As we wrap up hiking this gorgeous trail called the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) we had two very interesting “hikes”. One was along the Kadunce River gorge. We have rarely walked a formal trail under these conditions. Actually, the gorge walk was parallel to the spur trail that led us up to our hike on the SHT.
Laurie is thinking to herself…..Should we really do this…..Heck yeah!Roy found a nice dry spot to admire the photographer.We couldn’t imagine what would happen when all that cliff side rock comes tumbling down.Such a beautiful trail to walk up.
Our first attempt at using the “panorama” feature on our camera. The water must have been flowing hard to erode that cave Laurie is standing in.Roy had finally had enough of the beautiful gorge but to get out, we had to scale this almost vertical wall of rock fragment.
The other strange hike recently was along the actual shore of Lake Superior. Lots of really coarse sand (stones really) and many rocky outcrops. One and a half miles of really tough but absolutely gorgeous hiking.
We found a group of hiking Boy Scouts to take our picture in front of Lake Superior.No….this island is not actually on the trail but we are and it was only a short swim if the water was not in the 50sThose pebbles are really hard to walk on. It was futile to try to take the pebbles out of our boots until the end of the lake walk.The hiking poles do not help when hiking on REALLY coarse sand.Always liked the challenge of skipping a stone into a lake.The rock piles called “cairns” usually show a hiker the trail in poor visibility or high altitude where no trees grow for blazing. Not sure why they were needed when the trail goes along the lakeshore?The solid rock at points along the shore of Lake Superior was much easier to walk on. Still had to be careful not to slip though.
That wrapped up our 1.5 mile lake walk on a beautiful and sunny day.
We have been slowly working our way northward on this wonderful trail. Many awesome views of Lake Superior as expected. Many views of inland lakes/ponds as there is much beaver activity around here and Minnesota is called “the land of 10,000 lakes”! We have run into two different (we think) bear and many moose prints and scat piles but Bullwinkle is still being elusive. We did hear a cow moose (we figure) calling for a mate yesterday. I tried to entice it but with no luck. Could it tell I was not a male? We are 225 miles into the 310 mile trail and plan on another week or two to finish it up before heading westward on our adventure.
Here are some pictures of things we have seen the past few weeks:
What an awesome view of Bean Lake we had for about 1/2 hour as we hiked by.The very happy couple found someone to take their picture at an overlookBean and Bear Lakes near Silver Bay, Minnesota.A sample of what Laurie has to look at each time I hike UP in front of her.This was a “standard” view when the trail is not opening up to Lake Superior.
Same light, different person and, actually, a different day as we must use each trail head one day to start and the next day to end.Walking “into the light” at the end of a tunnel. Always wondered what the expression “light at the end of the tunnel” signified. Here it is!Nice spot for a lunch or just to relax.One of the many bridge designs we found on the SHT. Turns out, Laurie walked over all of them.. Here is proof.
The SHT does not really use these lean-to structures for sleeping but for a temporary respite from a storm. There are many really cool backwoods bivouacs on the trail for camping.One of my favorite lunch spots so far on the trail. Looking at the river you would never guess it has been a dry summer here on the North Shore.Absolutely wonderful view upstream from a creek crossing.A view of the “elusive” Minnesota Route 61 as it snakes its way along the coast of the big lake.A peaceful view with what we will call a “sun rainbow” peaking out.Laurie gives height perspective to the chimney rocks near the Split Rock State ParkThere he is!Where is Dando?Can you find me now?Check out the lake fog rolling into the hills of the North Shore over the tread of the SHT
This bridge made me feel like an old man trying to get across. Don’t think it was designed that way.That puts a wrap on today’s blog entry!
To cross or not to cross…..Or….Why did the hiker cross the closed road?Notice the name of the trail head we are trying to reach: Sucker River!
A few days ago we accessed a trail head right where a major bridge had been washed away by a storm sometime in the recent past. Our hike went nicely but the next day, in order to access that same trail head and continue to the next one there was no way to get the truck or scooter across the river. Our Plan: park the scooter on the other side of the river (the same side as the trail path for the successive day’s hike) and when we “popped” out at the trail head we would “trespass” through the construction zone and “walk the plank” the workers put across the river to get from one set of machinery to the other.
As I ponder: “Is this a good idea?”Nobody seems to be looking so here goes nothing!Boy are those cranes big!End of the road……or is it?Looks like that plank was there just for us to “walk”I figure if it holds me, Laurie will be no problem!Anyone see me do that?Looking back at the scene of the crime.Funny….that machine was not here when we left our scooter here?Our savior awaits. It played by the rules and didn’t enter the construction zone.I guess if the road is closed on one side, it must be closed on the other.
A local construction company has this for a lawn ornament. An old crane holding up a defunct lawn tractor.
Seeing this on the way to the hike made us wonder if we should “test the waters” of the area.
After a long day of hiking it is sheer luxury to hop on a motorized bike and cruise back to our truck.
In case any of you were wondering how we get back to our vehicle after a long hike…..The motor scooter is our vehicle of choice during this trip.
Tough to see but we purchased special straps that keep it very steady in the bed of the truck.
