Spray Falls in Picture Rocks National Park along Lake Superior

 August 21, 2014 - Thursday
67 degrees/cloudy/calm
Pentoga Road

I arrived home last night around 5:30 PM. The trek through Picture Rocks was okay. I managed to get turned around more than once and there's at least six miles hiked that weren't necessary. I got to enjoy the trek from on and off the established trail. 

The weather was less than ideal and Tuesday set an all-time record for total precipitation, 1.9 inches. Still, other than slogging through some ankle-deep mud, the rain was almost enjoyable in a perverse sort of way.

I met some wonderful people on the trail. All were very nice and more than one pointed me in the right direction. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. I attempted to put them in chronological order. Certainly Uncle Terry and Pat will recognize many of the landmarks.

A photography club preparing for a day hike out of Munising. I was picked up by a shuttle in the parking lot and transported to Grand Marais, fifty miles to the north.

The start

Where Uncle Terry and I spent one night several years ago on our hike.

I picked wild blueberries to go with my oatmeal for breakfast

Georgia and Shawn... married just two days and on their honeymoon

Filtering water from Lake Superior

Pat and I stayed in this campground two years ago and in fact, back then, I attached my hammock to these very trees.

The end of the trail is at the far end of the horizon... the land you can barely see.

Julie and Bob. Julie's a 3rd grade teacher; Bob works for a wood manufacturing company.

Cassie and Rowan

Looks like something I drove during my college years. I have no idea how it came to rest way out in the woods.

I think I tripped over every root and rock on the entire trail. These guys are not my friends.

My journey began the previous day way down on that furthest tip of land

A tourist/sight seeing boat from the mainland. That boat was manufactured by Allen Marine in Sitka, Alaska. 

It rained for most of the time I was on the trail.

There are advantages to getting off the trail. One is that I discovered these beautiful water falls.

Wild raspberries were abundant. I often plucked them from the vines as I walked along.

So it was a good trek and I found out what I needed to know; if I could/should attempt a long solo hike on the Appalachian Trail next spring. On this trip, I experienced many of my limitations with less than perfect sight. I missed the trail several times and though I can't say I was ever lost, there were instances when I didn't know exactly where I was. I fell over rocks and roots and managed to bang my shins on branches and trees that had fallen over the trail and were out of my line of sight.

All that being said, I think I'll put the Appalachian Trail and any more long distance solo hiking on hold until the next lifetime. It will give me something to work for and I'll enjoy it even more when the time arrives. 

Until then, I'll continue to do my five-mile road trek each morning, read each and every issue of Back Packer Magazine, and dream the dream.

Meanwhile, the garden needs tending, there's a shed to finish, and tons of wood to put up before winter arrives.

After all, a man's work is never done.

The end.
Including making some wrong turns (I slogged through five unneeded miles of woods on Tuesday alone) and not exactly knowing where I was, I hiked close to fifty miles in two-and-a-half days.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...