This is going to be another adventure travel post but I see that it is also the 800th post to this blog. Yea it's evolved into a less frequent thing, but no one really wants to read my yammering on about so little.
On to the real meat of this. Another outdoor adventure! This time with an unexpected travel partner. If you remember last year, my brother Jim and I did a weekend kayak trip on the Namekagon River in northern Wisconsin. We tried to do another section of that river this year, but our schedules just did not mesh. When the did it would be in the middle of October. That gets a little dicey with trying to arrange shuttles (most places shut down after 10/2) and weather up there could be great or cold and snowy.
I was determined to do this with him or solo at this point so I still kept planning. Then from the living room one day I heard, "I'll go with you". Huh? who said that. Joel? Really? "sure I'll go".
I was surprised and tickled at the same time. I can't recall the last time we went camping together, probably when we had the pop up camper? That and the fact that he hasn't been home for the last 4 Septembers so he has not had much opportunity in the last few years either.
Now I was pretty stoked about the trip. We decided on Saturday the 17th through Monday the 19th. I had to be in Arizona for work and was coming home Friday so this worked the best.
I made sure I had everything for him because I would not want to make this experience a bad one with being cold or hungry or whatever, he'd never want to come with me again. I made sure all bases were covered and the weekend before we even hit the little lake, 2 miles from our house to practice in the kayak. Not only had he not camped in a while, he had never used the boats either.
I got home from Arizona around 1:00 am Saturday morning. Not a great decision but I've done more on less sleep. I roll out of bed at 5:30 and Joel and I put the boats on the car and finish packing up. We are on the road by 7:15. Not bad. About 5 hours later we reach Trego, Wisconsin, where we stop at the log cabin camp and cabins. This is were we transfer our gear to a van, put our boats on the trailer and they shuttle us to the start of the day in Hayward.
We get to the Hayward landing around 1:30. Unpack and take our gear to the little covered picnic area. Because yea, it's raining. Hard. We pack the boats in the rain and wait for it to subside a little. All this weather change triggers a migraine for Joel. Not a good start. I was really afraid he would be miserable the whole weekend.
The rain relented and we finally got it the water around 2 in the afternoon. The entire trip was to be about 29-30 miles. Originally we intended on doing 9 or so for 3 days. With the migraine issue we did about 6 on Sunday.
Found a nice site and set up camp. Joel was better but still had a lot of pain. The vision and other issues had subsided. We made a fire cooked some hamburgers over the fire.
The weather was ok, it never rained on us again but it remained cloudy until almost time for the sun to set.
It started to get dark so we decided to go to bed early, hoping Joel would wake up better and the next day would be more fun.
The next morning came and it was sunny and bright. Joel emerged from his tent, Any better? He was better last night then it got worse as the morning came. He didn't sleep very well either. I had him drink some energy drink mix I had to give home some caffeine. I made some coffee and then I made breakfast of egg, bacon and cheese burritos.
After some food and some caffeine, Joel was a bit better. We took out the map and tried to see where we needed to go today. Since we had a light day yesterday, we would have to put some miles down today. We decided to shoot for campsite 44.8 or 14 miles down river.
Sun was shining and we set out. Unlike the trip last year we saw next to no one on the river. Today was quite a few sets of riffles and rapids. The first one was a nice drop and chute with some big rollers. Joel shot right down the middle and took a large wave over the bow! Needless to say he got soaked. So much so he had to use the bailer and sponge to get all the water out of the boat. Also the water was pretty cold too. 59 ° according to my watch which I soaked in the water to measure it.
We stopped at a landing around noon, to grab a bite to eat, allow Joel to change out his shorts and strech our legs.
His headache all but gone, we jumped back into the boats to finish the day.
We reached your destination by 2:30. We averaged just over 4 mile per hour which is really quite good. The river levels were a little higher than normal and that helped. The whole area was shut down earlier this summer due to all the flooding they had because of record rainfall. It seems the whole year has been wetter than normal.
We unpacked and set up in the sun to dry out a bit. I had Joel try out my hammock to take a nap if he could. He was asking me how could that be comfortable as when I set up my hammock as the head end is always a little lower then the foot end. I said get in an try it. He did and once I showed him how to lay in it, he said " I get it" and he stayed there for at least an hour.
Unfortunately the clouds started rolling in later at night and so did the mosquitoes. We had dinner and a fire a few beers and played cards until after dark.
The weather forecast did not look good for tonight 50% chance of rain and more tomorrow. We both Went to bed before 9:00.
The next morning we woke up to clouds at around 7:00 am. We both slept through the night, which is unusual for me and camping, Normally I would wake up at least 1 to 2 times and fall back asleep.
We started packing up and making breakfast. Didn't matter it started raining. Pancakes in the rain! After eating we put the rest of our gear in the boats, put the spray skirts on so we would not get soaked sitting in the boat and took off.
Only 8 miles today so it would be less effort that yesterday. However this part of the river was wider and flatter and the water did not move nearly as fast as yesterday. The water did come out of the sky for the next 2 hours though. As we neared the end we could see blue sky peeking through but we never seemed to catch up to it.
About a mile from the end, the sun came out and started warming us as we drifted into the Log Cabin beach area.
