SHT: Day 2
Superior Hiking Trail: Day 2
8/17/2023
Highway 210 - Spirit Mountain Chalet Trailhead
SHT miles: 12.1 mi
Spur miles: 0.6 mi
Total miles hiked: 12.7 mi
Elevation gained: 1,798 ft
Animals seen: squirrels, chipmunks, mountain bikers
Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com
Our alarm went off at 6am but since no one was stirring we elected to stay in “bed” until 7am. Morning miles are my best miles, especially when fueled with trail brek. However, we were guests and needed shuttling, so our schedule became our host’s schedule. Coffee, or rather espresso drinks and chatting were the slow start to our morning. Jake made our oatmeal (blueberry vanilla almond) and we chatted some more.
LA taught me patience, and it was put into practice. We were dropped off at the “trailhead” around a quarter to 10 in the morning for another slackpacking day. We needed to get miles done. We had a deadline. Our hosts were heading to the Twin Cities on Saturday (two days from now) and we would need to be camping that night. True backcountry sites are north of Duluth, over fifty miles from the southern terminus. For non-Ravenclaws or math addicts, that means we had over fifty miles to do in four days, which averages to over 13 miles a day. We definitely didn’t do 13 yesterday and with a late start, we had to hustle if we were going to accomplish that today. Any bets?
Despite the crazy storm the night before, the weather was perfect hiking weather. Mid-60’s, sunny with a nice breeze, albeit slightly smokey. The trail started rather cruisey which makes for a promising start. The three of us were rather enjoying ourselves. Before we knew it, we had arrived at a random spur trail with a trail register where I quickly jotted us down. The trail was covered in leaf litter and I enjoyed being a backcountry trash picker with my hiking poles.
There was a sign indicating an “Unimpressive Overlook” on a spur. Consider us intrigued. While a bit overgrown, we were rather impressed.
Just how unimpressive?
We were doing alright with our pace, it was only the second day after all and we were building our trail legs. We approached Becks Road and found someone had used the trail as their personal trash dump. This is why we (as in the general population) can’t have nice things.
We joined up with a paved bike trail for a short stint and crossed a bridge with a view of Elys Peak where we planned on stopping for lunch. It looked taller than I had anticipated considering we had less than a mile to the summit. Either the mileage was off or we were looking at a steep climb in our immediate future.
Our impending climb
When the trail veered off the paved one to climb Elys, it was reminiscent of SoCal mountain trails. Some mild rock scrambling and vistas. It was what Jake calls a “punchy” up. Hits hard, quick, and steep but not an overly persistent sob. Winded enough to need a short rest but not dusted to the point of keeling over.
We parked ourselves at the summit to enjoy a rather rushed lunch. Our late start this morning led to a late lunch (spam and olives) which led to diminished hours to get the rest of our mileage complete. It was also very windy at the summit, once the sweat evaporated we were feeling quite chilled. Leinie was also growing bored quickly.
One of many unimpressed doggo pics
As the trail descended into Magney Snively Natural Area the trail became very rugged. “Holy Rocksville Batman” escaped my mouth more than once. The rollercoaster rocksville was not super ideal, but not as traumatic at the ravine climbing yesterday. Our pace definitely slowed though as our feet struggled to navigate the trail. When we were able to stop I could enjoy the ambiance of the forest we were trekking through. While moving all focus was on not tripping and dying.
Squirrels and chipmunks were slowly replaced with mountain bikers as we moved toward Spirit Mountain. The closer we got the more bikers we saw. I was having flashbacks to hiking in Bend where Leinie and I had to jump to the side of the trail when a biker came up fast behind us. Thankfully, the SHT is foot travel only and has minimal areas of shared trail use.
The afternoon was quickly disappearing as we got closer to the chalet so Jake coordinated with Tim on ending our day there. We made it to the chalet at precisely 5pm, and being a devout Parrothead, beers were had.
When it’s 5 o’clock, it’s time to drink
Tim and Gabe picked us up and we made it back to a dinner of green chile tacos, yumm! Jake noticed his knee was bothering him tonight, so I convinced him to try some ibuprofen to help him sleep.
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Our band of heroes is drying out from the sogginess that was the SHT. They ponder their experience on trail, the people the met, what their hiking future looks like…