Michael and I started the Superior Hiking Trail, a 306-mile trail along Lake Superior in Minnesota, on August 16. This is part 2 of our adventure: Grand Marais to Tofte.

Here are my daily recaps of days 5-7 on the Superior Hiking Trail. Make sure to check out Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 as well!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 5

Grand Marais to Indian Creek – 20.9 miles (including a 1.6-mile road walk) – 9 hours, 15 minutes

We woke up at about 8:00 am, showered, and headed out for breakfast. On the way to Blue Water Cafe we stopped in the Ben Franklin to pick up some insoles for me. I’ve never used insoles before, but my arches have been hurting so I figured I’d give them a shot.

It started raining while at breakfast. Fortunately, it didn’t look like it was going to last long. Originally the forecast called for rain most of the day. We only planned to hike about 12 miles, so we weren’t rushing out of town.

By the time we left the hotel at 10:45 am it had stopped raining. We still wore our rain pants figuring that the trail would be pretty wet (it was). There was a 1.6 mile road walk before getting on a trail. It started raining while we were on it.

We got on the trail and it was pretty much uphill for the first mile. After that it leveled out and we were walking on an old road/multi-sport trail for about 2 miles. We were walking through a lot of wet grass, but there were pretty wildflowers so it all evened out.

Our first break happened at about 1:00 pm. By this point it didn’t seem like it was going to rain anymore and the trail was drying up, so I ditched the rain pants.

We continued hiking and came across a little beaver pond. The trail was a boardwalk built right on top of the dam. I’m glad it didn’t break. That would’ve been a dirty fall.

Shortly afterwards we passed by a few campsites and crossed a county road. We took a quick break here to look at our maps and mileage. It was right around 2:00 pm. We were planning on camping at North Cascade River, which was only 5-6 miles away. That distance would only be a few hours of hiking, so we decided to hike longer since there were more campsites a few miles down from North Cascade River.

The trail was pretty flat for this part of the day with the occasional up and down. It was one of those days where we were basically walking in the trees all day. Nothing too exciting.

We passed North Cascade River campsite at about 4:30 pm and then came to a trail parking lot. I believe the trail used to travel along the east side of the river, but the bridge that crosses it is out, so there is now also a trail on the west side. We had to road walk a little before getting on the detoured trail. We saw a Superior Hiking Trail sign on the road and figured that was were the trail started again.

We entered at the sign and it dropped us down to a path that was barely trampled down in a dark forest. After pushing through a lot of trees and sharp branches we figured it wasn’t actually the trail and made our way (by forging our own path) back up to the road. It was really tough! We immediately saw the entrance to the real trail. It was much nicer than we were just walking through. Quite the adventure though!

From here we walking through a beautiful grove of maple trees!

Then we started declining in elevation down to the North Cascade River. We filtered water there and had a little snack (sour Haribo gummy bears!!). We came up to a campsite shortly afterwards. It was 6:30 pm and we both had enough in us to hike a few more miles, but the next campsite was 3.3 miles away, meaning we’d probably get there right at sunset. At first we weren’t going to do it, but then figured “what the heck” and went for it.

I attribute our go-getter attitudes to the sour gummies.

The trail continued to decline and I tried to move fast. As always, the roots made it difficult.

A little over a mile later we came up to the “96 steps”. We had been seeing this posted on signs and I was expecting the worst, like 96 steps that were each 1 foot (or more) tall. Turns out they were about 4 inches tall and in nice shape. We flew up them with no problem. *sigh of relief*

The trail was still ascending after that and we hiked up to Lookout Mountain. It was a beautiful overlook, but it’s hard to tell in the picture.

Whenever Michael and I come to an overlook our first comment is always, “this would look so pretty in the fall”. If you want to hike the Superior Hiking Trail it wouldn’t be a bad idea to time your hike with the fall colors.