We slowly unpacked and then loaded up the car. Changed into some dry clothes and started our 5 hour drive home. Although not before stopping at an A&W on the way home for lunch!
I have been lucky enough to enjoy two outdoor adventures with my kids this year. I hope they continue to want to come with me as long as they can.
As anyone who reads this blog knows that we did not complete our backpacking trip in Arizona back in April. That stuck with me for quite some time. Almost immediately after getting home I started looking for my revenge or rebound hike.
I had decided it would be either the section of North Country Trail that runs through northern Wisconsin or a segment of the Superior Hiking Trail in upper Minnesota.
The Superior Hiking Trail won out. I planned a 4 day 3 night trip that would cover almost 40 miles. I emailed Mike asking his opinion. He asked if I was looking for his input or asking him to come along. My answer was yes.
We coordinated schedules and Mike booked a flight. I guess the trip is on.
On Friday, I picked Mike up from the airport and he stayed with us overnight. On Saturday we began the 6 plus hour drive to Duluth. Pretty lousy drive for the first 2 hours as constant heavy rain kept the speeds to 40 mph for much of the time.
Eventually we get to Duluth and the hotel we were staying at. Which was another story in itself. Apparently the tall ships festival was in town this weekend and every hotel room within 100 miles of Duluth was booked. We were lucky to get this one for a reasonable amount of money.
So what did we do? We went to look at the tall ships. Well they were secondary to the worlds largest rubber duck. It was kind of cool and rainy most of the day, and the ships were interesting. A good way to pass a few hours.
We ate at Grandma's restaurant. Mike had some good history of the place. Overall, Mike was pretty excited to be in Minnesota. It's where he grew up. He had a lot of good stories and was even happier to purchase a 2016 Vikings media guide!
The next day we drove into Two Harbors, did a little sightseeing and had lunch. Which was awesome. Blackwoods restaurant if you are ever up there, we recommend it. From there we headed out to Silver Bay where we would leave my car and pick up the shuttle. This trail is used heavily and they actually have daily scheduled shuttle service. I reserved some room before we got up there. At 1:30 our transportation arrived. Earlier than anticipated. Infact he had called me that afternoon to tell me they might be up to 15 minutes later than the scheduled 1:44 time on the reservation.
The shuttle was dropping two hikers off and picking us up as well as transferring Sara from Grand Marais. Basically the end of the road for this trail. She had done some 160 miles in 12 days. and mostly by herself. Pretty cool. We talked with her and our driver as he made one more stop and then on to our starting point in Castle Danger (Castle Danger, where bond villains go for some 'up north' time).
Mike and I pulled our packs from the van said goodbye to Sara and off we went.
This trail doesn't have nearly the elevation that we encountered in Arizona, but it still was no cake walk. Less than a few feet from the trail head the trail went up. Like over 200 feet in less than a half mile. Once we got to the top we were greeted with spectacular views of forest and Lake Superior.
Yea thats a cargo ship you see near the horizon.
The temperatures were mid seventies and the rain had passed us by. It was a great day for hiking. I guess the only bad part was all the rain over the last few days left the trail pretty soupy in spots. We had plenty of mud on our boots by the end of the day.
About 5:00 we started seeing the camp sites we could choose from. There were 4 in total. We passed the first 2 because we we doing well and did not want to stop. We got to the third and we almost stopped. I say almost because I knew there was one more campsite ahead and any miles we could put on today would be less tomorrow. And the campsite we just left was a nice one. I was having feelings of Arizona all over again. Should we have stayed here? will the next site be nice? will there be a next site or did I read the map wrong? In about 15 minutes we did find the last site of the Gooseberry Falls set of sites. It was a group site, so we had a table. It wasn't as nice as the last site. but we had river access only about 100 feet from camp and it was off the trail. Crisis averted.
We unpacked and set up camp. I went and pulled water from the river and we had dinner. Mike with some instant lasagna and I had some instant chili. We both ate well. I tried to start a fire, but there was not much wood in the area and what was there was really damp from the rain of the past 2 days. Neither of us cared at that point. We were both in bed before it was completely dark.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast. I brought a deli bagel, cream cheese packets and fresh smoked salmon with my coffee. Who says you have to rough it?
I even tried to toast the bagel a bit over the flame of the stove but it didn't work too well. We packed up slowly and took our time to leave. Although we did not feed them, the chipmunks did not want us to leave.
Today we would hike up the river a bit, cross a bridge and then hike down the other side of the Gooseberry River. At the first bridge we saw what would be the first of many waterfalls. Like little kids we scrambled around taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. This is how the rest of the day would go. Hike a bit another cool water fall, they were just non stop. After a while I just enjoyed them in my mind. No need to photograph ever one. Mike however, is a waterfall junkie I come to find out. He is taking pictures of everyone we come to. I give him credit for his tenacity.
The trail we are on had a detour at this point which kind of took us deeper into Gooseberry State Park. For a Monday there sure were a lot of people here. We decided to use the visitor center as a place to eat lunch, use a civilized restroom and use a drinking fountain/bubbler depending on who you talk to. Mike bought himself a coke and and ice cream sandwich. Nice little break from camp food. I had some hard salami and string cheese (I had brought with me).
From here we had to use a paved bike trail for about a mile and a half. The a dirt road for another mile and a half after that.
