On July 21-24, 2017, I completed a 60 mile solo hike from Castle Danger to Martin Road (Duluth) on the Superior Hiking Trail. This is the southern most portion of the SHT that has campsites, thus most southbound traditional through hikes end with this section. Through some research prior to the trip, I found that most consider this portion of the trail to be the least interesting. However, my goal is to section hike the entire trail from near Canada to Duluth. (only 50 miles left)

The first section of the trail near Castle Danger was the best of the trip and had many overlooks and rivers. As I walked farther south, the trail turns away from Lake Superior. Much of the trail traveled along an over grown, swampy snowmobile trail. I encountered many portions of the trail that had not been maintained yet this year. The weather was nice (except for a storm the first night), and the trail was relatively flat, however my feet got pretty torn up from too high of mileage in wet shoes. I am a goal oriented guy and its hard for me to stop mid-day (after my daily mileage should be complete) when I am solo hiking. Someone needs to tell me you don't get a medal for finishing early. Lesson learned.

I camped in my Warbonnet XLC, Superfly. It was my first trip in my DIY Costco under quilt and top quilt. The last night it got down to 46 degrees (which was about 10 degrees less than I expected). I got a little cold with minimal clothing on. I could get down to about 40 if dressed warmer or about 50 without warm clothes.

While the trail wasn't spectacular, I was still out in the woods hanging in my hammock and many things learned.