These past four days on trail have been the absolute bomb. I’m in a rhythm, I’m hiking cool trails, I’m meeting interesting people. Best of all, I’m really putting down the miles. By the time you read this, it’s pretty possible that I’m already in Grand Marais!
I know at the start of this blog I made this whole thru hike sound pretty miserable. That’s in part because it was (at least those first few days), but I think I just needed some time to really start feeling myself on trail.
Nowadays, there will be miles at a time where I hike the whole thing smiling because I’m just so grateful to be out here and for the life I’m able to live. That’s the most hippie thing I’ve written in this blog (possible ever) but it’s true. The SHT just has me in a good mood!
That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges, though. The bugs are still very much bugging, and the terrain hasn’t been easy (very far from it, in fact). Still, I’m glad to be out here and I’m glad to be making progress north.
Starting from the top…
Day 8: Restock and Manitou State Park
I spent the morning in Finland restocking. They have a small Co-Op as the only grocery, so I was initially worried about my options. However, they ended up having everything I needed, and I mean everything. The place was stocked with groceries, clothes, auto supplies, yard equipment, etc etc. I was incredibly impressed that they were able to fit so much into such a small space, to be honest.
Mostly I bought food. I stuck to the things that had been working; more pop tarts, more MnMs.
A couple of true highlight purchases: dehydrated Chili, which I could mix with boiling water for dinner. I’d been looking for something a bit heartier than ramen, and this fit the bill. Also, I grabbed some “Prairie Heat” cheddar cheese with peppers, as well as some Triscuts to enjoy it with. One of the hiking tips that I live and die by is that you can keep cheese in room temp for WAY longer than the FDA says you can, as long as things are airtight. Fortunately i’ve been mostly living by it rather than dying, as getting food poisoned to would be less than ideal. I just love my cheese, man, what can I say.
Above all, however, the best purchase I made was my Swamp Gator bug spray. Bugs have been a problem like I knew they’d be. Unfortunately, my Prometherin spray down before hiking hasn’t really worked as well as I had hoped (I’m sure you’ve noticed just how often I complain about the bugs).
Swamp Gator is the fix for this. I had to pick a non DEET spray, because DEET melts a hole bunch of my gear. This stuff was literally the only option without DEET in the store. I picked it out and was admittedly a little skeptical about it. Wouldn’t you be? How well can soybean oils and peppermint work when compared to actual carcinogenic chemicals?
Pretty well, apparently. I’m breaking the narrative flow to say that I eventually figured out that if I just DOUSE myself in the stuff it keeps bugs from being able to find me. Mosquitos will still bite me if they’re around, so it doesn’t offer much protection when I stand still for a long time and the mosquitos just happen to fly by. However, it does stop them from chasing me through the woods (which they did a lot the first few days.) As long as I keep moving and regularly bathe myself in Swamp Gator, I’m close to bug free. Yay.
Anywho, the walk out of Finland was initially pretty boring. I hiked through a couple clear cut sections that were incredibly sunny. Luckily my sunscreen and hoodie combo seemed to hold up, so no burns.
There was also a short reroute around a downed bridge that had me saying “come on I totally could have forded that river”. It’s worth noting that it hasn’t rained once since the first two days, so a lot of the once raging water sources are starting to calm down. I know there’s an iffy river ford sometime in the future (pincushion mountain area). People have advised hitching around it, but low key if the weather holds I might just go for it.
After a couple miles of hiking I was surprised to come across a sign for the George H Crosby Manitou state park. I hadn’t realized that the SHT wound back into a state park so soon! Still, as I’ve mentioned before, state park sections area lot of fun. State funding and higher foot traffic usually means better trail quality. Also, people (usually) don’t build state parks for nothing so there’s often a good view.
GHCM State Park did not disappoint. It featured beautiful gorges and rivers. The trail hiked along the river for a ways and crossed right over Caribou falls (I think, there have been many rivers and I’m starting to get them mixed up). I’m learning that I really like running water. Great for morale to hike alongside rivers.
