camping with Scott

Last weekend Scott and I did some hiking on the Superior Hiking trail, always excellent! Here is the tail of our adventure.

We put in and the mouth of the Kadunce about midday on Friday. We started south toward Grand Marais, our eventual destination. The weather was as perfect as one could expect, bright, fresh, cool, and slight breeze. Having only reached where the trail leaves the Kadunce we were already satisfied and could have been done with the hike. It's amazing how fulfilling it is to be in the Lord's creation - it/He satisfies the soul!

After a brief pause to take it all in, we keep on. We were looking for a spot to camp for the night. Neither of us had hiked this section before so we didn't know what the terrain or campsites were like. Shortly after we left the Kadunce, we came to Crow Creek, simply amazing! This small powerful stream cut deep banks into the earth. At places the creek was only eight feet across, but eighty feet down with solid rock walls.

We hiked until we crossed Cook Co Rd 14 and found Kimball Creek campsite. It was very beautiful. We decided to stay there for the night since we didn't know if we would find another campsite this beautiful anywhere ahead. Later I read in my guide book that the bridge over Kimball Creek is considered one of the most picturesque parts of the SHT.

That night, it rained cats and dogs. I was very happy with my new tent from the REI scratch and dent sale. We didn't see a drop of water in the tent. The next morning after a nice egg omelet with sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, piled high with cheese and garnished with a little of last nights peperoni, we left for GM at about 10:00. At this point we were still undecided if we were going to hike all the way to GM, or camp another night.

The weather was a little more bleak on Saturday. On and off a light rain kept us in constant fear. Scott was battling blisters. Twice we stopped to deal with bandages, and it wasn't until we stopped for lunch at the Woods Creek campsite on CO Rd 58 some 7 miles later he decided to finish the rest of the hike in his Crocks!

After a delicious lunch of maple-brown sugar oatmeal, hot chocolate, peanut butter bagels and apples we decided to keep heading to GM. We really wanted to spend the evening with the Gambles and Emily and Corban.

All in all that day we hiked 14 miles and traveled through various habitats. At one point, we saw VERY fresh bear tracks. It was obvious a bear was rummaging through the undergrowth for berries. We didn't know if we were going to run into smoky the bear around the next corner. We made a good deal of noise and prayed some prayers. Thankfully we never saw said bear.

The hike down and back up from the Devil Track river is glorious, but very strenuous. The Devil Track is a mighty river. It was the last placed we stopped to filter water and rest a bit before we made the assent out of the gorge toward Pincushion Mountain. Once we passed Pincushion we were nearly there.

We made it to the trail head were we found somebody with a cell phone. I was able to get a hold of Emily, and she was able to pick us up so we wouldn't have to hike three more miles down the Gunflint Trail to downtown.

After Emily and Corban picked us up we went out for ice cream (nice little treat) then made our way home for some glorious Gamble cooking. Garry and Renee made us burgers and sweet potatoe fries, a nice alternative to the Ramen noodles and potatoes we were planning on having on the trail.

We praise the Lord for such a sweet trip!

The friends...
The site...
The gear...
The beauty...