Back on the trail we continued. A bit drier today not as muddy, Still very sunny and the bugs are remarkably absent. Along the way we nosh on wild raspberries and thimble berries where they have not been eaten by everyone else. We finally start working our way up the Split Rock river and one of the 4 campsites available. Looks like one is occupied by some kids so we take the first one we come upon. 12 miles is good for the day.
We are on on one side of the trail and the river is on the other. Such a nice spot. We unpack set up camp and head right to the river. Cool rushing water makes for a perfect place to clean up and get refreshed.
We hang up the 'washed' clothes and settle in for some dinner. Mike's got spaghetti and I have the hamburger wraps. It starts to get cloudy so I pull a weather report from my little satellite locator thingy. Since we have zero cell service. It says 50% chance of rain tonight. Hmm Mike and I both put the rain flys on our set ups. No sleeping under the stars tonight. It makes it a bit warmer and since we don't feel like having a fire we both retire early. Because our packs were much lighter than Arizona, I brought my kindle and Mike his Ipad. Just like home I read to fall asleep. Except the roaring river sounds in the background is delightful to sleep to.
I wake up around 7:30. No rain and one of the best sleeps I have had outside. Normally my outside sleep is one of a few hours here, flip around fall back asleep, repeat until morning. Must have been the waterfall noise that helped drown out all other sounds.
The sky is hazy and so we dawdle around camp for a while hoping our stuff will dry out. After a while we realize it could take a while. We eat and pack up. Another 10 mile day today.
Today is very similar to the previous. Hike up the side of the river then cross a bridge to the other side and then down the river as it empties into Lake Superior. We eventually catch up with spur trails that go down into Split Rock State Park, Just like Gooseberry State Park, except this time there is no need to detour. However, Mike really wants to get these iconic pictures of this light house. Honestly I had no idea this was such a highly photographed spot until he showed me before we set out. This detour adds about 3 miles to the day and I was thinking.... nah. I could get into camp early relax a bit. So we part ways, I give him a map and we agree to leave markers as I go past certain points.
Today is hotter and a bit muggier than the last two days. It's noticeable. I stop for lunch at one of 3 campgrounds we could choose for the evening. Breezy, shady. I eat lunch and linger way longer than I intended to.... like an hour and a half.
I was fresh out of water but there was a creek a half mile from this site. I reluctantly packed up, left Mike a mark that I had been here and headed out. 10 minutes later I was taking my pack off and filtering water from a very low Chapins creek. Refilled and refreshed I headed on. Crossing paths with a few other hikers.
This trail is much more populated than the Arizona trail that is for sure. In Arizona we met 4 people and 1 was on horseback. We met 9 people on day one (not including the visitor center) 6 on day two and another 3 today.
At the next site I passed up, leaving a mark for Mike again. About 30 minutes later was the last reachable campsite for the day. The entry was completely overgrown, I hope no one is here so don't have to back track. Nope empty. The time is about 3:10, quickest and earliest day and not bad for 10 miles. I unpack and change out of my sweaty clothes and hang them up. Did I mention it was much hotter today?
I go to the beaver pond, yep, no nice running rivers today, and fill up a bag to filter. Set up my hammock and set to relaxing. Around 5 I have dinner of chicken and dumplings. I realize that I need to mark the entry to the site. I grab some orange cord and a hiking pole and go stick it in the trail. Marking this is it.
About 45 minutes later Mike comes in, looking beat. His shorts are wet front and back from the sweat. His shirt is dark with sweat. He made it. An extra 3 and a half miles and some extra elevation as well. He has good stories and good pictures to go for the effort. Went swimming in the lake was clean for a while, had cold water from the lake too, but you couldn't tell looking at him now.
He changed made some dinner. I made some dessert (Did I mention I brought way too much food). I got a fire going. A real one. There was plenty of fire wood around to maintain a fire for a few hours.
Mike dried his shorts. And we heard a beaver slap the water with his tail. It was a good day.
The next morning was the last day. About a 9 mile jaunt through Beaver Bay and into Silver Bay. This was possibly one of the most strenuous of the days. Highest elevation of the trip. Most of this was up and down. Climb 100 ft drop 75, climb 150 feet drop 125.
We crossed the Beaver River and stopped at a campsite for lunch. Man if we could have gone another 3 miles yesterday we could have stayed here campsites right on the river with what else? Waterfalls.
Instead we ate, saw a school group of about 20 kids hike by and filled up our last need for water.
Out of the river valley we climbed again, under a rail road, past some mining companies and then higher up to the ridges. At one point I thought I was close and took a quick movie - 'almost done I think the road we want is over there' Only to realize how far off I was. I was on the wrong ridge, I had one more to go!
Finally we reached the car took off the packs, cracked a warm beer from the cooler and celebrated. We did it. About 37 miles total.
We were not done yet. We load up in the car, and drive to Split Rock Park. Yep Mike talked it up so much how could I resist. Paid my $5 to get in the park and off we went.
We grab some clothes and and towel and head to the water. I thought I would just wade in and freshen up. Nope. The water was cold but man did it feel great. Before you know it we are swimming and I am completely refreshed. We walk dry off a bit walk to the restrooms and change into dry clothes. We take a few more pictures of the lighthouse. I admit, it's pretty freaking cool.
here is a pic of swimming AND the lighthouse!
