Moral of the Story:
Do not go winter camping if you are still sick and change out of wet clothes immediately.
I only have my arrogance to blame for trying to get back out there when I wasn't over the flu.
March 2nd I took a drive up near Lutsen Minnesota with the plan to camp. I just spent the last three weeks with a terrible flu and thought I had finally defeated it. Figured I would celebrate by hitting up a popular SHT site before spring.
I parked just outside of Cascade River State Park, loaded up the gear on the pulk and started in for a short hike to Trout Creek Camp. The first mile was great, all compacted down and would cross back and forth between regular trail and along side the ski trail. I thought to myself this was going to be a easy trip. Which was good as I was still feeling a little under the weather.
As the hike went on I felt I overshot my trail turn off. I spent some time walking back and forth on the trail until I noticed the SHT plaque in the middle of the woods. Turns out people rarely hike the Superior Hiking trail in the winter so there really is no noticable trail, who knew.
In my arrogance and hubris I stepped off the trail and did not think to equip my snow shoes. I was postholing knee deep and burning up more and more energy, sweating even more. I knew this was a mistake, but I thought I was so close to the camp. By the time I reached the camp my under layer was wet from sweat. Now I should have changed immediately but thought I could set up first.
After I did change into dry clothes I spent the next three hours coughing and trying to warm up. I did not warm up, with about 1 hr until sunset I could feel the temps dropping and my coughing getting worse. I decided with what little energy I had left I would pack up and return to the car rather than risk hypothermia/frostbite in the middle of the night. Learn from my mistakes and stay safe, spring is coming.
Here is a video of the hike and a little of the site. Trout Creek Camp is a beautiful site. I rarely get to enjoy it because it is so popular in the summer.
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