superior hiking trail is superior

I just got home from a three day/30 mile trek up the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota. The SHT starts in Two Harbors and follows the lake up to the border of MN and Canada. We put in on CO RD 6 which is in Little Marais and hiked north to the Caribou River Wayside Rest. I went with my good friend Josh - this was his first backpacking trip, and he did 30 miles! Great job Josh!

Here's the breakdown of the trip. The first day was a 10.5 mile trek to Egge Lake (also the highest elevation of our trek - 1800 ft). Along the way we passed through many different habitats. One exciting site was the view from the top of Wolf Ridge (pic #1). Once we arrived at the campsite, we ate and were able to watch the beautiful sunset over Egge Lake (pic #3).

The next day we hiked further north to Sonju Lake where we had lunch and filtered some fresh water for drinking and cooking. We pressed on further not really knowing where we would camp that evening. We had a site picked out, but it was an aggressive distance away. We came within the borders of the George H. Crosby Manitou State Park where we came to the understanding that they had 17 sites along the river. We decided to reserve on of these sites, and we were so glad we did. This was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever stayed at. The Manitou River runs through a deep ravine and his huge boulders throughout the river (pic #4). The banks are clothed in large, old trees of various types. Our site was about twenty feet from the river where there was a small waterfall into a fairly large size pool. It was so beautiful!

The last day we had a leisurely 8 mile hike to the Caribou River. This hike however did contain some very steep inclines that humbled us. As we were walking up, we got closer and closer to the clouds until we were in them (pic #5). The wind was really blowing that day, and we thought that it might storm. It never did rain. We finally came to the Caribou River and put in for lunch on a large, flat stone in the middle of it (pic #6). Following lunch, Josh and I decide to hike up the Caribou without our packs and do some rock hopping which was very fun. Eventually we had to hike down the river and meet our ride back to our trail head. My extremely gracious mother-in-law came to meet us from Grand Marais to give us a lift - she is so wonderful!

The weather and lighting was amazing the entire trip, and the fellowship was even better. It was so great to get to know Josh more and deepen our relationships as brothers that we may sharpen one another to better glorify our Heavenly father who created and owns all that beauty we saw on our hike. It's amazing to think how God's beauty is so glorious we need glorified eyes to view it!


View from Wolf Ridge

Josh at the summit of Wolf Ridge

Sunset at Egge Lake


Josh filtering water in the Manitou River

View from Horseshoe Ridge

Lunch on the Caribou River