Its around 2 in the afternoon when we left and we try to find a pizza place in Two Harbors. Its doesn't open until 4:30. Don't have time for that so we go back to Blackwoods for a burger instead. Again they knocked it out of the park.
We finally hit the road a bit after 3:00 with about 7+ hours of drive ahead of us. Mike put up with my singing for at least 3 hours of that time. Sorry.
We finally get home a little after 11. A long day. The next day I take Mike to the airport and he headed back home. We already talked about where we would go next. Can't wait.
Sometime
it’s the simple unscripted plan that seems to go the best. Or is it the road to
hell is paved with good intentions?
Either way,
the adventure I had spent countless hours working on was about to begin.
And what an inauspicious beginning it was. On Friday I had already begun to get emails telling me that my flights for the next day are being cancelled. Apparently
Denver was under a winter storm warning with snow totals upwards of 20”. Our flight from Milwaukee had a connection to
Tucson in Denver. Not a good sign.
I called the
airline and am able to work out a direct to Phoenix flight and not get stuck in
Denver. I call my hiking companion, Mike who lives outside of Dallas, and tell him of the plan change and
hopefully he can also get a flight change. He lets me know about 20 minutes
later that we are good to go. Now to
alter my rental car from a Tucson in and out to a Phoenix to Tucson one way. So
now we get in later, have to drive the near 2 hours from Phoenix to Tucson and
get dinged an extra $150.00 for the privilege, basically doubling that expense.
Saturday
comes and the travel goes off without a hitch, for once. We meet up with Mike at the airport and head
down to Tucson. We have lost four hours over our original plan. We lost time to
get groceries, gas for stoves (not allowed on flights) wood for our resupply
campfire and any other pre hike shakedown things we have to do.
The whole
day was a blur and before I knew it was 10:00 PM, and with my body two hours
ahead it felt like midnight.
The next day
(Sunday) Tracy, Mackenzie, Mike and I, load up the car, go to Ihop for
breakfast and on to the Alta Loma trail head (Hope Camp Trail) to start our
trip. From this trailhead we would hike into Saguaro National Park and north on
the Arizona National Scenic Trail.
Today
started out easy enough. About five miles in it was noon and we stopped for
lunch. Jimmy John’s subs purchased the night before. A little heavy for one
meal, and 14 hours old (they were refrigerated overnight) but wilted lettuce
and cold cuts never tasted so good. That
seems to become a theme for the trip. After so much activity everything tastes
good.
It was about
1 hour before lunch we ran into two other hikers, coming from where were are
headed. Two of only four people we would see all week.
We get back
on the trail after lunch and the threads of my planning are already starting to
show themselves, like a well-worn sweater. At this point we expected, or
thought anyway, that we would be get the campsite (another 5 miles) by 2 or
2:30.
At this
point it didn’t matter. The trip was everything I was hoping for, great
weather, incredible scenery; 20-30 foot high Saguaro Cacti, Indian paint brush
and prickly pear cactus all in bloom. Say nothing of the incredible vistas as
we slowly climb in altitude.
Those looks
outs got better the higher we got. We did get high. We gained over 2200’ today
alone.
Around 4:15
(2 hrs. behind schedule) we finally stumble into camp seemingly out of nowhere.
We crossed a creek and look up to realize we walked right into the middle of
Grass Shack Campground. And what a campsite it was. Shade trees, clear flat
ground a bear box/picnic table and that creek. Fresh, cold and running right along
the edge of the campground, making those babbling brook sounds.
We happily
dropped our packs and wandered around for a bit. Happy to have the day
completed and awed at this great little site.
Mike sets up
his tent and I string up the hammock. The sky is clear and there is not rain
forecast as far as we know so I hang the tarp but leave it in the ‘snake skins’
just in case.
With that
out of the way, I get out of my hiking boots and into some camp shoes. My boots are nice with grip and support but
don’t seem to breathe enough so my feet get pretty warm.
My feet are grateful
and we move on to getting dinner. I have these unimaginative green belly bars.
I bought them on Kickstarter. A full 1/3rd of your nutritional needs
in these chocolate peanut type bars. A bit dry but they do the trick. Mike busts out some dehydrated spaghetti and
meat sauce. I am now jealous. Except the fact he added an extra cup of water
and ended up with spaghetti soup. It smells good and he also made some instant
spuds.
A quick note
about Mike. He’s what you would call a slightly picky eater. In fact Tracy and
he just had a blast at the dinner the night before talking about all the little
idiosyncrasies on what they eat and what they won’t. Mike took great pains to
get food he would like and could take along. I was really impressed with what he
opened up to on this trip.
After dinner
I broke out my little flask I got for Christmas and a tube of powdered
margarita mix. Trail margaritas with some Hornitos tequila!
The sun
starts to set on and since we are in this little valley it gets a little
chilly. I try to see how far back this
creek goes. I have no idea of its origin I just know it’s incredible.
At 7:00 Mike
and I are like now what? Seriously we are tired and going to bed just seems
right.
I lay in the
hammock just the bug net over me, probably did not even need that. The sky is
clear and the moon is almost full. I doze off pretty quick and then wake up
around 10. The moon is so bright, it makes a flashlight unneeded for this
bathroom break. Nothing but the sounds
of running water.
