Wolf Rock and Crow Creek Valley Overlook; Superior Hiking Trail: March 24, 2012

Hooray!  It's time to hike!

Joe, Thunderdog, and I headed out to Castle Danger to do a short hike on the Superior Hiking Trail.  Since we didn't get started until 6pm, we decided on a short little hike up to Wolf Rock and then the Crow Creek Valley overlook spur.

 

Joe's first trip to the Superior Hiking Trail

The first part of the hike is very, very steep.  It was fun, though.  When the trail is steep like this, you know that there's something good ahead.

Steep, but the stone steps make it easy to hike

But when we got up to Wolf Rock, we were rewarded with great views.  It was about 50 degrees out, but there was no wind and no dampness in the air.  We could see all the way to Lake Superior - actually, all the way across to Wisconsin.  Big change from the five straight days of fog we've had!  I'm glad it cleared up for the hike.

Joe and Thunderdog enjoy a proud moment at Wolf Rock.

We continued inland to the little spur trail that would take us across Crow Creek and to the overlook.  The land was starting to green up, the little creek was running, and the air smelled like early spring.  We made it to the overlook, which gave us a great view of...trees.  

And lots of them.

I imagine that this overlook will be just mind-blowing in the fall, when all of those birches are blazing yellow and orange.  I made a mental note to come back and take pictures of this view several times before winter.  

And then we turned around and headed back!

All in all, we were gone for about 90 minutes.  We probably spent 75 of those hiking (and 15 of them resting and looking at the views).  Since this is so close to my house (about 8 miles), I think it will be a fine short evening hike.  

Total miles hiked today: 2.4

Total miles hiked (in 2012):6.8