SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL

Take a fall hike: 10 trails to try for leaf peeping

John Myers — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 11:00:00 GMT

DULUTH — Whether you like the yellows and reds of a maple canopy forest, or maybe the golden hues of tamarack later in the season, or the softer browns of oaks, you can find pretty much any color of autumn's palette somewhere in the Northland.

And there’s really no better way to soak in the fall color than to get out in it. Go take a hike.

The News Tribune has compiled, in no particular order, a list of great fall hike reviews gleaned from many years from our reporters, regional authors and natural resource and tourism agencies.

The color already is starting on the ground, as grasses and sedges and wildflowers turn from green to gold. Black ash trees around Voyageurs National Park are already turning yellow. Maples along the tops and back sides of the North Shore hills are starting to turn red and yellow, and will peak in the next week or two.

So don't dally too long Don’t wait for someone else to proclaim peak color has arrived, or it may be too late.

Pick out a trail, grab your boots and go.

Lookout Mountain Loop, Cascade River State Park, Lutsen State Highway 61, around mile 100

You don't need a state park pass to park in the lot at Cascade River State Park. Almost immediately, you come upon Cascade Falls, which has several viewing points of the water and a large rock outcropping you can stand on to get a closer view, if you're brave.

The Lookout Mountain Loop is a Hiking Club trail, and the first half of the counterclockwise loop is also part of the Superior Hiking Trail.

Getting to the lookout point is moderately challenging because of the incline, somewhere more than 600 feet vertical. The view is well worth the effort.

Twin Lake Trail, Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, McGregor Just off state Highway 65 east of McGregor

This is just a 0.75-mile walk through mixed forest surrounded by open wetlands, but well worth the stop if you are in the area. Admission to the refuge is free and as long as you are there, drive to the elevated observation area and watch for thousands of waterfowl staging there on their way south.

In some years, nearly 1 million ducks and geese will be here. (Early mornings and late evenings are best.)

Moose Lake State Park, Moose Lake Just off I- 35 at southern Moose Lake exit

You’ll need a seasonal or day state park pass here, but it’s worth it. Several trials wind through mixed forests, around wetlands and along Moosehead and Echo lakes. There’s plenty of parking for day hikers but the campground fills up early for overnight guests.

Moose Lake is located between Duluth and Hinckley, not far from Interstate 35. A mix of aspen, maple, birch, basswood and some pines make a great color combination. Start on the Wildlife Pond Trail to take advantage of views of the fall colors over water, then head onto the Rolling Hills Trail and complete the loop for some autumn tree bathing.

The changes in elevation are moderate at worst, and a portion of the trails are paved for easy accessibility.

Palisade Head, North Shore State Highway 61, northeast of Silver Bay

This isn’t really much of a hike, but the view — especially as fall color peaks — is worth it from the top of the rock along this Lake Superior shoreline. It’s part of Tettegouche State Park, but you don’t need a park pass to drive (or walk) up the short access road off Minnesota Highway 61.

Trailers are not allowed on the access road as it is narrow and very windy and the parking lot is small.

Go early in the day to avoid crowds and watch out for rock climbers.

Britton, Levauex and Oberg overlooks; North Shore hills Britton begins on Sawbill Trail, 2 miles north of state Highway 61; Leveaux and Oberg start on Forest Road 336, not far off Highway 61

These will be busy trails at peak fall color, so it may be best to go on a weekday. The Leveaux and Oberg trails are about 2-3 miles; the Britton Trail is short.

These legs of the Superior Hiking Trail get you up off the North Shore and onto the backside of the Sawtooth “Mountains” to see huge expanses of red and yellow maples that can't be seen from Highway 61. The maples up on the hills usually hit peak color sometime between Sept. 21-28, earlier than the North Shore itself, which may not peak until early October.

Oberg Trail, 3 miles, leads to the top of Oberg Mountain; Leveaux Trail, 3.3 miles, leads to Leveaux Mountain. Both begin with moderately climbing switchbacks leading to an easy, circular loop at top of each mountain. Oberg rises 1,000 feet above Lake Superior with nine scenic overlooks. There are rock cliffs and ledges, so watch your kids.

Bear Head Lake State Park, Ely State Highway 169 north past Soudan, then County Road 128 south to park

You’ll need a state park pass, but this favorite camping destination offers 17 miles of trails in rolling terrain with a good share of hardwoods for color.

Wolf rock overlook, Two Harbors From Two Harbors, go 10 miles on state Highway 61; turn left onto Lake County 106 and go 2.3 miles

Hikers can take in gorgeous North Shore views at the Wolf Rock Overlook near Two Harbors. It’s just over a mile round-trip, but the trail‘s steep elevation inclines over 200 feet within a half-mile and you will end up about 900 feet above the lake.

Reach the summit and be rewarded with breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, including dazzling maples as well as the big lake, and Crow Creek. (If you’re looking to make the hike longer, continue on another 8.6 miles and you will find yourself in Gooseberry Falls State Park.)

Park in the Superior Hiking Trail lot on the right side of the road. Take the hiking trail that is furthest to the south.

Tell Lake and Chase Point trails, Scenic State Park, Itasca County From Grand Rapids, take U.S. Highway 169 east past Taconite; turn north onto County Road 7/Scenic Highway; go 30 miles; turn north into state park on County Road 75

Day hikers can explore a pine-covered ridge separating two lakes. The 2.9-mile route is generally easy walking with lots of tree variety. A parking lot is on the side of County Road 75.