Anyways, from this point we were 1.2 miles away from our campsite and 30 minutes away from sunset. We cruised through the trail – Michael walking an easy brisk pace with me following behind practically running – and made it to camp just in time to set up the tent before dark.

While dinner was cooking (AKA while ramen was hydrating) I calculated our miles. We did 19.3 miles on trail, plus our 1.6-mile road walk! I thought we had walked 17 miles, but nope, my first 20-mile day on trail! Not too shabby for starting at 10:45 am.

Another exciting thing is that the insoles did help my arches. Yay!

We finished scarfing down our food by the light of our headlamps (so romantic) and then headed straight to the tent.

Another great day on the Superior Hiking Trail.

Superior Hiking Trail Day 6

Indian Creek to Onion River – 20.5 miles – 10 hours

I had my best night of tent sleep last night. It was amazing. Normally my tent sleep isn’t anything to be desired, so I’m glad I finally slept really well.

The good night of sleep did make it harder to get up, but I eventually crawled out of the tent and started getting ready for another day of hiking.

After breakfast (some cold instant oats and cold coffee) we went to the stream near our campsite to filter water. Then we were on the trail at 8:30 am.

The trail started out with a nice uphill climb that brought us to an overlook. You could just barely make out Lake Superior.

A few miles later we hit another overlook. It’s nice to be able to get more views throughout the day!

At mile 8 we hit Lake Agnes. It was a real lake! Not a beaver pond or a swamp, but a bonafide lake. We stopped and took our lunch break here since it was right around noon and there were actually some views.

We were both hurting a little bit. Michael’s back was bothering him and I just felt sluggish. Neither of us wanted to get up and get going, but we did. Our goal was to do another 20-mile day, so we needed to keep moving.

After Lake Agnes we hiked 3 miles to Poplar River, where we filtered water. We had a nice spot on the rocks near the water, but it all of a sudden started raining on us. The weather forecast didn’t mention anything about rain, so we were pretty surprised. Fortunately, it didn’t last long.

A quick uphill after the creek we stumbled upon another overlook, Glove Overlook.

Another 3 miles and we were walking by Lutsen. We took a quick break to look at the maps and realized we still had 6 miles to hike. We were moving much slower than yesterday, but the terrain was also a little more difficult and less flat. With that said we figured we’d get to camp around 6:30 pm, which is perfect.

We did have some post-rain blue skies, so we took a second to admire them.

We had three bigger (300-400 foot) climbs coming up for the day – Mystery Mountain, Moose Mountain, and Oberg Mountain. The uphills and downhills on the Superior Hiking Trail are efficient. For the most part they are either straight up or straight down with very few switchbacks. It makes the hills quick and (mostly) painless.

With that said Moose Mountain went straight up. We needed to take 5 after that one. Then we dropped 500 feet down to Rollins Creek and filled up on water. From here we only had 2 miles left. We were both so ready to be done.

The hike up to Oberg Mountain was surprisingly gradual. There were even some switchbacks! I really wanted to take the spur trail up to the top and take in some views, but my feet were barking and I just needed to be done. Fortunately our campsite was only .5 miles from the parking lot.

We rolled into camp right at 6:30 pm and were happy to take off our packs and get the tent set up so that we could relax the rest of the evening.

We made dinner, brushed our teeth and crawled into the tent. Tomorrow is a town day!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 7

Onion River to Tofte – 7.7 miles (including a 2.4-mile road walk) – 2 hours, 30 minutes

I had another great night of sleep! It’s so refreshing to actually sleep well.

Another good thing is that I’m finally getting my morning routine nailed down! I put on my t-shirt, socks, and gaiters, crawl out of the tent, and pack up my sleeping bag and pad along with my electronics and anything else I had in the tent that night. Then I make breakfast, which lately has been cold oatmeal and coffee. While the oats are cooking I put on sunscreen, bug spray, and body glide and throw my hair up in a pony tail. Then I eat, grab out my snacks for the day, and filter water (if needed). Michael’s routine is pretty similar. The last thing we do is fold up the tent, which goes into his pack.

