Wednesday June 4th - ~2 MilesLeft Minneapolis at 3pm sharp with Kris, Mikey, Andrew, and myself. The ride up was uneventful except for the stop at the DQ along the way. We blew through Duluth and made it to Crosby Manitou State Park and got our gear out plus a cooler full of Surly plus a few KBC brews. The hike to the site was going to be about a mile. We had about an hour and change before dark, or so we thought. The hike in turned out to be closer to 3 with the route we took out there. We got to site 5 just before dark, what a beautiful site sitting just above a short waterfall and a loud river. It was loud enough where you had to be within feet to talk, and loud enough to to not hear Mikey snore.
We got our shelters setup and gear laid out. Now just to hang the bear bags. First attempt, I put a rock in the rock bag I had, tie it to Kris' line and toss it over a limb. Nailed it on the first shot. But the line is too coarse and won't drop any farther due to the bark on the limb. I pull it back down and give it another shot. Nailed it again, same issue, damn rope. I pull it again and the rock bag gets stuck in the crotch of the branch and the tree. Pull harder, get the rope, the rock bag is now a part of site 5. Time to find a different tree. We found another a little farther away from the original location. I give the tied on rock now another toss but didn't have enough line out. Try it again and nail it. The rope and rock fall and we hook up the bags. We start to pull and the rope just stretches. We try different methods of putting the bags in the air while pulling the rope with no luck. We mess around with trying to get this way to work for some time and finally give up. We realize we all have our own rope for the bags and we setup our bags in different trees. Kris gets his up in that tree along with Mikey's food, I find another tree and get mine up, and Andrew puts his on the end of a long down tree and props it up against some other tree.
It is pretty dark out now and we get a small fire started in the fire ring, we also manage to crack open a few Surly brand beers and take them down in a hurry. We finish the eight Surlys and the five KBCs and call it a night. On to the SHT tomorrow. I climb into my hammock then into the sleeping bag and fall right asleep to the sound of the rushing Manitou River. I manage to hop out for a pee once that night but wake up a few times with a cold arm. The Z-Lite pad is warm but just not wide enough for the hammock. First of a few things I would change for next time.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Thursday June 5th - ~12 MilesWoke up around 515 AM and saw Kris pacing around camp. I wave at him and he comes over to talk to me. We chat about how loud the river is and how the sun is already up. I am birthed from the hammock and get my Montbell on, it was still a little chilly. I drop my bear bag from the tree and grab stuff out for my first meal. I fire up the stove and get some water warm. I put some oatmeal in the cup and add some hot water, then stir. Mmmm, warm breakfast. Mikey rolls out of the tent he is sharing with Kris and gets his breakfast out while Kris and I are eating. Andrew gets up and starts to make his breakfast as I start packing up my gear. We take some more pictures of the river and a few of us before setting off toward Tettegouche. We check the map and don't see a direct trail from the campsite to the SHT but there is a trail leading out of our camp to the North. While the rest of the guys are finishing packing their bags I check it out. After walking for a few short minutes I come to the SHT bridge crossing the Manitou River, I report back to the guys.
We head out of camp and check out the bridge, then get to our actual mission, hiking the SHT. We climb away from the Manitou River and back towards the parking lot that is sitting empty except for Mikey's Jeep. The trail goes up but an unmarked intersection made me go right across a rock fall to see if that was the trail. Loose rocks the size of cabbage are sliding around below my feet and I finally figure out the way to go is the other way. Mikey followed me for a bit while I was assessing the situation. The climb out of the scree was worse than the in. The rest of the hike to the trailhead was uneventful as we followed the SHT markers. We dropped the lighter cooler full of beer cans at the car along with some excess gorp and started off down the road toward the SHT trail on the other side of 7.
We head out toward Sonju Lake and get to the Aspen Knob campsite, it looks like it would do the job but didn't really stick out in my mind as a great site. We continued on and stopped for a break at the Belsner Creek campsite. Wow. I would love to camp there. You cross a small bridge out to an island type area in the middle of a cedar grove with the river on one side and the creek on the other. I could have stayed there for days, but we must keep moving if we are going to make it to Egge Lake tonight. Snackes are consumed, for me it was some fruit leather and for others it was either a Clif Bar or some gorp. On we go. We pass the East Branch Baptism River campsite but we don't really take a good look at it since we are in go mode. Lunch is at Sonju Lake and we are getting hungry. Lots of moose and other various poops along the trail, speaking of poop, Mike got crapped on by a bird at the Tettegouche site later in the trip. :) Anyway, on to Sonju Lake.
