Superior Hiking Trail Day 10: Thursday, September 3

Tenting at the North Cascade River campsite (SHT mile 234.5), walked 23.8 miles today

Was sheltered very well overnight from rain and wind by the stand of white cedars (at least I think that’s what they were ... there was an informative sign about them a few miles earlier at a trailhead), and slept unbroken til about 6:30. Hit the road around 7:15 only to discover that the gales of November had come early—the forest was heaving with wind and it was awfully loud, and also not really a warm wind, and when I found cell reception I learned that the whole North Shore was under a gale warning all day. Thanks to the slashin’ winds, the weather stayed ridiculously inconsistent all day, going from the most brilliant blue-skied clear slanted light the world has ever seen to gray sprinkles and back again every half hour or so.

Poplar River under the fickle skies.

Climbed first thing up to where the trail passes near the Lutsen ski gondola, but I didn’t take it and I doubt it was running today anyway due to the hurricane west wind. Sobo thru-hikers had mentioned availing themselves of burgers at the restaurant at the bottom, and I might have been tempted on another day. But today: MILES. There were miles to make. It was generally easy to make them, except when the trail got bogged down in shoe-sucking mud, which it did frequently, or was blocked by deadfall. Spent at least 15 minutes in the afternoon figuring out how to get past a single fallen tree. Spent 100% of the day with wet feet thanks to the mud.

Lake agnes, a classic northcountry affair. Note the beginnings of fall color in some of the treetops.

Took few breaks today; one for snacks at a campsite, one in an unmarked shelter to wait out rain, one by the side of the Cascade Creek to cook dinner before the final four miles to this campsite. Those four miles were so dastardly steep, muddy and rooty that they took me over two hours. As a result of ending with the hardest section of the day by far, I fairly staggered into this campsite, and wished I could’ve talked to my fellow campers but I lacked the energy. Tomorrow is an important day because somewhere along the ol’ dusty trail I should run into Dana and Barley, who parked at the northern terminus and started hiking south. They have a car key to give me so that when I get to the end I have an escape. Let’s hope no one is off pooping in the woods at the crucial moment when we pass each other.

Typically adventurous SHT boardwalk. Don’t slip off one of those slanted parts, or the beavers’ll get ya. A pack of them can strip the flesh off an adult human in less than 15 minutes.