This morning we got all packed up and hit the trail 8:30 am.

We only had about 5 miles to hike until we hit Sawbill Trail, the road to Tofte.

The terrain was pretty easy, so we were cruising.

It should come to no surprise that we walked by a beaver pond and through the trees.

I think I’m going to miss seeing so many cedars, birches, and maples after I leave the Superior Hiking Trail.

We reached the road around 10:00 am. Then it was a 2.4 mile road walk to the Coho Cafe where we had lunch. The sandwich, salad, chips, and soda were exactly what I needed.

It was another .6-mile walk to the hotel. On the way we stopped in the general store to see what type of groceries they had, then the liquor store for a 6-pack, and then the Holiday Station for some Powerade.

By this time it was 12:45 pm and check in wasn’t until 3:00 pm. We crossed our fingers and walked into the hotel. Our room was ready! Woohoo!

Then it was showers, laundry, and relaxation time followed by grocery shopping and campsite planning for our next stretch of trail.

We had dinner at Bluefin Grille then went back to the hotel to pack up and get ready for a few more days of hiking!

Superior Hiking Trail Campsites

The Superior Hiking Trail has great campsites!

Most campsites can hold 3-8 tents. Each site has a common food prep area with a fire ring and benches.

They all also have latrines, which are basically open air non-flushing toilets.

I didn’t expect either of these things, so it was such a pleasant surprise!

The downside to these designated campsites is that you must stay in them. There is no dispersed camping in this area. Typically this isn’t a bad thing, but if the campsites are 8 miles apart and you want to hike 3 more you can’t.

The other downside is that most of the tent pads aren’t even. They are typically at a weird slant or have large roots running through it. We’ve managed to make it work. It just isn’t always ideal.

There has only been one night night where there weren’t any other people camping at the site with us. It’s fun to connect with other people after a long day of hiking, but some people just hide by their tents and that’s ok too.

Superior Hiking Trail Mileage Totals

Part 2 miles: 45.1 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 4 additional miles = 49.1 total miles

Total miles: 98.8 Superior Hiking Trail miles + 6.8 additional miles = 105.6 total miles

Michael and I started the Superior Hiking Trail, a 306-mile trail along Lake Superior in Minnesota, on August 16.

Below is my Superior Hiking Trail Part 1 with daily recaps from the first four days hiking the 270 Degree Overlook to Grand Marais. Make sure to check out Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 as well!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 1

270 Degree Overlook to North Carlson Pond – 17.1 miles (including a 1-mile spur trail) – 7 hours, 45 minutes

It’s our first day on the Superior Hiking Trail!

Michael and I officially started hiking at 11:50 am. It was a couple hours later than planned.

We were ready to leave Grand Marais by 9:00 am, but first I had to find a I watch. I forgot my Garmin charger in Denver. Ugh! I didn’t need a fancy GPS watch, but wanted something that could simply just tell me the time. A $25 Casio from Ben Franklin came to the rescue! Then we headed up to the trailhead, which was an hour from Grand Marais. The gravel roads didn’t treat us well and we ended up with a flat tire. Michael and my dad fixed it. After that, goodbyes, and a couple of pictures we were finally off!

It was so awesome of my parents to drop us off at the trailhead!

Unfortunately we had to hike 1 mile up to the northern terminus, 270 Degree Overlook, of the Superior Hiking Trail first.

Then, as I said before, we officially started the trail. Woohoo!

After we waved goodbye to Canada we started heading south. There was a little bit of a road walk, first on a gravel road and then on an abandoned forest service road. From there we were mostly walking through a green tunnel of trees for the rest of the day with some short stretches out in the open.

We took our first break at Andy Lake Road, a logging road, at 1:30 pm.

The trail alternated between uphills and downhills, everything was short and steep, so I guess this kept us from getting too bored!

