{"id":4126,"date":"2018-10-18T21:19:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T21:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intothewideopen.com\/?p=4126"},"modified":"2018-10-24T00:49:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T00:49:46","slug":"sht-days-16-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intothewideopen.com\/?p=4126","title":{"rendered":"SHT: Days 16-17"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>Start<\/strong>:\u00a0 Kadunce River Campsite
\nEnd<\/strong>:\u00a0 270 Degree Overlook \u2013 Northern Terminus
\nDay 16-17 mileage<\/strong>:\u00a0 39 miles
\nTotal mileage<\/strong>:\u00a0 260 miles (the end!!)\n

The next day was glorious. I didn\u2019t have to wear four layers of clothing.\u00a0 The sun even came out for a bit!\u00a0 The 1.5 mile walk by the lake was amazing.<\/p>\n

I had the beach all to myself<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The winds were up and the waves crashed into the pebble beach.\u00a0 When the water absorbed through the pebbles, it made the sound of those crackling fireworks enjoyed on the 4th of July.\u00a0 The ones that are white and make a rainy, crackling sound on the way down.\u00a0 I really felt like I was on an adventure in this section.\u00a0 It was a special morning.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
Judge C.R. Magney state park was another highlight.\u00a0 Not only did they have toilets and trash cans (I\u2019m easily amused these days), but Devil\u2019s Kettle Falls was one of the coolest waterfalls I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 It looked like the water was being sucked into an underworld.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
The fall on the left gets sucked to who knows where<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I was planning to camp at South Carlson pond.\u00a0 A southbound section hiker I met after Magney told me that was where she spent the night and it took her a long time to make it to Magney.\u00a0 She raised her eyebrows about my making it that far and assured me there was one campsite (Hazel) before South Carlson, so if I couldn\u2019t make it that far, I could camp there.\u00a0 I told her I had already hiked 12 miles that day and it shouldn\u2019t be a problem.\u00a0 She reminded me that Hazel campsite was closer.<\/p>\n
I spent the next couple hours of hiking reflecting on the fact that few people seem to have confidence that I can make it as far as I say I\u2019m going to.\u00a0 Everyone has their own perspective, their own experiences that play into their expectations for everyone else.\u00a0 I decide to set an intention to NOT do this.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, I am making good time to South Carlson.\u00a0 Two miles before the campsite, I began to hear what I\u2019m pretty sure were wolves yipping and howling.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t sound too far away and they didn\u2019t sound happy.\u00a0 I started booking it to the campsite.\u00a0 There was a big climb and once I made it over, I couldn\u2019t hear the wolves very well.\u00a0 Once I got even further, I couldn\u2019t hear them at all.\u00a0 I made it to the campsite.\u00a0 No one else was there.\u00a0 Of course, I started to hear wolves again and freaked out.\u00a0 In my paranoid state, I was convinced I was being followed by a pack on the hunt.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Carlson Pond was beautiful. The wolves thought so too\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I looked at the guidebook to see how far the next campsite was, 2.3 miles.\u00a0 The next campsite was also about a half mile from a road and a parking area.\u00a0 The thought process that followed consisted of two parts: A) I believe wolves to be rather elusive, so they don\u2019t want to be by a road or parking area and B)\u00a0 Close proximity to a parking area may mean there are people camped nearby.\u00a0 If I booked it, I could get to North Carlson campsite a little before dark.\u00a0 I prayed there would be people there and started my mad dash to the next site.\u00a0 I was getting pretty close and what do I hear?\u00a0 Not wolves, but human voices!\u00a0 There were two men camped there, Tim and Pat.\u00a0 They are friends who started at the Northern terminus today.\u00a0 One is going 40 miles, the other to Duluth.\u00a0 I was so happy not to be camping alone.\u00a0 On this trip, there have only been two nights where I\u2019ve been completely alone, although most of the hiking has been alone.\u00a0 One of my goals on this trip was to get over my fear of sleeping in the woods by myself.\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely sure that fear has been conquered\u2026\u00a0 The next day I planned to finish.\u00a0 It was something like 17 miles to the terminus and then to my car.<\/p>\n
It rained all night.\u00a0 I packed up a soaking wet tent, meeting the criteria of a legitimate backpacking trip of packing up two soaking wet tents.\u00a0 Pat warned me that the next few miles were boggy, but that turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration.\u00a0 I passed by some beaver ponds, a common theme on this trail.\u00a0 I also made it to the highest elevation of the trail (1,829 ft).\u00a0 This point was in the woods, with no views.\u00a0 It even mentions this in the guidebook, saying there is no viewpoint from the highest point on the trail, a fact that made me chuckle when I read it.\u00a0 I began to reflect on finishing, feeling excited about accomplishing a goal, but also sad about the trip being over soon.\u00a0 This is a common feeling I have on long trails (except the Camino del Norte, which was absolutely awful and wasn\u2019t over soon enough.\u00a0 Read about it here<\/a><\/span>).\u00a0 I heard gunshots occasionally and was happy I bought an orange blaze vest in Grand Marais that I draped over my pack.\u00a0 I made it to the Northern Terminus (the 270 degree overlook) at about 4pm.\u00a0 The view was amazing and I spent some time soaking in the silence at the peak, something I would be missing as soon as I drove away.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
View at the top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
I did it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I signed the trail registrar, but it was pretty soggy, so I\u2019m guessing few will read it.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
There was also a trailhead nearby, as the 270 overlook was at the beginning of the Border Route Trail, a hiking trail through the Boundary Waters.\u00a0 My mind was already churning over ideas for the next hike.\u00a0 I hiked to my car, which Domonick and I had dropped off about 10 days previously.<\/p>\n
I drove to Grand Marais, enjoying a veggie burger at the Bluewater Grill again (Tuesday was 50% off burger day, hooray!).\u00a0 I had already decided to sleep in my car at one of the trailheads.\u00a0 I was too exhausted to get a room and take a shower and all that stuff, plus the cheapest rooms in that area are $150 and not very nice.\u00a0 I picked a trailhead with an outhouse, which I was thankful for in the morning.\u00a0 It also rained all night and was generally freezing.\u00a0 I was happy to be in an enclosed space not running away from wolves =)<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
#focuslife is not #vanlife<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Stay tuned for one more post with my final reflections of the SHT!<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Start:\u00a0 Kadunce River Campsite End:\u00a0 270 Degree Overlook \u2013 Northern Terminus Day 16-17 mileage:\u00a0 39 miles Total mileage:\u00a0 260 miles (the end!!) The next day was glorious. I didn\u2019t have to wear four layers of clothing.\u00a0 The sun even came out for a bit!\u00a0 The 1.5 mile walk by the lake was amazing. The winds 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