Tuesday, May, 31
I didn’t wake up particularly early at the Pincushion Mountain Trailhead/Grand Marais Overlook. I rolled down into Grand Marais and got gas and some breakfast at the Holiday Station. I got an Egg McMuffin type sandwich and a hot chocolate for the ride up to Hovland. Then I drove up to Hovland and stopped at the Arrowhead Trail crossing of the SHT. I locked up my bike there. Then I drove up a few Hundred yards from the crossing, and turned right onto Jackson Lake Road. It was about 4 miles down to the same trailhead where I ended my hike yesterday.
To follow along with the photos of this hike Click Here
I started hiking around 8:30 am, which I thought was rather late. I started on the “Trail to Hellacious.” The first part wasn’t that bad, in fact there is a good sized boardwalk for a ways. But it is not a level boardwalk, it seems like it goes slightly uphill. But after the boardwalk, it really goes uphill. There are some fairly steep stretches of the trail, and other sections that a not steep but are still going uphill. Then you get to catch your breath because it’s flat for a ways. But there were a few downed trees in the way. Now I was hiking through a regular forest again, just like going over Rosebush. Maybe loggers don’t like logging on top of hills, or the forest service protects the top of hills. Then the party is over because you hit another uphill stretch. You start to get glimpses of a view, then you come to a sign that says “Hellacious Overlook.”
I set out my Spot Messenger. set down my gear, and started hiking down a ways to find places to photograph. This Hellacious Overlook goes on for a long time, I’d say an 1/8th of a mile or more. You are supposed to be able to see Isle Royale from here, but there were clouds over Lake Superior preventing it. I spent some time on the Overlook. I was in no hurry because I knew this section was only a 6 mile hike, and I had all day to do it. I probably would not venture past the Arrowhead Trail today, unless I decided to go backpacking for real. I took a bunch of photos then took some self shots at two different locations. Then I headed back, got my gear and Spot Messenger and headed out. Again, this overlook lasts a long time on this ridge. Then the trail heads down a ways, and I saw the sign at the other end which says “Hellacious Overlook.”
Then the trail goes in a slightly down pattern for a long time. Your going down and around, but nothing too steeply down. Then the trail turns to the left and goes along a creek for 100 yards or so. Then I came to a gnarly pine tree, which was really hard to get around. I tried getting around it to the left, but then I didn’t see the trail down that way, so I came back to the trail, and went to the right. I was hiking around to the right when I saw the trail across the creek. I wasn’t that big of a creek, plus it had some rocks in it, so I decided to hop across the creek and make it to the trail. Then I decided to walk down and look at that downed tree from the other side. I found a nice bridge over the creek and on the other side, the downed tree was just at the right spot to block the bridge.
What happened here is the trail goes in a zigzag pattern. It zigs along the creek coming down from Hellacious, then you cross the bridge and the trail zags back the other way. And not far down the zag I found the Woodland Caribou Campsite. First I saw a tent pad area, then I saw another tent pad area, then I saw the Campfire Ring area. I took a break here. This campsite is set up different than most SHT Campsites. Most SHT Campsites have a central Campfire Area then tent pads around the Campfire Area. But this campsite has everything in a line between the trail and the creek.
Evidently the creek doesn’t have a name, or else the campsite would be named after it. On the SHT there are lots of campsites named after Creeks. For Instance, yesterday I encountered the Andy Creek Campsite and the Jackson Creek Pond Campsite. And down by Lutsen, I had camped at the North Bally Creek Campsite in 2009. But since this creek apparently didn’t have a name, they called the campsite the Woodland Caribou campsite, after the animals that once inhabited this area. There are no Woodland Caribou in the area anymore. That sure would have been a sight.
I came up with one of my goofy ideas. Since the creek doesn’t have a name, why don’t we name it after the campsite. It could be the Woodland Caribou Creek. Since there are so many campsites named after creeks, turnabout is fair play.
After taking a nice break, I decided to leave the Woodland Caribou Campsite and Woodland Caribou Creek. The trail zigs back the other way and sharply goes away. It also starts another uphill run. Pretty soon you’re up on the ridge any with some more overlooks. This is another spot where the overlooks keep going for a 1/8 mile or longer. There is a good view of a beaver pond across the way, I was hoping to see a moose over there. There must be some type of coexistence and dependence that moose have with beavers. A moose’s diet is totally made up of aquatic plants and the beavers make ponds where aquatic plants live.
