Following the Blue Blaze - Trip Notes #6

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10/10/15 Day 22 Hiking Day 16

The sound of a train horn woke me up early but I went back to sleep until 7:15am. It felt good to sleep in and I didn’t have to be on the trail early because I only had about five miles to get to Hwy 2 and the Reeves Road parking lot. It was an easy walk even though I had to traverse a wet snowmobile trail, which got my boots damp again. I met Maureen just before noon – it was good to see her again. She brought plenty of supplies and a cold beer, which didn’t last long. She also brought lunch and that along with the snack and beer I had already consumed made for a tired sleepy hike in the afternoon. With only 52 miles to go, I had decided to finish with only three more nights on the trail. The trail was drier in the afternoon and with only five more miles to go I took it easy and enjoyed the lovely unseasonably warm weather. The temps were in the 70s and it felt like summer. I saw a number of people on the trail but I arrived at Stewart River camp to find it empty. This is a beautiful camp in the maples with the relaxing sound of the river. There were lots of mosquitoes out which is crazy for October 10. I wonder how bad they are here in the summer. Could not pick up any playoff baseball on the radio. I listened to the Wild hockey game. It was a warm evening with a warm day predicted tomorrow. Three more hiking days to home.



10/11/15 Day 23 Hiking Day 17

Warm overnight which made for comfortable sleeping. Packed up a dry tent, had breakfast and was on the trail by 8am. First four miles went quick – about 1.5 hours. Saw a guy cleaning a grouse he had shot along the trail. Chatted for a while and walked the short distance back to his camp to chat with he and his wife. He really wanted to show the “through hiker” to his wife. I felt like some kind of rare species. Thad and Lynelle from the Twin Cities love to hike the SHT and Thad loves to grouse hunt. They cook the grouse by wrapping them in aluminum foil with BBQ sauce and roasting them in the coals of the fire. Ran into a couple of volunteer trail maintenance guys from Rochester and Hudson, WI. That is a long way to come to maintain the SHT. I thanked them for their efforts and told them that trail maintenance was excellent along the majority of the trail. It got crazy hot in the afternoon as temps soared into the mid 80s. I saw people hiking that were wearing shorts and t-shirts. I decided to spend the night at Big Bend camp along the West Branch of the Knife River. It was a nice site with good access to the river which allowed me to take a bath and dry off in the warm sun. Again, lots of mosquitoes. Rain and high winds are forecast for tomorrow. I need to get up early and on the trail.



10/12/15 Day 24 Hiking Day 18

I could hear the wind really start to blow around 1:30am. The weather was changing from hot to cool and rainy. I slept until about 6:15am and decided to get up and going since I had a long day ahead. After packing and breakfast, I was on the trail by 7:30am. In the first quarter mile I saw a rainbow and had brief showers. After passing through that, I had a dry trail for about the first six miles. After that it was rain showers and high winds gusting to over 30mph. It was really wet and cold walking across all the clear cuts in this section. I don’t know what would have been worse, yesterday in 80+ degree heat or today wet and cold. I saw one person on the trail all day – a hunter/trapper near the Fox Farm Road trailhead. After a long hike of 17 miles, I made it to my last camp at Lone Tree. This is a vey strange camp location at the intersection of truck and ATV trails. It would have been strange to have someone drive up to my camp after so many days camping remotely where motorized vehicles are not allowed. I was happy this would be the last time I had to pump water. I had another good fire and was able to dry out my boots some. It kept drizzling so it was hard to dry socks. I had one dry pair left that I would wear on the last day. Last night sleeping on the ground for a while.



10/13/15 Day 25 Hiking Day 19

This was it, the last morning. I woke up to windy cold weather. Things were not too wet packing up and I was on the trail before 8am. It is quite a maze of trails north of Duluth. Good thing the SHT is marked very well. I made good time with minimal effort since there was a lots of snowmobile trails that were relatively level. I stopped at the Lester River snowmobile shelter for a snack and break. The trail was in and out of the woods with one large clear cut. I didn’t see anyone on the trail until I got into Duluth. Took my last snack break about a mile before Martin Road. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I got to Martin Road, which is the end for most through hikers. I still had about four miles to go to get home. The SHT follows some city streets through the Woodland and Hunters Park neighborhoods and crosses Woodland Avenue into Hartley Park. After walking some very familiar trails, I arrived home around 2:30pm after covering the final 16 miles. Feet and legs are sore but its great to be home.



That concludes my notes from my trip journal. I will be doing a few more posts starting next week describing the people I met on the trail, gear performance, food and the trail.

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Photos

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My support crew with supplies. There's a cold beer in there somewhere.

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Stewart River camp

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Lots of logging activity between Two Harbors and Duluth

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Lone Tree camp - last night on the trail

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Snowmobile trail shelter at Lester River crossing

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One of the last blue blazes I saw