SHT: Temperance River SP to Cascade River SP

[mpvisc00]

Spent Thurs-Sunday hiking 35 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail this weekend. Packweight including food was 23lbs - the lightest I've ever gotten it, and it was magical.
I caught a ride from a woman named Harriet Quarles who runs a shuttle for the northern half of the trail and as soon as I mentioned a hammock she asked if I knew Shug . Then she told me stories about him until we got to Temperance River SP. Shug - if you read this, no worries, the ride was only 20 minutes or so.
I hiked in 6.5miles Thursday afternoon, past Carlton Peak
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Spent the night at Springdale Creek Campsite. First use of the Costco UQ worked great, I got it on and stayed put where it should have been! It got down to 36deg that night. With my mummy bag as a top quilt and a pad I slept real warm, didn't wake until 9am. I even got to keep the tarp off that night and sleep under the full moon. I opted to skip the pad the next couple nights because I was tired of constantly jockying around trying to get it where I needed it.
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Friday was a 10 mile plan, which became 13 miles once I added on a loop around Leveaux Moutain and the spur to the Gondola at Lutsen. By the time I got there, I almost debated pulling a Bear Grylls and taking the gondola to the bottom, eating a nice hot meal and taking the short route to Mystery Mountain Campsite...but opted to hike back to the trail and continue on.
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Saturday was a 12.2 mile slog through mud. mud everywhere. By far the worst section of trail I've ever had the pleasure of hiking. There were maybe 2 or 3 miles that weren't complete much. Spent Saturday night in a cedar grove which was incredible. I shared the site with two other solo hikers, one of whom shot a grouse on the way in with his recurve bow. He tried it on a whim, got one, and split the breast with us and it was fantastic. Good company and a nice campfire BS session at the end of a crummy wet, muddy day where I got to the point of questioning my decisions in life.
Sunday morning was a beautiful 6 mile hike to Cascade River State Park to the car, followed a nice ridgeline, minimal mud, some great scenery and a few good views as well. Quite a pleasant end to the hike.

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Apparently my phone had issues saving images, because I have 31 thumbnails that only contain a black exclamation point =( sigh, perhaps someday I will go back that way, but ugh the mud. Saturday had some of the best shots, and all are gone.

[OneClick]

Gouse with a bow!?!?! Man, I unload a semi-automatic 20ga and still come up empty half the time.

I recognize the Dromite; I take mine 9/10 times.

Looks like a great trip. Great time to be out in the woods!

[TrailSlug]

Sounds like a good trip other than the mud. That can take a toll on you if you have to put in very many miles. Thanks for sharing and bummer on the missing pics.

[airick]

Good trip. I still need to cross this stretch off of my list for the SHT.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[RecReator]

Sounds like a great trip. The SHT is beautiful, especially this time of year.

[JeremyL]

Sounds like a good trip. I saw you on the trail on your second day. I was headed towards Springdale Creek and you gave me the tip that the sign was missing. I posted a video. I have 3 COSTCO quilts at home that I plan to convert to an under quilt and atop quilt. Which plans did you use? I took some of the seems out. I see you left them all in. It might be a little warmer if you remove some. I removed every other row so the squares are twice as big. Still keeps the down in place and gives more loft. Muddiest and worst area of the SHT I have done so far is between Casacade River Campsite and the Pincussion trail head. Very muddy, over grown and boring.

[OneClick]

Very muddy, over grown and boring.

Sounds like to found a wormhole and entered Indiana.

[mpvisc00]

Sounds like a good trip. I saw you on the trail on your second day. I was headed towards Springdale Creek and you gave me the tip that the sign was missing. I posted a video. I have 3 COSTCO quilts at home that I plan to convert to an under quilt and atop quilt. Which plans did you use? I took some of the seems out. I see you left them all in. It might be a little warmer if you remove some. I removed every other row so the squares are twice as big. Still keeps the down in place and gives more loft. Muddiest and worst area of the SHT I have done so far is between Casacade River Campsite and the Pincussion trail head. Very muddy, over grown and boring.

Small world! Was the sign in fact missing, or was I blind? I'll check your video. I was going to make one, but since my SD card crapped out I lost most of my photos and footage. Next time I suppose.

I used SargeVinings no-sew version. It was the simplest one I could find. I used KamSnaps and made channels for the cords with the snaps. I left it fully quilted and I was very comfortable. I may look into pulling one direction of stitching in the future, but it worked!