Bean and Bear Lakes Loop, Silver Bay Take Penn Boulevard (Forest Highway 11) just outside Silver Bay; trailhead is on right

Another uber-popular fall color destination along the Superior Hiking Trail system, a weekday trip would help avoid crowds. The round-trip hike totals about 6.5 miles and offers stunning views of maple forests.

Millennium Trail, Superior Park at 3120 N. 28th St.

If you like your trails easy, paved and close to home, try the Superior Municipal Forest, with 4,400 acres with a multitude of tree varieties such as white and red pine, balsam, cedar, black spruce, white birch and aspen. The Millennium Trail is a 10-foot-wide paved, easy-to-hike path meandering through the trees.

Did you know that the Superior Municipal Forest is the largest forest within a city anywhere in the U.S.?

Read 'Minnesota's Best Autumn Hikes'

A couple years ago, we reviewed prolific Minnesota author Rob Bignell’s book on best places to hike for fall color in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. He lists at least one hike in all 87 counties.

Here's Bignell’s top 10 list from the book, in no particular order:

Lutsen Access Trail, Superior National Forest/Lutsen Scientific and Natural Area Oberg and LeVeaux Mountain Trails, Superior National Forest Middle-West Manitou- Misquah-Yellow Birch Loop, George H. Crosby Manitou State Park Skibo Vista Overlook, Superior National Forest DeSoto Trail, Itasca State Park Cow Lake Trail, Maplewood State Park Black Ash Trail, Belle Prairie County Park Bur Oak Trail, Helen Allison Savanna Scientific and Natural Area White Oak Trail, Nerstrand Big Woods State Park Minneopa Falls Trail, Minneopa State Park]]>

What's the future of the Superior Hiking Trail?

John Myers — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 11:00:00 GMT

TWO HARBORS — The Superior Hiking Trail Association is setting out to plot the future of Minnesota's most famous footpath, and they want your input along the way.

From now through November the association is asking for public comments on what should be included in the trail's first-ever master plan that’s hoped to guide the trail forward.

The trail was laid out in the 1980s by hiking enthusiasts who had more vision and enthusiasm than they did experience or training in building trails.

“Despite all the work that has gone on there are still some places where the trail could probably be in a better place,” said Lisa Luokkala, executive director of the Superior Hiking Trail Association. “And as we get more and more people using the trail, we need to make sure we retain that trail experience that so many people are enjoying.”

While the trail has been officially completed for nearly a decade — some 310 miles from the Wisconsin border to the Ontario border — it is almost constantly in flux, with sections being rerouted and replaced, bridges moved and replaced, footpaths upgraded and more.

One of the ongoing issues is that the trail crosses private land along much of its route, and easements secured from private landowners can be pulled back for various reasons — the land is sold, landowners change their mind, bad behavior by hikers — forcing a reroute. While much of the trail miles are on county-, state-, national forest- and city-managed public land, along the entire length there are more than 200 landowners.

Some of the trail is close to being overused and loved to death, especially those segments near popular North Shore state parks, scenic autumn color lookouts and in developed areas.

There’s also the potential for major projects in the future, such as moving the lengthy Duluth segment between the Enger Tower area and Chester Bowl from the waterfront to the hilltop, to move it away from the highly developed Lakewalk area and reroute it in the more forested hilltop area.

“That’s been a dream of a lot of people, and I think that’s still in play as part of this process, to see if that could be done at some point,” Luokkala said.

This almost constant change is a common occurrence with major hiking trails, Luokkala said. More than half the original Appalachian Trail is now on a different route than when it first opened more than 70 years ago.

Who’s hiking?

Trail association leaders have a pretty good hunch that day hikers comprise by far the biggest segment of trail users, many people who hike near their homes or near their vacation destinations along the North Shore. The many state parks along Lake Superior serve as access points for thousands of trail users each year. Some people use trails near their homes, walking their dogs.

Second-most common are people who are hiking a full segment of the trail, say over a week of vacation. The smallest but growing segment are thru-hikers walking the entire distance.

But no one knows for sure how many people or who is hiking the trail. As part of the master plan process, the association is out on the trail this summer surveying in two ways.

The first are automated people-counters that are being moved up and down the trail to measure how many people are actually using it. Until now, any guess on trail use was just that.

The second survey method is sending staff into the woods and interviewing hikers about why they are on the trail, about not just their current experience — how far they're hiking, where they are from, how often they come — but also what they want to see in the future.

“And it’s not just our users, but also our neighbors. We want community input from all along the trail,” Luokkala said.

Ryan Blaisdell, a recreation specialist for the Superior National Forest who also serves on the trail association’s master plan advisory board, said recreation trails now must be sustainable to be successful. That means the trail and its users should not be negatively impacting the resource, especially the many North Shore streams the trail crosses that lead down to Lake Superior.

“There were parts of the (Superior Hiking Trail) originally put in places that we'd really like to get it out of, to find better routes, make it more sustainable,” Blaisdell said. “Sustainable trail construction really wasn’t a thing 40 years ago when the trail was getting started.”

Blaisdell also said the association's efforts to get a better handle on who’s using the trail is important as the trail continues to develop into the future. Like any business, the association needs to know all it can about its customers.

Day hikers, for example, tend to want more and different loop trails so they can start and end their trip from the same point without a shuttle. Section- and thru-hikers, on the other hand, are always looking for more campsites on the trail.

“We have years of social data on who is using the Boundary Waters and how they are using it. But we don’t have that kind of data for the trail,” Blasidell said.

In addition to major improvements and reroutes, there’s also the constant work maintaining footpaths, clearing brush and grass, clearing downed trees and making sure each landowner along the route is happy with the trail and its users.