We arrived around lunchtime and took the spur out to beautiful Lily Island. What an awesome spot for a lunch! It was sprinkling a bit as we started to eat but it was warm enough were it didn't really matter, we were cover with sweat so it was kind of a nice break. We hung around Lily Island for about 45 minutes and played on the rocks, watched some fish jump, signed the guestbook, and rested before heading out to Egge Lake.
With the packs back on and the boots retied, we started off. We were all pretty anxious to get to Egge Lake and get off our feet. Andrew was using borrowed equipment and the pack wasn't fitting him very well. His back was hurting him and he was showing it. He was slowing down between Sonju and Egge Lake. We passed the Beaver Pond and the Old Trapper's Cabin, we had tunnel vision during this time, just trying to make it to Egge Lake as fast as we could. We arrived around 230pm only seeing one other person on the trail today. He was in his mid to younger 20's and looked like he was rolling the ultra light lifestyle.
We get our tents and hammock setup and start making some dinner. Water from the lake was easy to get while sitting on a rock near the lake shore. I also took this opportunity to clean off some of the mud on my pants and wash my socks. If I had only known what a bad idea that was. I relaxed and had a sip of whiskey from my flask while the rest of the boys did the same. We played a few games of Farkel while a campfire was going. I took another walk down to the lake to top off my water for the next day and take a look at the fire tower across the lake. About 6pm a fog started rolling across the lake and the wind picked up blowing the fog into camp. We continued to hang around the fire until about 7pm when the rain started.
We all headed to our tents and hammocks to wait out the rain. That wasn't what the Gods had in store for us. We talked between tents and finally decided to go to sleep around 8pm and get an early start to the next day. The rain picked up and so did the wind, it was blowing pretty hard but I managed to get to sleep. I woke up around 1130pm and had to pee. I got my boots on and stepped out. Luckily it was raining pretty light during this time. I did my business, put my boots back into a garbage bag I keep in my hammock to keep them and it dry and went back to sleep.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friday June 6th - ~15 Miles
Around 2am I wake up to Mikey and Kris walking around in the pouring rain, I look out the hammock and see them talking. I ask them what is going on and they say they have water between the footprint and the bottom of the tent. They say it is like a waterbed. I laugh and watch them move the tent. It is still blowing pretty hard and raining. They get their tent moved and crawl back into bed. I can hear trees cracking and crashing at this time and I keep thinking we might loose one of us tonight. Back to sleep I go. I wake up about an hour later and it is raining on my face. The ground was so saturated and the wind blowing so hard it ripped the stake out of the ground and flung half the tarp over to the other side of the hammock. Still in my sleeping bag I birth myself from my cocoon and replace the stake and line, a bit closer to the hammock. I also take this time to pee quick and then get back in. The sleeping bag picked up a little water but didn't let it get to my socked feet so I was happy. Luckily the no-see-um netting didn't let much rain in and everything was still pretty dry.
It continued to pour and the wind blow. I work up around 430 again with what we will call an emergency...I threw on my rain jacket and hopped out of my hammock and dug in my pack under me to find my rain pants and tp. Ahhh! Where is the tp? Can't wait! I put on the rain pants and head to the privy scouting leaves along the way. It is still raining as I sit down and do my business. I was pretty quick and found some promising leaves. I finish up and make my way back to the burrito that I sleep in. Now I shove my boots, rain jacket and pants into the garbage bag and fall back asleep while it is still raining.
