My friend and I went up to explore the Superior Hiking Trail that runs along the North shore of Lake Superior - from Duluth to Grand Marais. We have been doing the almost annual hikes for years now. This time, we brought her miniature golden doodle along with us. We found a great lodging place, Island View Resort, with little cabins. From there, we drove north to the Split Rock loop of the trail. The weather was beautiful- sunny and about 80 but very humid. We trekked through mud, rocks, roots, grass, boggy areas, and up about 1,000 stairs. Sometimes we even got to walk down hill. We met great people along the trail and the scenery was fantastic. I never saw one piece of trash! Almost the whole way up to the top of the trail loop, we followed the Split Rock River. There were beautiful falls, twists and turns in the river, and there were lots of places to climb out onto the flat rocks and splash some refreshing water on ourselves. The 5 mile hike took us a little over 3 hours, so we decided that the vertical portions of the hike must not have been accounted for in the 5 mile measurement. We ended at one of the great rock beaches of Superior, and I wore my shoes right into the lake. I got to mid thigh and stood for about 30 seconds enjoying the cool wash of the clean water before I got that "this water is so cold that I'm getting a headache" feeling. We spent some time wading in and out of the shallows, and the dog got a much needed bath! I would highly recommend any portion of the trail. Just make sure to pay attention to the difficulty level of the trail and know that 5 miles of trail is extremely different than 5 miles of level or even hilly walking. I hope that you begin exploring this amazing trail!