“That’s a huge task when you are dealing with so many different landowners,” Blaisdell said.

Matt Davis, regional trail director for the North Country Trail in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and who also serves on the master plan advisory committee for the Superior Hiking Trail Association, said hardening the trail against overuse, and against occasional bad behavior by hikers, is critical. But, he added, so is keeping the Superior Hiking Trail vibe that people know and love.

“Getting accurate information to people about the trail is key, and how they want that information now is changing. It’s not just a map at a trailhead. People want the information on their phones now,” Davis said. “We have crowdsourcing of trail information now, on social media and such, and, unfortunately, it’s not always accurate. We have people promoting things that really aren’t correct. … There’s a problem with Google Maps now listing individual campsites along the trail as campgrounds, so you may get people thinking they can drive to a campground when it’s really just a single campsite for people on the trail.”

Luokkala said the association recently hired a new staff member who is skilled at GIS mapping — something unheard of 40 years ago.

Davis said the association has a solid footing with an active, engaged board of directors, growing staff and volunteer members who put in thousands of hours of trail work each year.

“This master plan is a great idea, but it’s an enormous undertaking. I think it’s going to help keep the trail viable going forward,” Davis said. “Trails like this may be finished on the map. But you are never really finished fine-tuning and fixing it up. That goes on forever.”

Help shape future of Superior Hiking Trail

Go to the trail association's SocialPinPoint website at shta.mysocialpinpoint.com. You can zoom into an interactive map and leave a comment for specific sections or locations along the trail.

Once you’ve added a marker, a menu will appear that will allow you to select the category of your feedback, and a text box to include any relevant information. The map also allows users to upload photos and videos.

The input website will be open through November after which the association staff, advisers and consultants will draft a master plan and bring it back for additional comments.

For folks who might want to comment on the trail’s future but don’t use the Internet, you can send comments to: Superior Hiking Trail Association, Attn: Mackenzie Hogfeldt, P.O. Box 315, Two Harbors, MN 55616.

For more information on the trail and the association, including membership, go to superiorhiking.org.

New trail access open on Lismore Road near Duluth

The Superior Hiking Trail Association has opened a new trailhead access on Lismore Road just north of Duluth that has parking for up to six vehicles.

Due to a land ownership change, the previous Superior Hiking Trail trailhead on Lismore Road was closed.

The new trailhead was completed in partnership with the city of Rice Lake. The city acquired the tax-forfeit property for the recreational benefit of increased access to the existing Superior Hiking Trail that traverses through the city. Hiking trail association staff and volunteers raised money and worked through the design and permitting process with the city of Rice Lake and St. Louis County.

The newly constructed trailhead on Lismore Road is 6.9 trail miles north of the Martin Road Trailhead and 6.7 trail miles south of the Normanna Road Trailhead. The association has a goal of providing parking and trailhead access every three to 10 miles along the now-famous hiking trail. The association now has more than 60 trailheads spaced evenly along the 300-mile trail corridor.

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Superior Hiking Trail needs volunteers

Staff Report — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 17:00:00 GMT

TWO HARBORS, Minn. — More than 300 volunteers put in over 8,000 hours every year to keep the Superior Hiking Trail in great shape, and the trail is in need of more work this summer.

The Superior Hiking Trail Association needs more than 150 volunteers for various summer projects, including:

The Bean and Bear reroute, June 15-26: Help move a very muddy section of the SHT to a much more sustainable route. Spruce Creek abutments, July 8-12: Volunteers will place and fill the geocell structure that will support the new Spruce Creek bridge.

Meanwhile, the Superior Hiking Trail turns 36 years old this year. Celebrate this milestone by hiking 36 miles anywhere along the SHT this season to complete the 2022 Superior Hiking Challenge. The challenge begins today in honor of National Trails Day, and will run through Oct. 31.

Register for the 2022 Superior Hiking Challenge and you will receive a Challenge Toolkit and a list of some suggested hikes for visiting beaver ponds along the trail. Once participants complete their hike and fill out a completion form online, they will receive an official certificate of completion and a sticker of Superior Hiking Trail Association mascot, Birchy the Beaver.

Volunteer need not be association members, but everyone is welcome to join. To join the association, volunteer or to find out more, go to superiorhiking.org.

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Rochester hiker carrying canoe memorial down Superior Trail for suicide awareness, remembrance

Anne Halliwell — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 18:00:00 GMT

Editor's note: Rochester’s Evan Hansen has no connection to the movie musical “ Dear Evan Hansen,” which arrives in theaters Friday, Sept. 24, and deals with themes of anxiety, depression and suicide. In fact, this Hansen didn't know about the movie until August. This story's subheadlines are references to song titles in the musical.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — If you see Evan Hansen hiking down the Superior Trail in September, ask him about the names on his canoe. That is, after you're done asking why he's carrying a canoe down a 310-mile dirt trail without taking it out on the water.

Hansen, 26, of Rochester, will carry a canoe memorial to people who died by suicide down the Superior Hiking Trail, which begins at the Canadian border and ends at the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.

He calls the trip “Portage for a Purpose.”

Technically, it’s not a proper “portage,” or transport of a boat from one body of water to another. But Hansen sees the journey, beginning Sept. 1, as a way to raise awareness ( and hopefully funds) for NAMI Southeast Minnesota.

In August, Hansen put out a virtual call for signatures and names of people who died by suicide, which will cover the inside and outside of his vessel. He'll keep adding names throughout the portage.

“It’s a double-edged sword — I’d like it to be riddled with names, because that shows a lot of support,” he said. “But it also shows a lot of deaths.”

