SHT: Cascade River State Park to Caribou Trail
Lutsen, MN
We’ll preface this post by saying that if you don’t like dog pictures, you probably won’t enjoy reading this one! We were so excited to bring Crimson out to our favorite place and spend some time with her on the trail. We chose a shorter section for her first trip and planned to hike around 6 miles each day. SHT campsites starting to reopen amidst COVID-19 happen to line up perfectly with our hiking plans, and for the second year in a row we spent this weekend backpacking! This year looked a little different though, with the social distancing, wearing masks in the shuttle, and having to keep away from others at our campsite, but it was still so fun and the perfect weekend to be outdoors to get away from the craziness of Minneapolis.
As we briefly mentioned before, we were able to use the shuttle system again despite the pandemic, although there were some restrictions. Only one family group was allowed in the shuttle, we had to wear masks, we were not allowed to touch anything except the seatbelt inside the shuttle, and there was a big plexiglass barrier between us and the driver. Our driver was friendlier than ever and grateful for our business, and we were happy to be able to do a one-way section hike instead of having to do an out and back or drive two cars all the way up to the north shore! We got up early Saturday morning, left our car at Caribou Trail, took the shuttle up to Cascade River State Park, and then hit the trail!
Day 1: Cascade River State Park to Spruce Creek Campsite
We tested out some new equipment on this trip - our new backpacking tent (weighing in at only 2.5 pounds), our bear canister (thank God no more hanging a bear bag), and our camp chairs. Crimson also got to try out her backpack on a real hike, and carried all of her own food and snacks! We started our hike and almost right away the trail brought us to the Cascade River gorge. We crossed the footbridge and reminisced on a day hike we did here on our one year wedding anniversary! Crimson led the way along the trail which alternated ascents and descents in classic SHT fashion. We hiked through a mixed forest and the trail eventually took us up to Lookout Mountain, an overlook with beautiful views of Lake Superior and a sea of pine trees. We stopped for some pictures and to enjoy the view, and Crimmy walked right out onto the ledge to explore!
We continued hiking and the trail followed a steep cross-country ski trail, and later we came up to another really nice overlook on a rocky outcrop with gorgeous views of inland ridges and the pine forest below. The trail bobbed up and down some more, and soon we made it to our camp for the night - Spruce Creek Campsite. We hiked a total of 6 miles, and all three of us felt great (most of all Crimson, who didn’t appear to be tired at all!)
Spruce Creek Campsite was really nice - it was big enough for lots of tents while still providing some privacy, it was right along the creek which was convenient for filtering water, and we loved the ambience and sounds of the water as we fell asleep. We picked a more private tent pad away from the rest of the campsite, then set up our tent, hammocks, and chairs. Our tent pad was at the bottom of a big rocky wall, and Crimson loved exploring all the little caves and holes. We had some lunch, relaxed for a while in our hammocks, and took a little nap. It was really buggy around the campsite and we wore our head nets the whole time! Thankfully they didn’t really seem to bother Crimmy - especially once we put a Buff around her ears, haha!
We tried to make a fire but were unsuccessful, and eventually we retired to our tent to get warm. We played some cribbage and set up our sleeping areas, then tried to get some sleep. Although our new light-weight tent was small, there was just enough room for the two of us to lie side by side and for Crimmy to curl up at our feet. Things were pretty cozy when we drifted off to sleep, but we all kept waking up from the cold. We foolishly brought our summer sleeping pads, and all three of us froze! Crimson ended up cuddling with us, taking turns in each of our sleeping bags. Not the best night’s sleep, but we learned a thing or two!
Day 2: Spruce Creek Campsite to Caribou Trail
It was much warmer when we woke up Sunday morning. We had some breakfast, packed up camp, then got back on the trail again. We hiked through more mixed forest which was very lush and green in some areas. We crossed a long, tall boardwalk over a beaver pond, then the trail followed the shores of Lake Agnes, which was beautiful! We took the spur toward our parking area, then another spur up to White Sky Rock. This section was really steep, but the views of Caribou Lake from the top were terrific! We relaxed at the top for a while and admired the view of the lake and surrounding forest. Finally we hiked back down to the car, another 6 miles under our belts for the day.
Overall it was a great first hiking trip for Crimmy! We hiked about 6 miles each day, and the elevation profile was pretty mild (except for the spur up to White Sky Rock!). It wasn’t the most scenic section we’ve hiked, but we think that every part of the SHT is beautiful in its own way. We learned what should have been a fairly obvious lesson, only use our summer sleeping pads in the actual summer, but had such a good time on the trail together. Crimson was definitely built for hiking - she did SO great, didn’t show any signs of tiring until the very end of our second day, and seemed just as eager to explore the forest as we were. She also loved all the wildlife and the new smells - on the hike out she kept trying to eat the toads along the trail as we hiked - how she spotted those little things we don’t know! We can’t wait to bring her out again and keep checking miles off of our SHT bucket list.
Thanks for reading our post! Check out the rest of our pictures in our gallery!