September 13-15, 2018 SHT with Kate

Superior Hiking Trail with Kate
22.5 miles total

The dream of this hike started to take shape in early summer as my personal goal for the end of the backpacking season. As Kate and I chatted about backpacking in the summer a plan started to take shape and at the Geisen Reunion we looked at dates and came up with a plan. We would meet with our family and Jed and Kate at the Lake Superior cabin and get a ride to the trailhead the next morning. The evening before we fine-tuned pack details, packed food and studied maps.

Day 1 - 8.5 miles

Jed gave us a ride to the Caribou River Wayside rest and trailhead. I was super giddy when I got into the car. This was a dream come true for me. The weather was warmer than average and sunny. 

We hiked Northbound for 8.5 miles with a one hour lunch break to air out our feet and rest. We also peeked into each campsite we passed to have an idea what they looked like for future reference. 

 Posing by Alfred's pond

 Our camp at Dyer's creek. So peaceful right next to the gurgling creek.

 Day 2 - 6.5 miles

This bridge is right by the Dyer's creek campground. We set out after a leisurely breakfast and a restful nights sleep. We did consider getting going earlier since these days were unusually hot and humid.

 












A resting spot with a nice view!

 We made it to the Cross River campsites after a hot and humid day and it didn't take us long to hop into the cool waters of the river! It felt especially good on my swollen buttocks since we had some excitement on the trail today. I had stopped along the trail for something and set my pack down next to a log and it only took a few seconds for me to notice a couple of wasps, which exponentially increased to a whole swarm of wasps. Two of them stung me in the leg before I could back off. They were swarming around my pack and we were helplessly standing off 10 feet wondering what we could do to get my pack back! We finally decided that I would put Kate's rain gear on and then grab the pack from behind the log. It worked! I didn't even get one more sting as I grabbed the pack and ran down the trail many yards before setting the pack down again to inspect it for hiding wasps. I am not sure what I would have done, had Kate not been with me. My leg was starting to throb at the sites of the stings but I was dealing with it fine. The cool water of the river felt perfect on the quite swollen leg. I will spare you the photos I have of it. I am glad that I am not allergic to bee stings. 

Day 3 - 7.5 miles

My back ached so much by morning that I had to get up and stretch, otherwise I slept fine and felt great during the day. We headed out toward Temperance before it started getting too hot.

 The scramble up to Carlton Peak was quite neat!

Yay! We made it!

I had texted Brett our ETA for the Carlton Peak Parking Lot but they surprised us on top of Carlton Peak with Jed and also Grandma and Lloyd! Carlton Peak has a special place in the heart of Brett and I since we took the NDSU Camping Trip group up here back in 1998 when we first got to know each other. I was all smiles being up here with the people I loved and after such a great 3 days in nature! I was on such a high I had the energy and desire to never stop and just keep hiking on! Some day I will thru-hike this trail I told myself!! Some day!