As when
sleeping in hotel beds or outside the first few nights, sleep comes in smaller
sets. A few hours, wake up, another few hours. The next time I wake up it is
3:00 am. My watch says its 43° and the moon has set to the west. Now the stars
are in full glory. I grab my glasses and let my eyes adjust for a while. There is no
light pollution around here. It’s amazing how many stars you can see as opposed
to even my house.
I take my
glasses off and get another 2 hours of sleep.
I get up and
out of the hammock around 6 am its still only 46°. I make some coffee. It’s
only Starbucks instant but it does the trick. Then I remember the almond
Snickers bar I had from last night that was way too melted to eat. I dig into
the bear box and pull it out. Perfect,
albeit quite misshapen but after peeling the wrapper out of the new creases it
goes great with the coffee. Next up is some apples n’ cinnamon oatmeal. I
decide to hold off on the pop tart as the oatmeal is two serving size.
Mike gets up
and basically does the same, cocoa instead of coffee and a bagel instead of
oatmeal, but he too has the melted and re-forged candy bar from yesterday.
I make
another coffee and convert the hammock into a swing. We are lollygagging this
morning because it feels right.
We break
down camp and filter a bunch of water. On the Arizona trail, water is the
biggest concern. It can be far between opportunities to fill up, so when you
can you do. It was not unreasonable for us to each be carrying over a gallon of
water. A gallon of water mind you,
weighs over 8 pounds.
It’s after 9
when we leave camp. Goodbye Grass Shack.
Today is a
huge day, at least 2 more miles than yesterday and did I mention 3300 feet of
elevation gain? This means over 2 days we will have climbed over a mile up. We
feel refreshed and ready to go.
Our next
stop is Manning camp at 8000’ and about 5 miles. The trail as you can imagine
is pretty much up the entire time. Again the trail is just beautiful. The first
2 hours are not bad, but I have a ‘bonk’ moment where I dig out that pop-tart I
didn’t eat this morning and devour it. I feel my blood sugar get boosted. I also notice that the temperature is warmer
than yesterday.
It’s still
slow going and we don’t get to Manning camp until 1:00. A bit behind schedule,
but not too bad I guess. We drop our
packs in the shade of the building. The camp is actually an old homestead built
in 1905 and now used by the park service for base camp when the park service
does prescribed burns and other activities.
I make
lunch, pasta puttanesca with meat sauce. Probably a poor choice to have a warm
lunch like that, but it hit the spot for sure.
We putter around the camp, reading the signs, lifting weights. Yea,
someone dragged a weight bench, weights and an Olympic bar up here.
Another
great feature of this camp is the spring that fills up a retention pond and
then that drains down the mountain. More clear, cold mountain water. Mike takes
the filter and goes to fill up. After a while I realize it should not take that
long to filter and go look for him. He barely has one water bottle full. Filter
must need cleaning, I clean it, or so I thought I did and I try again. It’s
still too slow. At this point I am ready to use the backup purification tablets
we have. One more cleaning and this time I really clean it. Boom it starts
working like it should. Unfortunately we wasted way too much time on this.
Loaded up
with the most water we have had so far (as there may not be another water
source until tomorrow) we head out. It’s after 3 and we are 90 percent sure we
will not make the intended campsite before night fall. We still have another
600 feet of accent to get to the top of Mica Mountain.
We get to
the crest, staring into the valley below us. A million dollar view if there
ever was one. It is energizing. It adds some missing spring to our
step.
We begin the
long decent into that valley where our scheduled camp site is supposed to be.
We know we won’t make it, it’s now just a matter of how far we can go before it
gets too dark.
You think
going down would be easier than up, but in my opinion it is worse. Completely
different set of muscles, ankle twisting angles and loose scrabble makes it difficult.
Around 7900
ft we find a water source. Italian spring. We both have a laugh at the horrible
little puddle the are calling a spring. Thank god we loaded up on water at
Manning camp.
Not much
farther after this we are out of the park. There is a fence we have to go
through, just like when we entered. It
took us about 36 hours to trek across this wonderful national park.
As we work
our way down the northeast side of the mountain, the sun starts getting lower.
Mike and I start discussing when we should find a place for the night. No later
than 6:30 as sunset is around 7 and because of the mountains even earlier for
us.
After about
30 minutes of walking, we find the idyllic spot for both of us. Flat for tents
with pine needles and plenty of trees for hammocks. Bah, I say. We have 45 minutes of day light
and we will find plenty more like this on the way down.
After about
10 minutes the terrain changes drastically. I may regret making the call on
skipping that site. We keep on going and I can just feel the mistake. I say a few things like ‘yea, I may have made
the wrong call’. Mike’s not too hard on me, gives me some shit every few
minutes but it’s nothing I don’t deserve.
We finally
find a plateau. It’s flat-ish and has a few trees scattered about. It’s less
than ideal. But we make it work. I hang
my hammock on what you would call a no-no most any other time, a dead tree. Not
only dead but partially burnt from the last fire that may have come through. It
is small so if it does come down, I feel fairly certain it would not hurt me
too much. I hang on it, give it a few shoves and decide it’s worth the effort.
I strap up and gingerly sit down. Nothing happens. I quickly get to hanging the
tarp as this is a bit open, so anything to break the wind will be appreciated.
