SHT: Day 10

Superior Hiking Trail: Day 10

8/25/2023

Silver Creek Camp - Middle Gooseberry Camp

Miles hiked: 12.5 mi

Backtracked miles: 1.2 mi

Total miles hiked: 13.7 mi

Elevation gained: 1,302 ft

Animals seen: more heart attack inducing grouse, large ass hornet

Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com

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Alarm went off at 5:30am but it was raining (yes, again) so we rolled over to wait it out. The rain wasn’t long or hard and we were on trail around 8:30am. We were re-hiking the 1.2 miles to the trailhead and it went fairly quickly. The sun was out by the time we reached the trailhead so we took the opportunity to yard sale the tent and rainfly to dry it out.

Despite Jake’s evening yesterday and the rain this morning, we were in good spirits starting the next section. This trailhead was the point where section two ends and section three starts. We had heard rumors that section two was lackluster prior to starting our hike. Our review would be more along the lines of sucks, horrible, in desperate need of rerouting. We were looking forward to SHT mileage we originally fell in love with years back.

A couple miles into the new section we were rewarded with our first true overlook. It was excellent! Just what the doctor ordered.

First real overlook

Up until this point, we had only met dayhikers and they were almost solely in the Duluth section (section one). Section two was quiet, having crossed paths with only two trail runners and having campsites to ourselves. We knew of the Elusive Ellie ahead of us that we may or may not ever catch up to. Shortly after the overlook we met our first SOBO (southbound) thru hiker, Lauren. She provided some good trail beta (info on the trail ahead) and was hiking in a dress at a fast pace. Badass. 

We had some ups and downs and then descended to the Encampment River. It was very dry, but there was water. So we parked ourselves to filter water. A trail runner came through and stopped to chat. He was training for some sort of suicide game trail running marathon thing of 100 miles on the SHT in a few weekends. Yep, no thanks.

Our bright sunny day rapidly grew dark and suddenly we found ourselves in a surprise downpour. I hunkered down on my rock and threw my poncho over myself and Yoda. Jake ran to “shore” with Leinie and huddled under a tree in a futile attempt to stay dry. The rain only lasted 20-30 minutes but that was plenty. Jake was soaked, his gear soaked, Leinie was soaked. Yoda and I had remained mostly dry despite being in the middle of the “river”. 

Someone was very unamused by the surprise rain

The trail runner returned and offered to drop us off somewhere. Somehow, don’t know how, we had the fortitude to not bail with his offer. As quickly as the storm hit, the sun returned and we soon found ourselves at another epic overlook. We ran into our second SOBO thru, Kat (human) and Cinder (dog). We stopped and chatted for a bit. We talked about southwestern trails, the lack of switchbacks on the SHT, and in general how tough the trail felt. It felt very, very good to be validated in our struggle. It wasn’t just us!

The trail continued with some crazy rock walls to scale up and down and a staircase littered with the largest poison ivy plants I have ever seen, they were huge. Arnold Schwarzenivy. At the next trailhead, Jake was able to yardsale his gear and clothes to dry while we snacked.

We were greeted with a big climb after the trailhead. While a slog, it paid off with great views. Despite the trail being rugged and lacking in switchbacks both Jake and I were in better moods to be back on “normal” SHT trail. We passed another vantage point dubbed “Mike’s Rock”.

Jake attempting to get a pic of Leinie on Mike’s Rock

We approached the set of Gooseberry campsites (there are four) and the first, while having nice tent pads, was a bit further from water than we would like. We continued onto the next one and dropped our packs. It was a Friday and in very close proximity to a state park which meant we would likely be sharing a site. Jake was dusted and started to remove his soaking wet boots and socks while I scoped out the tent pads. 

They were crap, absolute crap. Not even close to being level and with big roots. Roots are uncomfortable, you also need to be cautious since if a tree is struck by lightning, the electricity can travel to the roots and to your tent parked on them resulting in the unsuspecting sleeping hiker getting electrocuted. While living in the southwest for the past three years we didn’t usually need to worry about thunderstorms, however, this trail has been rather damp. Jake’s solution was to pitch the tent in the common space clearing near the fire ring, but I was hesitant since it’s poor etiquette.

We heard voices drifting from further down trail that seemed to be rather stagnant and likely coming from the next campsite. I wandered down and found two college-aged guys building piles of firewood. I introduced myself and asked if they would mind sharing the site. They had no issue with that and I went to collect Jake and Leinie. Jake was reluctant since he was enjoying dry feet time with his sandals, but in the end agreed. 

While the tent pad at this new campsite wasn’t ideal it was noticeably less slanted and had no exposed roots. We chatted with Jess and Nick while setting up camp. They are from Milwaukee and just getting into backpacking. This was their first trip. Jake became trail g’pa and started slinging terms like “hikers’ midnight” and spinning tales of ye old trails of past. Hehe.

We enjoyed dinner (Mexican rice and trail tiramisu which tasted nothing like tiramisu but wasn’t too bad). As the guys started a fire, I turned in, exhausted from the day. Leinie was already tucked in as soon as he ate his dinner kibble and daily greenie.

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