{"id":7803,"date":"2021-10-29T16:31:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T21:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/?p=7803"},"modified":"2021-11-10T17:39:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T23:39:27","slug":"minnesota-nct-day-28-strup-lake-to-near-western-terminus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/minnesota-nct-day-28-strup-lake-to-near-western-terminus\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota NCT Day 28: Strup Lake to Near Western Terminus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s goal was to camp as near to the western terminus as I could. But \"Viewfirst, a recap of last night<\/a>. Yesterday, I hit two high peaks where I was able to get cell service. I checked the weather forecast and saw there was a 50 percent chance of rain from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. I wasn\u2019t too worried, as that would leave several hours for my tent to dry out.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the sun went down I tucked into bed and had kind of a crazy night. First, I heard an odd noise twice. It\u2019s really hard to describe, but it was from across the lake it sort of sounded like a loud, dull \u201cwhump.\u201d It definitely wasn\u2019t an animal noise. All I could think of was maybe a tree falling? But two sort of close together? Hmm.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (among regular links) to products I own and like, or which I think you might like. This means that, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Heard more airplanes overnight \u2013 so odd way up here! Is this the flight pattern for flights from the Cities to Iceland?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Had a nightmare where I woke up screaming and trying to grab my mace<\/a>. I was dreaming a horse (!) kept circling my tent, then was biting the roof to get at me. How bizarre.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then it rained in the exact time frame predicated. It was a very light sprinkling, but steady for all of those hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strategizing to Get to the Western Terminus<\/h2>\n

Got up this morning at 6:15 a.m. so I had plenty of time to reach the terminus area. Hopefully, anyway. Unfortunately, my rain fly was soaked in spots and had plastered itself against my tent<\/a>. So both were pretty wet. Rats.\"Lake<\/span><\/p>\n

Hit the trail at 8:15 a.m. Wow, it was pretty crazy. Strup Lake must be the dividing line between all of the hills in the east and the easier terrain of the west. Not too long after leaving my campsite, I was clicking off 2.5 mph (4 kph) or faster with little effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the terrain was easy per se. There were still plenty of rocks to trip you up. Just none of those steep uphills and downhills. It was a gray day, and it seemed like I spent most of the time looking down at the leaf-covered trail so I wouldn\u2019t trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Surprise at Noon<\/h2>\n

Shortly after stopping for lunch, the terrain dramatically changed. There must \"Viewhave been a huge storm or tornado through here at one point. Trees were downed everywhere, and I had to step over, climb over or crawl under so many downed trees. It was a pretty unsightly stretch, too, although that can\u2019t be helped.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had to cross at least two huge beaver dams, one of which was tricky. I did fall at one point, but at least not into the muck.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d calculated I could reach the western terminus by about 5 p.m., but you\u2019re not supposed to camp at a parking spot. However, the terrain was so brushy and scruffy this entire time, I had little hope of finding a camping spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearing the End<\/h2>\n

With about 4 miles (6.4 km) to go, I saw on the map that I\u2019d pass a \u201cvista.\u201d Not surprisingly, that entailed a climb. What was surprising (and annoying) \"Wildernesswas that the climb was SUPER steep, and not just one climb to the vista. The trail suddenly got quite hilly for a while, which was annoying when you\u2019re so close to the end! I kept stubbing some toes, too, which are pretty beat up. Oh, and the vista wasn\u2019t even anything special, as lots of trees blocked the view of the lake.<\/span><\/p>\n

Incredibly, the landscape transitioned to rather open woods with about a mile (1.6 km) to go. I haven’t seen almost any places to pitch a tent the entire time, outside of the developed campsites, so I was pretty stoked. About a half-mile (1 km) from the western terminus, I started looking for camping spouts. I found one and was able to dry my tent out a fair amount, although it\u2019s still damp in several spots.<\/span><\/p>\n

Snowshoe<\/span><\/p>\n

Kekekabic\/MN NCT miles today: 18 (29 km)<\/span>
\nTotal Kek miles to date: 39 (62.9 km)<\/span>
\nTotal Kek miles to go: .5 (.8 km)<\/span>
\nMN NCT miles to date: 428.4 (689.4 km)<\/span>
\nTotal NCT miles to date: 1,785.9 (2,874.1 km)<\/span>
\nTotal NCT miles to go: 2,814.1 (4,528.9 km)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is the Sea-to-Summit sleeping bag liner<\/a> I love. It\u2019s great for either warm nights when your quilt\/bag is too warm, or cold nights when you need some extra warmth. I\u2019m also using this Garmin inReach Mini<\/a> to keep in touch with my hubby, since cell service is almost nonexistent. And here’s the mace<\/a> I favor, plus my Big Agnes Copper Spur tent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s goal was to camp as near to the western terminus as I could. But first, a recap of last night. Yesterday, I hit two high peaks where I was able to get cell service. I checked the weather forecast, and saw there was a 50 percent chance of rain from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,72],"tags":[113,108,4635,2745,4449],"yoast_head":"\nMinnesota NCT Day 28: Strup Lake to Near Western Terminus - The Thousand Miler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This trail journal entries describes the trek from Strup Lake to near the Western Terminus of the Kekekabic Trail.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/minnesota-nct-day-28-strup-lake-to-near-western-terminus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minnesota NCT Day 28: Strup Lake to Near Western Terminus - 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