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| The woods are lovely, dark and deep |
We weren't alone at the trailhead. There were three other cars there, one which arrived a few seconds before we did. The guys in that car appeared to just be gathering firewood, and we saw no other people the entire time we were out there. We decided to leave Thunderdog at home in anticipation of slippery climbs and moving more slowly than usual.
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| But I have promises to keep |
Somebody ahead of us brought a sled with them - probably dragging camping gear - so we had a pretty obvious path to follow for the first half of the trail. The sled marks would disappear on rocks and hills (of which there are many) and we'd have to scramble up and look for the blue blazes. At about the halfway point the sled trail petered out and we were just looking for the blazes and following the space between the trees. It was so quiet and beautiful.
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| And miles to go before I sleep |
We traveled at a measly 1.2 miles an hour, but the snow kept us from moving along at our normal good clip. No need to speed along though! It was a beautiful afternoon, we were warm enough, our boots and wool socks kept our feet dry, and we had a goal: Wolf Rock.
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| And miles to go before I sleep |
We made it to Wolf Rock and I took the fourth picture in the Wolf Rock set. I'm going to give the four season pictures their own post. But with this hike we reached one more milestone for the year: 150 miles of logged hikes on this blog. We hiked more than that, of course, but there is no need to detail every walk I take with Thunderdog, and we did go hiking before Sibley in March (when I decided to start logging hikes). 150 is a nice round number, though! I'll be posting a 2012 wrap-up post in the next few days, and - stay tuned - the Wolf Rock pictures.
Total miles hiked today: 2.4
Total miles hiked (in 2012): 150.2
Total ticks today: Joe - 0; Thunderdog - n/a; Elly - 0
Total ticks (in 2012): 49
150 miles is quite the accomplishment! Here's to more hiking in the new year. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll cheers to that!
DeleteJust chanced on your fine hike journal while looking for a map to St. Cloud's River Bluff Regional Park and read your trespass piece. This summer, while sampling a bit of the Superior trail near Grand Marais, I became sort of lost at dusk for three hours without a flashlight or compass or cell coverage, well as lost as one can get when Lake Superior is always on your left. (It would have been exciting except for imagining LaVona back at the Outpost Motel).
ReplyDeleteYour journal is a delight.
Aw, thank you!! I appreciate it.
DeleteJoe and I plan to further explore the River Bluff park...maybe on snowshoes yet this winter. It's such a treasure to have a large area of undeveloped shoreland on the Mississippi, so close to a big(ish) city. I hope that they are wise when deciding what to do with it.