I solo hiked about 33 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail from Beaver Bay, MN south to Castle Danger, MN. My two day hike took me through Split Rock and Gooseberry Falls State Parks. The trip was originally planned for 3 days, however due to a long period of rain that was rolling in (and cooler temperatures) I opted to increase mileage and complete the trip in 2 days. I saw very few other hikers in an area that is usually pretty busy (probably due to the forecast). No bugs. Trail maintenance had cleared blow downs (THANK YOU). Quite a bit of mud as expected for this time of year.
The trail had a couple reroutes. The first was near the Split Rock River due to a missing bridge. I deliberated on whether to take the normal Split Rock loop and try to ford the river or take the suggested spur trails that do not run up and down the river. I ended up taking the spur trails and then walked up the west side of the river. I visited the area of the missing bridge and a foot crossing would have been quite difficult. I camped near the bridge in my Warbonnet XLC, with a 20 degree Warbonnet Wooki UQ, 20 degree Hammock Gear Burrow TQ, and Warbonnet Poly Superfly. I slept good with no calf ridge issues (thanks Shug!). A little looser hang, raised feet a bit more and the foot push fixed my issues.
The second trail detour was north of Gooseberry Falls. Last year a private landowner closed the trail off due to conflict with hikers. There is a temporary 6 mile road walk while they are constructing a permanent rerouted trail. A text from my wife while at Gooseberry Falls told me heavy rain was moving in from the south so I decided to power through another 9 miles after hiking 9 that morning and complete the trip a day early. It was tough going with tired legs on a sloppy trail, but happy I did it when rain, wind and colder temps rolled in.
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