Andy’s Superior Hiking Trail Thru-Hike

I felt that I was prepared physically for my Superior Hiking Trail thru-hike.  I have been backpacking the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) for the past 5 years doing various small sections.  The rocky, rooty terrain was very familiar to me. I knew going into my hike that it is a moderately challenging trail with a few short but steep ascents and descents.  Earlier this summer, my wife and I went on a road trip where we did some backpacking and hiking across more challenging, more rugged terrain.  I felt that backpacking this summer on the Long Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Big Horn Mountains got me in pretty good shape to tackle a thru-hike. The Superior Hiking Trail would be relatively easy compared to those since it doesn’t have as much elevation gains and losses.  I, however, underestimated the wear and tear of a thru-hike. I went into my hike overconfident.  When I first decided to thru-hike the trail, family and friends would ask what I’m most worried about going into it.  I really only had two fears: hypothermia and an animal taking my food. I talk more about that in a podcast episode #6 Andy’s Upcoming Thru-Hike (listen below).

Thru-hiking challenges one mentally and physically.  I have heard it over and over again from podcasts or reading trip reports of others who have thru-hiked.  I went into the hike welcoming the upcoming challenge but was not fully prepared for what lied ahead.  I didn’t realize the emotional rollercoaster that would be brought on by the ever-changing mental and physical states throughout the hike.  I went from excited to dismal to thankful to frustrated to humbled all in just a couple of weeks. There were points in the hike where I questioned if it was worth it and thought to myself I should just quit and go home.  Looking back now, I am glad I didn’t. I am glad my wife didn’t let me. I am glad I struggled. I am glad I persevered and finished. It is strange that even as I sit here and write this after my thru-hike, there are still emotions stirring up as I reflect back.

310 miles in 21 days, that’s an average of almost 15 miles/day. To me, it seemed attainable, a moderate challenge for my first ever thru-hike.  I didn’t purchase any different gear, I just packed the gear I owned. I didn’t really overthink pack weight, I just packed necessities. The food was the same way. There were some considerations but, for the most part, I just packed what I needed and didn’t overthink it.  The only thing I really put a lot of planning into was my resupply route. The resupply was totally new for me and I felt it was critical to not screw it up. I didn’t want to go hungry out on the trail. Check out the post about planning and prep for my hike.  Three weeks after planning and packing, I was headed to the trail.

• 

• 

The hike started out great! Sarah and Daisy joined me on the hike from the trailhead parking lot to the northern terminus. It was about a mile hike one way. We took in the views from the top of the 270-degree overlook as I contemplated what lied ahead of me for the next three weeks. I’m not going to lie, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had ideas of what a thru-hike might be. I knew what a shorter backpacking trip was all about. I had a sense of what the trail’s terrain is like ahead of me. Yet I still had this bit of angst in me that I couldn’t shed. I have never been on a backpacking trip this long before nor had I ever done one solo. The fear of the unknown can sometimes hold us back from what we know we can do. Maybe the fear comes from something we don’t want to face. Or maybe it comes from the perceived dangers that lurk in the unfamiliar. Whatever it might be that causes this in us, we cannot let the fear dictate our path. There are real dangers out there but the likelihood of encountering those dangers is pretty slim, especially if you have prepared yourself.

• 

• 

• 

The hike started off beautifully. The sun was shining for the first two days. I had some excitement for the journey that lied ahead. However, the weather decided to turn and it rained every day for nearly a week. It was impossible to stay dry while hiking. Even when it didn’t rain during the day, it rained an inch or two at night making the trail very muddy and wet. My feet were prunes and getting sore as the days went on. Just as soon as I wanted to give up and head home, the weather warmed up. There were glimpses of sunshine. It is amazing how just a short period of sunshine can totally change your spirits. The weather warmed up during the second week and I was actually hoping for a small bit of rain to take the humidity away. It is funny how we are never satisfied with the weather. Either it is too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. The third week turned out to be great. The weather had a bit of everything but I don’t ever remember being bummed out about it during the last week. Maybe I was just used to all extremes at this point. Or maybe it was due to the terrain getting easier as I neared the completion of my thru-hike.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I found that I developed a routine while out on the trail for so long. I think it is just human nature to form a routine for repetitive tasks. It takes less energy for your mind and body to complete the tasks at hand when you get into a routine. You really don’t have the energy to think through things after hiking all day and burning all those calories. You are just focused on the big three to survive: food, water, and shelter. There were two routines I developed during my thru-hike:

