Saturday we got going and headed north arriving around 8:30am. We self registered at the park office and we were off. It was raining a bit and the temp was around 65. Once our packs were loaded, we were off down the Big Carp River Trail which starts at the top of M-107 or Lake of the Clouds. It was a foggy for most of the higher terrain but we still managed to snap a few pictures.
Heading down the Escarpment, we took a break to fix Carrie's boot. She had already started forming a blister on her heal and we were only about 2 miles in. We rested, applied some moleskin and we were on our way. It was downhill most of the day with a few exceptions. We made it to the Big Carp River and rested at a campsite to check on Carrie's issues. Now they were on both heals and were quarter size. More moleskin and quick snack and we were off.
At one point we needed to cross the river. I first thought we were going to be doing it barefoot but Carrie was certain we could get accross without getting wet so we treid that. All went pretty well for the most part.
From there we climbed a ridge and walked along the river the rest of the way to Lake Superior. We did stop to reinforce the moleskin with some duct tape as she was still having issues. 9 miles later we arrived at the lake and found a campsite.
The rest of the day consisted of swimming in the lake, napping, eating, and playing cards. Carrie ended up with half dollar size blisters on both heals.
Sunday we got up around 6:00am and packed up camp and were rolling around 7:25am. We seemed to be making good time but according to my guide book, it appeared we were not. At somepoint my knee really started hurting on the downhills to a point that I had to have both trekking poles to manuver down. Up and flat, I was good to go. The same thing has happened in the past when backpacking so this is nothing new. About the time I start to compensate for a crappy knee, the ankle on the other side starts hurting. I wobbled like an old man for most of the day.
We took a few breaks during the day along the way. The last 2 miles or so was uphill so we were trying to prepare for that. Naturally that sucked the entire way up. It was a hard walk for both of us and we made repeated stops along the way. At some point, we could hear motorcylcle on M-107, but they turned out to be really loud as the road still did not come for some time after that. 9 Miles back out on the Lake Superior Trail and our car was still another mile straight up m-107. We attempted to hitchhike the remaining distance only making it to the gatehouse below the hill before dropping our packs, changing our shoes, and walking in flip flops to the car.
Once there, we picked up our packs along the road and then headed for the beach to clean up. It was a nice sandy stretch where we swam for about 10 minutes and then changed at the road and headed home but not before stopping in Land O Lakes at Black Oak for a bite to eat. Home around 8:30pm.
It was a long hike for us old people.
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