Cascade and Beyond - Day 293

  The first 3 miles today were pretty awful. That whole section has been closed (and hikers directed to an alternate route) all season because the road bridge that I ended at yesterday was being rebuilt. I guess we should have thought what that might mean. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to do those 3 miles. Then I hiked on, but Marie had to turn around and go back to the car.

The worst was a washed out bridge. We managed to cross on the remains of the bridge about 30 feet downstream, but we had to slide down to it on a mud bank, and then scramble up the mud on the other side. But there were lots of washed-out steps and areas of heavy roots.

But the Cascade River, which we were following, was beautiful.


When Marie left me and I went on, I climbed immediately 400 feet, but the grade wasn't bad. Then I turned west and began to follow a long ridge that ran beside a valley. In the depths of the valley are a series of lakes, but you can't see them at all from the ridge.


Hints of fall are beginning to show.


The vista above is almost all green, but in other places you can see the hills turning red and orange. The day was still a little hazy, and I didn't try to improve the pictures. See that steep bluff near the middle of the picture? I started hiking this morning pretty much at the base of that. There were several descents and climbs back to the ridge, but none was terrible. The views weren't continuous, but very often there was a break in the trees with a good scene.


Finally, I got to Jonvik Creek. This was one of the campsites where Marie and I stayed in 2001 when I first hiked this section. At that time there were narrow board walkways. Those have very recently been replaced with wide stable boardwalks. Very nice! I stopped for a quick rest and a drink there, just for old times sake. We heard a moose in the night, back then, walking through the shallow water and snorting.


After I was done hiking, we went to town (Grand Marais) to the Superior Trading Post. We'd stopped in yesterday, and Eric, the owner (the store has belonged to his family since he was four years old), actually remembered me from the last time I was there in 2009! I was totally shocked. He sold me my first pair of Manzella glove liners. I still love the brand- not something I can say about very many things. Anyway, one thing led to another, and he bought some of my books for the store. In addition to outfitting gear and equipment, the store sells books, beautiful pottery and kitchen stuff, cabin acoutrements... all that northwoods kind of stuff. Very nice place.


Miles today: 11.6. Total miles so far: 3465.0.

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