Anniversary Trip Day Four. It was time to return to our regularly scheduled lives, so we packed up and left our lovely cabin in the morning and began the slow meander home. We stopped for awhile in Two Harbors and got sucked into the vortex of a used book store there. This was purely accidental since the outside of the shop advertised arts and crafts and we were lured in unsuspectingly. Once there are books in the equation, one must spend time looking at them. If you don’t understand that, well, sigh… Anyway, we also wandered over to a local coffee shop where the cheerful woman behind the counter asked us, “How can I caffeinate you today?” I’m not a coffee drinker, but in the spirit of throwing caution to the wind on vacation, I had my first pumpkin spice latte. It didn’t impress me too much – too sweet (and this is coming from someone with a ferocious love of all things sweet).

So, on to the our last hike of this trip. By the time we got to Moose Lake State Park, it was starting to sprinkle, so we left our Serious Cameras in the car and just brought our phones. The place was absolutely deserted – the first time in a long time since we’ve had that experience. My legs and knees were still aching from the previous two hikes, so this 2-mile hike was going to be a welcome respite.

The trail was wide and easy.

The sky was dark with threatening rain, which somehow made our secluded hike somber and contemplative. We didn’t talk a lot and we didn’t take many photos. We walked by a largish pond (or was it Moose Lake?) toward the beginning of the hike and hoped to see some wildlife on, in, or above it, but it, too, was deserted.

The whole world was hushed except for the sound of our feet on the path.

We saw various signs with location markings that were probably part of some sort of GPS tracking game. Loons, swans and bears, oh my!

I was amused by this very stern sign – whatever happened to Minnesota Nice?

I would have expected something more along the lines of “Please don’t use your snowmobiles on the trail,” but this gets the job done with only one word and an exclamation point. It’s like a mom made the sign for her kids. I approve.

We passed a little rain shelter and hoped we wouldn’t have to run back to use it later. Kris volunteered to use his knife to make us a little homemade shelter if torrential rains came while we were too far from the shelter. This was a helpful bit of ingenuity. I approve of that, too.

Kris spotted a couple deer, but by the time I looked, it was just the tail end of one of them off in the distance. Alone again, we pushed on, thankful that we weren’t seeing any actual moose at Moose Lake State Park (at least not close up). The silence was broken suddenly by the sound of a text coming to my phone. I was amazed – usually there’s no coverage when you get into the woods. Glory to God and hallelujah – it was a message from a friend of mine about whom I had been very concerned and in much prayer over due to serious health issues she’d been having. My heart had been very heavy over news I had received a few days before and I had wondered if she was still with us. I was thrilled and relieved to hear from her. In a moment, our somber walk had become bright – there was light in the dark day, and solace in the wilderness.

Like cold water to a weary soul,
So is good news from a distant land.
Proverbs 25:25

We got the hike done in 45 minutes – a record for us, which just goes to show you how speedily things can go without cameras and hills. Moose Lake State Park wasn’t a really showy park, but it will always have a special place in my heart.

We’re up to 46.7 miles total now!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Next Hike: Flandrau State Park

Anniversary Trip Day Three. “Twas a Sunday, so we started out the day by worshipping with the good folk at Palisade Baptist Church. We got there early and drove up to Palisade Head. One never tires of the view of Lake Superior.

After church we drove up to Crosby-Manitou, far off the beaten path. (Side note: my husband enjoyed calling it Crosby-Manitou, Nash and Young. If you get that, you are getting on in years like we are.)

In the Hiking Club booklet, the 4.2 mile trail was described as “steep and challenging,” with this caveat: “Due to the strenuous nature of these trails, the [1.2 mile] Benson Lake Trail is offered as an alternative.” There was also some mention of spectacular views on the longer hike, but I had fixated on the word “strenuous.” More than a little intimidated by this dire warning, I had originally suggested that we do the easy BLT and maybe come back later (i.e. never) for the more difficult hike, but completing the hike at Split Rock had imbued me with greater courage and confidence. Bring it on! This confidence may have been misplaced…

It was around 12:15 and 55 degrees when we started out. Kris had hiked here with his sister Karen back in the day and had fond memories of the experience.

The trail was narrow and rough, but there was a pleasing earthiness to it, a greater sense of being truly in the wilderness.

