Today’s hike was the longest one (for the four of us) – more than 18 miles (29 km) from Parkway Forest Road to County Road 91. After the wealth of scrubby trail yesterday, we were worried about what today would hold. Fortunately, the vast majority of the trail today was OK. But that doesn’t mean it was easy.
The temperatures neared 90 F (32.2 C), so that was challenging. And while most of the trail was in decent shape, there were several challenging miles. Think hiking bent over to get under sagging branches, and hiking through a lot of trimmed trail that was left on the ground, so easy to trip over. Also, it was a pretty hilly hike.
I have to note that any of my comments about trail conditions are NOT a negative comment, as volunteers maintain these trails, and it’s such a tough, challenging job. And we love and appreciate our volunteers! But it’s difficult to plan a day’s hike when you’re assuming you’ll have moderately OK terrain, and it turns out to be more difficult.
Making My Way to County Road 91
The mosquitoes were so-so today, and the deer flies minimal. Still, it was so warm that between the heat and bugs, it was a challenging day.
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We enjoyed one overlook, and several stretches of beautiful birch forest. Their bark is so white and pretty! Our day ended shortly before 5:30 p.m.
Tonight we’re staying at the AmericInn in Park Rapids, and enjoyed Rocky’s pizza for dinner. But we’re beat. And even hotter weather is in the forecast.
Snowshoe
MN NCT miles today: 18.3 (29.5 km)
MN NCT miles to date: 693.9 (1,116.7 km)
Total NCT miles to date: 2,712.4 (4,365.2 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 1,887.6 (3,037.8 km)