I wake up again around 645 to a light rain and the guys getting up. I look over at their first tent site and see about 4" of water sitting where the tent was! I laugh pretty hard and give them crap about the tent location. I also note that they moved the tent under a big dead tree. I sit in the hammock for a bit longer and then put my boots and rain gear back on. I slide out and and grab my food bag. The rain is letting up a bit and is just sprinkling now. I get out my food and head up to Andy's tent to see if he made it through the night. He is up but staying in his tent for a bit. I tell him I will come get him when I have some water boiling. I setup my Snow Peak stove under the tarp on the hammock and wrap the hammock around the line that it hangs from. I am no longer getting sprinkled on. I add water to my pot and get almost a liter of water starting to heat. I go bug Andy again and tell him the water is on, he starts to get out of the tent. I grab my cup, add oatmeal and wait for the water to boil. A few minutes later, the water is boiling and Andrew is down by me. I add some water to the oatmeal and start to eat it. He uses the water for some hot chocolate and eats a few handfuls of granola. I finish my oatmeal and then add some coffee concentrate to my cup, add water, enjoy. Repeat. I clean up the cook gear and stow it back in the food bag. Mikey heads down to get water, when he is down there he shouts back up that the rock we were standing on yesterday is now underwater by 3 or 4 inches of water! It sure rained a lot but I never thought we had that much!
The sprinkles let up around 8am and nothing is going to dry out, there is way too much humidity in the air, fog is still on the lake, and it looks like it could rain at any time. I take down the hammock and put it away along with the sleeping gear. I am all packed up and hanging out for a bit. I wait for the rest of the guys. Andrew is packed up and decides to head out early since he felt he was slowing down the group yesterday. As he is leaving and heading up the trail we could hear bursts of laughter and shouts of, "This is ridiculous!" as he was heading out of ear shot. About 20 minutes later Mikey and Kris are packed up and we head out. We get up to the trail from the campsite and see what he was talking about. Water was running down the trail like a river and the puddles were huge. We rock hopped and root hopped so we didn't get water above the ankles, we were trying to keep our feet dry. We get around a bend near where Egge Lake empties out into a creek. It is rushing pretty loud and we see Andy. He explains that he didn't want to get too far ahead since the trail was so slick and didn't want to be an hour ahead if there was an emergency. He mentions that his pack is still bugging him. We adjust it for him a bit and he says it feels better. We keep going.
The trail is a river that we flow with downhill and walk against up hill. There are no drainage ruts or logs placed at this part of the trail so it can get pretty wet. The rocks are slippery and the trail is uneventful besides the water and the rain starting up again. It would continue to sprinkle all morning while hiking. We manage to make it to 7 and around some deep water from the creek that is running really high. It looked like it was over 7 at one point but was now going through the culvert but the culvert couldn't be seen, only a whirlpool was there to show us where it was.
We follow the soggy road down to where the trail begins in again. The trail is still soggy and underwater but we continue to rock hop until we see the Finland Rec Center sign. We debate going but our day has been slow going trying to get water in the boots so we continue on. We don't get far before discovering some shin deep water. We try to find a way across but the area is way to flat and there is no where to go but through it. Andy goes first. He rock hops and then his boot sinks past the top. Water in his boots. He sprints forward for high ground, he is gone around the corner. I listen for him to say something like, "I see a way around!" Unfortunately all he said was, "Just come, it is over your knees and there is NO way around!" I hesitate for a second. Do I check my map and look for a different way? I just go. And I found that the East Branch of the Baptism River was very high. Over my knees as well. In fact it was over my knees at the base of the stairs that leads to the bridge to cross the river. I am soaked from the waist down. We yell to Kris and Mikey to come, they take a bit longer but we all get to the bridge. Wet. Very wet. If I would have known that my feet would be this wet I would have been splashing though puddles all day. On the other side of the river we take a few minutes to ring our socks out.
We met a group of 3 guys on the way to Leskinen Creek and warned them about the river, I don't think they took us seriously. We asked them about more water ahead and they said there was. We keep on trucking with our squishy feet taking time every hour to ring out our socks again. We are moving pretty good down the trail now and a little later on we come up a hill and through the fog and see a huge boulder hanging out. Wow. That is pretty cool to see, it also looks like a nice place to stop and ring out our socks again. I got my socks rung out quick and something in bar form in my mouth when it started to rain again. So we quickly finished up and went on down the hill.
We find the boardwalk over the beaver dam, a few chunks of it are under a few inches of rushing water. It makes for an interesting and a slippery chunk of trail. We all make it across without falling in. I wasn't 100% sure that was going to happen.