Words fail

Hansen first considered testing himself with a long portage a few years ago, out of a desire to test how long he could carry a light canoe. Three hundred miles, or roughly the length of the Superior Hiking Trail? It would be a stretch, but it seemed possible.

He didn’t have a reason to make the trek, aside from curiosity. And he had other things on his mind — between August 2019 and August 2020, four people in Hansen’s social circle died by suicide.

“I think a lot of people have been on the edge of a mental abyss” without considering the aftereffects, Hansen said, like the grief and anger inflicted on their loved ones. In his own darkest moments, he certainly hadn’t.

“I’m not shocked by much, but it was very shocking, very surprising, and very heavy-hearted to see the people around me so deeply saddened,” he said. “It shouldn’t have taken me that long to take it seriously.”

One death hit especially close to home, in December. Hansen recalled a phrase from Luke 9:23: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Sure, it was out of context. But Hansen thought he could take action. “I didn’t want to add another ‘Sorry for your loss’ onto the pile,” he said.

He reached out to the Superior Hiking Trail for permission to carry a canoe along it, then contacted Sean Kinsella, the executive director of NAMI Southeast Minnesota, about turning the portage into a memorial/fundraiser. He pitched the idea of collecting donations for NAMI before and during the trip.

Requiem

Hansen wants to be clear: The portage isn’t a metaphor. He’s “not carrying the burden of grief or suicide.”

He sees the canoe as more of a “walking memorial.” It’s a common thing to see on trails — hiking families might carry a lost member’s boots with them. Suicide is a different beast — one that makes some people defensive or uncomfortable.

“I want them to know — people who contemplate suicide, they’re not alone, and families … going through grief are not alone,” he said.

Hansen has posted about the people he mourned on the “Portage for a Purpose” Facebook page, but has kept details vague to respect families’ anonymity. He refers to them as “The Coworker,” “The Brother,” “The Angel” and “The Hiker.”

At least those four names will grace the inside of his canoe.

Vincent Pizzo, Hansen’s former North Central College floormate, received a photo of his brother’s name earlier this summer.

Pizzo’s sibling died in 2019 — he is “The Brother” Hansen will represent on the hiking trip. In return, Pizzo has done his best to share posts and get word out about "the mission."

“I’m honestly so grateful and honored that he would be willing to do that for me and my family,” he said.

Waving through a window

Nearly four times as many U.S. adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depression to the U.S. Census Bureau at the end of 2020 — 42%, compared to only 11% in 2019. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s most recent snapshot of Minnesota’s mental health showed about 21% of respondents had anxiety, nearly 15% reported depression, and about 24% showed signs of both.

Rochester’s mental health service providers, including NAMI, Family Service Rochester and Zumbro Valley Health Center, said they have seen increased demand in 2020 and 2021, causing waiting lists for therapy and other services.

Kinsella, the executive director of NAMI Southeast Minnesota, said there are two issues at play: increased need, and a constant shortage of mental health professionals.

Not every disorder experiences a long wait, he said, but some would-be clients could wait up to a year for one-on-one therapy — especially youths in the 10-to-18 age range.

“The pandemic has done a number,” Kinsella said. “People who already had pre-existing dispositions toward anxiety and depression, we saw an uptick. We also saw that alcohol sales went up by 55%. So if you’re looking at a family dynamic … that presence of alcohol is enough to help individuals in the family begin to spiral out of control.”

The CDC reported increased anxiety, depression and suicidality between April and June of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.

Ashleigh Dowis, the director of Clinical Services for Family Service Rochester, has seen even more people seeking services in the spring and summer of 2021 as COVID cases rose again. FSR has seen increased interest in treatment for depression, anxiety, and family work, including couples counseling.

The reversal from attempts to go “back to normal” caused increased stress across the board.

“We took a deep breath, and then it all came back — or it seems so,” Dowis said.

Reduced stigma around mental illness also allowed more people to readily seek treatment.

“People have heard a lot about mental health needs in the pandemic,” she said. “It’s opened up inroads for people who, in the past, wouldn’t have seen (treatment) as an avenue.”

Only us

Heather Geerts, Zumbro Valley Health Center’s director of clinical services, said beginning in April of 2021, her organization went from around seven calls about therapy a day to 21. Zumbro Valley Health has begun to catch up by leading groups focused around anxiety and depression management, until those patients can get in for individual therapy.

“A lot of it comes down to staffing,” she said. “The challenge we experience is that we’re a nonprofit … we are not able to necessarily compete, wage-wise, with other for-profit entities.”

Dowis added that increasing accessibility via school-based mental health systems and other “nontraditional access points” could help shorten waiting lists.

But it won’t help local organizations find more master's-level, licensed clinicians.

Cassandra Linkenmeyer, the Minnesota area director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, applauded virtual mental health care.

“I think it’s one of the best things to come out of the pandemic, but there is still a lot of work to be done,” she said. “Virtual care helps ease access to care, but the demand is high, and unfortunately, many rural areas still lack capable broadband and internet in order to access this care."

"But it’s improving," she added, "and overall, this is a step in the right direction.”

Kinsella isn’t sure — the “step back” to telehealth therapy during the height of infections in 2020 removed a necessary personal touch, he said.

“Here at NAMI, the people who gravitate toward our services really need that human-to-human connection,” he said.

You will be found

NAMI SE MN will receive any funds raised by Hansen’s portage.

Kinsella hopes even more that the journey will raise awareness.

“As we know, very well, the devastation that’s left behind for family members lasts years and years,” he said. “There’s a lot of blame, a lot of guilt, a lot of frustration that they couldn’t get the help that they needed for their family members. … It takes years to recover, and it also impacts their friends.”