Unfortunately, this was then followed by the single WORST climb of this entire trip. Bottom of the valley, at the river all the way up to the ridge line took place over less than a quarter of a mile. I seriously think the trail climbed more height than it travelled in horizontal distance, and it switchbacked exactly twice, almost as an afterthought. For the most part, it just went straight up the hill. It had me laid out on my back with my pack off, gasping for air.
Fortunately it was pretty flat the rest of the way to my camp at Horseshoe Ridge. The sun setting over the mountains was really pretty, and for once the smoke actually helped the view by making everything a beautiful red.
I did hear something big go crashing through the undergrowth as I was taking one of my sunset photos. It sounded like a bear from the grunts it made, but could have been anything big. Moose, maybe?
Either way, it was a good reminder to practice my bear saftey. I’d heard that someone had food dragged out of their tent by a bear at one East Caribou River, which was literally the next camp over, so that didn’t help my anxiety either.
On a more positive note, I got to try my chili! It lived up to the hype. I just combined it with boiling water in a bag and let it soak while I set up camp. As a result of doing this I now have microplastics in my blood, but hey. The chili was good, and I already had microplastics in my blood. I’ll take the trade off.
Day 9: The Prettiest Day On Trail
Day 9 was possibly the coolest day I had on trail. Just so full of fun things.
It did start a bit rough, being the first dry start all hike. Most camps are by creeks or ponds, but Horseshoe Ridge was, unsurprisingly, a ridge. That meant that all the water was down in the valley and i had to hike a couple miles before refilling my water. Fortunately, almost as soon as I got lower the trail started to follow a river again. That was good, because I do not have any more than two liters of water carry capacity (my two water bottles). The PCT would kill me.
The first big thing to happen was lunch at the beaver pond. As stated by the name, it was a pond made by beavers. I got to see one, which I think is my first time spotting them in the wild. Exciting.
I also met Anna, a soon to be lawyer who was doing a short section hike before taking the bar in September. It was cool to talk to her because I too am someone who’s planning to eventually do law and using their last free and jobless summer to go hiking. Cool to see what my life might be like a little further down the line.
Immediately after I met Nick, who was even more of a parallel. We’d both started on the 21st, but he was hiking southbound. More crazy, he’d decided to skip section A just like me (we both hate concrete, I guess). He was also a runner in high school, apparently (although he sprinted, not quite as cool as us distance runners).
We had a good chat, and he told me that I was a little over 100 miles away from the northern terminus of his watch was correct. This was exciting, exciting news.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty low key, mostly repping out flat-ish miles on good trail. There were some cool moments: the trail crossed over an old railroad track, where you could see really far in either direction. There was also another bridge outage detour, but luckily the water was low enough here that I was able to rock hop across. I kept seeing tracks that I thought were moose, but could’ve been anything. A really fat deer isn’t off the table.
Things started to get really cool as I entered my second state park in just as many days: Temperance River. The Temperance River reminds me in no way of temperance or moderation: it’s a giant rushing torrent that violently blasts through the gorge it’s in. That does, however, make for some cool waterfalls.
Honestly this might be my favorite stretch of the hike so far. The sun was going down, the sky was bright red. The trail was easy to follow (yay state park) and so all I had to do was walk along the river and take in the sights. It was by far the prettiest day on trail, and maybe my favorite too.
I wish I was a bit better at photography because man, some of these would be amazing polaroids:
I also got to see one of the funniest state sponsored signs I’ve ever seen.
I reached Temperance River State Park and crashed hard. I love state park campgrounds.
Also, side tangent: the way the sun sets has been really throwing me off. Michigan is on the far western end of the eastern time zone, so the sun sets really late for us. Minnesota is central time, so the sun starts setting way earlier. However, because I’m so far north, the days are super long so the sunset takes significantly longer too.
The effect is that the sun starts to “set” at around 5pm and keeps setting until things actually get dark at 8:40ish. Like, my brain will say “ooh, golden light filtering through the trees. Must be bedtime soon.” and then it’s still just 5pm. It definitely taken some time to adjust.
