Sorry it’s been so long since any updates, the end of the school year came hard and fast, and there were some early summer adventures that I had to get after. Including a running trip to the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) on last Thurs and Fri, June 7th and 8th, which I’m going to spend this post documenting.
I wanted to head up early this summer and run a big section of this trail that I haven’t seen before in prep for Superior 100 this coming September. Before this trip I’d covered most of the race route from Gooseberry Falls SP up to Cty Rd 7 aid station in Finland. I wanted to see as much of the trail after Finland as possible before the race, since that section will primarily be after dark. I also wanted to cover the section from Penn Blvd (Silver Bay) up to Mt. Trudee, since I’d missed this section on previous hiking and running trips and heard it was difficult. And cool.
I started off Thursday afternoon, leaving the TC metro area at about 11:00 am. I drove straight through to Tettegouche state park, where I had a campsite reserved for the night. I checked in, pitched my tent and inflated my air mattress, ate a sandwich and headed back down to Silver Bay. My goal was to cover a leisurely 10 miles on Thursday afternoon, then follow it up with a harder day on Friday. I felt good leaving the Penn Blvd parking lot, moving at about a 16 min/mile pace, jogging and sightseeing. This section includes the Bean and Bear Lake overlooks, which is beautiful. I cruised easily, moving up and down and around the trail until I hit the peak of Mt. Trudee. The view from the top is beautiful, I stopped for a moment to eat some jelly beans, put some K-tape on my heels (I was wearing my old trail shoes and they were cutting up the skin on my heels).
I coasted back to Penn Blvd and hit my car about sunset, felt great and was surprised to have covered almost 15 miles, which was more than I anticipated. I headed back to camp, showered, ate a sandwich, and hit the hay. Woke up about 5:30, broke camp, ate a bunch of oatmeal, and headed up to George Manitou State Park for day two. I had stuffed my bike in the trunk of my car, so I broke that out, loaded up my pack with all the necessities, and biked from the GMSP aid station back down the gravel road to the Finland Rec Center trailhead. By doing this 7 mile ride I avoided having to run an out-and-back, which I don’t like to do. After ditching my bike in the woods, I ran from Finland the 11.5 or so miles back up to GMSP. It’s a nice section of trail; despite being the highest section of the Superior 100 in terms of overall elevation, it’s devoid of any spectacular views, but you do get to see Sonju Lake, and it follows a beautiful river for a while.
I refueled and loaded up the water again at my car, then headed north on the trail. The run down to the Manitou river is fast and beautiful, especially since you’re running in the shaded side of the gorge this time of the day. After crossing the Manitou, the real fun begins. The climb out of the gorge is steep and long, with a few false peaks. I was so slow on this section, I really needed to dig deep and run fast for the rest of out and back. Which unfortunately meant I had to re-do the Manitou gorge. Despite the difficulty of this section, I was glad to do it twice so I have a better idea of what’s coming to me during the night at Superior this fall.
View from Mt Trudee
When all was said and done I logged 45 good miles of trail in a 24 hour span. My fitness felt good, even after getting worked twice by the Manitou river I was still able to keep running whenever the trail allowed it. I wasn’t even all that sore the following day. I know I’ll be physically ready for the 100, and I was glad to have another good opportunity to test my mindset as September creeps up.
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