Community members can donate to Portage for a Purpose through NAMI’s website or a 4Giving webpage. Others can mimic Hansen’s trek in a small way, by signing up for NAMI WALKS, the national organization’s annual fundraiser.

Does anybody have a map?

The Superior Trail is “pretty navigable,” but not flat, by any stretch of the imagination. Hansen will travel south, about 10 miles a day (walk an hour, rest for 15 minutes). Given the weight of his gear and canoe, the portage will take the entire month of September.

His vessel, an Adirondack-style canoe, weighs around 16 pounds, and is small and light enough to move around trees relatively easily. Hansen said he can carry the canoe and gear for 90 minutes comfortably. He’s used Rochester’s hills to practice carrying the gear uphill and downhill.

If worst comes to worst, there are plenty of trailheads Hansen could use to exit early.

“Failure is an option, but quitting isn’t,” he said.

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Wisconsin trail runner sets Superior Hiking Trail speed record

Christa Lawler / Forum News Service — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 15:49:25 GMT

CARLTON COUNTY, Minn. — Austin Nastrom, according to his friends, hit the southern terminus of the Superior Hiking Trail with a big grin at about mid-afternoon Tuesday. The 24-year-old, who lives in La Crosse, Wis., and works for a company that coaches injured runners back to health, had spent the past 6 days, 8 hours and 30 minutes cruising the 310-mile route from the Canadian border to this deeply wooded spot off a single-lane muddy gravel road at the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

It is the fastest known time for a supported athlete — which means he traveled with a crew of family, friends and a coworker who addressed his needs every 7-10 miles, he said. Some nights they camped; some nights they stayed in a hotel.

"Sore, very sore," he said, when asked how he felt. His ankles were toast, he said, his left knee was swollen and his toes were in tough shape. The bottoms of his feet were fine, though.

Nastrom is an ultramarathon runner whose most recent race was the Ouray 100 Mile Endurance Run in Colorado (he finished eighth) this past July. He had been plotting to attempt the Superior Hiking Trail for about a year, he said.

"To see if I could," he said. "I've done a few hundred-milers in the past. I wanted to triple the distance and push it to the limit."

Individual trail challenges are gaining in popularity, Nastrom said, noting the recent attempts at the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail. In 2015, Scott Jurek, who grew up in Proctor, set the supported thru-hike record on the trail by completing it in 46 days, 8 hours, 7 minutes.

Nastrom started running on Wednesday, Aug. 28, hitting 60 miles on consecutive days. The past few, starting at sunup and continuing until sundown, were 40-milers. On Tuesday he closed with 20. He was familiar with parts of the trail from the Superior 100 course, and he also knows the Duluth segments. His favorite part, he said, is Ely's Peak.

"That's a tough spot to be," Nastrom said.

He said he tried to eat a lot along the way, including pizza from Sven & Ole's and fast food tacos. On Monday afternoon he was spotted at the trailhead near Highland Street lying on a blanket and eating food from McDonald's. It was dietitian-approved. His friend and co-worker Rachel Turi, who was part of his crew, said he needed the sodium and the calories.

The trail ends in a remote spot near Mountain Goat Road, a seasonal gravel road that isn't maintained. The final Superior Hiking Trail parking spot is 1.9 miles from the end. Nastrom's crew parked in the lot but went out on the path to greet him. Also part of the group: Ajay Pickett, who currently holds the record for completing the route without support. He finished it in 7 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes in September 2018, bettering Mike Ward's record of 8 days, 7 hours and 59 minutes. He did part of it on a broken leg.

Pickett said Nastrom crushed the supported record. Cam Schaefer of Apple Valley, Minn., set it in mid-July, completing the route in 6 days, 18 hours, 45 minutes, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

"It's truly impressive," Pickett said.

Nastrom said he spent much of his time in the woods thinking "keep going, just keep going."

"I underestimated it a lot. This trail has a way of breaking you down," said Nastrom, who was headed back home immediately following his finish. He was scheduled to work on Wednesday.

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How a journey on the Superior Hiking Trail helps children's cancer research, 25.5 miles at a time

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 04:55:54 GMT

LUTSEN, Minn. — It was a long day, and it had its ups and downs.

"We started at 4:30 in the morning," Jodi Wegge recalled. "And we got off the trail — I want to say we got off the trail at 4:30 in the afternoon."

Wegge, 54, of Aitkin, was talking about a 25.5-mile journey last August on the Superior Hiking Trail. The hike out of Lutsen features some of the trail's most ambitious climbs.

"You've got Lutsen Mountain and Oberg Mountain and Carlton Peak," Wegge noted.

Wegge and 47 others weren't just out for a walk in the woods. They were hiking on behalf of a group of people who, Wegge says, are on a much more difficult journey.

"It was absolutely amazing," Wegge said. "And then to get done and know that it wasn't even half the battle that Megan had done, or the other kids."

Wegge was referring to her daughter Megan Wegge, now 20, and all of those afflicted with cancer as children.

In April 2011, when Megan was 11 and the Wegge family lived in Moose Lake, doctors removed a softball-sized mass from Megan, along with half of her liver. She was diagnosed with a highly malignant form of liver cancer. She faced a grim prognosis.

Her difficult journey included Indiana University, where she was treated at a Proton Therapy Center, one of only nine such in the country at that time. It made it possible to target radiation to where it was needed so that the doses could be stronger than otherwise would be possible.

Grateful for medical progress that increased the hopes that Megan would win her fight, Jodi became an enthusiastic supporter for an organization called CureSearch, which specifically raises money to support pediatric cancer research.

