Superior Hiking Trail

To put this trip into words really won't do it justice; there really is nothing I could ever say that could live up to the experience I had out on trail.  That being said, I feel that I am obliged to try and share this adventure with any who care to listen.  I'm a strong believer in wilderness therapy and the benefits of taking the time to slow down and breathe in nature, so I want to start this blog in a new direction.

This story begins on the morning of May 11th, 2012.  My backpacking group met with the other two groups of classmates at the Temperance River parking lot on the northern shore of Lake Superior.  You might be asking what we are doing?  Who and why are you meeting here?  To rewind a bit, towards the end of my fall semester at Vermilion Community College, I decided that I wanted to sign up for an outdoor class of some sorts for my last semester coming up.  After viewing what was available, I realized that I knew nothing about backpacking and had always wanted to get into it, so I jumped into a Backpacking Expedition course.  Fast forward to the end of spring semester, our class had been divided up into three groups of seven to nine.  Our group, along with the others, planned out our food menu and our course of where we would begin hiking and where we would end.  The route was decided: we were to do a six day, fifty-three mile trek from the Temperance River to Grand Marais along the Superior Hiking Trail.

I should mention, before I get going, that ours was the only group of just guys.  Jokers and oddballs alike.  Simply put, we were pretty freaking awesome.  Now, back to May 11th, we began our trip at the Temperance River.  The three groups coordinated to leave at different times along the trail so we wouldn't encounter one another until we made camp the first night.  There was a plan to share a camp later on the fourth day of the trek, but our groups ended up pretty far apart.  There were different skill levels among the whole lot, with some in the class being big outdoorsmen, while others still being completely new to the idea of high adventure of this sort.  Now, again, despite skill levels I want to remind my readers that our group was made up entirely of young men.  Needless to say, we were all pretty gung-ho and driven to push onward, so we pulled ahead of the other two groups for the first few days.  For any of you who are curious, I am in the above picture at the far right.  That is our group.

In total, we did fifty-three miles in the six day trek, though we broke it down and did all of our big days right away in the first three days.  During our time out on that trail, we traversed over many, many beautiful landscapes.  We were lucky enough to have a variety of ups and downs, as well as different kinds of foliage. we even managed to make it up to the peaks of various hills and see for miles, including the magnificent Lake Superior.  I was able to make my camera last until the end of the forth day, so I was able to grab over four-hundred pictures.  Indeed, it was a well documented trip.

That being said, the thing that made this trip special were the beautiful environments we encountered.  Deciduous forests, Coniferous forests, mixed-woods, grasslands, rocky outcrops... I honestly never knew just how diverse the North Shore was.  I had spent some time when growing up taking trips up to the North Shore with my family, but never doing a trip anything like this.  It was incredible.  Of the places we hiked through, my all-time favorite location was a place named Spruce Creek Camp.  It was the third day of the trek, and it had been hot and humid for the majority of the day.  We had the unfortunate luck of hiking through only partly shaded woods and fields that day, so most of us were pretty warm despite having shed most of our layers.  You could imagine our reactions when, at the tail end of that day's hike, we slowly descended into a well-shaded valley of mixed-wood types.  Then, at the bottom of valley we came to our camp.  Located in a White Ceder grove beside a rushing stream, it almost seemed like paradise.  The ceders were huge; I'm taking at least a couple feet in diameter.  For this species of cedar, it can be predicted that they had been growing here for at least a hundred years or more; they are an incredibly slow-growing tree species.  It was incredible.  We spent a better part of our afternoon soaking our feet in the stream and cooling down, talking and joking about the world, our trip, and life.

I can't stress enough just how beautiful this site was.  Tucked away in a valley between two unknown hills at some point on the trail, this place was... magical.  Most of our crew were using a hammock system for sleeping, so the choice locales for our setups was pretty big at this site.  The trees, again, were magnificent.  Not only were they well spaced for the use of hammocks, but the camp itself was very clean and clear.  It was by far one of my favorite locations in any remote wild land area.

Over the next couple of days, our crew bonded closer as we talked and talked and talked.  Seriously, we joked and told more stories on this trip than I have had the chance to in a long time.  It was pretty sweet.  Our group connected pretty well.  The chemistry was there, so we were able to, as a group, work through our occasional difficulties and perform at an incredible level.  The miles really didn't seem so long when you would be laughing half of the way.

Of the things I pulled away from this trip aside from a solid understanding of backpacking, I learned something about the people around me.  We all are human beings, trying to make our way in a strange, strange world.  We all have issues and hurdles to get over; we all have lessons to learn.  But most of all, I saw how others cope.  Life can be fantastic at times, though it can get rough at other times.  How we deal with the challenges we are given defines us, not the victory itself.  We can sit and toil in our misfortunes if we want, or we can get over them and move on.  Easier said than done, I know, but that is the truth of the matter.  Behind every single one of the faces in our group, there was a back story of experiences and issues. We all had something to offer, and in it I would like to think we all helped each other out in these endeavors. For me personally, I have had an awful kind of spring.  Things had been rough the whole first half of the year, with only a few bright moments to keep me on my feet.  This trip, for me, was redemption.  It was a chance for me to find myself once again, to give myself purpose again.  Ironically, I failed in this.  It was from the incredible group that I had the privilege to travel with that I was given a new breathe of life.  It was from them that I learned how to take the first steps towards healing.  Whether it was their intention or not, these guys helped me to get back on my feet and keep walking.

For anyone who is interested in finding more information about the SHT, check out www.shta.org for a starting point.  They have all sorts of info on the trail (every section) and could even give you an idea of where you might want to hike.  Again, this trail is a fantastic hike, at least the small section our group did in six days.  For anyone who lives in Minnesota or thinking of heading out this way for a week or two, I would highly recommend hiking around the North Shore area.  Anyway, thank you for reading.  Leave me a comment or two if you have any questions or comments, or let me know if you have any requests for where you want me to travel next.  I'm a young college student itching for some adventure, so don't be afraid to give  me some names and places to look into.  Adios!