Also my body wakes up at exactly 8:20 on the dot every morning. I’ve tried rolling over but whenever I’m able to successfully go back to sleep it just means that the clock hasn’t hit 8:20 yet. I have no clue what to do about this it’s just an extra fun fact.
Anyways.
Day 10: Cheese Day
This day started off almost as pretty as the previous night. My camp at Temperance River backed right up to Lake Superior, so I had an amazing view that was only slightly impacted by the wildfire smoke. I think this might’ve been the clearest day on trail, but the smoke fluctuates even hour to hour so I’m not 100% sure.
The trail followed the Temperance River back up and out of the state park and into the mountains. It was a lot more of the same: hike up a hill, follow the ridge line, hike down a hill to cross a stream, repeat. Not that I’m complaining. The trails were high quality and it gave me time to think, which is kind of why I’m out here (one of the reasons, at least).
People have asked me what I think about while I walk. It’s pretty common for people to bring audiobooks or podcasts on their phones to listen to on these kind of hikes, but I’ve chosen not to do that. On a longer trail I might eventually cave and buy earbuds, but I have plenty to think about still even as I near the 200 mile mark.
I think about life. I think about my goals and who I want to be. I think about mistakes I’ve made in the past and how to handle them. I think about God. I think about the state of the world and the future.
I’m yet to have any big “aha” moment where the sun flashes on my silhouette as I crest over a hill and everything suddenly makes sense. It’s more been a series of small realizations that build upon each other. I’m not the same person I was when I came on trail, and I think it’s for the better. I feel less worried about things that don’t matter and more motivated to work on the things that do. Hoped it holds when I’m back in the stress of modern society.
Anywho, I also saw a giant mushroom.
The highlight of day 10 was undoubtedly the cheese. I’d bought it in Finland, and had been saving it as a morale booster for the middle days of the hike to Grand Marais. Today was one of those middle days, so when I stopped for lunch I got to dig in to my cheese.
I chose to stop, by the way, on the bridge over the Onion River. This bridge apparently has structural damage (according to the sign) and would wobble back and forth whenever I moved my weight. It was sketchy, but there mo bugs so it was worth the risk.
The cheese and triscuts were great. I almost felt sophisticated and high society, but I haven’t been hiking with a knife so I was either trying to cut the cheese with ten triscuts (to mixed results) or just biting off bits of cheese from the block. Not super classy, but it’s still tasted great. I ate like 500 calories of cheese alone, which fueled me all the way to my camp site.
To be honest a pretty quiet day altogether. I camped at Mystic Mountain, which is one of the SHT campsites (most of the sites I’ve mentioned have been SHT maintained. They’re usually just off the trail. They’re great, mostly because they’re free). The most mystic thing about the mountain was the mystery of how the hell could there be so many mosquitos. Otherwise, no complaints. I slept like a rock.
Day 11: The Longest Day
The good news is the heat wave seems to be over and it’s getting into the 50s at night, which makes the bugs either asleep or just not active in the morning. This means I can usually pack up my stuff unbothered and get on the trail (after eating a cliff bar or two and shooting my Mio electrolyte caffeine mix theme hard liquor.)
Today I knew I was going to have to go far. I wanted the next day to be an easy hike into Grand Marais (less than 10) and I still had around 35 miles to go. Doing the math, it meant that I’d be hiking at least 25 miles today.
Things did not start out flat. Before noon I’d climbed to the top of one of the peaks (I honestly don’t know which one, there have been a LOT of named mountains). I got one of my favorite shots of the landscape before winding back down into the lowlands. There was also a SHT logbook which I signed at the peak.
The trail then passed around Agnes lake, where I signed a second logbook and got some more photos. While I had my backpack off, some kid who was hiking the other way saw it sitting in the bushes. He didn’t see me I guess, because he loudly exclaimed to his parents “what a stupid place to leave a backpack”. It was a truly humbling moment.
