hello Shug here and I'm heading north on the Superior hiking trail kind of excited
because this is a section I've never done before
so what I'm trying to do is just fill in the last part this is the very northern
part of the superior hiking trail and it's the part I've never come up and
done ball is popping out here it's beautiful just finished up with summer
season I'm ready to walk so I'm gonna get to that right now whoooo buddy you
know the greatest thing about getting on the trail is that solitude you're having
and then you're out here for a couple hours you go I want to see a person I
ran into Scott right here up here from Ohio yeah yeah it was funny cuz I was
just eating lunch I thought me I want to be great to meet sug up here see him on
his videos and stuff and you know what I always got a little I run into people in
the cities and they go we always just kind of figure you live on the trail but
uh whoa buddy good to run into somebody here from Ohio thank you sir all right
man
well I got a good groove going on today I'm walking well and it took me about
four and a half hours to drive up here where I was going that diddle around in
the car a little bit figure out where I was going to park which direction I
wanted to go so I decided to head up toward the end of the trail and probably
camp on the way up tonight I was thinking maybe I get up there and head
back but I don't know the wood smell so good fall is poppin I'm just stopping to
look at a lot of stuff ran into that guy just passed two other guys I'm surprised
to see that there just started at the top and on their way down so yeah this
is a great section up here I like it a lot that fog is rolling in coming in
from the lake kind of coming over those Bluffs he's coming at me mother well
Hammond checked in with you for a while so he relay no it's about quarter to
nine and I'm crawled into my Eldorado hammock with my jacks a better light
weight 40 degree top quilt I got my wilderness logic 40 degree under quilt
Owen and covering me tonight because we have some rain man it started Thunder
and it's rain like three times it's kind of a rumbly thunder and it would rain
while I was hiking in and I've got my war bonnet mini fly over the top I'm
good to go and I'm sharing a site tonight I did past seven people on the
trail today which surprised me but I'm sharing a site with a guy named Lynx and
he's an 80 through hiker he's through hiked the Vermont long trail three times
and he just did the kick a copic trail and just finished the border route trail
today and jumped onto the superior hiking trail here and is doing that
whole trail so we shared a site and we've sat there and had some dinner and
been talking camping and trails and backpack and philosophy and that guy he
loves walking the trail he was good company tonight
so got up on the trailhead maybe about 1:30 I was trying to get up early early
and gopher went to sleep so I didn't really get up til 7:00 and got up and
you know didn't kill myself getting up here about a four hour 45 minute drive
to the trailhead out here it's a starry night with a little bit of
lightning going on so that's kind of cool
never seen that much good night everybody color NICTA are you assuming
this I got myself nine and a half hours of sleep maybe 10 it's up really good
last night so a lynx got up about first light and
packed up quietly Thank You Man if you ever see this you were very stealthy
barely heard you and I laid there pretended I was sleeping
listen until you fart and get your bear bag down and have your quiet breakfast
dinner he hit the trail and now I'm gonna head on north but you gotta take
him a time this morning a little bit hit me Medallia daughter hit my peanut
butter p.m. carrot then I'm gonna have myself a little oatmeal and a couple of
bites of some jerky bacon or bacon jerky and then get to walking looks like it's
gonna be a fine day
yes humid but Suns coming out it's kind of cool there's a good breeze up here so
I'm heading up to Otter Lake Road in the end of the trail then I'm gonna touch
the sign turn around come back kind of walking slow cuz I just don't want to
sweat as much today had a good lollygagging camp got on the trail about
9:00 boom
well I'm treating myself this trip to some Gouda cheese and my favorite little
French olives so good mmm-hmm I'm sitting there just looking out at the
fall colors out that way drying a few things out lovely little spot up here
I've been walking maybe about an hour and 15 minutes and I'm just soaking wet
from humidity not that hot and then you know actually it's getting cloudy now
slight chance of rain I don't care so I might come back out that'd be nice fall
colors popping would smell fantastic taste that olive just slightly salty
meaty mmm the texture of it wonderful nice thin cut piece of Gouda exit out
there delicioso imma lovin you so much
well here we go here's where the border route trail starts and touching touching
the kiosk so kind of the very end of the superior hiking trail now you go back to
catch the trail back that way so now to head back to I'm either gonna stop at
the Andy Creek site ankles kind of hurting for some reason I take my boot
off here and look at it did kind of turn it oh man look people throw in the trash
back down in there mmm that ain't right I can't even talk anymore after see ya
it's tearing the rain started to drizzle a little bit and I'm tired I'm gonna
stop here at Andy Creek I was thinking about going on but it's about another
six miles back to that other camp and
I'm ready to be done got myself a tight Hank but it's gonna work this is one of
those times I had to because I like Whoopie slings went off my continual