Oh yea, I am also hanging across the actual trail. Again not a great idea. As animals tend to
use them as much as people.
Mike may
have it worse. He is on at least a 20° angle and ends up sliding down in his
tent all night. He makes some instant
lasagna. I eat next to nothing. I am pretty upset at a few things. My call on
the campsite, the fact we are now even further behind to name a few.
The
consolation to this site is the incredible sunset, turning the eastern ridge
orange and red. Likewise on the sun rise, we get to watch the sun fill the
mountains to the west and fill the valley below with light.
I sleep less
than I did the night before. A few hours
at a time. The low temperature I see is about 50°. I finally rise around 5:30
as the first light starts to break. Make breakfast of some instant polenta with
Italian sausage, some honey roasted almonds and another candy bar I did not eat
the night before.
At this
point, my body is still feeling pretty good, my knee is a little sore from all
the downhill but a few Aleve and we are good to go. I am thinking to myself we
need to get out of here no later than 7:30, but I am not pushing anything. I
have made a few too many bad calls as it is.
7:58 we are
on the trail. Not bad. The bad part is we need to do about 16-17 miles today by
5:30 pm. Based on our last two nights that was going to be tough. Although the
thought was we could make time once we got to the valley, more flat with only a
few mild elevation gains and losses.
Our spirits
are high as we start, thinking we can do this. I continue to be kidded about my
lack of campsite judgement, deservedly so.
About 3
miles in we cross Tanque Verde Canyon. Another water source. We heard it long
before we actually saw it. When we saw it we were happy. Again we drop our
packs with gusto. Drink up on the water we have and go to filling up full every
container we have. We take some bandanas and get wet to aid the cooling as we
notice the temps seem to be quite bit
warmer than the last few days.
We spend
about a half hour here and resume on the trail. About another mile we finally
hit the spot where we were supposed to have made it last night. Wow I really
missed on the effort needed here.
We keep on
cruising through some high plains and grassland. The sun is really starting to
heat up. It’s surreal scenery. Bluest of skies, the golden grass, the green
dotting of small trees and scrub here and there and the ever-changing dirt path
we walk upon.
“ Snake!
Rattlesnake!” I hear snapping me out of my hiking trance. I turn around to see Mike come up on me as
ask if I saw the snake. I had not. About 10 feet off the trail under a tree, he
spotted it and it rattled at him. I probably went by first and startled it,
when Mike followed he was more than ready to warn us. I went back to see if I
could find it, but it had taken off and that was the last we saw of him. Still it
made me look everywhere after that.
After
another hour or so we take a quick break. Mike says we should do more of this
type of thing. Mentioning that we are getting along well and enjoying
ourselves. I chuckle a bit because, I never even thought of that. I have to
agree, we were having a good time, doing things and seeing things most people
will never see. We make a pretty good team. Yep, if he still wants to travel
with me after this one I won’t stop him.
About 11:30
we cross Reddington road. We have some cattle barriers to cross and a dirt
road. This is where, if we had time we were going to cache some extra water.
Since we lost so much time due to our change in travel plans we never made
it. It didn’t matter, we found some
water that was left by ‘Trail Angels’ who leave water out here for hikers and
users of the Arizona trail. We drank some and filled up but left plenty for
others. Onward we went.
Around 1 we
decide to stop for lunch. If we can find some shade. When planning for this
trip the average high temperature in April is around 84. We would come to find
out it was 96 that day. I could definitely feel it. We find the smallest of scrub trees near the
trail and throw ourselves and the packs underneath it. We have lunch. I made
some hamburger tortilla wraps. It’s a dehydrated meal but needs only cool water.
It was like having these hamburger burritos. They were so good. Of course when this hungry and this tired
almost anything is good, I think that’s how a lot of these companies that make
food for backpacking survive. These dummies are so damn hungry they will eat
anything. Taste is secondary. Mike and I did a lot of food testing before this
trip so we would not be fooled but still I can see that happening.
As we sit
under our bush we see a man on a horse coming down the trail. The first person
we have seen in about two days. As he approaches, he stops and stares at us for
a few extra seconds. He continues on toward us and proclaims that he thought I
was a mountain lion. Tan pants, white shirt? I guess? Not much for
conversation, he continues on and we pack up to head out.
We carry on
another 2 hours and we approach another road crossing. As we approached the
road we had discussed what we knew we needed to do. Drop some weight on these
packs if we are going to make another 5-6 miles to the next campsite. At
Bellota Ranch road we drop the packs and decide we need to call the support team
(my wife and kids). The reasons are many.
We will
never make the campsite by 5:30. This is
when the whole resupply team would be expecting us. If we don’t show or let her
know where we are, I am sure she will call the cavalry.
Our packs
need to be lightened. 3 days of hiking has made aware that we have too much
stuff and if we are to continue the extra, unneeded, unused items would need to
go.
If we
continue we will never make to the campsite before nightfall. We do have extra
food, but it would not be safe to push on in the dark.
Finally, the
Aleve is wearing off and my knee is reminding me that it is sore.
This is
about 3:30 in the afternoon. The real problem at hand, we can’t get a cell
signal. I get gps coordinates and the
road name on the phones so as soon as we get a signal we can send the message.