After that I kept pushing on to Cascade River state park, which was yet another beautiful waterfall and river section. The only bad news was that the trail detoured down to the visitor center to avoid a bridge outage. I never saw the fallen bridge, so I don’t even know if this detour was necessary. It’s also possible I just got lost and ended up hiking a spur trail for a few miles, I won’t lie.
Whatever the reason, I added an extra two-ish miles to my course. Normally not terrible, but I was trying to really push mileage today. It put me in a pretty bad mood.
The upside was there was another SHT logbook that I got to sign. That’s three in one day! It really did make me feel like I was flying.
I’ve learned that as long as I have calories in my stomach I’m good to keep hiking. This means that on really long days, I’ll stop for dinner and then put my boots back on and keep going. That’s exactly what I did as I left the state park. By this point I’d already done 21 miles (over my daily average) so my body definitely thought I was going to set up camp. I did not, in fact, set up camp.
Instead, I re laced my boots and kept pushing. I knew that there were campsites six miles away. Doable, but it was already 6:30. That meant I’d almost definitely be hiking in the dark, which is less fun for two reason. A) it makes the rocky, technical descents into a terrifying nightmare of potential ankle sprains. B) the dark is scary.
My fears only grew as the trail basically exclusively climbed as the sun started to go down. My camp that I was pushing to was called South Bally Creek, which meant that it was by a creek. Creeks are generally down in the ravines, so I knew at some point I’d have to come off the mountain. I just prayed that it wouldn’t be in the dark, and that it would be smooth trail rather than a rocky scramble.
A silver lining was that I got to hike through white and red pines. which was apparently what the forest had been before it all got logged. Nowadays they’re rare, because pine trees require a lot of light as saplings so the new birch forests choke them out and don’t let the pine groves establish themselves. It felt like walking through a time capsule to how things used to be.
It was really beautiful as the sun set, and more importantly the trees were spaced out and not too leafy, so it stayed bright for a long time.
Also fortunate: the trail wasn’t rocky. I did have to do it in the dark, and I still managed to trip over every single root, but between my poles and head lamp there were no catastrophic falls. I got to camp, where I was promptly swarmed by a mosquito cloud so thick it was starting to impair my vision (no joke, it was blocking my headlamp). I pitched my tent the fastest you’ve ever seen and went to sleep over the ever present hum of hungry insects.
My total distance was 27 miles on the day. I will say, I’m glad that tomorrow will be a short one into Grand Marais, because my legs are sore. Not torn, just at their limit in terms of miles. An easy day in town will be greatly appreciated.
In Conclusion…
Things have been really, really good. I’m having an amazing time, seeing amazing things and living the life I feel like I was meant to live. Something something, more purposeful and intentional living, something something, return to nature, etc. I’m having a great time.
Two other things that didn’t really fit elsewhere. First of all, my boots/socks situation has been working super well. I haven’t gotten any blisters at all (knock on wood), which is honestly crazy. Also, the reoccurring foot problems that I was worried about (mostly my pinkie toes exploding and becoming blistered messes, which has happened on shorter hikes) have just never happened. I think part of it is that I was just trying my boots too tight, causing things to rub. A snug but looser fit has worked super well. My feet are sore, don’t get me wrong, but “you walked 27 miles today” sore. Not “medical emergency” sore.
Also, I was kind of worried about sleeping before coming out on trail. Hasn’t been a problem at all. I get overwhelmingly tired at 11ish and sleep through until 8:20 no matter what. My IT band is sometimes sore, which makes side sleeping a bit uncomfortable, but I lie on my back until it stops hurting. I’ve been having full and vivid dreams, which is how you know my sleep has been good (last night I dreamt my car got stolen. Psychoanalyse that.)
Other than that all seems to be going well. Tomorrow I’ll be in Grand Marais, after that It’ll be a 3 day push to the finish line. It’s kind of crazy to think that soon this whole adventure will be over. In a way, it feels like I’m just getting started.
Oh well. I’ll get there when I get there, and ponder how it impacts the broader meaning of my life once I’m done. I really do need to shave and wash my clothes, so that’ll be nice.
See you guys soon!
(and by that I mean next time I have cell coverage).