"What we're really looking to do is to move things along quickly, and to focus on drug development," said Brecka Putnam, a senior campaign manager for the nonprofit. So in the last four years, there have been only four (cancer) drugs developed specifically for children. "If you think about when you or I have a cold or the flu, we would never give what we take to one of our children. We would give them something formulated and designed with kids in mind. Unfortunately, we don't always have those options with cancer treatments."

Every day, 43 kids are diagnosed with cancer, Putnam said. One out of eight of them doesn't survive. But two out of three of those who do survive suffer "devastating, lifelong side effects."

CureSearch is funding for research in hopes of finding more effective and age-appropriate treatments for childhood cancer, and one of the ways it raises money is through its Ultimate Hikes.

Putnam was hired nine years ago to manage "walks around lakes," she said, and two weeks after she was started was asked to arrange long, single-day hikes as fundraisers.

She loved the idea.

The first two hikes, that year, were in South Carolina and Lutsen. There now are seven across the country. The hikes range from 20 to 30 miles, Putnam said, with the length determined by "what Mother Nature dictates."

Shorter hike distances can be arranged, Putnam said, but each hiker is responsible for raising $2,500. Just a couple weeks ago, she said, the Ultimate Hikes broke through the $6 million mark in money raised for children's cancer research.

Jodi Wegge had wanted to participate before, but hadn't been able to find a training partner. In January 2018, she decided she was going to go for it regardless. She was joined by two other women, however, in Megan's 2Crew — the "2" for the number on Megan's hockey jersey.

They had trained determinedly, Wegge said, and felt confident going into the hike. She even hiked a little farther so that her hike would be the same length as a marathon.

But it was an emotional experience, she said.

"When you go to hike, they ask if you're hiking in honor of anybody and if you are, then you send photos of that person," Wegge said. "And so as you turn the last corner and you're coming down the home stretch, they have all these great big posters in the ground with, 'In loving memory of,' or 'In honor of.' So it's pretty touching."

All of Jodi Wegge's family were there to cheer her on, including Megan, one of a set of triplets. Now a pre-med student at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., Megan is an eight-year cancer survivor in good health. But she hasn't escaped the residual effects.

"My body is still healing," Megan said matter-of-factly in a phone interview from Fargo where she works as a research assistant at a hyperbaric clinic while taking summer classes at Concordia. "There are days when I have some pain. ... The muscles in my back and abdomen are very off-balance because of all the surgeries and radiation."

Megan Wegge's story has been chronicled a few times over the years in the News Tribune and in the Pine Journal, most recently in a Jan. 28, 2016, story about her exploits on the Moose Lake Area girls hockey team.

But she had to give up hockey during her senior year in high school, Megan said, because the pain had become too intense. But she's philosophical about that. She loves to hike with her mom and she works out regularly, she noted.

And she's far from inactive. She qualified as an EMT when she was 18 and as a certified nurse assistant before that. She was taking college classes during her junior and senior years of high school. Her career goal is to be a trauma surgeon or involved in trauma medicine.

"Trauma for me is really exhilarating," Megan said.

She's being treated at the hyperbaric clinic where she works. Four sessions in, her radiation scar is becoming less vivid and less sensitive to the touch, she said.

She knows that without groundbreaking treatment that came out of previous research, she probably wouldn't have lived.

"All the other treatment options weren't working," Megan said. "The doctors said the chance of surviving was really slim."

She had confidence last year in her mom's ability to complete the Ultimate Hike, she added.

"Knowing my mom, I knew she was going to accomplish it, and I knew it was such a good goal," Megan said. "She had so much motivation."

Jodi Wegge won't be hiking this year. Instead, she and one of her teammates are serving as coaches for a newly formed Twin Ports training group. Although hikers are welcome to train on their own, the coaches lead training hikes and offer tips on completing the hike and on fundraising.

So far, seven people are part of the Twin Ports group, but Wegge believes there could be more.

"I think that Duluth is the city," she said. "If we're going to get a bunch of people to go hiking and do amazing things for CureSearch, Duluth is the city. You've got all the Minnesota Nice people. You've got an excellent organization that is working hand-in-hand with you to succeed. And then you've got the most beautiful country ever, and the most beautiful hiking trail."

Get involved

Learn more or sign up for the Superior Hiking Trail Ultimate Hike at curesearchevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=1791&pg=entry.

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Run through the hills: Bemidji man to take part in Superior 100 endurance race

Jillian Gandsey — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 21:54:31 GMT

LUTSEN, Minn.-By nightfall on Saturday, Keith Gora will have run 100 miles in less than 38 hours.

At least, that's the goal. Gora has entered in the Superior Trail 100, a race that will have him running on the Superior Hiking Trail through the Sawtooth Mountains from Gooseberry Falls State Park to Lutsen, Minn. The race's website describes it as a "run on rugged, rooty, rocky, 95 percent single-track trail with near constant climbs and descents."

The race kicks off at 8 a.m. Friday. Participants will run through the night and into Saturday with the cutoff time being 10 p.m. Saturday, after 38 hours.

"My secret goal is to be done probably by Saturday about dark so that'd be about 35 hours, 36 hours," Gora said. "There's no sleep, no rest. There are aid stations about every 5 to 10 miles where we'll get food and water."

Gora, a psychology professor at BSU, has a friend from graduate school who will be at every aid station to help him with food, a change of clothes or any other adjustments.

This will be his second attempt at the 100-mile race. Gora gave it a try last year but had to withdraw at mile 63 after a stress fracture in his leg.

