Last trip of the year

For our last backpacking trip of the year Mary and I joined her two friends Connie and Rebecca on the Superior hiking Trail October 15-17. Since it was Rebecca’s first backpacking trip we decided to do about 17 miles over 3 days. Connie, Mary and I met Rebecca at the “Taste of Saigon” in Duluth for dinner and proceeded back to the hotel for weigh in. All three girls were at aprx 20# including food and water. My pack came out to about 23# since I was carrying both a tent and tarp. We got started at 1:30 pm Thursday PM at Castle Danger. The temp was cool and the skies overcast but that made for nice hiking. We got to the East Gooseberry campsite at about 4:30 and by the time our tents and the tarp were set up the rain had started. We pumped water and started supper which was Thai Mango w/ chicken and rice FBC style. It sure was nice under the tarp as the rain got fairly heavy. We all headed to bed around 8pm. Mary and I were using Neo air pads with Gossamer Gear torso pads, over the top, since we were expecting the temps to get down to about 28 degrees. I don’t think it got below 32 so we slept warm. After breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and pecans and Via(Starbucks) coffee we got started around 10:15. The first couple of miles we followed the Gooseberry River and eventually got to the State Park where we had Hummus and crackers for lunch near 5th Falls. Around 2:30 we met Rebecca’s friend Judy Johnson on the trail and stopped to chat for awhile. What a nice lady. We eventually got to the Blueberry Hill campsite at 3:45. The only downside was the water source which was a stagnant pool of water. After filtering it still looked like dark tea. Shortly after our tents were up a group of boy scouts from Hutchinson, Mn stopped and asked if they could also camp there. WE said OK and started our supper which was Pistou done FBC. For dessert we had cheesecake pudding with dehydrated raspberries and granola added + some adult beverage mixed in. Just before dinner Gayle Coyer from the SHTA and her mother stopped for a visit. For dinner the scouts made spambolaya which consisted of jambalaya mix, spam and a whole brick of Velveeta cheese. It must be nice to be young. Hats off to the scout leaders as they had a great group of young men. The next morning dawned sunny and gorgeous and we were on our way after having coffee. The fall colors were magnificent and the view from the ridge was awesome. By the time we got to the waterfalls at Split Rock we decided to head out for lunch and so ended a great trip. Here is a link to our pictures from the trip.