This is a nice series of overlooks, just as good as Hellacious. But this overlook doesn’t seem to have a name. perhaps it could be called Hellacious West. There is one notable cairn along the way, so I took a photo by it, because there was a good view there. The photo did turn out so well because you couldn’t tell there was a view there. I kept going and eventually the trail goes back into the woods away from the overlook. It crosses a lot of rocky spots where the rectangular blazes are painted on the flat rocky areas. This stretch of trail is pretty flat or slightly downhill. There are a few downed trees. On one of the down trees I found a yellow rope that must have gotten snagged there from somebody’s backpack. Somebody must have been surprised when they couldn’t find their rope to put up their bear bag.
The trail goes along another rocky area with a view, but this time it didn’t last that long. But It looked like the clouds were starting to darken up. Then the trail goes on a downhill pattern to a beaver meadow. There was a beaver pond, but most of the area looked like a dried up beaver pond. Perhaps this area is too hellacious for the beavers. The trail crosses the creek about 50 yards down from the beaver dam. Then the trail goes on a uphill tear for a short ways until it starts looking like you’re getting on top of something. And you are. It’s another series of overlooks. And this time the clouds really look threatening, and there are little clouds down in the valley. It starts raining and I duck under a pine tree to change into raingear.
A pattern emerges. First you see an overlook, then you hike through the pines with flat rocky areas. then you see another overlook, then you hike through some pines with flat rocky areas. This pattern goes on for over a 1/2 mile. Then the trail turns and you get to the worst spot. It’s the “V Rock” This is two rock faces that form a V about 10 to 12 feet high. and the trail goes up the V. I was lucky I was going down the V, because with it raining I don’t know if I could have gotten up it. This spot made me cringe, but I made it down all right. Then there is some more rocky areas to descend, but theses were not that bad. After that, it’s a nice hike in the woods over to a creek. Then you go along the creek and hit a bridge going off to the left, but the regular trail keeps going straight. Going across the bridge is the spur trail going to the Arrowhead Trail Parking lot. There’s a sign at the bridge. It would still be 1.4 miles on the regular trail to get to the Arrowhead Trail Crossing where my bike is stashed.
So I continued straight on the trail as it went along the creek for a short ways. Then there are some steps going up a small hill, which led me away from the creek. It wasn’t that bad of an ascent and once I was on top of it there was easy walking again. The forest I was walking through now had some scrubby elements to it, but there were also some mature elements to it. Normally when they say it’s a mixed forest it means there is a variety of trees in it including hardwoods and softwoods. But this seemed like a mixed forest because it had younger and older trees in it. This type of forest lasted for over half a mile. And sometimes the forest would be more mature, and sometimes it would be more scrubby. At one point there was a downed tree on the trail, and it was just the right height for me to sit down and rest. So that’s what I did. I had been going really slow. Perhaps Hellacious had a Hellacious effect on me. When I started hiking again I soon saw a large marshy area in front of me. It looked like there were 3 or 4 creeks that converged in a small pool. And the rest of the area was a grassy marsh. I wondered if this was the North Carlson Pond, and soon I found the North Carlson Pond Campsite, so it must be.
The main great feature of the North Carlson Campsite was that it has a built in table next to the Campfire area. So, at one part of the campfire area, you can sit on the bench facing the fire or you can turn around and sit at the table. That was a unique set up that I hadn’t seen before. The other nice thing about the campsite was it had nice grassy areas for tent pads. The campsite was located in a somewhat scrubby area, thus allowing sunlight for grass, but still it had a few taller trees for shade.
Then the trail goes on a route that takes it around this large marshy area. You’re skirting around its edge. This large marshy area is truly a Creek Convergence, because as you hiking around the marshy area you cross 4 or 5 bridges over creeks. Creek Convergence sounds kind of like a new aged event that’s held on a day when the planets align. After crossing all those creeks you are hiking next to a creek again. According to the SHT Guidebook this is Carlson Creek. After a few hundred yards of following along the creek you come to the Arrowhead Trail.
I set out my Spot Messenger, and decided to rest on the grassy bank of the road. I was more or less waiting for a car to come by, so I could hitch a ride back to the van. I kept waiting and waiting and no car came up the road. If it were a weekend, it probably would have been a different story. But nothing came for over 25 minutes. I was looking at my route for the next day. The trail cuts across from the Arrowhead Trail to Camp 20 road (highway 70) and it didn’t look like a very good route for a hike and bike. You would have had to bike a quite a long ways to get back to the Arrowhead Trail. But then I thought, it’s 13.7 miles to the Judge CR Magney State Park lot, perhaps I could hike there and wrangle a ride back from some tourist or camper. The last couple days I had started my hike late, and ended it early. If I start early, I should be able to make it. Plus there is two road walks on this route which are normally easier to hike. There is Tom Lake Road, a dog sledding road that the SHT uses for 1.3 miles and there is Camp 20 Road, which the SHT uses for 1.8 miles. So over 3 miles of the 13.7 miles would be road walk.