We continue on to the Section 13 campsite as we are planning on having lunch up top. The rain had died down again as we crossed the dam and it was getting a little humid since the sun started peaking through the clouds. As we reach the base of the climb up Section 13 the guys look to the exposed rock they can see a little ways up and sigh. I then point out that they are looking at the wrong side and that we need to go up that way which is at least twice as high. They swear at me. We start our march on up. We skip the spur to the overlook since we are all wet and hungry, I will be back to check it out some other time. We climb, and climb, and pause, and climb and reach the campsite. I was actually a little disappointed that it didn't have a better view but we got to ring our socks out again and were going to take an hour for lunch. It was 145pm when we hit the top, and there was still some scattered sun but rain clouds were taunting us again. About 15 minutes into lunch it started to sprinkle again. Will it ever stop? We hang out and figure we must press on. There was a time this morning that we thought about staying at Section 13 for the night but as we sat in the rain we knew we must keep moving. We shoulder our packs again and head out to the Kennedy Creek Campsites.
We hike back down Section 13 toward 6, and come to another nice marshy area with a boardwalk before the road. I am leading the pack across the area, I step on the first set of planks and they sink a little. I now see this section of boardwalk is floating and has been pushed a few feet from where it was originally set. My feet are still squishy so I press on. The boardwalk continues to sink as we push though. I am tip toeing across it so the water won't fill my boots again. After the water bridge we reach 6 and head down the road toward the trail head down the road a bit.
We hop back on the trail and take a minute to empty our boots a little ways up before a climb. I think we are all feeling a bit tuckered out because of the rain and I don't think the hills helped any. We hiked around the ridge and up to Picnic Rock to stop for a few minutes to grab something quick to eat and ring our socks out again. I was a little farther up the hill at this time and they decided to get moving and not ring out their socks since it was starting to sprinkle again. I let them go past me knowing I would catch them on one of the climbs or at the top. After a couple of minutes of sock maintenance I got my boots back on and caught them about halfway up the Sawmill Dome climb. What a great view between the Dome and the Overlook to the South but I wouldn't want to slip while up there. Some nice little cliffs between the two spots.
At this point we have a great view of Lake Superior and take a few minutes to snap some pictures. It is still overcast but not sprinkling or raining at all. Yay! No more rain please! We continue to hike along the ridge for what seems like forever. I tell the guys it is just another mile multiple times without consulting the map. Mike and Kris are about cooked and just plow ahead to get to the site. Andrew is hurting a bit also and is slowing up. I consult the maps while waiting for him to catch up to me. Crap, I can see the power lines ahead but we haven't passed under them. About now the wind picks up again and really starts to blow. Andy catches up and we hike off slowly. We round a corner to see Kris and Mikey talking to someone, person #5! They take off and we talk to her for a little bit. She says she has been on the trail since May 26th. She is a younger lady with what looked like a heavy pack. She was wondering how much farther until Section 13. I check my watch, it is 5ish. I tell her she probably isn't going to make it before dark but there was a makeshift site up on top of Sawmill Dome that she could setup at if she got there. I think she resigned herself to that.
We tell her good luck and press on. Kennedy Creek where are you? A few minutes later we start coming down the ridge and see the power lines in front of us. The wind is still roaring and the trees that are standing in that area are dead for the most part and you can hear some of them cracking. As Andy and I are clearing though this area I mention that it would be a good idea to hurry thought here since I don't really trust those trees in that wind. He agrees and says he will try to go faster though there. A few minutes later we are back in a more wooded area and headed to the site. I see the turn to the first site and wait check it out to see if Mikey and Kris are there. They are, I head back to the trail and see Wolf Ridge property across the way. Neat! I wait for Andy and see him coming down the trail. I tell him it is just a few meters now and that picks him up a bit.
We get into camp and Kris had run a line to dry some of the stuff that has been stewing in our packs all day. Today seemed like two days. We unpack and I look for a place to hang my hammock. Lots of small Birch and Aspen with brush between them. There is one spot between trees but it looks like a stretch to get the hammock between them. I find two medium sized trees that should work but it is a little mushy below where I would enter the hammock. Luckily there is also a downed tree right there that I can stand on. I string the hammock up and start unpacking my stuff for dinner. I also hang all my wet gear over the line to help dry them out. I take a walk down to the creek to get my water filled. Wow, it is really moving! I get the filter in the water and start filling Andrew and my bottles and Camelbaks. We start the hike back up to the camp and I have to go. I hike faster and find the privy with a brief stop to dig up some tp. Running! Ah.
