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| Trip Profile | Mapsource Route |
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This hike didn't turn out as planned. Our goal was to hike from Temperance River State Park trailhead (spur) and over 3 days, hike to George Crosby Manitou State Park, 24 miles to the South. It turned out to be a one day hike instead. My dog injured his front paw on the first night and we had to cut the trip short. I was hiking with my daughter Elena and her fiance (now husband) Shawn, so the change in plans gave us a chance to spend time together, enjoying Temperance River and Lake Superior, instead of hiking all 3 days.
We drove up from the Twin Cities on Thursday evening and spent the night in the Temperance River State Park campground. I then left Elena and Shawn at Temperance and drove to George Crosby Manitou State Park. I had pre-arranged with the Superior Hiking Shuttle a Friday morning pickup at Crosby. The shuttle dropped me off back at Temperance River State Park, and we started our hike at 11:00 am.
The first 1.6 miles is a stiff climb out of the Temperance River gorge. It is sheltered from the cooling winds off Lake Superior and was the hottest section of the trail. You climb from about 650 ft to about 1300 ft in the first 1.6 miles. Once you hit 1300 ft, the rest of the hike was much easier with a max elevation of 1458 ft on this section of the trail.
I had planned on 3 eight mile days for this trip. My pre-trip planning had this section at around 8.5 miles. Our actual distance traveled turned out to be 9.8 miles. I'm not sure how the difference in mileage happened, but in any case it was a bit further than I had expected and a bit further than my hiking companions were comfortable with. I really had wanted to keep the days to around 8 miles. I have been doing 10 mile days on my training hikes as I get ready to hike the John Muir Trail in September, but I need to keep in mind when I hike with others that they are looking for a fun hike, not hiking 'boot camp'!
There is a section that starts at about 3.2 miles that follows the Cross River for about 1.5 miles that is a beautiful and easy hike.
All of the campsites along the Cross River are great campsites with plenty of fresh water.
There a couple of overlooks that have a nice view of Lake Superior along this trail, but most of the trail is in forested land.
Since I wear long sleeves and long pants and a hat, all with Permethrin and a little Ultrathon with DEET to help kill/repel bugs, I found this trip to be free from ticks, and mosquitoes and biting flies left me alone. I think the mosquitoes were too busy feasting on Elena and the flies harassing Shawn and Timber to bother with me. Elena was a mosquito pin cushion.
We made camp at Dyers Creek. All three (four?) of us cooled off in the creek. For some reason, this was a really hard day. I think the heat, humidity, and long trail miles took a bigger toll on us than we had planned. I thought of it as a training hike and was prepared to put up with some discomfort, but Shawn and Elena were looking for a more relaxed and fun time. I really don't think they were looking forward to another 2 days of this!!
As we were cooling off in Dyers Creek, a group of 5 men showed up. I could tell they were hoping to call it a day, but we were already in the campsite. They were heading in the direction we had just come from, it was already 5:30pm, and I knew they had a long way to go to get to Fredenberg, the next campsite down the trail. Dyers had space for all of us, so I suggested they go ahead and share the site with us. It wasn't quite the quiet, relaxing evening I had planned, but it worked out OK.
I had my homemade chicken cranberry couscous for dinner. Not a big hit I am afraid.
Timber sure enjoyed having more people to play his favorite 'throw the stick' game. Unfortunately, somehow he sliced off one of the pads on his front paw. I have no idea what he stepped on, but it was pretty bad. I used my first aid kit and duct tape to bandage it up.
Everyone went to bed not too long after dark (thankfully!) so we got a good night's rest.
July 10, 2010
The following morning, Timber was limping pretty badly. I didn't feel he could make another 16 miles to get to Crosby. We talked, and decided to end the hike. Fortunately we were only a mile or so from County Road 1. We ate breakfast, packed up our gear and hiked back to the road. It was still many miles to get from the trailhead to the main highway, but at least it was a somewhat level, graded dirt road. Thankfully, a trail angel in a pickup truck stopped and gave us a ride. He went out of his way and took us all the way back to Temperence River State Park. He was the owner of Lamb's Resort and Campground, right off Hwy 61, North of Taconite Harbor. His kindness was truly appreciated.
I called the Superior Hiking Shuttle to arrange a pickup at Temperence. I used the phone at the Ranger station, was only able to get voice mail at the Shuttle. I was worried that they may not get the message and we would be stranded. One of the Rangers at Temperence offered a ride down to Crosby at the end of her shift if we were stuck. We didn't end up needing the ride, but her offer was certainly appreciated. Another unnamed trail angel! We had a few hours to wait, so we hung out by the shore of Lake Superior and did some swimming and relaxing. The Shuttle showed up on time, and had room, so I took the shuttle down to Crosby, picked up the car and went back to Temperance to pick up Shawn, Elena and Timber.
Overall, I enjoyed the trip, mainly because I was able to get to know Shawn a lot better, and spending time with my daughter is always good!
New gear for this trip:
Tarptent Moment
I got to use my new Tarptent Moment on this trip.
Although I like my Tarptent Contrail, I was looking for something easier to setup, and I liked the design of the Moment with the headroom in the middle of the tent instead of at the end. The Moment is 28.5 oz so it is a little heavier than the Contrail. Still significantly lighter than my lightest double wall tent at 56 oz. The Moment was incredibly easy to setup. I brought the optional cross pole on this trip to try the freestanding mode. I actually think the tent is easier to setup and holds better lines by using it without the cross pole. Without the cross pole it requires 2 stakes to setup. Since the cross pole adds a few extra ounces, I don't think I will be using it much in the future. It took me less than 2 minutes to setup the tent, and this only my second time setting it up. With only 2 nights spend in the Moment so far, it may be too early to call this one a win, but so far I REALLY like this tarptent. It will get a good workout in September when I take it on my John Muir Trail hike.
Thermarest Neoair Large pad
I replaced my medium Neoair with a large for this trip. I found the medium uncomfortable. I was hoping the issue was the width. Since the large is wider, it was my hope that I would find the large size more comfortable. I didn't. Something about how the baffles run horizontally pushes my back into a position that starts to ache after a couple of hours. I tried inflating and deflating the pad to find a 'sweet spot' but nothing I did helped. I really wanted to like this pad since it is significantly lighter than my Big Agnes IAC pad. I had loaned my BA pad to Shawn for this trip, so on night 2 we switched. I slept MUCH more comfortably on the BA IAC. I did like the extra width on the Neoair since my arms didn't fall off the sides. I just ordered a custom made pad from Kooka Bay. It will be 72 x 24 x 2.5" and have synthetic insulation for an R value of around 4. No real weight saving over the BA IAC pad, but it will be wider and warmer for no extra weight penalty. Since my JMT trip may hit some below freezing temps, I am hoping this pad does the trick! It has baffles that run vertically, like the BA pad so hopefully it will be comfortable.
Lake Superior
Timber loves his rocks
Elena and Shawn
Randy and Timber
View of Lake Superior
Butterfly
Temperance River Falls
After a stiff climb - 3.2 miles
Cross River bridge
Cross River - 1:34pm
Trail shroom
The Ledge CG
The Ledge CG
Cross River - 2:09pm
The Falls CG - 5.1 miles
Fredenberg CG
Summer green
Rest time - 3:30pm
County RD 1 - 5pm
8.7 m
almost there
Dyers Creek CG
9.8 miles
Dyers Creek
5:30pm
Tired campers
Not too grumpy to give
me a smile!
Tarptents
Moment (left) Contrail (right)
Where oh where is a trail angel?
I will be back!