It was still very early. I think I arrived at the Arrowhead Trail around 3:30. I had lounged around for about 25 minutes, so I decided it was time to take some action. I changed into my biking gear, and made sure I had my keys. I got my bike up on the road and was about ready to hop on it when I saw a vehicle coming up the road. The vehicle got closer and I put my bike in the ditch and came back to the road and stuck out my thumb. This is where is met Pete, a local resident who was going up to cut some wood. I told him I would pay him to drive me 4 miles down Jackson Lake Road to where my Van is parked. He said I didn’t need to pay him, because he was driving down Jackson Lake Road anyway. He rearranged his front seat and I hopped in. Pete is retired from the Forest Service and has hiked the whole northern section of the trail. He said going over Hellacious is quite the hike. I agreed. This was only about a 5 mile ride, so it went quickly. At the end, he still refused money, but I took a photo of him and gave him an “I saw Tman” card. He dropped me off and was on his way. Thank you very much, Pete.
Boy that was a streak of luck, getting a ride, and it was still, very, very early. Then I drove my van back to the Arrowhead Trail and picked up my bike. I headed down the Arrowhead Trail to almost Hovland. Then I took a side road over to Highway 70 and drove up to the SHT Trailhead. I was checking out the roadwalk here and to see if I could see any big hills I would be hiking over. Didn’t see any big hills. Then I drove down to Judge CR Magney State Park. I wrangled up a Park Ranger and she went over to the little entrance building and I bought a Park Pass from her. It was $25 for a May to May pass. If I would have waiting another day it would have been a June to June pass, but I didn’t know that. I talked with the Park Ranger and told her that I would be to Magney from the Arrowhead Trail tomorrow, and that if there was anyone around to give me a ride back to my van, I’d be willing to pay. She said she’d keep that in mind. She seemed like a nice lady.
I took a quick tour of the park and noticed what looked like a MCC crew working on the campground. They were doing some sort of landscaping project. But it was still early, and I was feeling pretty good, so I felt like doing another section. I decided to do the Lakewalk, that sounded fun. So I drove down highway 61 about 4 miles from Magney and put out my hiking gear at the east end of the Lakewalk. There doesn’t appear to be a parking area nearby. So, I headed down to the west end of the Lakewalk and changed into my biking gear. I have a florescent orange shirt that I use for such occasions, so I put it on. I started up Highway 61 on my bike, and boy, let me tell you, that was fun. Highway 61 has an extra wide paved shoulders just for bicyclists, so it was a great surface to ride on. I seemed to be able to get up to a good speed on my crachety old mountain bike. It felt like the wind was coming from behind me and pushing me. It didn’t take very long, perhaps 10 to 15 minutes, and I was finished with the 1.5 mile long bike trip. I locked up my bike near the Superior Hiking Trail sign, put on my hiking vest and poles and was ready to go.
To follow along with the photos of this hike Click here
You hike through the windswept grasslands for about 100 yards until you get up to the beach where there is a SHT sign with an arrow pointing to the right. This beach is a spectacular sight. There is a big rock island out in the Lake in front of where you come on the beach. I took a photo of that. Then to the right, there is a rocky island with some pine trees on it. This island was very picturesque and was very close to the shore. So it would be an easy walk without getting too wet to get to the island. But I declined walking out there. Instead I stayed on the beach, which changed from being a pebble beach to being a rocky shoreline. They did have a couple blazes painted on the rocks to let you know you were going in the right direction. I took some self-shot photos with the rocky piney island in the background. I continued on and the shoreline turned back into a pebble beach again.
They say the pebble beach is more difficult to walk on than a regular trail, but I didn’t find it to be that bad. But then I wasn’t hiking it with a heavy backpack on. Having the extra pounds on your back would sink you into the pebbles more, thereby making it more difficult. Now, I was hiking a long stretch of beach up to a point. The wind was blowing and it was a little cold but I was really enjoying it. Before I got to the point I saw a trail going to the right. I took the trail and found a campfire area and perhaps a place to camp. The trail kept going and I figured out that it was a short cut for avoiding the rocky point. But I wasn’t planning on avoiding the rock point so I went back and hiked it, and it really wasn’t that bad hiking.