We reached the highest point, 1829 feet, of the entire trail at about mile 5. Unfortunately there weren’t any views to go with it.

We took another break at 3:00 pm to have another snack and hydrate. The afternoon was pretty hot and humid, so we needed to cool down a bit.

We got our first view of Lake Superior from the Hellacious Overlook. It was pretty exciting! We’re both eager to be walking closer to lake.

It’s really hard to see in pictures. Lake Superior just blends right into the sky.

The rest of the afternoon was more up and down hills through trees with quick glances of Lake Superior in between.

We filtered water from a dirty, little beaver pond. We were waiting to filter water in hopes that we would come across a flowing stream, but nope. It was beaver pond water for us.

Check out that lovely shade of light brown. It tasted like dirt water.

We continued walking up and down those hills and finally made it to our campsite at North Carlson Pond at 7:15 pm, just before the mosquitoes got too bad.

There were two guys and two dogs at the campsite, so we chatted with them while we set up our tent and made dinner.

We were both pretty tired, so we didn’t linger long and crawled into the tent shortly afterwards.

A great first day! I’m looking forward to see what the rest of the trail has to offer.

Superior Hiking Trail Day 2

North Carlson Pond to North Little Brule River – 18 miles (including .8 miles of backtracking) – 8 hours, 15 minutes

We didn’t set an alarm and slept in until about 8:30 am. We took our time cooking breakfast and packing up, while chatting with our camp neighbors, so it was 9:45 am by the time we hit the trail.

The terrain was very similar to yesterday with rolling hills through trees and the occasional boardwalk. We did have a couple road walks, one for 1.3 miles on an old lodging road and one for 1.7 miles on Camp Road 20. Neither of them were bad. It was a nice break from stepping over large roots and rocks.

The most exciting part of the day was walking through Judge C. R. Magney State Park. We walked along the Brule River, which was an actual rushing river, and passed both the Devil’s Kettle and the Upper Falls. It was a nice change of pace from the continuous trees!

On our way out of the state park the SHT took us through the campsite where they had actual bathrooms with running water. Man, it felt good to wash my hands and face! So luxurious.

From there we continued on the trail a few more miles to a cluster of campsites along the Brule River, which doesn’t have any water flowing through it in this area. We went to the farthest one, but all the sites were so slanted with either large rocks or roots, so we backtracked .4 miles to the previous campsite.

We set up camp at North Little Brule River. While dinner was cooking we made our plan for the next three days. Since we want to get to Lutsen by Monday we’ll have to hike 20+ miles for the next two days.

It’ll be tough, but I think we can do it. My feet are hurting quite a bit, but the rest of my body feels totally fine.

I’m going to massage my feet and then try to sleep!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 3

North Little Brule River to West Devil’s Track River – 16.9 miles – 9 hours, 40 minutes

Since we wanted to do 22 miles today we decided we better get our butts out of bed and start hiking early. We set our alarm for 6:30 am and were out on the trail at 7:20 am.

We hiked for a few miles through the forest (so many spiderwebs!) and then crossed Highway 61 for a 1.5 mile beach walk along Lake Superior. We were so excited to be walking along the lake! And to filter fresh water!

The lake looked gorgeous with the gray skies.

After about 5 minutes of walking on the stones the novelty was over. It was really hard to walk on the beach and we were moving so slow!

I still loved being able to see beautiful Lake Superior and the fresh water was totally worth it.

From there we were back into the trees.

After hiking about 8 miles we saw a sign that said “Lutsen Ski Hill 59.9 miles”, which didn’t make sense to us. Our plan was to re-supply in Lutsen, which was about 85 miles from the start of the trail. We definitely hiked more that 25 miles. The math didn’t add up. I think the sign was wrong, but we took a break and started looking at our maps to make sure our plan of getting to Lutsen was feasible.

It wasn’t.

