Last weekend, Pizza and I headed north to the Superior Hiking Trail on Minnesota's "North Shore" (Lake Superior!!) for a taste of fall hiking in the autumn colors. Temperature forecasts were for 55 degrees during the day and lows ranging from freezing to 40 degrees. Winds were predicted at 5-10 miles per hour. We parked with the hordes of weekend tourists at Gooseberry Falls State Park and headed south along the SHT to one of the campsites on the Gooseberry River (about 3 1/2 miles from our start point). We arrived in early afternoon and spent a pleasant afternoon relaxing, chatting, comparing our gear, etc.
Here's a shot of our hammocks pitched (both WBBB) with tarps yet-to-be-deployed. My UQ is a Crow's Nest and Pizza's is a Warbonnet Yeti.
One of the "show-and-tell" items that Pizza had was a Shug-built "Jerry Chair" complete with a hand-painted "Pizza" name on it!
Here's Pizza modeling the Jerry Chair in action.
To continue the tale, we settled in for dinner (see photo below of my Bushbuddy in action!) and an early turn-in shortly after dark for some hammock time. We were geared for around freezing, and as you would expect, the low was 24 degrees (-5 C.) We were both a bit chilled, but not so uncomfortable that I was willing to get up and put on the long underwear I had brought! (doh!). I overshot the low end of my summer-weight Burrow by quite a bit, but managed to get through the night by wearing my MontBell Thermawrap Pants and a MontBell Light Alpine Parka (see here in early morning action).
Here's a shot of the "frost on the the pumpkin" the next morning.
The BushBuddy in action!!
We rambled north after packing up, retracing our steps and headed to the Split Rock River for a moderately strenuous 9 1/2 to 10 mile day with some steepish hills. We had a delightful campsite adjacent to the bridge crossing. Our low on night #2 was a balmy 31 degrees. And yes, 31 degrees IS noticeably warmer than 24 degrees!
Here's a shot of us together...Pizza and Beep...
Here are three "scenic" trail shots...
You can expect for Pizza to post some of his own photos and impressions of the trip. We had a blast! The SHT was great (as usual) except for the mile or so of freshly clear cut private land that the trail crossed. I didn't take any pictures of that!
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Originally Posted by Hangin' Burrito
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