2019, April 24-26 - NCT with Jessica

North Country Trail Backpacking Trip - 2 nights

23 miles

At the Itasca South Trailhead

Day 1 - 9 miles

Making a new friend is always special, and making a new friend who has your passion for backpacking in common with you and is crazy enough to go out there with you in April is extra special! 

We picked the best weather days of the week, positioned cars and started hiking into Itasca State Park. We tried the side trail to the Fire Tower but it was still locked up.

We saw a snapping turtle resting in the sun.

 

After taking in the best trails of the park in almost 70 degree temperatures we arrived at our DeSoto Lake camp for the night. 

 

We enjoyed watching grebes, otters, trumpeter swans and loons.

Day 2 - 9 miles

After staying warm during the night where temperatures dipped into the mid-40s we enjoyed our breakfast in glorious morning sunshine. 

This is a view of the peninsula that the campsite was on:

Right away we ran into a big deadfall blocking our path. This happened a lot this early in the year:

Mostly the trails were sunny and dry, with nothing growing yet. In a few spots flowers had popped out, but not much else was growing yet. There were a few low spots with big puddles which we usually successfully circumnavigated. Once however we decided the best plan was to take our shoes off and hike through it. Afterwards we hiked barefoot for a little while.

 

After 9 miles we arrived at Gartner Lake Campsite, which had nice water access, lots of sun and unfortunately also lots of wood ticks were coming out to enjoy the sun with us.

It was getting quite cold in the evening and we tucked into bed soon after sunset.

Day 3 - 5 miles

We both woke up around 6 am. There was frost on my tent and our things! It was kind of hard to get out of the toasty sleeping bag. Jessica got up to make a roaring fire which felt really good. My teeth were literally chattering after coming back from the outhouse. It was two hours later before the sun peeked above the trees and helped to warm us up.

My legs were pretty tired by the time we got to this pretty campsite at the County 39 trail head. 

We had our lunch here and chatted some more before heading to Jessica's van we had parked here two days earlier. She was the first to notice that her passenger window was no longer in one piece in it's place but rather in smithereens spread all over the inside of the van and ground outside. Our hearts sank! What was missing? Luckily we found that only the power inverter had been stolen and my clothes bag with a Power bank in it. Many other things of value including her purse had not been taken. We called the Sheriff and made a report to him when he arrived. Not quite the ending we had envisioned but it could have been much worse. 

We both really enjoyed each other's company and nature and learned a lot!

Hoping to backpack together again soon!