July 15, 2024

Canal Park in Duluth to mile 262.8

4.6 miles hiked

Staying in town for one last night means, obviously, that we do not get an early start. For one, it’s Machine’s birthday, and I wake up early and attempt to subtly decorate the room before he wakes up. Back in Two Harbors, the only birthday things I could find at the store were some plastic party loot bags and a couple of gift ribbons, so I cut the top and bottom off the bags and used them as little wall hangings and added the ribbons underneath for flair. It’s not that impressive, but I simply cannot go without celebrating a birthday with decorations. I just can’t. On top of birthday festivities, there’s also another glorious hotel breakfast with copious coffee. What does it say about this hike that the non-hiking part is way more fun than the hiking part? I’ve blown my budget a little, but alas, I feel like I had to do what I had to do in order to enjoy this hike. It’s my summer vacation, dang it! All of this is to say: no early start, of course.

My AT friend Shawn, aka Krazy Glue, aka KG, who lives in the Twin Cities, is working remotely in Duluth today and then picking us up and taking us back to his house so we can fly out from the Minneapolis airport tomorrow. I text them our plan: We’re going to head out and hike as much as we can today, then I’ll let him know where we end up and he can scoop us up. Our plan is to walk 15 miles, to a trailhead in the south of the city, but we’ll see how it goes.

When we head out around 10 (with Machine’s pack decorated obviously), it is not raining like the forecast said it would, and it’s bright and lovely outside, and already quite hot and humid. The trail walks along the boardwalk bordering Canal Park. We walk past the strange sight of Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum in the harbor. It looks like a shipwreck, but Father Google tells me that it’s actually the remains of a sand and gravel hopper built in 1919, when Duluth had an outer harbor and, to alleviate some of the shipping traffic, Harvey Whitney built the structure to store the offloaded material before it was transported to trains. But it was difficult for boats to unload in the outer harbor, so the project was abandoned just three years later in 1922. It eroded and ended up perched crookedly in the water, 30 feet from the shore. When we walked in yesterday, we saw people swimming out to it and jumping off, which is apparently a popular pastime in the city.

The “trail” continues along the shore and towards the aerial lift bridge that Duluth is famous for and that dominates the city’s skyline. We walk first out towards one of the lighthouses marking the entrance to the canal, and then when we see a small tour ship coming towards the entrance, we walk back towards the lift bridge to see if it’s going to rise to let the boat in. It does! It is absolutely amazing to watch. An alarm sounds to prevent cars and pedestrians from entering the bridge, the operator waits for the last of the people to clear the bridge, and then it lifts up slowly. We watch the boat pass under it, and then the bridge descends. Engineering is so cool!

There is a gift shop at the building right next to the bridge, so obviously we go in. When we come back out, there is a collection of sailboats and it appears that the bridge is being cleared again to let them all through. We stand there and ogle at the bridge raising again, closer this time, and then we walk underneath it to observe the lowering while we are right below the behemoth metal structure. It is mesmerizing. Kudos, engineers, for your most excellent bridge!

We continue along the park, turning north again. I spot some interesting looking shops, which we visit (relatively quickly, I might add!) before continuing. We have to wait for another bridge to lower before we can go across it, then we cross it, get lost amid some confusing construction, and eventually find the trail again (and by “trail” at this point I mean sidewalk, parking lot, and bike path under I-35). As we’re walking towards the aquarium, a guy on a bike comes up next to us, introduces himself (but neither Machine nor I can remember his name now), welcomes us to Duluth (twice) and shakes our hands (twice). We’re starting to wonder if he’s just going to ride alongside us when he finally peels away. Ah, city walking.

The trail walks on a footbridge over the interstate, then uphill. We spot a gas station and go in to buy sodas. Immediately after that, the trail takes a sharp upwards turn through some woods, but the woods are littered with trash and broken glass. We take a wrong turn, have to course correct, and finally end up on some better trail that works its way up into a series of parks. Out of nowhere, the trail spits us out into a Japanese Garden in Enger Park.

It then descends into some gorgeous woods with wide, packed-down, well-maintained path. Even so, the day is already incredibly hot and somehow also raining on and off. We look at Avenza and Machine proposes to get off trail at the next major road crossing and walk to an area with restaurants. “We can have lunch, I can watch sports, and we can be in the air conditioning,” he says. “That sounds like a much more fun way to spend my birthday to me.”

I don’t push back. I’m pretty done with this whole hike. We enjoy the next couple of miles of mixed path and sidewalk, and when we get to the road that will take us to food, we snap an appropriately underwhelming picture with the last SHT blaze next to a sign that reads DEAD END. Somehow this feels like a fitting end for this clusterfuck of a hike.

We walk past a lemonade stand and buy a cup from the two kids running it on our way to whatever restaurant presents itself. There are two that look good, and we end up picking Corktown Eatery, which is a great choice because it has numerous local beers on tap in addition to a massive menu. (God, I love eating while on a hike.) I get a BLT and Machine gets fish and chips, and they are all so tasty. After we finish eating, I present Machine with his “cake”: a smashed honey bun I got in Two Harbors. I light his birthday candle and sing quietly because he doesn’t like the attention, but once again, one must celebrate with any available means.

KG comes to pick us up just as we’re finishing up. We got to visit during the eclipse in April, so it’s not been too long a time since I’ve seen them, but it’s great to catch up all the same. It’s a pleasant two-hour drive back to the Twin Cities, in which we talk the entire time about the trail, work, mild existential crisis re: the election, books, and all kinds of other things. It feels really cool that we met five years ago hiking the Appalachian Trail, and even though we don’t talk all that often or visit much, it still feels normal and natural to spend time together. I’ll never get over that, how trail friendships feel so easy.

We spend the evening with Shawn and his parents, whom I have not seen since they visited on the AT in 2019. They make us the traditional Minnesota Tater Tot hot dish for dinner, along with ribs and salad with fresh home-grown tomatoes. Over dinner, we reminisce about the AT, because of course we do. It’s a lovely, soothing way to end a very bumpy hike, and I feel full of gratitude as I stumble to sleep.

So, the SHT was clearly not my favorite hike ever, but I think this was probably almost entirely user error. Every Minnesotan we talked to before the hike, including KG, told us that June and July wouldn’t be the best time to do the trail due to the mosquitoes and potential wet conditions. But we either underestimated Minnesota and their warnings or we overestimated our ability to withstand such conditions, because this trail was brutal this year, and this time of year. But also, since I’m a teacher, I just don’t have the ability to hike in the fall when it would be better, so my options were limited. I do hope that we can come back up in the autumn to finish those remaining 35 miles through the end of Duluth and Jay Cooke State Park to the border. It won’t kill me if we can’t, but I am excited to experience the trail in the season it’s best for. For now, I am looking forward to resting for a few days before my next and final summer 2024 adventure—the Tour du Mont Blanc—and letting my mosquito bites heal. If nothing else, we had amazing side quests, some gorgeous days and views, and some truly great hot tubs. It was fun, even type one fun at times, and it was also character building. Later, SHT! Hope to see you at your best in autumn.