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.