T-Minus Six Days - Plan B

 

(A crappy picture of a crappy camp site.)

As I wrote about last time, this hike logistically is proving to be more challenging than I expected.  The biggest factor I need to deal with is the drought.  Normally, finding water is not an issue on the Superior Hiking Trail.  At most, you are carrying two liters for ten miles.  As the average rainfall for the area is six-to-eight inches less than normal for the year, the distances to sure water sources are farther.  That means carrying more.

On the Pacific Crest Trail there were areas where water was scarce.  The desert of Southern California is obvious, but Northern California also has some long water carries.  There were two helpful guides to deal with that.  The Guthooks app was updated in real time and was the primary source I used.  There is also a team that tracks reports and saves it on a spreadsheet called the Pacific Crest Trail Water Report.  With these two sources, I was pretty confident of the water situation.  I also knew that I needed a liter per five miles to start.  At first, I would carry a liter plus one per five miles.  After a while, I would chug a liter before I started hiking again and that would cover the first five miles.

The Superior Hiking Trail doesn’t have a real time app supporting it like Guthooks.  There is no team tracking the water situation.  All I have is a guidebook that says whether a source is normally reliable and some eyewitness reports on the SHT Facebook page.

I can deal with this.  I have a list of the sure water sources, so I will hike from sure water source to sure water source.  That is where I run into a problem with the very first section.

I will start the hike first by taking a bus down to Duluth.  I will then need to arrange transportation to the Martin Road Trailhead.  I expect to start hiking at roughly noon.  I can only camp at designated campsites.  The first two sites with a sure water source are at 4.9 and 6.0 miles.  The next campsite is at 11.6 miles; however, it is dry.  The next site with reliable water is 19.4 miles in.  I’m not going to be able to hike 19.4 miles on my first day when I start at noon.  So, my first day is going to be six miles.

Assuming I’m hiking 15 miles a day, that gets me to my first resupply point in Two Harbors on a Friday.  Two Harbors is six miles from the trail.  Hitchhiking is against the law in Minnesota.  On top of that, everything is booked and has been booked for some time.  Ideally, I will hike in early, resupply, shower, do some laundry, and make any adjustments.  That is not possible.

If that wasn't enough, there is a closure which is making this already unnecessarily complicated start even more complicated. Leaving Two Harbors is a five-mile road hike and the next place to camp is roughly eight miles up trail.  Doing that in a day is probably impossible when I have chores to do.

Put simply, there are no good way to navigate this speed bump.  So, I posted a question on the SHT Facebook page and surprisingly received no good answer.

As I always plan the crap out of every hike, I've been calculating distances in a spreadsheet.  I've used Google Maps with the satellite mode on searching for water sources not in the guide book.  No matter how I calculated it, the result was always shitty.

Today, on a whim, I decided to call the Burlington Bay campground which is located in Two Harbors.  I studied their webpage hoping to find something for backpackers to no avail.  Many campsites near a major hiking trail have a dedicated walk in site for backpackers.  Alas, this one does not -- at least at first glance.

They got back to me with an answer.  They have one tiny campsite code named 'Camp B'.  It is in some trees near the office parking lot.  It is near the dump station, so it probably smells worse that I do when I get in.  You cannot select it on the website, but it is there.  

Honestly, it is perfect.  This changes everything.  The math works.  I take a leisure stroll towards Two Harbors.  I make camp at Camp B.  I take a shower.  I do my laundry.  I resupply.  I get a large pizza and I have an easy day.  The next day, clean, recharged and ready to go, I hit the trail again.  It is a much better plan. 

Fittingly, I’m calling this -- Plan B.