Gooseberry Falls State Park: May 21st, 2014...and a big announcement!

FINALLY.

I think that spring lasted about 30 seconds up here on the North Shore...it went right from winter to summer.  The sun is beating down, the snow is melting, and it's light out until 8:30pm.  Time for hiking.

Thunderdog and I went out for a final pre-tourist-season hike at Gooseberry last Wednesday afternoon.  Gone are the days in which ours is the only car in the lot, and the times in which we can go for a hike and not see another soul.  My own personal State Park is overrun from Memorial Day through the end of fall...and that's okay, I guess.  I can't sustain the park on my own!

Come ON come ON come ON we are WALKING!!

Of course, it's still pretty gray and brown out there.  It's chilly down by the lake. On the positive side, there are no mosquitoes and very few ticks out.

Obligatory Gooseberry Falls picture

We are kind of out of shape after the long winter, so we just did the hike out to Fifth Falls and back.  We took the path right next to the river.  Quite a big difference from last year, when many of the paths were underwater.  There was a bit of mud, but it was no big deal.

Muddy path, naked trees

I know that I've gotten kind of spoiled up here.  Gooseberry Falls is, for most people, a vacation destination.  For me, it's a 15-minute drive away and a perfectly normal thing to do on, say, a Tuesday afternoon.  I hope that, in the future, I remember how lucky I was to be able to live right up here on the shore.

Remember the rushing river

I also hope I'll look back fondly on my days of poking around the Superior Hiking Trail in my spare time. Part of the Fifth Falls trail includes a section of the SHT, so I was able to hit both State Park and SHT in one hike.

I love you, blue blazes!

Why am I getting all sentimental?  Well, GUESS WHAT?  Joe and I are getting married at the end of the summer, and I'll be moving back to civilization.  We're hoping to skip right over St. Cloud and head back to the Cities, but a lot depends on where I find a job.  Either way, I'll be leaving my beloved North Shore behind.

Don't worry, folks.  The blog will continue, the hiking will continue - we still have about 30 State Parks to explore before getting the elusive "All Miles" patch.  Instead of being headquartered in Central and Northeastern MN, we're going to be in striking distance of all of the SE Minnesota parks...as well as western Wisconsin.  This is an AWESOME thing and we're really excited!  Here is a picture of the blessed moment:

Holy crap it's an engagement ring!

And, because Joe is the coolest guy on the planet, he got me the perfect ring.  I am much more likely to wear wooden and stone beads than diamonds and pearls.  So my ring is a beautiful dendrite agate.  Here it is:

it's really not this huge.

I promise that this will not become a wedding blog.  But keep in mind that we've got a LOT of non-hiking stuff on our minds this summer...like planning a wedding, moving, me finding a new job, etc.  We'll try to keep up with the blog.  I'll probably be taking lots of "one last time..." hikes to my favorite spots during the week.

And...how does Thunderdog feel about all of this?

I LOVE Joe!  Now come ON come ON come ON we are WALKING!!!

Total miles hiked today: 1.5

Total miles hiked in 2014: 3.5
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: .8
Total ticks today: 0
Total ticks in 2014: 0