11 miles total
Day 1 - 4.25 miles
Itasca State Park. We started at the south entrance parking lot. There is access to the North Country Trail which connects to the Itasca State Park hiking trails. I had made reservations online and we drove to the main entrance to get a vehicle sticker. I decided on an annual sticker this year. When we went to the Visitor center to check in they said as long as our vehicle has a permit and we reserved a site online we do not have to check in. Good to know!
We took a short break at the first campsite we came to after starting out, which is #6. That is a beautiful somewhat small site right on the lake and semi-open, not too brushy! We took our stuff off and dangled our legs in the cool water and enjoyed the sunshine and a snack. After that it got buggier and hotter and the going was rough. There was no way to stop for anything since the mosquitoes would have eaten us alive. We were pleased to see that our permethrin-treated pants worked wonderful on the ticks. Our legs were often covered in ticks of both kinds and we noticed that they started falling off by themselves after being on for about a minute or two. DD was most annoyed by the flies buzzing our heads. I handled the bugs well, but the temperature was starting to bother me. We wore long pants and long-sleeve-shirts of course and the temperature was only about 75 but without a breeze on most trails that was getting pretty hot.
Nothing felt better than to get to camp (DeSoto site #4), strip and run into the lake. I was swimming before DD ever got her belly-button wet, but we enjoyed a skinny-dip since we had not encountered anyone all day.
We set up camp and had a snack. Cooking dinner worked well and we ate a Knorr Noodle Side and an organic Ramen noodle package. We hung our bag in a tree a ways off and tucked into the tent. I was a little cool most of the night and was glad I had brought my scarf, a sort of hat and the leggings. Night was probably about 50 or 55. Slept decent with the tent flaps open. I found I was most comfortable with my pack under my knees.
Day 2 - 3.9 miles from DeSoto to Myrtle Lake.
We had reserved site #8 but we didn't like the site so I checked the online reservation system and #7 was not reserved so we just moved over there. It was a cute site with a little bit of a long brushy walk to the lake but two nice long trees sticking out into the lake that served as our dock for the afternoon.
On our way to Myrtle Lake we stopped into site #5 on McKay Lake. It had lots of blow-down. Gorgeous site right on the water but hardly any room for a tent. We had lunch here and took about a 1 hour break. We also walked into #10 on Deer Park Lake, which was on the lake but very grown over and brushy. Not open. I don't think I would like that site for overnight.
At our site we set up camp and got ready to swim. We both jumped off into the crystal clear water at the same time and it felt so good. We got to camp just after lunch and so had lots of time to spend. We ate snack, collected firewood, swam again, sat on the logs, explored a little, changed the tent and finally cooked dinner twice! Later we hung our bag outside of camp and when it got late we tucked into the tent but we heard a bunch of rustling. DD had seen a beaver several times earlier, but somehow our mind was on bears and our bag. We somehow both managed to get spooked and sat up to play cards with our headlamps on for a long time. I finally got tired and DD decided to listen to recordings on her phone. It also started thundering around 1 am and then pouring rain for several hours around 4 am. DD was finally asleep, and now I woke up and was totally freaked out! Although all we could hear was rain I could have sworn I heard bear snorts. Your brain can sure take you for a ride! I had failed to pack any sort of pepper spray but kept the SPOT on, ready to hit a button. We were both glad that night was over, when it was finally morning, although we managed to sleep in a little.
Day 3 - 3.25 miles from Myrtle Lake back to South entrance parking lot.
We wore rain jackets although it had stopped raining, but the bugs were numerous. I also wore the head net which was very handy. We had a nice hike back out. Shortest stretch and some nice conversation. DD caught me mis-navigating when we got to the way end, where I insisted on following the NCT to cross Highway 71, she had directed us to the left to get to the parking lot and she was right. Should have followed her.
What a great experience! Our first overnight backpacking went really well, although DD did not like the scary night #2. She did really well but does not want to repeat that.
Here is the food we brought:
Oatmeal packages and Protein granola bar for breakfast. Coffee for me.
Lunch: Crackers and guacamole minis, Hard chunk of Parmesan cheese, beef jerky, nuts, dried apples
Snack: Snickers bar, cocoa almonds
Dinner: Knorr Sides, next time I will bring tuna packets. Organic ramen noodles.
DD also liked having propel powder for her water. I liked my coffee and creamer and sugar.
