SHT: Day 25

Superior Hiking Trail: Day 25

9/9/2023

North Little Bruce River Camp - County Rd 70 Trailhead

SHT miles: 9.6 mi

No spur/bonus miles

Elevation gained: 1,283 ft

Animals seen: so many park visitors

Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com

---

We woke up at our normal time of 6:30am but it was pretty chilly in the low-50’s so we pressed “snooze” and rolled over. It was slow getting started, but we managed to around 7am. During our coffee we started chatting with our neighbors, it’s honestly our downfall to our best laid plans. With rain on the forecast and normal mileage ahead of us, we should’ve started at our typical time around 8am. Taking with Clean Sweep first and then Don’t Panic we didn’t get on trail until close to 10am.

Backing up just a bit though. Don’t Panic (trailname) has been “chasing us”, trail lingo for following someone on trail for a time. (We had “chased” Ellie) Don’t Panic was chasing a '“couple with a small dog” for about a week. (See, we’re famous) He’s a triple crowner (AT, PCT, CDT) who's hiked everywhere and everything. Super cool guy. He plans on sling shotting the SHT, where one hikes to one end, then about faces and hikes back to the start. He is going nobo and will then complete it sobo.

Anywho, back to our poor planning. Rain in the forecast, a goal of around 14 miles, and some significant elevation today coupled with a 10am start is not smart, plain and simple. We set off at an ok pace and made it to Judge CR Magney State Park within the hour where we were able to dump trash, find water, and use a pit toilet.

The park was so crowded. We looked at the forecast again, the rain was now pushed up to 2pm from the original time of 5pm. We debated for a few minutes whether to utilize the state park campground for the evening with the prospect of rain. We had easily double digit miles to the next campsite otherwise. Stopping after two miles today would wreck our schedule and put me at risk of not making the boundary waters within my permit timeline. We needed to keep moving. 

It was incredibly tough going. While there were stairs instead of slippery, steep trail it was still alot of elevation loss followed by elevation gain. The trail follows the Brule River north and there is a large washout area closed to dayhikers in the park. The fallen trees and short reroutes around blow downs severely slowed our pace. A lot of this was straight up bushwhacking. 

We had just cleared the wash out area and were back on normal, albeit rugged trail again when the rain hit, at 1pm. It wasn’t a storm but it was enough to saturate and would come and go with enough frequency that you’re bound to lose your mind in frustration. I was quickly losing patience with how top heavy Yoda was with the bear keg on top so I stopped to repack the keg inside Yoda and pull out my poncho. Yoda is a 50L pack, but a keg with no give in its shape barely fits within the confines at it’s loosest. 

Jake was quickly loosing patience with the slow pace and the rate with which our gear and ourselves were becoming saturated. We discussed stopping to just pitch the tent on trail to escape the rain but my concern was we would be there for the night. I had a timeline crunch (permit timeline to enter the boundary waters) and it’s poor etiquette at best (illegal at worse) to camp outside designated sites. 

Tempers were rising, patience was low, we were both frustrated with the situation and like two grown adults, we took it out on each other. We decided to keep hiking and see if one of two options happened. One, at the very least we could find a better stealth site. Two, at a sorta best make it to the next campsite. I mean, we can’t get more wet, right?

So we slogged on. We made it to the road walk to the next trailhead and again discussed the possibility of pitching the tent at the road access but elected against it. We continued onward as the rain started to become more persistent. We would stop periodically under tree coverage along the road to stay out of the worst of it. It felt like the longest road walk of the entire trail.

While our tempers toward each had mellowed, I was still riding a very high frustration over the situation. I was facing missing my entry for the boundary waters with a severe delay. I was completely soaked through. And worse, when looking at Leinie while we huddled under a tree, shivering and clearly not enjoying himself, it made me feel like an absolute failure as a pet parent. To boot (no pun intended) my boots had decided they were over it and had split completely open across the toe box. Footwear falling apart, soaking wet and getting chilled, a rapidly narrowing timeline, being the worse dog mom ever. The chances at a boundary waters trip was slipping through my fingers. I had reached the lowest point yet on trail. At least the rain sorta masked my crying.

We made it to the trailhead and elected to pitch the tent there in the corner and anyone who wanted to make a big deal about it could suck it. Jake rapidly pitched the tent and once the rain fly was tacked down, we huddled inside. We made dinner and left the keg in the vestibule. If a bear really wanted our food, I had no more effs to give, they could have it. Trail life can be epic, it can be hard, and sometimes it's outright miserable.

Sooo much fun, you can see it in all of our faces

We faced a night of rain. Our gear and tent would be saturated and muddy in the morning. My spirits were thoroughly crushed and I just wanted to be warm and dry. Curling up in my cocoon of down with Leinie, I was ready for this day to be over.

---

See all Superior Hiking Trail posts

---