The 44-year-old has ran about 25 marathons, a handful of 50K races and a couple 50-mile runs. And this weekend's will be his fifth race on the Superior Hiking Trail.

"The running community in Minnesota is just amazing, the trail running community," Gora said. "There are so many trail races. I'm originally from a Chicago suburb and we don't have this kind of trail running in Chicago."

Gora trains at Movil Maze Recreation Area, north of Bemidji, where he would run about 50 miles per week. At the end of his training for this race, he was running up to 80 miles a week.

"For that very last week I did two 31-mile runs just about a day apart as part of the training," he said. "The whole key to training for something this long is to learn to run tired."

He said that way the body gets used to running through fatigue.

Running a 50- or 100-mile race differs from running a 26.2 mile marathon, Gora also added.

"At a 100-mile race you go through these cycles of highs and lows that will last for hours," he said. "So if you're tired in a marathon, you just hang on and get done. In a 100-miler you just hang on until you start feeling better, and then you ride that one out, and then you come back down, so it's going to be an experience."

To finish the race in 38 hours, a runner has to keep a pace of a 22-minute mile. Gora hopes to run between 18 and 20 minute miles. He said everyone usually starts out the race faster and once they get about 50 to 70 miles in, the slowdown hits.

There are about 275 racers registered for the Superior Trail 100. The event also offers a 50-mile race and a marathon distance. Gora said he entered the 100-mile race for the challenge.

His first race on the Superior Hiking Trail was a 26.2 mile marathon distance.

"It went by so fast just because the scenery was just amazing," he said. "It's just a wonderful place to run."

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200 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail: As SHT network grows, so does popularity

Jimmy Lovrien — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 10:05:00 GMT

DULUTH - After our first full day of backpacking along the Superior Hiking Trail, we hunkered down at a campsite along the Beaver River for the night.

With just over 20 miles hiked that day, my hiking partner Adam Wallenta and I were on pace to finish our 200-mile hike within the allotted 10 1/2 days.

We started our trip after work on a Friday afternoon at the West Castle Danger Road and headed north along the SHT to the Canadian border, where Wallenta's mother met us with her car nearly 11 days later. If we fell behind and missed a goal campsite one night, we risked not reaching the border by Monday. An extra day on trail wasn't an option - I had to be at work at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Camped along the Beaver River, the rapids provided a calming white noise and made for easy sleeping, even on the rocky and rooty ground. We needed all the sleep we could get before our 5:30 a.m. alarm if we wanted to stay on pace.

But at 2 or 3 a.m., the sound of moving water was overwhelmed by the Northshore Mining train's horn on the other side of a narrow band of trees, and we jolted awake.

That's the SHT - one mile you're in the middle of nowhere and then the next you're passing through logging areas, roads, railroads, resorts or towns. The entire SHT spans over 310 miles from the Minnesota-Wisconsin border outside Jay Cooke State Park to the Canadian border, usually within a few miles of Lake Superior.

Even with a rude awakening, our spirits were still high, our stride still strong and our feet still relatively blister free, but that all changed in the next few days.

While we originally planned to hike the entire SHT, the amount of time we could get off work only warranted a 10-day trip, not the 16 days we had hoped for. By day three, that no longer bothered us; we agreed 10 days and 200 miles was plenty.

All that preparation we put in during the months leading up to the trip needed to count for something.

"We're doing it," one of us would remind the other several times per day as we shuffled down the single-track trail or stopped to lean over our trekking poles for rest.

Our trip, planned specifically for late spring, was intended to beat the heat, mosquitoes and crowds. We managed to avoid the first two, but were surprised, and delighted, to see so many other backpackers.

The apparent spike in popularity caught others off-guard, too, as we kept hearing the same thing from fellow hikers and campers: The trail was busy earlier this year than ever before.

At the Dyer's Creek campsite outside of Temperance River State Park, we shared a site with a high school group from the Twin Cities with five tents. A couple with a hammock strung between two trees was staying there, too. Thankfully, it's SHT rules to make room for fellow campers as there are no reservations.

The school group's teacher said the group, now on their third annual backpacking trip, never had to share a campsite with anyone in May. The trail was getting busier, she said.

A couple from New Ulm, Minn., we passed on the trail attributed the increase in popularity to the trail's favorable conditions. (Recent rains have likely changed that.)

"We've never seen the trail this dry," said the woman.

Jaron Cramer, development and communications director for the Superior Hiking Trail Association, said they're hearing anecdotal evidence to suggest more trail users, too.

Since camping in SHT sites is free and permits are not required, it's difficult to find solid numbers to back that up.

According to Cramer, however, the association is seeing their Facebook group - where hikers can interact with each other, share tips and ask questions - steadily grow.

In the first five months of 2018, the group grew by 1,300 members - up 12 percent. The group now has 14,444 members, Cramer said, and the association's website is busy, too.

"To me, these points definitely support the growth in popularity, though it doesn't concretely correlate with increased trail usage. I wish we had some kind of system to count trail users at trailheads, but that's a project yet to be deployed," Cramer said.

With an increase in trail traffic comes more wear and tear, and the association is now turning its attention to larger maintenance projects on existing segments; it's over 30 years old in places.

Wallenta and I noticed the trail was showing its age. In some places, we sunk in deep mud or balanced our way across a simple plank bridge that would tip like a teeter-totter.

But that just added another element of adventure to our trip. It's a hiking trail - not a sidewalk - I'd remind myself when mud reached the top of my shoe and oozed its way in.

