Go Me! Me Go Backpacking

I recently got some feedback on this blog.  Apparently, I am "too hard on myself."  I found that rather surprising.  I always thought this blog had a jovial, celebratory tone.  I guess I am just a terrible writer.  (Ha!  Just kidding.)

So, here's something that was awesome.  I went backpacking, which I love.  It is a bit hard to get organized and get up to northern Minnesota, but we did it!  My friends Lexi and Amie and I are working on section hiking the Superior Hiking Trail.

View of the Baptism River from our campsite at Bleecher Creek.

This section, Finland Rec Center to Cook County Road 1 was great.  Day one: easy.  Day two: hard.  Day three: easy.  And, though we normally and purposely hike slow, we actually did some respectable miles.  Like 10 miles a day-ish.  We did like 30 miles in 2 1/2 days--that's a lot for us.

Downriver view of the Baptism River from our first campsite.  I found a secret shelter and stash of firewood too, all because I peed backwards on the latrine. Go me!

Also, the food, which is my job, was perfect.  Not too much, so we were nearly out by the time the hike was over.  And, it was pretty good without me stressing out too much.  Go me!

Lexi is in charge of route.

Also, because this blog is somewhat fitness related I won't tell you about the amazing cookies we ate, and felt not a drop of guilt about, in Two Harbors, but I will tell you that I felt pretty good.  Sometimes hiking this trail, I am sucking wind, but not this time.  I felt pretty strong, even on some sketchy-ass climbs.  Go me!

Amie is the pack mule, as she had the biggest pack.  Bonus: she's a new mom who left her two year old for the longest time ever.  She was a rockstar about it.  Go Amie!

We had great camp sites, saw a ton of glorious rivers, and laughed a lot.

The Manitou River--it was gorgeous!

We even had a brush with disaster.  We arrived at Cook Country Road 1 parking lot to wait for Larry, our hermit ride.  We were supposed to meet him Sunday at 5pm.  We got there at 4, hunkered down in the spattering of rain and read our romance novel.  The bugs were Biblical.

Taking a quick break after the steep descent to the Manitou.  Someone needs to tell the SHT folks about the concept of the "switch back."

Five rolled around, then 5:30, then, 6.  No Larry.  Storm clouds were coming in and we had no cell service so by 6:30 we put the tent back up and came up with a plan.  Lexi and Amie would hike the four miles of gravel to the town, which we hoped would be helpful and try to get in touch with Larry and/or a ride to the rental car which was with Larry and/or in Knife River.

Caribou River--site of our second campsite.  So pretty!

The storm hit.  We came up with a password in case we needed to send help to the other posse (me waiting in the tent): the password was Chaparral!  We steeled our resolve, tried not to think of how this would all play out on some television show about disasters (never split up!), and strapped on boots.  Then, of course, like a knight in a Chevy, Larry arrived.  Thank goodness.

More Caribou.

We tried to get pie, which involved me sort of breaking into the pie shop.  (I blame the lock because it wasn't that hard to get in there).  Without pie, we headed to an overpriced stay at the Super 8 in Duluth, where we enjoyed the "first beer out of the woods" phenomenon--amazing, had a great night's sleep, and drove back to Des Moines.

View of Lake Superior from the Caribou River Gorge.

It was a great backpacking trip, and we are already talking about next year.  The trail just keeps getting prettier as it goes further north.  I might need to invest in some new boots, as I have been getting some killer heel blisters, but I felt pretty tough after three days in the woods.  Go me!

Go me!