Following the Blue Blaze - Trip Notes #2

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9/22/15 Day 4 Hiking Day 4

Woke up at Kimball Creek camp to another beautiful day. It was warm overnight and I slept until 7am. I’m starting to get in to a packing routine, which consists of packing clothes and sleeping stuff first thing when I get up. I then pack up the tent and load everything in the pack except food and cookware which go in last. After a breakfast of oatmeal and tea, the food is packed and its time to hit the trail. All this usually takes about 60 – 90 minutes. This stretch of SHT is really nice without the mud from yesterday. Great vistas of Lake Superior throughout a string of grassy meadows. Called Maureen from one of the meadows – it is good to hear her voice. I wish she could share this experience with me but realize the hardships may be too much. Feet are still very sore with heel blisters on both feet. Going downhill hurts the most. Had another easy day with only about 11 miles covered to West Devil Track River camp. This is a large well used site with room for many tents. I had it all to myself. The bridge across the river allows hikers to see right into the camp. I talked to a younger couple from Thunder Bay who were heading out for a trail run from the Woods Creek parking lot. They hired daycare in Grand Marais for their two year old so they could run one of the sections of the SHT. We chatted about my through hike and they had lots of questions. I also talked to Travis from Virginia, MN who was on day 18 of a south to north through hike. He was the only other through hiker that I talked to on my trip. He talked about some challenges of staying dry on rainy days. He also took a night off trail at Lutsen that he said was wonderful to sleep in a bed and get a shower. Listened to the weather radio and the forecast is calling for a couple days of rain. The radio also has AM/FM and I was able to listen to some of the Twins game until the signal faded. Found out later in a text from Heather that they won.



9/23/15 Day 5 Hiking Day 5

Woke up at West Devil Track River camp to light rain at 5:30am. It stopped raining when I decided to get up. I did a quick pack up and hit the trail. The day started with a couple of steep climbs and then some nice flat stretches and onto the Pincushion ski trails. After crossing the Gunflint Trail, I had another steep climb. For the top of the hill I called my Mom and found out it was raining heavily in Duluth. During our conversation, I did hear a rumble of thunder. I also talked to my son Erik about our rendezvous plans for our upcoming BWCA canoe trip. I told him my goal was to get to the Caribou Trail by Friday 9am. We talked about food and gear details and he said our friend Eric would not be able to make as he was dealing with aging parent issues. That is a common theme for people our age that still have parents with us. I told Erik that if weather slowed me down we would meet at the Cascade River wayside rest. I continued hiking with darkening skies. I was on the portion of the SHT north of Grand Marais that follows a snowmobile trail when I heard voices coming the other way. It was five women from the Twin Cities that were day hiking the SHT one section at a time and staying in fancy resorts. When they found out I was through hiking they started firing questions at me quickly – “Are you afraid of bears? What do you sleep on? What do you eat? Is your pack heavy?” I told them it really wasn’t very complicated, just take the minimal camping supplies and have people resupply me with food along the route. I told them of the rain coming our way and they headed off toward Pincushion parking lot. About another mile up the trail and it started raining. The trail was pretty level and I made good time to Bally Creek. I decided to push on to North Cascade River camp. I got very wet in the heavy rain and my feet were soaked from the wet trail. I camped at North Cascade River camp which is another large heavily use camp. You had to walk about 300 yards down a very slippery steep hill to get water from the river. Since my trail clothes were wet and it was still raining lightly, I cooked a quick dinner before dark and then hit the tent just after dark. I was having second thoughts about pushing to the Caribou Trail because of wet gear and clothes and my desire to see the next beautiful section of trail in better weather. I would decide tomorrow. I made about 16 miles today despite hiking about half of it in the rain.



9/24/15 Day 6 Hiking Day 6

I woke up to rain and decided to cook breakfast in the tent vestibule. The rain let up while I packed up wet. I could definitely tell the difference in the weight of the pack. Putting on wet clothes was no fun. I had decided to camp just five miles down the Cascade River at Trout Creek camp and then walk about 1.5 miles to the Cascade Restaurant and get a hot meal, cold beer and dry out some. That plan was changed when I found out the Trout Creek bridge was out and with the heavy rain the day before, I wasn’t going to chance a wet crossing. The alternative was to go down the trail on the west side of the Cascade River. The official SHT goes down the east side of the Cascade River but the west side is well used since it is used as a loop route for day hikers. By having to take the west side, there wasn’t a campsite close enough to set up camp and walk to the restaurant and back in a timely fashion. So I was back to my original plan to head for the Caribou Trail. The west side trial on the Cascade turned out to be the worst trail of the entire trip. I’m sure the wet conditions were a large factor but the trail is severely eroded and there are roots and rocks everywhere and the terrain is very rough. It was a really slow careful hike along the river that ended in “96 steps” going up. At least the wooden steps weren’t too slippery. After that the trail headed back up the hill to a place called Lookout Mountain. In the fog I couldn’t see really far but could see the mist from the Cascade rising in the distance. I left a phone message for Erik that I would be at the Caribou Trail the next day. I also left a phone message update for Maureen on my progress and plans. Wet feet made progress painful this day. I stopped at Indian Creek camp and decided to push on. It was disappointing to hike this section of trail and not be able to see much from the overlooks. I had been through this section ten years ago and knew what I was missing. I decided to camp at Spruce Creek which sits low among the spruce and cedars. It’s a decent camp but the wet conditions made it dreary. With a constant dripping from the cedars, I set up a tarp over the bench to be able to cook and listen to a ballgame while not getting any wetter. Some pea soup, tea and cheese and crackers improved my mood. I covered about 12 miles today. I need to get an early start to make the 3.6 miles to the Caribou Trail by our 9:30am meeting time.

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Photos

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Devil Track River camp

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Mist from the Cascade River

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Spruce Creek camp