We are super slow getting out of camp this morning. Our tent is wet from the rain last night, and taping up all of the blisters on our feet takes a while. With a slightly shorter distance to hike, we decide that this is a good morning to cook up our trail-tested (patent pending) crunchy Frito bean burrito, and it is a welcome change of pace after so many mornings of breakfast bars. (more…)
It’s nice and cool when the alarm goes off at 4:30. I hit the snooze button for 15 minutes knowing we will pay dearly for that later in the morning when the temperature begins to soar. Even so, it’s so hard not to indulge in a few extra minutes of rest. Once up, we break camp as quickly as possible, hoping to get a few miles in before the heat becomes unbearable. We do alright and are on the trail just after 6. (more…)
We wake up at 5 am and can feel the heavy humidity in the air and on our sleeping bags which we barely crawled into last night because of the heat. We are getting the sense that the drought and this kind of heat is a little unusual for Minnesota at this time of year. We move quickly but, tried and true, an hour and a half seems like our usual pace for packing up, so we hit the trail by 6:30, hoping to knock off some miles before the sun really starts heating things up.
After three days of significant mileage on the Duluth section of the SHT, today is a deliberately light day of hiking, only 7.4 miles from the downtown Rose Garden to the Martin Road Trailhead parking lot. This is an opportunity to rest our feet a bit, but we also need to end early because we have a lot of other work to get done. When we are finished hiking today, we need to shuttle our car to the northern terminus and then drop off our three resupply boxes in towns along the way back so that we can begin the true backpacking portion of the SHT tomorrow. (more…)
The alarm goes off and we begin to stir. This is Day 2 of the Duluth section, and we need to start establishing a routine. I make coffee while Alison gathers breakfast and throws it in the cooler. Then it’s out the door to do our self-shuttle, dropping one car off at today’s ending destination and then driving to the Grand Portage Trailhead where we ended yesterday and will begin hiking today. (more…)
Boy, we think we get up early, but the two mountain bikers in camp have us beat by an hour on the wake up call. We hear the tires crunching down the gravel past our tent at about 4 am! Off they go for a big day on the trail. We also have a big day planned, but we are content to start the hustle and bustle at 5 am. (more…)
Today we begin the 5th leg of our Colorado Trail adventure, hiking from San Luis Pass near Creede down to Molas Pass near Silverton. The next 68.1 miles will largely be above treeline, so we are crossing our fingers that we will get a good weather window that will allow us to finish this stage in only 4.5 days. It’s a little ambitious for us, but we are feeling strong and hope we can do it. It all starts today with Day 31, so here goes. (more…)
It’s Zero Day in Creede, and we have big plans to do very little! If we are taking two nights in the Snowshoe Motel, we are going to make the most of it, starting by sleeping in and enjoying the comfort of a soft bed for a change. Then it’s time to saunter down to check out the much-talked about breakfast. (more…)
Every so often, as I toss and turn, I take a peak outside the cocoon of my sleeping bag and see that it’s getting light outside. I nestle in anticipation of Alison’s alarm going off, but the moment never seems to arrive. Why is it so light outside? (more…)
Take A Hike Photography 