Purell on the hands and it is dinner time. We kick back, get a fire started, well Kris and Mikey did and start drying out our boots and socks. Everyones feet looked like we had been in a bath for way too long, Andy's were by far the worst of the bunch. Time to crack open the flasks again and have a drink. Well, many drinks. The wind was still going strong and we kept watching the sky praying for no more rain. At that point we saw it. The first break of sunshine though the clouds again! And then there it was, the sun was out and the clouds were more spaced out! I checked the watch and the pressure had been rising! Better weather! As the sun went down the stars came out and the sky was clear. the moon sat between the trees and and gave us a nice smile. It was going to be a nice day tomorrow, I had a good feeling about that.
As Kris and Mikey laid on the bench and Andrew retired to his tent I hopped into the hammock. The trees sagged and so did the netting in the hammock. I hop back out and tie the hammock much tighter to these little trees. Back into the burrito and it still sagged, but less. Out again, re-tie, in, sag. Repeat x 3. Give up, pee, climb in, bundle up, sleep.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Saturday June 7th - My Birthday! - ~7 MilesI didn't wake up until almost 6am. I didn't remember that it was my birthday until halfway though breakfast. My boots felt dry along with one of the two pairs of socks I brought. The other par I strapped to the outside of my pack since it was sunny with a little wind, they would be dry in no time. We finished up breakfast, broke down camp, and loaded up our packs. Mikey and Kris were hurting today. Kris was up early with the pukes and poops. He wouldn't feel good all day hiking. The plan changed from camping at Bear Lake to camping at Tettegouche State Park because of our sick comrade.
We head out, Andrew and I are leading the way feeling pretty good, Kris and Mikey are a little ways back. We make sure to make plenty of stops since we weren't going very far today. There are 3 decent up and downs between Kennedy Creek and the High Falls in Tettegouche. We make it though the first two with little incident. We take a minute to take some pictures of Wolf Lake and the surrounding area. Andrew and I book it and let they other two take their time. First sign of bear on the trail, a few pretty good sized logs that looked to be a day old. We wait for a bit halfway up the 2nd climb and eat some food and take in some water, Mikey and Kris catch up and take a load off. A few minutes pass and we are off again. On to 1. We pass a Golden Retriver off leash and two guys hiking up from 1. Pleasantries are exchanged. We get over that hump and down into a marshy washed out creek with a washed out bridge. We do some trail repairs(placing planks back) while waiting for the guys. I can hear cars on 1 and can see the power lines running next to the road. We wait. And a little more. Kris and Mikey make it and ask us if we saw the dear leg on the trail. Andrew and I say no. They ask us how we missed it. No idea I tell them, but we missed it.
We get to 1, look for the parking lot, don't see it and keep going. Up another hill, I am quick to the top and check out the view. It is a great view of 1 and where we came from earlier in the day. The rest of the guys make it to the top, we check the time, 1130am. We break for lunch and more sunblock. It is the first day we had to use sunblock on the trip. There really weren't many bugs out either with the rain and wind so we lucked out there. Kris was feeling a little better and was able to eat some food. Andrew shared a tuna wrap with me and it was good! After the short lunch we climbed down the stone staircase and thought the balsam fir tunnel to Tettegouche State Park. We made it to the the junction and took the stairs down to the river to see the High Falls. Wow! There was so much water rushing though there, I have never seen it like that! I have only been though here in the late Summer or Winter. Again, wow! We take a bunch of pictures and set back up to the top to get a different view. A couple was at the bottom of the stairs when I was getting my gear together and I asked them if they wanted a picture together. They did so I took a nice picture of them and the falls.
We hike up to the top of the falls and take a few more pictures. We decide to take the suspension bridge to the other side to check out the drive in campsites since we will be back up here with the ladies in July. Very cool bridge. We hike down the trail a bit farther and then take a side trail into the campsites. I talk to someone painting the bathroom up there and find out where the registration is. She tells me it is down the road and asks me if I plan on walking there. I tell her we do. She smiles.
About a half hour later and more sunblock Andy and I arrive at the parking area and get us registered for cart in site L. Mikey and Kris show up a bit after this and are going to call and rearrange the shuttle to pick us up at 1 instead of Silver Bay. Andrew and I head down to site L back across the bridge. We get to the site, it is very open but has great views of the lake and not much foot traffic since it is one of the last sites on the path.