As luck
would have it Mike ended up backtracking about 3 miles to get that signal. I
did about half of that going to look for him when he did not get back on our
agreed up on time.
The good
news is we were able to get in contact with the extraction team. Now we just
sit and wait.
It’s after 6
when they roll up in the car. At this point I am really struggling with myself.
The disappointment I feel from only getting a little over half way through the
trip, the time spent planning, the feeling that I wasn’t prepared enough. I don’t
feel good about it right now.
We rearrange
the trunk to load our packs. We had to,
they were on their way to the resupply point and had all kinds of fresh food
for dinner, and beverages and resupply stuff. All for nothing.
We pile into
the car and begin what I would term in itself an adventure. The 12 mile dirt/gravel road that they came
to get us on. It was a jeep trail and nothing more. The most rutted, pot holed, narrow slice of ‘road’
I can ever recall trying to navigate. In an overloaded rental car. Not a jeep or a lifted pickup truck. It takes an hour to get out and the car
bottomed out a few times. I was amazed Tracy drove it in, as I sit wild eyed
and drive it out. Don’t get a flat, don’t get stuck because who knows when or
where we would get help out here.
By the time
we get back on pavement it’s well after 8 and dark. We hit Culvers for dinner
and decide that the trip is over. We
could head back out tomorrow and try to finish it, but my knee is telling me
that it might not be a good idea, and that I don’t want to worry my wife for
the rest of the trip as she goes home in a day and wouldn’t hear from me for
some time. As I write this I think we could have and maybe should have tried
but at the time I think I was mentally beaten more than physically at that
point.
So how did
we do? About 35 miles of the 57 planned. Learned a lot about what we can do,
our gear, my planning. I already have a redemption trip on my mind closer to
home. Probably solo, but it might be what I need.
As Mike goes
back to Texas and I to Wisconsin, you can bet we will start thinking where to
go and what to do next. Next time to completion.
Last year around this time I was planning a weekend kayak
camping trip. Due to other commitments and then the weather turning cold, it
never happened. All the planning for this trip would not be wasted though.
I talked Jim into doing this trip with me back on our mini
camp out back in July.
The time had come, Jim rode his motorcycle up to my house at 6:00
AM on Friday where I had the car loaded and ready to go. Another road trip,
this one about 5 hours to Trego, Wisconsin.
The trip itself was a Friday to Sunday deal. Consisting of
overnight stays on the river and miles of kayaking the Namakagon and St.Croix rivers. I was a little
apprehensive as I dusted off the plan and map from last year. What I thought
was 30 miles was actually closer to 35 miles. That’s a lot in 3 days.
Especially for Jim, who had not had a ton of time in the kayak. Now I was
asking for 3-5 hours a day.
We finally arrived at the lading a little before noon. the landing was empty, we were the only people here.
We began unpacking the car. No sooner than 5 minutes goes by and a small bus
pulling a trailer of canoes pulls up. About 10 guys pile out and start
unloading. I mean unloading. Each canoe had at least 2 coolers, a bundle of
fire wood and all the gear you could think of.
One even set up the canoe with a trolling motor. The canoes were loaded
to the max with so little waterline visible, they didn’t look too safe. These
dudes were here to party. That much was evident with all the whooping and
hollering they were doing. Over the course of 10 more minutes 2 more groups
show up. Going to be crowded this
weekend.
Fully unpacked, I left Jim with the boats. I had to meet the
shuttle driver Scott, at Pappy’s Leatherneck Tavern.
I met Scott and instantly sent Jim a picture of the
abduction van that would be shuttling me. You know, just in case getting in an
old van with a stranger didn’t work out. Scott turned out to be an ok guy, lots
of stories and willing to help if we needed.
Beer, Firewood, Food, Extraction? Scott was our man, just call him and
he would do his best to get what we needed as close to a landing as possible,
all for a few dollars and gas money of course.
We dropped my car at our finishing spot for Sunday and Scott
took me back to Jim and the boats. All but one group had departed while I was
gone.
We finally got on the water around 1:00 and it started our
slowly. The kayaks, fully loaded down
with gear scraped the first 100 yards due to the low water in the area. Jim got
stuck, I almost got stuck. I hope the whole weekend doesn’t go like this.
The weather at this time was completely overcast and low
60’s. Not the best but at least the chance of rain was only 20 percent.
We get going and outside of the overcast skies it’s a decent
day. We catch up to an eventually pass
the party group. We really wanted to get as much distance between us and them
as possible. We didn't want to hear that all night. We take break here and there, and plan to get
off the river around 4:30 or 5 so we can set up camp before it gets too dark to
gather wood and cook dinner.
On the map we decide we would stop at site 19.8 (the numbers
are mile makers on the river). We come
around the corner and see the site is already taken. Damn it. There are more up
ahead though. The next one is also
occupied. To make matters worse we come up on 2 ladies in a canoe who are also
looking for a campsite. Jim and I talk to them for a while then let them have
the next site. They looked even more
tired than us.
The next site is 16.5. More than 3 miles further than we
originally planned. Almost 15 miles for
the day. My longest solo paddle ever has only been 17 miles, so this is a long day.
It’s a decent campsite but it has very little firewood to
scrounge for. We find some and with my hand axe chop up some more deadfall, but
it’s way too wet for the most part. We set up camp. Jim in his tent he uses for motorcycle tripping, me with my
camping hammock. We are right on the river and it’s pretty cool. The sun comes out for a few minutes, just
before its time to set.