I kept walking seeing some more Campfire areas up from the beach. I saw a road ending at the beach so I went up and looked at the sign there. It said “No Camping, Mn/DOT.” I had heard that the Minnesota Department of Transportation had bought this land from the University of Minnesota. Evidently, people camping here was a regular thing, there was even some sort of camping event held here. But now the story is different. Interesting enough, there are no signs along the beach saying no camping. I walked down around a point and found another road with the same sign. I believe the roads used to be part of Highway 61 but the Lake eroded away the shoreline and they had to reroute the road. I kept going and found another sign up from the shore. It said “Sensitive Wetland, No Motor Vehicles allowed beyond this point.” And sure enough, Highway 61 had turned away from the shore and now there was a wetland between the shoreline and the highway.
I continued walking down the shoreline where there is a big rocky island that looks like a whale swimming in the ocean. I could have walked out on it, because it wasn’t that far from the shoreline but I declined. After passing that point I wondered how far it would be to my van. Or even if I passed my van without seeing it. I kept hiking away from the water, up on the very top of the beach, so I could see my van. I did see another sign about the sensitive wetland. Then the wetland seem to end and I saw my van up ahead. I got up to my van and set out my Spot Messenger out on the beach near the van. I thought to myself, what’s a Lakewalk, without a little dip in the water. So I walked out by the Lake, and set up the shot. I took off my shoes and socks then hit the timer on the camera and walked out into the water. It would have been a better shot if waves were hitting me, but never the less, it was a good shot. It was windy and there were some good waves in the background.
I had a really good time hiking the Lakewalk. It lifted my spirits. And it was nice knowing I would not be hiking up some Hellacious Hill. Everything was flat on the Lakewalk. So, I hopped in my van and rode down to the other end of the Lakewalk. I put my bike in the back of the van and headed into Grand Marais. When I was driving down Highway 61 in Grand Marais by the Municipal Campground, I saw Eric and Peter walking down the sidewalk towards the Campground. I thought they would be long gone. So I pulled into the campground and met up with them.
And there was bad news. Peter had went to a doctor today, and the doctor said to quit hiking. His foot was in that bad of shape. That’s bad news. I offered to drive them down to Duluth, where they could get a bus back to the Twin Cities. But Eric was busy rounding up a Kayak Trip for him, Peter and some friends that would be coming up. They would be showing their friends some sights on the North Shore, then they would be going down to the St Croix River in Wisconsin and doing a float trip with Kayaks.
I asked them about the section I was about to hike since they had recently hiked it. Peter said the section between the Arrowhead Trail and Camp 20 road (highway 700 was pretty easy except there was a 50 yard stretch of trail that was under water. But they said they didn’t get all that wet because they walked on the tree roots. Peter seemed to think the only really strenuous sections were in Magney. But that would be only the last 4 miles of the trip, the other 9 miles sounded pretty good. This solidified my choice of doing the 13.7 mile section from the Arrowhead Trail to Magney. I would get up early and have a early start. Surely, I would make it. I asked them if they were going out for supper, but they said they had more than enough food and would have to eat some of it. They wished me luck and I wished them luck. I went on my way back to the shower house near the Ball diamond. I showered, put some cordizone cream on some body parts that needed it and got dressed. I was in Grand Marais, so I called my mom while I had cell phone coverage. Then I headed down to the Gunflint Tavern for Supper.
The last time I was in the Gunflint Tavern was Two years ago on a Saturday Night. There was a folk bank play and it was a hopping place. This time I wouldn’t exactly call it a hopping place. There were a few people in it, but not many. Most of them were some of the hipper locals, along with a few straggler tourists left over from the weekend. I ordered a beer and looked on the menu for the Salmon Dinner I ate two years ago. It appears they no longer have that dinner. So I ordered the Walleye Sandwich.
Now from talking with people down at the American Legion, the locals feel that the Gunflint Tavern is a little overpriced and has too flowery of food. I got my walleye sandwich and it had a side garnishment on the plate that was flowery. This place was pretty dead. I talked with the bartender and she was worried that the weather was going to be crappy the next day when she was planning to have a campfire on the beach for her birthday. No wonder I saw so many campfire areas on the Lakewalk.
The food was good and the beer was good. I paid up the damages and left. It was dark by now. I headed up the Gunflint Trail and parked at the Grand Marais Overlook/Pincushion Mountain Trailhead. I crawled in back and just went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.