We have used our tandem bicycle on trips like the Appalachian Trail near the Skyline Drive as it is a straight, albeit hilly, shot from one trail head to the other. On the Finger Lakes Trail we usually choose our separate mountain bikes as there are many dirt DEC roads the tandem would not like. On the Appalachian Trail in the state of Maine we used two vehicles as the logistics and distance involved there prevented any sane person from biking 30 miles after hiking 15.
Transporting the scooter is not as difficult as we once imagined. It weighs almost 400 pounds soaking wet so lifting it is not an option. We initially had two 10 inch by 10 foot folding ramps but found them to be too skinny for safety sake. It would suck to slip off one and lose the scooter. We upgraded to two 18 inch by 10 foot ramps that strap to the ball of the hitch for safety. Below are some pics of the uploading and downloading of the scooter (are those real words in the scooter world?)
Occasionally we run a cable lock through the rear wheel. Most areas we leave the scooter we feel are safe but this was not a parking area and on a dirt road way in the middle of nowhere.
And back in the truck ready for another day of hiking!
We have been hiking 7-10 miles per day on most days for the past few weeks and have completely fallen in love with this trail. After 135 miles we have run out of expletives to describe the beautiful views and sights to each other. Below are a number of our favorite pictures so far. Many of the pictures do not do the scene justice but you can get a feel for what we are looking at each day.
The happy couple on a drizzly and 58 degree day in Northern Minnesota. What happens when it rains and you are hiking?? You get wet!What a luxurious road crossing here near Duluth. No dodging cars/trucks here.This is the way the Superior Hiking Trail folks mark their trail heads. So clearly done we haven’t got lost once (yet).Hopefully there is some moss gathered on this stone because if it were rolling Laurie would be in trouble.One of MANY ponds the SHT provides a view of. Not very big compared to Lake Superior but sooooo beautiful.The St. Louis River seen from the trail has one of the largest fresh water deltas in the world.You can check out the history and background of this amazing river at the Wikipedia site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_RiverOne reason we chose the SHT as a starting point for our retirement journey was the many promised lake views it affords while traversing the “hills” on the North Shore. That speck in the middle is a 1000 foot freighter called a laker.There have been countless waterfalls and deep gorges to walk through and have a wonderful trail lunch by.We would love to have been at places like this during the Spring runoff.
That Spring runoff plays havoc with trails such as the SHT: One day we walked by 3 bridges that had recently been swept away by a large rain storm. At least the designer of the bridges “tied” them up to nearby trees with cables to keep them from wandering too far.The picture does not do justice to the amount of erosion that recently happened here. Those who experienced the floods of 2006 and 2011 in the Binghamton area know what we are talking about.There are many nice spots to re-tie our shoes when necessary.
The SHT provides many nice puncheons to walk on through either muddy areas or areas that look nicer when the hiker stays on the trail.We have birch trees in the Northeast but Minnesota seems to have many more. They are our favorite trees to walk through.We noticed that in many locations the birch trees all seemed to be sheared off toward the top? Not sure why but very interesting to look at.Not sure about the engineering of this bridge but I trusted it enough to let Laurie cross first and take this picture. It is holding up nicely but it is very skewed to the left.
It took us a moment to realize it here but our ride home, our scooter, is waiting in the parking area across the road from this beautiful home. We find it amazing to be able to see where you have been recently on a hike and, sometimes, where you will soon be.
For all who have never heard about it, the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) winds its way for 310 miles from Duluth, Minnesota all the way up the North Shore of Lake Superior to Canada. Twelve years ago while bicycling around the lake we noticed signage that made us aware of the trail’s existence. To kick off our retirement we decided to hike the entire SHT. This will allow us to experience a hiking trail that is different than the Finger Lakes Trail in NY (FLT) or the Appalachian Trail (AT) on the east coast. It will also allow me to shed some of those unwanted pounds that seem to creep onto my body during the academic year while teaching.
You can see that the SHT parallels the shores of Lake Superior rather closely. This affords the hiker awesome lake views from time to time.This is the book we use to get to and from one trail head to another. We purchased it at www.shta.org.
The folks that designed the SHT figured that it should start at the Minnesota-Wisconsin border and head north from there. To do this we had to hike “out and back” to the terminus 1.9 miles each way. This means you only get 1.9 miles of hiking credit but 3.8 miles of caloric burn credit. When we got to the border there was a bit of signage signifying the spot but the big deal was the sign that said “NO TRAIL BEYOND THIS POINT”. We supposed that at some point they would connect the SHT to a trail in Wisconsin? We also signed into the trail register there and have not found another single register box on the trail to date.
A trail that dead-ends in the woods?If you cannot read the chicken scratch in the trail register…..”Roy and Laurie Dando beginning our end to end hike of the SHT. 10 miles a day gets us to Canada in a month or so. Lots of bugs but what a beautiful trail.”A selfie of us at the official southern terminus of the SHT. Who needs a selfie stick?
We have planned on leaving our bullet at many trail-heads and possibly using those locations as a place to camp at night. Usually we can get a feel for whether the area is safe and welcoming. The last thing we want to do is get someone aggravated at us for parking our camper where it is not welcome.
Wild Valley Trail Head was home for a few days.
Spending an evening at a trail head can be a bit eerie when you hear those “bump in the nights”. Wonder if it could have been a bear leaving his/her calling card right outside our bullet camper?
For any animal scat aficianados: We figure this to be black bear scat. Either that or one heck of a big dog as I wear a size 11 shoe!
