is a overlook. People can drive out to that point. We would later do a dayhike up to that spot and hike some of the ridge to the west.

A wet, happy dog.

A view form the Lake of the Clouds overlook.

Susan with Dash. We would hike a mile out the ridge behind her before heading back to camp.

That's me.

We were back to camp by 3:30. We did something we're not very good at. We lounged around the rest of the day. I went swimming. That felt great in the hot weather. After dinner we set up our chairs and watched the sun set. Another nice thing about this park is it's lack of big metro areas nearby and lack of roads. It is as peaceful and quiet as the Grand Canyon or the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.

DAY THREE:

We set up our chairs on the other side of our campsite for the sunrise.
Today we would be crossing to the other side of the lake and walking the Escarpment Trail.

The day before we could see people up on the trail from our campsite on the other side of the lake. Little did we know how incredible the hike would be.
Spectacular views most of the way.

With the heat also came some haze. It didn't lessen the awe inspiring views one bit.

See that small triangular shaped piece of land sticking out into the lake. That's where the campsite was that we stayed at. Best backcountry site EVER!

There you have it. I can't even begin to describe the day. The pictures will have to do. I think we'll be back. We left a lot of trails to discover. There's a whole shoreline trail along Lake Superior. Based on the number of backcounrty sites along the trail, it must be quite popular. And, fall would be a great time to be in these woods. It would be breathtaking in peak colors. Plus the North Country Trail cuts through the southwest corner of the park.

Put this part of the world on your must see list if you ever plan to be in the area.