We chatted about church, prayer and the importance of memorization as we walked along, stopping occasionally for photos.

I had noticed these odd splotches of black goo along the path and when we stopped to investigate one, we concluded that these were decayed mushrooms. Kris coined the term “mushroom poop” for these unsightly piles, a term you may freely use when the need arises. You’re welcome.

In fact, there were a lot of mushrooms and other fungi along the way and we still had a fresh enthusiasm about the hike and stopped frequently to capture them with our cameras.

We also came across a little shelter, the inside of which had been heavily marked up with people’s initials and other types of writing. I poked my head in for a closer look and saw that someone had written “Jesus is the answer.” Manna in the wilderness!

Eventually we began to hear the sound of a distant waterfall and the path led downward into the bottom of a canyon where we stopped to enjoy the sight and sound of the waterfall and to have a snack. We had forgotten our Clif bars (gasp!), but had some apples and cheese.

By now, the trail had all but disappeared and in its place was a pile of rocks and boulders that we picked our way over, seeing a trail of sorts resuming up ahead. The going trend was definitely upward and I mentally girded my loins for what would surely be the more strenuous part of the journey, the Humpback Trail. There would be no more easy walking from this point on – the paths were treacherous, often hard to see, and each step forward had to be carefully placed to avoid tripping and/or slipping.

My inner Eeyore reappeared, moaning silently about the arduous climb. My fatigued legs and knees and my pounding heart kept up a steady chorus of complaints, but at last, we reached what appeared to be the top of the hump – praise God! We paused to enjoy the view from the top and then started back down.

Kris wondered aloud if this was to be a one-hump camel or a two-hump one, but I took the position that the term “humpback” clearly referred to the Humpback Whale, which of course would have only one hump. It would be all downhill to the parking lot from here, I thought cheerily and just about then, we encountered the second hump. Another uphill slog ensued. What goes up, must come down, right? And so it came to pass – a little downhill relief… and then another hump. By the 4th or 5th hump (yes, I was counting them), I was beginning to despair and decided I needed to review some fortifying verses. I started out with James 1:12. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Perseverance – yes, that’s the ticket. Just one foot in front of the other – keep going. Kris walked a little ahead of me, providing the example of forward momentum that I needed. Pauses to catch my breath and allow my heart to slow down became more frequent. I went on to Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” I had literally just finished that verse when we came to a largish tree across the path, an encumbrance, indeed. “Perseverance and endurance,” I chanted to myself while simultaneously also thinking, “but I cannot go up one more hill.” I did not yet understand what perseverance meant.

The 6th and 7th humps came and went. I stopped at one point and indulged myself for a moment with the thought that I would just stay there. But this was akin to being in labor to deliver a baby – there’s no stopping that train. I looked ahead, and there Kris was, waiting patiently for me and encouraging me along the way.

One foot in front of the other. The 8th hump was the steepest and longest one yet and I had long since stopped caring about taking any photos of anything – I was in pure survival mode. The hike had become Brutal (which starts with B and rhymes with C, which stands for Crosby…). Seeing the top of the hill ahead, I actually put on a burst of speed and went past Kris to get there. As I caught my breath, I looked around and saw the aforementioned spectacular views.

And just like that, God renewed my mind. I underwent a transformation of both body and spirit up there. As I started down the hill, I was just as tired as I had been before, but now I knew what perseverance was: I would keep going with a cheerful heart, no matter how many other little humps were ahead of me; I would quit despairing and do the work without complaining. I left Kris behind this time and strode down with a bounce in my step. And this time, there were no more humps to climb. It wasn’t long before I glimpsed the parking lot up ahead.

In the movie “West Side Story,” Tony meets Maria and later croons: “All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word: Ma-ri-a!” I kid you not, when I saw that parking lot, I sang with fervor: “All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word: park-ing-lot!” Checking the phone app, this hike was the equivalent of 51 flights of stairs. When Kris caught up with me a couple minutes later, I told him that I felt both exhilarated and exhausted. Crosby-Manitou State Park, you made me a better person. But I’ll never do that hike again!

We’re up to 44.7 miles now and Kris’s goal of getting up to the 50-mile mark this year is looking very doable. One more hike tomorrow on our way home!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Next Hike: Moose Lake State Park