Superior Hiking Trail Day 9: Wednesday, September 2

Tenting at the West Rollins Creek campsite (SHT mile 210.7), walked ~18 miles today

A thunderstorm materialized and passed directly overhead at 10:30 last night, which wasn’t in any forecast I’d read. Lost sleep while the rain was falling because 1) it’s extremely loud when even moderate rain hits a DCF tent wall a foot above your face and 2) I had pitched my Tarptent in “fair-weather mode”, meaning with a lot of space under the walls for splatter to make it in and sog up my flimsy down sleeping bag. This ended up not happening, but it wasn’t a comfortable feeling for an hour or so. Despite the break in sleep, I woke up feeling about as spry as I have all trip, which is to say, still hobbled but able to warm the motor up and move normally after a minute or two of lurching around.

The gorge of the Temperance River near its outlet at Lake Superior.

Six miles down to the Temperance River wayside flew by, with the Temperance River itself a spectacular highlight. Then it was time to stray from the true blue SHT and take a bike path into the town of Tofte, where my last resupply hopefully awaited at Sawtooth Outfitters. They did indeed have my box (it was the only one there), and they also let me charge my external battery while I re-packed my pack outside, sitting in the dirt rifling through dozens of plastic bags like a bum and alarming the fresh-out-of-the-Subaru couples who seemed like the outfitters’ main clientele this morning.

Ehrmagerd saRmornnn. This picture doesn’t do the heaping quantity any justice.

Wandered off in search of food after this and fetched up at a tidy delicatessen called the Coho Cafe. Without a doubt the happiest I’ve been on this entire trip was when they brought out the lox bagel I ordered and I saw how much lox they had put on it. This sandwich was literally overflowing, falling apart under the mass of glorious cured salmon. The bagel was what I expected for Minnesota—i.e., bread with a hole in the middle, and they pronounced it baggle—but the lox went above and beyond the call of duty. 5 stars out of 5 to the Coho Cafe, and to Tofte in general, which, despite not being much of a “town” per se, actually boasts the complete range of services a hiker could want (hotel, outfitter, general store, C-store, restaurant), all within walking distance, and that walk happens to be a quiet boardwalk along Lake Superior.

Hoofed the 3 miles back to the trail up Cook County 2, which I first passed over in a bus as a pre-freshman in college going to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the trip that started this whole Northland love affair. Now I was walking it as a filthy 32-year-old backpacker filled with salmon, getting a wide berth from the few passing cars. Once back on the trail, I stopped at a campsite after only a mile and a half to dry out some gear (tent, groundsheet, bandanas) in the sun and mingle with the good people who were around ... they were Julia, Mackey, plus Mike and his family from Watertown SD, and it was one of the few extended social interactions I’ve had with anyone this whole trail. Eventually had to break it off and make more miles, rolling into this site at 6. For the third night of the past four, I’m all alone—tent is in a grove of old-growth white cedar trees, a really good spot for riding out the rain that is supposed to return tonight. Today in general was refreshing after so many solo, hard-driving days. The latter is probably what awaits me, however, as I push to finish by Sunday.

The water discoloration in the streams up here is highly suspect.

Setting up the tarptent in a white cedar grove—if only all campsites could be so naturally sheltered and soft underfoot.