Anniversary on the SHT

This past weekend, Joshua and I headed North of Duluth for an overnight backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. Our friend Jamie so graciously offered to watch Harper for the weekend so we could enjoy a little nature and getaway.

We left Saturday morning and reached the trailhead by 2:15pm. Excited to hit the trail, we charged ahead on what we thought was the right trail. About half a mile later, we were almost in town and had to turn around. We hiked all the way back to where we started and learned an important lesson. "If it looks like a service road, it most likely is a service road." Bummed but still determined to hike in to a campsite, we made a few pack adjustments and restarted our journey. The weather was almost ideal. We were grateful it wasn't a super hot day and didn't so much mind our sweat-soaked shirts.

We were pretty dog tired around mile 2.5-3. The sign at the trailhead said the first campsite was 3.7 miles in...oh and don't forget our mile mishap at the beginning. As we hiked, the trail also grew increasingly difficult. It became rockier with lots of steep ascents and descents. Soon enough though, we found a campsite. We didn't bother to even check out the others around. This one looked decent enough, and we were the only ones around...except for the decently sized creatures rustling in the brush nearby.

Stereotypically, Joshua instantly worked on starting a fire, and I pitched our tent. "Man make fire. Woman make shelter." That's pretty much how it goes. Next we broke out our dinner fixins and the bottle of wine (complete with plastic wine glasses). Our dinner was andouille sausage mixed with a yummy pouch of rice pilaf and beans with various spices from Trader Joe's. I also brought along a block of extra sharp white cheddar cheese and sesame crackers.

After dinner, we relaxed next to our sad campfire and reminisced over the past five years next to our sad campfire. The campfire wasn't doing so hot as all the wood was wet. A little while later around 8pm, Joshua exclaimed, "NUH UH!" I quickly asked, "What?" and instantly knew I didn't need an answer as I heard a wall of water sweep across the woods towards us. "The fly!," I cried out. We quickly jumped up, threw the fly over the tent and scrambled to cover our packs, throw boots and food under the tent and grab raincoats for ourselves. The downpour only lasted a short while, but it didn't take much to make things wet. Thankfully we threw the fly on quickly enough and spared our sleeping bags from any raindrops. What a rush! 

The funny thing was that the campfire was blazing burning stronger after the downpour than before. We popped a squat next to the flames and drank the rest of the wine from the bottle as our wine glasses were splattered with mud. We were having quite the adventure and had a really good time. Here's a snippet from our conversation that followed:

Alyssa- "The fire's actually pretty hot. I think my pants are almost dry."

Joshua- "Mine aren't. They're still wet."

Alyssa- "Wanna trade?"

Joshua- "Pants?!"

--hysterical laughter--

Maybe it isn't actually that funny, but it was at the time. I was of course asking in regards to my spot closer to the fire. Joshua's funny, especially after a half bottle of wine.

The next morning we boiled water for oatmeal and hot chocolate then tore down camp. We slept in until 8am, so we didn't hit the trail until around 10am. Since we just had the one night, we hiked back the way we came. We felt rejuvenated and welcomed the difficult portion of the trail first and breezed through the second half. We stopped at the top of the ridge for our second breakfast, a luna bar for me and clif bar for Joshua. There were a few pretty vistas of Lake Superior and the inland wilderness from this ridge, and again the day was cloudless and beautiful.

It took us a half hour less hiking back than it did hiking in. We talked much about Harper, memories, our relationship, dreams, our future, and more Harper. Back at the trailhead, we threw our gear in the Vibe and headed back towards Duluth. We stopped at the Duluth Grill for lunch, or rather third breakfast. Both of us ordered a breakfast skillet and were thrilled with our choices. The food was excellent. Much of the food is local and organic, and the flavors were so yummy. This will definitely be our first choice next time we're in Duluth again.

We were so anxious to see our little guy and were annoyed with crazy road construction traffic leaving Duluth. Finally back at home, we were welcomed by a happy but moody toddler. It sounded like he had a wonderful weekend with Jamie, but he was certainly showing us his roller coaster emotions about us leaving him for the weekend. To try and make it up to him, we took him to the park and gave him a bath before bedtime. We're so thankful for our little family and for the past five years we've shared together.

Happy Anniversary to us!