16.5 miles today. Total miles so far: 300.
Kris delivered me back to the trail, and what a trail! It was an ideal section--gentle rolling bunny hills through pines and hard woods, firm boardwalks, carefully placed rocks to manage erosion, and a wonderful cool breeze. (It won't last--there's a week of high temps coming...). The trail continued into a preserve also used for cross country skiing, with historical signs and restful benches. Out of the preserve, the trail continued to be great, though not as highly groomed. I'd missed a water source song the way and thought I might have to conserve, but a couple of unmarked seasonal flows let me get more, though the water was really tannic. I took a break at the road crossing between the Rib Lake and Wood Lake sections, keeping a distant hope of someone stopping to offer me a cool diet Pepsi, but my grape flavored electrolytes were good enough.
In the Wood Lake section I spotted one beaver, but it didn't stay on the surface after hearing me nearby. I planned another stop at a gravel road crossing, but a little creek and bridge a bit earlier made for a better break spot, which I somehow neglected to take a picture of.
While walking I'd been thinking about that upcoming heat wave. About how I go north to hike because it's (generally) not too hot. I'd been going through options. The next section is 100 miles. On my current schedule, almost all of that would be on days with highs in the mid-80s. Either five 20 mile days or 6 slightly shorter. Four or maybe five nights. And I was thinking about how little time I've spent in camps. I usually get in with just enough time to clean up and set the alarm for a pre-dawn time so I can do the next day's miles. The 90 miles in 5 days confirmed I can do hard things, but it wasn't particularly enjoyable (and making it 6 days would have introduced other discomforts/dirtiness). I'm not a fast hiker. I take breaks. That means, though, that I'm often hiking more than 12 hours. And I don't want to (and maybe physically can't) do that in the heat.
I also knew, sitting at that creek, that I wasn't going to thru hike this trail. I'll probably never finish it, actually. There are long road walks in the middle of the trail without legal camping options for sometimes 30+ miles. That's not fun, and because I only planned to do the Northwoods part of this trail originally, I've never committed to a specific end point.
Taking a day or two off to avoid the heat won't be enough--it's settling in for several days. So I'm working through a plan that will let me hike a bit more without committing to days of hot, hot hiking, which I do not enjoy even as day hikes with showers and cold drinks at the end of the day.
But back to today. I was supposed to hike 18 miles again today because of how things are spread out. I would rather not hike that far. I can hike that far, but it meant getting into camp just in time to clean up and crash. Again. And since I now knew I wasn't going to "finish" this trail, I didn't have to be beholden to the blazes. So instead of the full trail today, I took a nice shortcut on a gravel road for part of it, cutting just enough distance to make the day better. After the shortcut was an overgrown, tick-infested section, but I got to camp before 5, I think for the first time this whole trail. I've been able to read and write up notes on the trip after cleaning up. I had time to enjoy what I was eating. To listen to the rain on the tent instead of hiking through it. I'm completely happy with my decision to break the continuity of the hike by going off trail and making it more pleasant for myself.
