We just finished up our first backpacking experience! We went with Kevin, Nick (Kevin’s cousin), and Tony, a friend of their’s. We started at Temperance River State Park and finished up past Lutsen at the end of Caribou Trail. Our total hike was 26.4 miles!!! We did this over 4 days starting at around 2pm on Thursday last week. We hiked into the parking lot where our car was at 11:30 on Sunday!

Day 1:
Nathan and I were out the door at 5am for the 4 hour drive to Temperance and the boys that had spent the previous night there. Along the way I was worried I might be coming down with a cold so once in Duluth we searched out a Walmart and picked up some cold meds. We then stopped for our last meal, some Burger King breakfast sandwiches. Onward ho to Temperance River! We arrived around 10am and the boys were still sleeping away in their tents!!! Apparently they’d had a little too much to drink the night before and Kevin ended up yakking away on everything in his and Nick’s tent, oops… While we waited for them to get up and ready Nathan and I hiked around and got some good pics! We all made up some lunch then Kevin, Tony, and I went and dropped off the cars at the end of our planned hike. Once we arrived back we set out, it was around 2pm.

We hiked around 6 miles that day and ended at Springdale Creek campsite. The sun was setting and we hurried to get everything set up before it was totally dark. Nathan and I had our excellent dinner of beans and rice in a tortilla with Taco Bell Sauce, num! We sat around the fire for a few hours and headed to bed. At first I was warm but throughout the night I got colder and colder, it was freezing out!!! I was so thankful when morning came and I could get up and moving and warm…

Day 2:
We got a late start again this day but it was ok. Left camp around 12:30. Headed out to hike Oberg Mountain! Along the way we passed an outhouse which I was super happy to be able to use!!! When we got to the path for Oberg we dropped our packs and headed up, it was a nice little hike with some amazing views. It was also way easier being pack free. After Oberg we headed out for the 1.6 mile hike to our campsite. We arrived and it was full! 3 hillbilly type guys that kind of gave me the creeps, they offered to share their site but I wasn’t comfortable with it. We crossed the creek to the other site and a tent was set up but no people. Plenty of space though so we set up camp and started a fire and dinner. Darkness came and a couple eventually showed up, we had passed them a couple times on Oberg Mountain and they had stayed up there for sunset and then hiked back in the dark, kind of sweet. They were super nice and glad to share their site with us.

That night Kevin encouraged me to take a nalgene bottle of boiling water to bed with me, I’m so glad I did!!! It kept me warm and toasty all night long!

Day 3:
It was freezing when we woke up on day 3! We looked outside our tent and there was SNOW!!! A good couple of inches covered everything! Nathan set to building a fire right away so we could all stay warm while making breakfast and getting ready for the day. We eventually set out. The wind was horrible and the air was pretty cold. We all bundled up pretty tightly. We eventually made it to Lutsen and began the climb up Mystery Mountain, we had to climb and get to the other side for our next night’s campsite. We got to our next campsite a good hour and a half before sunset which was super nice to be able to set up in full light. It was windy and cold and next to the river. Firewood was scarce and it took us a while to get a big enough fire going. Nathan and I decided to hit the sack early that night. It was freezing cold out and we were wiped. The boys stayed up pretty late though.

Day 4:
We were all up and getting ready early. We were ready to head home to running water and heat!!!
While getting packed up to go Nathan lost a tooth!!! He was trying to untie a knot he had tied the night before and his fingers were to numb to work the rope so he used his teeth, yup, one of his front bottom teeth ripped out. (But don’t worry, he has a 2pm dentist appt. today so hopefully it’ll all be fixed within a day or 2!!!) We set out and ended up leaving the other guys behind. We said our goodbye’s on the trail. Tony, packed a way too heavy pack for the weekend and he had been continuously trailing behind throughout the extended weekend. We finally decided to ditch the rest of the boys and just book it. So we did. Started our 4 mile hike out at 9:40 and got to the car at 11:30. Once in the car we realized how wonderful it was to have a seat with a back to it (and seat warmers!)!!!

We headed off to Culver’s where we gorged on fast food and a hot fudge sundae!

We arrived home around 5:30 and worked on unpacking, laundry, and homework.

Overall we had an amazing experience and look forward to another trip. The fall colors and scenery were absolutely gorgeous! We enjoyed the time we had with each other and our friends and we very much look forward to trying out a backpacking trip with just the two of us!!!