Somehow, we reached our goal campsite each night - 17 to 23 miles apart from each other - and we made it to the trail's northern terminus: the 270 Degree Overlook of Lake Superior and the Minnesota-Ontario border forests. The spot was marked with a simple wooden sign reading "End of the Superior Hiking Trail." Selfies were in order before the short jaunt to the car where dry clothes, air conditioning, baby wipes and non-dehydrated food awaited.

"We did it," Wallenta said.

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Fundraising for Split Rock River bridge underway

Jamey Malcomb — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 23:36:36 GMT

TWO HARBORS, Minn. - For the first time in its history, the Superior Hiking Trail is starting a capital campaign to raise money to install a bridge over the Split Rock River in Lake County.

The trailhead by the Split Rock River is one of the most heavily used sections of the trail, according to Superior Hiking Trail Association executive director Denny Caneff.

"Anybody cruising along can stop and walk along the Split Rock River," Caneff said. "You can walk up the gorge, but to get across the river and get to the other side of the gorge, you need a bridge. If you are daring and the water is low, you could get across there but it is so heavily used, we'd like a safer crossing."

The capital campaign the SHTA is starting has a goal of raising $75,000 with the intent of installing the bridge over Split Rock River and is already working with Pennsylvania-based Creative Pultrusions to create a "kit bridge" made of fiberglass. The association recently installed a similar bridge over the Red River near the southern terminus of the trail on the Wisconsin border, just south of Jay Cooke State Park.

"We really like this fiberglass bridge kit idea that we tried out for the first time on the Red River," Caneff said. "It's up, it's solid and the guys that were familiar with construction that were with us were really impressed with how it went together."

The Red River is smaller and has little in common with the Split Rock River crossing, but the kit comes pre-drilled and in pieces that are made to fit SHTA specifications. The bridge over the Split Rock River will be longer and slightly wider than the completed bridge, but it should create a much more reliable crossing and since it is made of fiberglass, it should be more durable than a wood bridge.

There have been bridges over the Split Rock River in the past, but some have washed out and the most recent bridge "wasn't well built," according to Caneff. The SHTA is trying to learn some lessons from the past bridges and has moved the crossing downstream a bit to a spot less likely be damaged by rushing water.

Caneff is hoping to have the footings, or piers, installed at the bridge site before deer season ends, which is typically the end of the heavy hiking season. In the spring, a group of six or seven people will oversee the installation of the kit bridge and the work will be done by a group of 30-40 volunteers.

The SHTA has already received a boost on its capital campaign with a commitment of $10,000 from Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis. In addition, the association is partnering with Castle Danger Brewery to raise money for the first time. The brewery will contribute 5 percent of the sales of its "Maple Marzen" Oktoberfest-style ale to the Split Rock River bridge project.

Castle Danger's "Team Danger" volunteer group has already done some work with the SHTA to maintain the trail, but with a capital campaign and a specific project the time seemed right to partner to raise money for the SHT. The brewery sees the trail as an integral part of life on the North Shore and the Maple Marzen, brewed with maple syrup collected in the area, seemed to fit with that idea.

"We believe that having a concrete project that people within the area are familiar with will definitely help drive people to purchase that beer instead of one of our other year round beers and really supporting the SHT in that capacity," Castle Danger marketing and events coordinator Maddy Stewart said. "I think it will be a driving force for some people knowing that the Castle Danger donation they are contributing to will go to a specific project."

Maple Marzen will be available for purchase at the Castle Danger taproom in both pints and growlers and in kegs distributed throughout Minnesota.

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Superior Hiking Trail Association hires new leader

Forum News Service — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 10:05:00 GMT

DULUTH - The Superior Hiking Trail Association has hired a new executive director to lead its work on maintaining, improving and supporting the iconic hiking route along the North Shore.

Denny Caneff, who most recently spent 13 years as executive director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin, was hired after a four-month search to replace Gayle Coyer, who stepped down earlier this year after 16 years leading the SHTA.

Caneff was selected from more than 70 applicants for the position.

"We are fortunate to have found a leader with Denny's depth of experience and dynamic personality," Tim Kuehn, vice president of the SHTA board of directors, said in a news release. "With this summer's completion of the trail, the association's focus and needs are broadening. We not only chose Denny for his passion for the outdoors, but his big-picture thinking and strategic skills and his ability to build relationships with stakeholders. These skills will be key in setting the future direction of the trail for years to come."

"I'm really excited to bring my nonprofit management experience and passion for the outdoors and conservation to the Superior Hiking Trail Association," Caneff said in a news release. "The North Shore has always drawn me in, and what better way to answer that call than this work to keep the Superior Hiking Trail a regional and national gem."

Caneff is a Minnesota native who grew up in Hastings, graduated from St. Cloud State University and received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He's a father of four, an avid hiker and kayaker who has canoed the entire length of the Mississippi River, and has spent time in more than 20 foreign countries - including serving in the Peace Corps in western Africa.

The Superior Hiking Trail extends more than 300 miles from Jay Cooke State Park almost all the way to the Canadian border.

Fundraising is something that all nonprofits must do, but Caneff told Forum News Service that the Superior Hiking Trail offers a unique opportunity.

"The appeal of the trail association is that it's a very tangible thing - you can walk on it, you can get dirty on it, you can go from end to end or just from A to B for three or four miles," he said. "To have something tangible like that gives a lot of fundraising opportunities that I haven't had before, and I like that. ...

"Now it's built, so I think the challenge for us now as a board and staff will be keeping people engaged in the business of the trail," Caneff said. "... It will be a lot about how to package the trail differently, how to promote it differently - and I think that looks fun and challenging."

Caneff will start his new job on June 1, but he'll attend Hike Fest 2017 on May 19-21 at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland. Find more information at shta.org.

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