I screwed up when we were planning yesterday evening thinking that we would be heading to a campsite 22 miles away instead of 17 miles away. The next campsite was another 10 miles after that. Since we are close to Grand Marais we decided to stop there to resupply instead. We know it has an outfitter, laundromat, and grocery store, AKA everything that we need.

We felt happy about this plan. Despite my mistake, that Lutsen sign is still wrong.

Once we started hiking again we realized it was 11:30 am and we only had 9 miles left to hike before getting to our campsite. We took our sweet time to get there and stopped for more frequent and longer breaks. It wasn’t terrible!

The terrain leading up to West Devil’s Track River was my favorite on the hike so far. The trail itself was more open and it no longer felt like we were hiking through a green tunnel. We could still see trees, but we could see more than just the ones right in front of us.

Walking through this grove of red pines (I think they’re red pines) has been one of my favorites parts of the trail so far.

We made it to our campsite at about 5:00 pm.

There was a trail register at the entrance, which we both signed with a little note.

The campsite was beautiful – lots of space, flat tent pads, and right by some flowing water.

We set up camp and then walked down to the water. We filtered water and I soaked my feet a bit. Dang, it felt good! My feet are still getting used to the whole hiking 17 miles per day thing.

While we cooked and ate dinner we took another look at the maps to figure out our next few resupplies. Instead of Lutsen and Beaver Bay (~85-mile stretches), we are going to do Grand Marais, Tofte, and Silver Bay (~55-mile stretches). We also made sure that the upcoming campsites lined up with the mileage that we needed/wanted.

It has been a productive evening!

And now it’s time for sleep. I’ll probably dream about the beer and the shower I’ll get in Grand Marais tomorrow!

Superior Hiking Trail Day 4

West Devil’s Track River to Grand Marais – 4.5 miles (including a 1-mile road walk) – 1 hour, 45 minutes

It’s a town day! We wanted to spend most of the day in Grand Marais, so we woke up at 7:00 am, ate breakfast, packed up, and hit the trail by 8:15 am.

We hiked for about .4 miles and then got on an old road for another 2 miles.

The road spit us out at a parking lot for Pincushion Mountain and Gunflint Trail. We decided to keep walking on the trail for another mile since it intersected with Gunflint again closer to Grand Marais. Then it was a 1-mile road walk straight to the laundromat.

After laundry we stopped by our hotel to see if we could check in. We couldn’t, but they let us leave our backpacks there while we walked around the town. That was a relief. We grabbed lunch and went to an outfitter to grab some extra supplies (fuel canister, bug spray). Then we went to resupply a grocery store, except it turns out that grocery stores aren’t open on Sundays in Grand Marais? The only one open was a Whole Foods-type store, which didn’t really have what we needed. So we went to a Holiday Station and bought some bars, ramen, and oatmeal. Guess that’ll work!

Since our hotel room still wasn’t ready we went across the street to Voyageur Brewing Company for a beer. It wasn’t a bad time killer.

Afterwards we could finally check in, which meant that we could finally shower. Good stuff.

After relaxing for a bit we went to pick up some sandwiches, salad, ice cream (we need the Talenti containers, and beer. Then it was back to the hotel room for a nights of movies and food.

Tomorrow we hit the trail again!

Superior Hiking Trail Observations So Far

From what I’ve noticed so far the Superior Hiking Trail is very well marked. There are signs and blue blazes posted consistently along the trail. There are also mile marker signs posted at every road crossing, which there have been a number of so far.

The trail itself is well maintained. Although there are some areas that are overgrown and it’s like walking through fields of long grass.

The rocks and roots that cover the trail make it difficult to walk too fast, but maybe that’s a good thing?

So far the scenery hasn’t been anything too exciting, mostly tree tunnels with the occasional glimpse of Lake Superior. I think we spoiled ourselves with all the views we saw on our backpacking trips earlier this summer. I do hear that it becomes more scenic the further south we go, so I’m looking forward to that!

Superior Hiking Trail Mileage Totals

53.7 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail + 2.8 additional miles = 56.5 total miles