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Sunday, December 11, 2022

Goodbye, Lake Superior - Day 376

  Again, we started right at Lake Superior, at the actual mouth of the Two Hearted River. It's weird to watch because the water right beside you is moving, and the water just beyond that is not!
mouth of Two Hearted River

We went over a few more hills where the fire has cleared the land, with a few more glimpses of Lake Superior. It was hard to tell it from the sky today. Then we turned mostly south. This begins to feel as if I am getting somewhere. I've been walking east across the UP forever. I'll see Lake Superior again at Whitefish Bay, but this is mostly goodbye.
Lake Superior

Soon we began to interact with the Little Two Hearted River. My favorite part of that was on a bluff with hemlocks above the river.
trail above bluff

We began seing tracks, and came across Steve, a trail maintainer, out with his dogs and checking trail.
man with dogs in winter

I can't seem to get a better contrast on this picture, but maybe you can see it. When we first came across this pattern in the snow, we thought it was where some small critter had become lunch for some larger bird. However, the walking tracks seemed wrong for any small animal that might be tasty. The snow was a little deep to take good impressions, but then we found one that seemed definitive. I think this was a grouse walking that suddenly took off and left wing prints in the snow.
grouse print in snow

Finally, my artsy picture for the day. Ice on the Little Two Hearted River. Yes, this is a color image.
ice pattern

I'm working on a plan to get the missing western UP miles. Sigh. I added wrong; there are 107 of them, not 95. But, they may be do-able, if slowly. At any rate, we made good miles today.

Miles today: 14.1. Total miles so far: 4306.2 * over 4300 *

See Jumping for Hiawatha

3 comments:

Ann said...

WOW over 4300 miles. Impressive.

The Oceanside Animals said...

Lulu: "Hello puppies! That looks like a fun walk to me!"
Java Bean: "Looks like a cold walk! But I don't have the kind of furs Lulu does."
Charlee: "Our Dada is wondering if the Little Two Hearted River is somehow related to the Doctor. Umm, probably not, Dada."
Chaplin: "Over 4300 miles, that's amazing! That's enough miles to get you all the way to San Diego, if you were following a different route!"

Sharkbytes said...

Ann- it feels impressive, and yet, I'm not done.

Lulu- They were having a grand time. Especially the tan puppy, Yooper. Jasmine is older and more dignified. But they are musher dogs and have good furs for winter. Jasmine has been on some winning teams. Tell Dada I do not know how either the Big or Little THR got named, but I guess that means there are 4 hearts. Well, Two Hearted Ale got 5 stars from people who know beer. But I think this is a bunny trail of info. P.S. Tell Java Bean to have Dada buy a warm coat to help with thin furs.