Superior Hiking Trail - Day 0

The preparations are done... mostly. Lorrie and I get out of the house around 8am. We had talked about 7am. But that's all it ended up being. Talk! My family was here for the 4th of July as is the tradition. It was great having them here and everyone seemed to have a good time. But it made last day and last minute preparations difficult. Though, God love my mom, she did help me out! We had to stop at Gander Mountain once we got through St. Paul so that I could stop and buy a CamelBak bladder. I know! I know! It's not smart to buy something like that on the day you need it... unless you love the taste and smell of acid and rubber. Which I don't. But I was desperate and had not been able to find either of the 2 I already owned. So we stopped. And I got one. And some small travel size Nalgene bottles to decrease the amount of liquids I carry. The closer we got to Grand Marais, the more nervous I started to get about this trip. I wasn't sure I had prepared enough. I wasn't sure I'd prepared Emma Blue enough, which felt even worse to me since she had no choice in the matter. I also felt bad that I didn't have my pack ready to put on and go. Lorrie was going to drop us off at the starting point and then take off to Canada for some time with Tori her family... on the beach. (just a reminder... Emma Blue and Tori are our dogs).

So we met Pam at Java Moose in Grand Marais around 2pm. Not too late. I got an iced coffee... figured it would be my last for a little while. Then we caravaned to our ending spot near Kadunce River before cramming all 3 of us plus 3 dogs into my SUV. Funny thing... Emma Blue can be a little aggressive if she feels trapped... so she got the front passenger seat while Pam, Milo, Tori, and I crammed into the backseat. What a little princess! lol So Lorrie dropped us off at 14, Arrowhead Trail. Well, I use "dropped off" lightly. She had to stand there and help Pam and me decrease my stuff so that she could take with her what I don't need. I know she was antsy to get going so I am grateful for her patient nature! And decrease it we did! I won't even list all the things Pam suggested I get rid of. They are too many and I might get embarrassed writing so much! lol But I am inexperienced so I can't be expected to know exactly what I need. Eventually we got it all in my pack. It's heavy... but I have no idea how much weight I'm carrying. We got Emma Blue's awesome Ruff Wear Palisades pack all ready for her. We posed for our outgoing shot by the sign and then took off into the wild. (Hey, good title for a book... and movie! But I digress...)

Lorrie took off... slowly. I could tell. I know she watched us disappear. Because that's what she does. And I know this is an outdoor journal but my life is part of that. And it is significant that in two years, Lorrie and I have not spent this much time away from each other. And to do so without any possibility of communication for much of the time is also significant.

Our first hike was very short. We knew we would be starting late in the day and so decided that just getting into the trail and setting up camp right away would be a good plan. That would also give me practice setting up and taking down when I am not exhausted. So, we went in about 1 mile to Carlson Pond. There was SO much tall grass. Some of it was pressed where tents had been but it was on it's way back up. There was a wooden plank bench all around the fire pit, a picnic table, and a latrine. I got everything set up without issue. The vestibules of my tent were filled with high grass, which actually looked cool from inside. And I liked the swaying sound.

Pam dumped everything from her pack out onto the picnic table. She said she would have to repack everything tomorrow anyway so she just empties it out. I did the same except that I put a lot of mine directly into my tent. I have a 2-person tent while hers is a 1-person. So I have a little more room to maneuver with stuff tossed in.

Time for dinner. I had used "Freezer Bag Cooking" to prepare all my meals. Tonight, it's curry chicken rice for me except that I used tuna instead of chicken. The bugs came out pretty quickly so we were in our tents pretty quickly. You may recall my extreme sensitivity to bug bites from my Boundary Waters trip reports. I brought 100% deet this time... but figured I would just get inside for tonight. It's only about 8pm. I have 1/2 the tent. My backpack takes up a little less than 1/4 of the tent and Emma Blue has the rest. She uses my sweatshirt and other random things as padding and rests her head on my plastic ziploc full of clean underwear. What will she rest her head on in about 5 days?? lol

Tomorrow, we *really* start!


To see the rest of the photos, visit flickr.com/photos/twotiredoc