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TRIP DETAILS
LENGTH 53.2 miles Tettegouche State Park to Two Harbors
DIFFICULTY Challenging: elevation, roots, rocks, snow and mostly mud
DATE May 14-17, 2019
MAIN FEATURES Panoramic overlooks of Lake Superior, inland lakes, and a never ending series of ups and downs through the forests of Minnesota’s North Shore.
It’s about time for a trip report! If you have been reading, you will know that I set out to thru hike the entire 310 mile Superior hiking Trail in September of 2018. My sister and I hiked approx. 100 miles from the Northern Terminus to Temperance River before pulling off the trail for health reasons. I have been thinking about hiking the last 210 miles ever since. I’m grateful for those 100 miles together and learned a lot from it.
Right after we came off the SHT last Fall, a gal in another hiking group told me it sounded like I did a “LASH”. LASH = Long-Ass-Section-Hike. That was the first time I had heard that term. I like it and I’m keeping it. Off we go!
Day 1: Tettegouche to Penn Creek- 9 miles
On Tuesday morning, our group of 8 “Blister Sisters” piled into two vans and headed North for an early start.
Our hike started slow and muddy with a big climb right away. This area had close to a foot of snow a week before, rain in between, and left us with the gift of ankle deep mud. We stayed on the trail, as not to widen it, looking for roots and rocks to hop along, but eventually we all just embraced it and walked right through it. I put on my waterproof socks and they worked great at keeping my feet dry for 2 days! (Then they took another 2 days to dry, ha!) I knew I had to take care of my feet on this trip if I planned on hiking 150 miles in the next 3 weeks.
I stayed in the back of the pack, intentionally, slowing my pace and enjoying the blooming flowers and the color of the leaves on the forest floor. Savoring the experience (even the mud).
The SHT winds through Tettegouche State Park, along the Baptism River, High Falls, over the suspension bridge and through many other popular areas of the park including the Drainpipe, Raven’s Rock, Mic Mac Lake, Mt Trudee, Round Mt, and Bean & Bear Lake.
(Insert awesome Go Pro Photos here someday…it was raining!)
The trail continues on a series of rugged ups and downs and finally led us to the Bean and Bear Lake overlook. It was raining and the wind was whipping when we got there, but we still got a chance to enjoy the iconic view of the two lakes.
A steep descent led us to camp for the night at Penn Creek. It started raining as soon as we set up, so we popped up our shelters quick and sat it out for about an hour. I missed my umbrella as I cooked dinner trying to shelter my stove with my poncho and ate (very carefully) under the vestibule of my tent. I had one last homemade dehydrated ‘taco in a bag’ meal, that’s been in the freezer since September and it was just what my body needed!
Hiker midnight struck at about 8pm and we were all off to our beds.
Day 2: Penn Creek to Chapins Ridge- 14.4 miles
I woke up cold a few times and realized that my Big Agnes Insulated AXL air mattress was not going to be warm enough for the mid 30 degree temps at night. My quilt side felt toasty, but my pad felt cold to the touch under my back and just couldn’t keep me warm. The wind was blowing in on me through the openings on the sides and I had to line my gear up as a wind block.
Back on the trail, we passed several beaver dams and saw trees that had been chewed by the busy critters. The Beaver Pond campsite was totally flooded to the to the point that no one would be able to camp there. We walked on a nice plank bridge around the dam and arrived at Chapins Ridge, our camp for the night.
The campsite is on a big downhill slope in the Pines, so finding a spot was a little tricky. Once I had a spot, the roots made it tough to put the stakes in and get a good pitch, and I wanted to make sure that the solo Tarptent I borrowed wasn’t going to collapse in the night. I probably didn’t fuss with it that long, but after a long hike, it felt like it took forever to set up. After hanging up my wet gear, I went to work on trying to figure out how to stay warm for the night. It was supposed to get close to freezing with a midnight rainstorm.
Day 3: Chapins Ridge to West Gooseberry – 16.1 miles
I slept nice and warm, despite sounding like I was sleeping on a bag of potato chips and only woke up when the heavy rain hit. I cleaned out the fire pit (foil, trash, orange peels), made a quick breakfast and we hit the trail.
A few miles down the trail at the Split Rock Lighthouse Spur, we said goodbye to three of our “Blister Sisters” and the moved the van to our next trailhead. They were a great bunch to hike with and I hope we get to share the trail again soon!
We filtered water out of Lake Superior near the Split Rock backpacking site I stayed at last year and headed back onto the trail on the South side of the Split Rock Loop. A few miles ahead, we would hit the Gooseberry Re-Route.
This section was closed a couple of years ago due to hikers abusing the trail on a section that passes through private land. Its an inconvenience, but I don’t blame the land owners, and its a good reminder to follow Leave No Trace Principles and ONLY stay in designated campsites.
We enjoyed a little “civilization break” at the Gooseberry State Park visitor center. We cleaned up a little in the bathroom, filled our water bottles, fixed up our feet and headed back on the trail.
We stopped at each of the Gooseberry sites and decided the last one, West Gooseberry would be our home for the night. I cleaned out the fire ring again, cigarette butts and a ratty Blink 182 T Shirt.
We made a fire, hung our clothes to dry before the dew set in and cooked dinner. The first thing I always do when I get to camp is put up my shelter. After that, I feel like I can relax and enjoy the simplicity of simple camp chores, eating and going to bed.
Day 4: West Gooseberry to Two Harbors- 13.7 miles
Slept cold again. In addition to my pad’s temperature rating, I suspect it may have to do with being by the water and the wind coming up through the sides of the Tarptent. I was only cold at Penn and Gooseberry, but stayed warm on a colder night, sheltered by more trees and on a floor of Pine duff on Chapins Ridge.
I drank a strong cup of coffee and hauled out by 7am. It was our coldest morning and we all hiked in our Puffy jackets for the mile or so. We warmed up just in time to climb Mike’s Rock, overlooking Lake Superior and Castle Danger.
After what felt like 10 miles, we finally tucked back onto the trail. The road walk was part of the experience, but not my favorite part of the trip. I was glad to be back in the ankle deep mud and thick of the forest. Our last couple of miles out, we encountered more blow downs and two creeks with bridges that had been washed out. Before we knew it, we were at the Two Harbors Trailhead!
The other two Blister Sisters had been hiking a few miles on the South end of the trail and we happily reunited and grabbed our flip-flops out of the van!
I was glad to be home a day early, feeling good, hanging with family…and having a extra day to clean and repack my gear for the next trip! I’ll enjoy hiking the Split Rock River Loop and Encampment river on day hikes in the future and can’t wait to hit the trail again after a little rest! Will we ever have clean feet again?
If you want to follow along on the final half of my SHT LASH, see my packing list, and read about what I’m learning along the way, hit subscribe and check out the Wandering Pine You Tube and Instagram for more!
Happy Trails,
~WP