1. Arriving at camp routine
   • When I arrived at camp, the first thing I always did (and probably most did) was just sit. That is probably no surprise after hiking on my feet for hours upon hours. While I sat there at the campsite, I was not only resting my feet but also looking around the site and assessing things. What’s the weather like? Are there any standing dead trees in this campsite that I need to steer clear of? Where’s the best location to set up my shelter? Where is the water source? Where is the latrine?
   • After my short break, I would usually filter water if the weather was dry. I used a 4L Platypus GravityWorks water filtration system on my hike. It worked awesome and I loved that when I got to camp all I needed to do was fill the dirty water bag, hang it from a tree, and let gravity work the water down through the filter into the clean water bag. Set it and forget it while I set up my shelter. The only downside to a gravity filter is that it isn’t quick to filter water on the go. You have to sit and wait about 10-15 minutes for some water.
   • Next, I’d set up my shelter. If it was raining, I’d jump straight to setting up a tarp before filtering water to keep things and myself dry. There are a number of reasons to get the shelter up shortly after arriving at camp. The main reason is protection from the elements. Weather can change at any time and on my thru-hike, it was critical to stay warm and dry to reduce the risk of hypothermia during the brisk September weather in northern Minnesota. During warmer summer months, a shelter allows you to escape the onslaught of bugs that may swarm you at camp. My other main reason to set up my hammock right away is that it provided me a more comfortable spot to sit or lie down. The logs and wooden benches at the sites are not the most comfortable after sitting on them for a while.
   • Once the water was filtred and my hammock was set up, I cooked food. Cooking food consisted of boiling water and adding it to a bag of Mountain House. Dinners were simple. The last thing I wanted to do was wash dishes so I brought a freeze-dried meal for every dinner. These meals may cost a little more than a pack of ramen noodles or instant potatoes, but the convenience of adding water straight to the package and not having to wash dishes is worth the extra cost.
   • After dinner, it was usually time for bed or at least close to it. I would chat for a bit with fellow campers while eating dinner and then head to the hammock. There were only a couple of nights that I had a fire. The wood was usually too wet for one anyways. I would look over my maps and reference sheet that had all the campsite mileages on to prepare a route for the next day. I didn’t really have a predefined day-to-day goal when I started my thru-hike, I just figured it out each day based on the weather and how I felt. Each night I would have a general goal of distance with 2-3 campsite possibilities in mind. It is always good to have a backup plan and be flexible because you never know what tomorrow’s hike might bring.
2. Leaving camp routine
   • The first thing I would do each morning is just lie there in my hammock. Most mornings were cold and it was tough to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag. I would also stay in my hammock if it was raining hard. I didn’t feel like it was worth getting drenched before I started hiking for the day, so I would wait until the rain stopped or at least lightened up. I did find motivation in the fact that starting earlier meant the possibility of more miles or getting to camp sooner and relaxing. When the weather turned nice during the latter half of my thru-hike, I did use that motivation and enjoyed more miles on the trail.
   • Once I got out of my hammock, I would retrieve my food bag that I hung the night before and get breakfast started. Most days I would set my stove up under my tarp to boil water while I sat in the hammock and started packing my sleeping. Breakfast usually consisted of two packets of instant oatmeal with a handful of craisins added to each. I also had a couple packs of Mountain House granola that I made when I didn’t feel like boiling water or wanted to leave camp quickly.
   • After breakfast, I changed into my hiking clothes and packed the rest of my gear. Packing took a bit of time in the beginning of my thru-hike because I was still trying to figure out how to pack most efficiently. Finding the best spot for everything, along with me being very analytical, made for some longer mornings loading my pack than I anticipated. In the end, it was worth it. Everything I needed during the day was easily accessible and the weight distribution felt good while carrying the pack all day. As the days went on, the packing became quicker.
   • The final thing I did each day before heading out on the trail was foot care. I wish I would have taken care of my feet from day one instead of day six, but as I kept saying on the trail, “It is what it is.” At its worst, it took me 45 minutes to prep my feet for the hike but as my feet healed, it only took about 15 minutes. That time spent everyday prepping my feet saved me time on the trail and allowed me to stick to my goal of completing in 3 weeks.

I was fortunate to meet some great people along the trail.  I camped with some fellow thru-hikers as well as some people just out for the weekend.  Going into the hike I was actually looking forward to some alone time. I got plenty of that on the trail, but the campsites were different.  There was only one night that I camped alone, every other night there was at least one other person at the site. Being a shorter long-distance trail, there didn’t seem to be a thru-hiking community. I would suspect that is the case with many if not all of the shorter trails that take around a month to thru-hike. Unlike longer trails such as the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail, you have a much larger window as to when you can start your thru-hike. This means you won’t have a majority of thru-hikers starting around the same time and you won’t encounter the infamous “bubble” of thru-hikers like you would on the AT.

I also experienced those who were thru-hiking the SHT were in a spot much like myself: this was their first thru-hike of any trail. It was great camping with other thru-hikers and talking through the day’s hike or how the thru-hike was going. I would be shocked if a person thru-hiked and didn’t learn at least one new thing from a fellow hiker. It was great to just talk about the day on the trail with someone. The vast majority of trail time during the day is spent alone walking the trail unless you specifically set out to stick together with someone.

I received some trail magic during my thru-hike from people I met along the way. Trail magic is a term used to describe any sort of unexpected act of kindness towards a hiker. It comes in many forms such as a ride into town or a piece of food or a comforting chat. I could probably write a whole post about the trail magic I received on my hike. The first that stands out is that my lovely wife and our mothers came up after my first week on the trail. They brought me some needed supplies after my feet started going downhill. They also brought me from Lutsen to Grand Marais so I could buy different shoes. My boots had become too tight and as a result, were rubbing parts of my feet raw. I switched from my Merrell boots to Vasque trail runners and it made a HUGE difference. The shoes had some more give to them so they didn’t irritate my feet as much. I found they dried a lot quicker than my boots as well.

• 

• 

• 

I also received a couple of rides from people. One ride was from the Beaver Bay trailhead to Cove Point Lodge and back. I had a resupply package waiting for me at the lodge. This was 4 miles roundtrip and I am very grateful for the ride so I didn’t have to walk those extra miles. The other ride I received was later that same night. I was reorganizing my pack with all my items from my resupply package and a group of ATVs drove up. We got to chatting a bit and they asked if I’d like a ride back to the trail. I wasn’t going to turn that down so I hopped into one of the ATVs and went a mile down the road to the trail.

It was awesome to get some support on the trail. A majority of the time thru-hiking is just you and the trail. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to thru-hike the Superior Hiking Trail and accomplish a goal of mine that I’ve had since the first time I set foot on this trail. I will be posting more about my thru-hike so be sure to stay tuned for more.

For more on my thru-hike check out my the podcast episode below and the other thru-hike posts.

Peace, love, and hike thru life!