June 27, 2024

Cliff Creek Campsite to Grand Marais via the North Shore State Trail

10.8 miles

It was cold last night, I didn’t sleep well, and I was slow to wake up today, even though I knew I was going into town.

“Hello in there!” Machine called tentatively just as I became conscious. “What doing?”

“Ugh,” I grumbled. “Laying.”

I wrangled my two feebly awake brain cells and made breakfast and a hot coffee and felt instantly better. After that packing up was relatively quick and we were on our way.

The trail was slop again for a while. Then it was overgrown with these dense plants that make it impossible to see where you’re stepping. In my head I started calling them “thick.” When it’s overgrown it’s thick, and when it’s wet soupy mud it’s slop. When it’s both it’s thick slop. I laughed out loud thinking about this and explained my terminology to Machine.

We passed the campsite at Durfee Creek without stopping for a break. It was town day, baby! But the name “Durfee” lodged itself in my brain and played on a loop. At one point I said it out loud to myself under my breath. Machine heard, and asked me what I had said, and I laughed as I said “Durfee!” Somehow this evolved into a new term that means “silly” or “lighthearted.” “Durfee” is the adjective, and “durf” as in “durfin’” is the verb, meaning to enjoy something, to be down with something, to understand essence of something (akin to “grok,” iykyk). (I hope “durf” doesn’t already mean something sexual, but given the internet and the way people are, it probably already does. Oh well.)

The trail suddenly opened up and we were on an open ridge overlooking Lake Superior. On the map it was labeled as “Wildflower Hill,” which was accurate because the hillside was indeed strewn with daisies, lilies, and little yellow flowers that looked like buttercups. We took a long break to dry out our gear and hunt for a place to stay in town, then as we continued hiking I attempted to frolic through the flowers while also not slipping in the mud.

Back into the woods, where the trail was slop for a while, then out of nowhere, it started to be very nice, normal, well groomed hiking trail. We hypothesized that, since we were getting close to Grand Marais, it might be a popular day hiking area. This seemed to be a logical conclusion, given that the trail entered the section around the Devil Track River, which features vistas through the trees down to the churning river cutting through cliffs and, farther in the distance, Lake Superior sparkling in the sun. We took a break at a wayside with a log bench (5/10, good spot but not great construction on the bench) and later a snack break at the West Devil Track campsite. There, we saw two day hikers (only our second and third humans on the entire trail so far!) and chatted with them about the trail and the weather forecast for tomorrow (dismal, apparently).

The trail worked its way along the side of the river and up some gnarly, unexpected steep climbs. None of them ever lasted for too long, though, unlike on the AT. It leveled out after a while and we took the side trail to Pincushion Mountain, a rocky summit that reminded me of Penobscot Mountain at Acadia National Park with its terrain and views. Lake Superior stretched out beneath a glowing sky as far as the eye could see. We got our first glimpse of the edge of Grand Marais, and then we had all the motivation we needed to get to town.

The path continued to be very well maintained as we got closer to the Pincushion Mountain Trailhead. From there we got another lovely view of the town and its lighthouses. Continuing down the SHT, we took a side trail that looked like it went right to the town. It was a little overgrown and boggy, but it got us there, and soon we were walking on a road.

From here the town tasks saga commences, which is a lot less interesting than being on trail, so please pardon me while I summarize this bit.

Grand Marais is a gorgeous little town on Lake Superior. We managed to find a decent place to stay the night, got settled in, and went to Voyageur Brewery for a smorgasbord of appetizers and a beer (for me) and Coke (for Machine). Later we meandered around town, went out to the lighthouse at the point at sunset, and soaked in the gentle sound of the water lapping up softly against the rocks.

We knew the weather was going to be bad the next day, so we started scrambling to figure out what we were going to do. The problem is that it’s a weekend, and this is a small town on the shore that gets hit hard on weekend nights, so there were slim pickings in terms of places to stay. This kind of gave me a headache and I went nonverbal for a second while Machine continued searching. Eventually we decided to splurge on the only available place we could find, the Superior Inn. Once that was sorted, we could truly relax into the zero day mindset.

It feels weird to be taking such a necessary break from trail so early on, but it is so gross out there and it’s been fatiguing to have to watch every single step. I haven’t been sleeping well and, after all, this is vacation. Time to lean into the most vacation-y part of a thru!