Start: Reeves Falls Campsite
End: Silver Bay parking area
Day 4-6 Mileage: 48.6 miles
Total Mileage: 94.7 miles
On Day 4, we awoke feeling sticky and gross. One of the worst feelings I’ve experienced is putting on my damp, smelly adventure shirt in the morning. After a few days, it begins to smell like a McDonald’s trash can. I carry a t-shirt that I sleep in so I can theoretically sleep a little better. Domonick avoids this weight as well as the feeling of putting on a disgusting shirt in the morning by simply wearing his adventure shirt 24 hours a day. The weather has been muggy. When this happens, my legs stick together when I’m sleeping and when I make adjustments in the night, separating my legs to turn over, there is a band-aid ripping action between the legs, waking me out of my half-sleep state and reminding me of my nastiness.
The most interesting part of the day was arriving at the Gooseberry River where we set up camp at the Middle Gooseberry campsite. The river was big enough to put our bodies in, scrubbing them as clean as we could without soap, thereby limiting the sticky leg band-aid action for one night.
The following morning we entered the main part of Gooseberry Falls State Park. The falls were beautiful and the tourists seemed to still be sleeping as we had the falls all to ourselves. We walked a little out of our way to hit up the Visitor Center which had a vending machine, flush toilets, and trash cans. We ate Cheetos and Fanta Orange pop (Fanta was one of our favorite treats on the Camino del Norte).
After Gooseberry, the trail takes a detour on the Gitchi-Gami state trail which is a paved bike path on Superior. I’d like to come back one day with bikes and explore this trail more. After a climb up Blueberry Hill, the trail became much more scenic, with vistas of Lake Superior and the surrounding Sawtooth Mountains.
We saw the Split Rock lighthouse in the distance and took the non-detour route on the Split Rock River, knowing the bridge was out. Water levels have been so low, we didn’t think we’d have a problem getting through, and we didn’t. We eventually made our way to the Beaver Pond campsite where we spent the night. We saw an impressive beaver-chewed tree, but no beavers.
The morning was cloudy and muggy, but provided great views of the Beaver River, an impressive river surrounded by tall canyon walls at times. This was followed by a lot of sweaty climbing, including up to Blueberry Ridge and then finally to the parking lot on Penn Avenue where Domonick’s car was parked. That was the last part of our hike together, and we drove to pick up my car, stopping for greasy fast food on the way and then splurging on a hotel in Two Harbors. We did laundry and enjoyed town food.