The fire is going and the menu is calling for fire grilled
steaks and baked potatoes. So this fire has to be somewhat decent (at least to
cook dinner). I pull out my minimalistic camp
grill and get cooking. It’s getting dark
and hard to see what is going on, but the steaks are pulled off, cooked
perfectly. That’s not just me saying that, ask Jim. The potatoes are in the coals (in foil) and
they are nor too bad either. I had butter, cheese and bacon for toppings. We eat by fire light and from a little lantern I brought.
We clean up, hang the bags for bears and other critters and
sit around for the fire to die out. Fine
by me, we are both tired and ready for bed.
It’s really clear out, the stars are nice and bright and the temperatures
are getting crisp. So much so we are forcasted for patchy frost tonight.
However, we did not get too far away from the party. We could hear a lot of whooping and loud
laughter. Along with the occasional air horn?! Really.
The morning rolls around and so does the fog. All the cold
temperatures and the warm river water created a thick blanket of fog. Everything is soaked. It might as well have
rained. We both lay in bed for a long time. I eventually send Jim a text to ask if he wants coffee. Yep too lazy to get out of bed and did not feel like yelling across the campsite.
Breakfast is burritos! Scrambled eggs, bacon and roasted
red bell pepper in a tortilla. Camping does not mean roughing it. Cups of fresh
brewed coffee as well.
Eventually the sun starts to burn off the fog and we pack
up, unfortunately still wet because we need to get going. It’s getting late and we have already seen
folks paddle past our site this morning.
We set off a bit after eleven and it’s going to be a lazy
day. The river is moving pretty fast so
there is a little paddling, a little floating, a little drinking... repeat as needed.
The sun is out in full today and it is glorious. The plan is to do another 10
or so miles and find a site with a picnic table.
We pass a few folks and decide that we want to get off the
river earlier than yesterday and dry our stuff out, find some good fire wood and
just relax. Around 2:30 we start looking for a campsite. A lot of people have
the same idea and we again have to go a bit further than we wanted, We grab a group campsite because it has a
picnic table and the fact the ‘group’ ahead of us took a “non group” site.
It’s a little more difficult to ‘dock’ at this site but that’s
a small price to pay for the nice site. Plenty of firewood, a picnic table, great views and my hammock site is on the ridge overlooking the river.
We get the tents, tarps and clothes up and drying in the
sun. Split some wood, start a fire for
dinner and play some cribbage. Dad would be happy with this.
Dinner was some foil pack potatoes, carrots and onions
roasted in the fire and some dehydrated chicken risotto. Not as gourmet as the night before but you
can only carry so much fresh food without a cooler
.
The night starts to fall and we stoke the fire. This site
was flush with dead fall and leftover firewood from previous campers. With the
axe it’s even better because we can split it and get to the inside dry wood.
I pull out my camera and take a few pictures. Then I have a few
ideas. We start goofing around with fire, then a flashlight and take some long
exposures. We are playing like we are 12 year olds again. It’s awesome.
Eventually we let the fire die down and hit the sack. At
least tonight won’t be as cold as the previous one.
The next morning its overcast but the sun is trying to peek
out. Breakfast is some hot muesli cereal and pancakes. Full complement with real butter,
syrup and some re-hydrated milk.
Luckily there was no issues with moisture today, so we pack
up and get on the river by 9:30. Another
almost 9 miles to get to the car.
Today there are also a few more rapids to liven up the
trip. About a half hour down we start to
encounter the first little set. Except
they kind of sneak up on us. Jim hits a rock and gets turned sideways. Almost
dumping it. I circle back against the current to give him some help. More along the lines of yelling at him what
he can try to do to get off this rock and not get too wet. With some deft maneuvering he gets unstuck
and only slightly wet to show for it. Good job.
The next few sets are fun we hit a max of about 7 miles per
hour in some spots, Jim decides to follow me and my line. A few bumps and scrapes but we make it
through. We hit the confluence of the Namakagon and the St Croix
River. Eventually the St Croix will
merge with the Mississippi around Hastings, Minnesota. One more set of long rapids and then the
takeout.
We take the boats and gear out load up the car and head out.
I want to drive up to Superior to eat at the Thirsty Pagan Brewing Co. It’s a bit
out of the way but Jim is a great passenger and concedes to my extra road
time. We get there and eat pizza and a calzone (and beer of course). The calzone was what I was jonesing for and it does not disappoint.
After lunch it’s a long 6 hour drive home. Made longer with
gas stops and me getting pulled over for speeding. Yes, I was busted speeding as
I entered a slowdown zone before a construction zone. Had a few conversations with
the trooper about the boats and my license plate. He thinks it’s some plate that I put a
sticker on, because he has never seen that type before (Donate Life). He comes back we chat
it up a bit more and gives me a warning. Whew.
We finally get home, unpack and Jim gets on his bike. I feel
bad, I drag him all over, have him paddle 35 miles, make him sleep on the ground
(while I sleep in a hammock) and now he still has to drive home almost an hour
in the dark. I hope he had a good time. At least I fed him well.
It was a great weekend.
I can’t wait for the next expedition.