We setup our gear and wait for the guys. And wait. And wait. Just as we were about to go look for them they come in carrying firewood and full of stories about how the a lady at the park wouldn't let them use the phone even though everyone else there had no problem with it. She was described as a very large woman who was a real pain in the ass. After asking again to use the phone she told him he could use a phone card that they sold there but were all out of. Umm...okay... Someone who overheard the situation put his cell phone on the counter and let Kris make the call. Thank-you whomever you were! Karma owes you one! They unpack and proceed to relax.
After a bit we walked down to the shoreline to do a little exploring and agate finding. Mikey is a pro at finding agates, he found a ton of them. We sat on the beach for well over an hour listening to the waves and watching the brown blown out river water merge with the blue water of Superior. We hiked back over the boulders and back up to site L. We busted out the Farkel and the flasks again. We hung out and ate and drank until around midnight. We took lots of long exposure shots and played with many of the camera settings. Then when Mikey's peppermint schnapps was dry we went to bed.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sunday June 8th - ~3 MilesI set my watch alarm for 530am, plenty of time to get up and get to 1 before the shuttle showed up at 911am. I hopped out of the hammock and had a fruit leather for breakfast. Andrew and I were designated to go to the pickup point since we were the only ones with fully functioning knees and legs at that point. After I was packed up and got my food bag out of the metal box they had there I woke the rest of the guys up. Mikey and Kris slept without the fly on their tent so they could look at the stars. It was funny to see them in there when I woke up in the morning, I am not used to seeing into tents around here.
Everyone was packed up and ready to go by 645 so we walked up to the ranger station. Andrew and I dropped our packs and Kris and Mikey would watch them. We were on the trail by 7am. We hauled ass down the trail and passed a father and son running the trail. They warned us about the mud and water on the trail. That would become something pretty funny to us since the last 3 days we have been up to our thighs with mud. We flew down to the split and headed towards 1. We climbed the stone stairs and descended to 1, blowing off the spur trail we didn't realize would lead us to the parking lot. We got to 1 and I saw a driveway down on the right a ways. We walked down there and saw 3 cars and the SHTA signs. Yes! I check the time, 7:50am. That went quick. I tell Andy if he wants to head back go ahead and then I can pick them all up at the Tettegouche lot. He agrees and heads back down the trail. I hang out for a bit and then do some parking lot cleanup. 8am. I check out the spur trail and hang out in the shade, I watch the dandelions open for the day as the sun breaks though the trees. The no-see-ums come out along with a few mosquitos. The the shuttle comes into the lot, and drops of a group of 3. It looked to be a Father, Son, and Grandson. I say hi and wish them well as I hop into the shuttle on my way back to Crosby Manitou State Park.
The ride back was quick and looked much different since the rain. Parts of the road are washed out and other parts are completely saturate. We stop at the Finland Rec Center since there was a lady in her sports bra laying on a picnic table. He asked her if she was waiting for the shuttle. She said nope, that she was waiting for her friends. On we went. We made it into the lot at Crosby Manitou and I paid the shuttle driver. The lot was completely full! I hopped in Mikey's Jeep and took off back to Tettegouche. As I passed the Rec Center she was still alone, her friends are slow. :)
I pull up at Tettegouche and we pack the car back up. Destination for lunch: The Anchor Bar in Superior. We arrive at The Anchor about 1130 and grab the table by the piano. Pitcher of Summit please! Gone. Another pitcher of Summit please! The well dressed girls at the next table asked if we just got done with church. Everyone laughs. We order some burgers, Andy gets one and fries, Kris and Mikey both get two and fries, I order three and fries. I am all that is man. We are BSing about the table about the trip, thinking about how much we stink when Mikey goes to the jukebox and plays a fine selection of Johnny Cash and other artists with songs that would include Pussy Round. Awesome. We overhear one of the girls at the next table mention that it was her birthday yesterday. I but in to wish her happy birthday and tell her it was my birthday yesterday too. She gets mystery shots that taste like Rumplemints. I take her and her friends picture and then they are out of there. Burgers and fries arrive and we get down to business. 1, 2, 3 + fries all gone plus a half of a pitcher of beer. Andrew pays, we leave.
MPLS comes and we all unpack our gear. My lab puppy comes out to great me, she has grown a ton! We all decide to settle up the cost at my birthday party on the 14th. Good to go. What a great trip in epic conditions!
More Pictures:
HERELabels: hiking, minnesota, sht