loop right there and that's that will do it
ya got me bloody self set up man it got here I was thinking about when I
cuz it came by this side already today stopped and head up little tan a scram
mmm lovely I loved it started to rain right before I got here just kind of
started to drizzle a little and I said man I'm gonna stop I'm gonna get set up
I don't want to walk another four hours to get back down to the camp where I
stayed last night it could be five hours actually because uh a little up and down
and windy and I'm just moving slow so I'd rather get up early early and take
off in the morning and boogie on back to the car
I'll be having a turtle's Coco may he'll be the pot my Fancy Feast
I'm the old turtles cocoa Nestle's and that's gonna be exciting real excited
about that turtles Go Go so this is the Andy Creek site it's the northernmost
site it's the last one before you get to the pointing back that way because
that's north end of the spear hiking trail and the nd nd nd nd nd nd terrible
cocoa that always annoyed my mother that annoys my wife
that is starting to annoy me hey turtle Coco oh it's got chocolate and caramel
lilt to it it's lovely it's a lovely cocoa I'm loving it right
out here in the rain I'd say last night probably got to 52
degrees by morning was a little chilly just perfect man I mean you know just
just lovely lovely yep having a mountain house they're so happy sitting by that
rock beef stroganoff in noodles I was kind of craving that and then my dessert
wafer will be the light time-out wafer no good morning I'm sitting here waiting
for my coffee it's a little cool it's about 6:00 in the morning and like I
said I'm waiting for that coffee and he got up early early and I'm waiting for
that coffee so I'm just gonna continue to stare at that pot and wait for that
coffee right now I'm being fueled by my Medallia daughter instant espresso this
north end of the trail has been a lot prettier than I thought it would be
probably the most remote section of the Sapir hiking trail and got plenty of ups
and downs roots and rocks but it also has these nice sections of oh I guess I
dare say rambley but I found it a little more challenging than what my mind was
telling me it was going to be but now I get to look at it again going back down
the trail so you know when you're doing in and out so on something like this on
an in-and-out I walk up the trail from the car and then I walk back down the
trail to the car my summer work has come to a close and I always feel sort of
tired at the end of the summer I feel good but I feel tired and I definitely
feel it on the trail here I feel like I'm getting hypoxic
I'm gonna have to go down to camp three I'm at the highest elevation of the
superior hiking trail 1829 feet awesome no view here though
but it's kind of cool to know this it's the highest point so I ran into Annie
here on the trail right here on the superior hiking trail and she's been
hiking from the NCT from Michigan through Wisconsin now she's almost done
with spear hiking trail and this is gonna go on the board around trail yeah
are you gonna do the kick - yeah oh and then and then go do the kick Wow
I'm just heading as far west as I can stand to go now my original goal was to
go all the way to the western terminus in North Dakota but I've been slower
than I thought I would be right so I doubt I'm gonna give me a thousand more
miles put me to shame no way I mean I love people that really
take this time to through hike these long trails and so I'm gonna turn this
off and just ask her some questions I'm curious about and you're not gonna get
those answers say bye Annie
yeah I'm getting myself a good walk on I stopped and had a little lunch yeah it
kind of my face lunch I had a month's German candy bar
I finished my olives and cheese I watered up BAM that was good
I still got a ways to go I'm not even the Jackson Lake Road yet and then dad
diddily diddily diddily did one of those cool days where it's really windy and I
was kind of coming back home about an hour and a half ago or so and just heard
a tree fall in the woods it's always startling I mean that sound goes on a
while Alisha's overlooked
now that is what they call hellacious overlook dirty words
okay trail thoughts for one this trail has challenged me more than I thought
I'm getting close to the car but man I don't even remember day one and there's
a ton of ups and downs so I'm gonna say this north end is moderate at times
difficult challenging at others it's a fine mix of the both but there is plenty
of ups and downs and ups and downs and I don't know why I was assuming that it
was just gonna be like a little flat cakewalk
I mean I'd even looked at the profile I mean yeah but I feel like the miles are
longer up here than they are in other sections of the trail that's it it's a
beautiful beautiful section the trail you don't really cross any rivers or
anything you see a lot of ponds and only Minnesota a pond is usually a beaver
pond a beaver dam and across a lot of little creeks so not river ii but pond d
and creaky and of course then you see that one jackson lake there that you can
look down on there's no way to get down to it that I could see it'd be a lot of
work that's my report all secure in Sector 7
I'm gonna have me with a fish right here at the angry trout some Lake Superior
whitefish and fritters yeah there's my lake whitefish with my salad my mustard
maple dressing tartar sauce
taters and some pasta that's good I'm gonna have myself a gingerbread a fat
man this is lake whitefish really good
missing golden potatoes with it I'm gonna tell you salads fantastic having a
pasta with it that's a winner man
the angry trap grand marais and machinery can't be beat