Jenny and Erin

This has been a magical trip thus far. We’ve managed to pack a week’s worth of adventure into three days and walk the entire 21.1 mile/33.9 kilometer, Gitchi Gami trail. As we drove to our first destination we found ourselves slowly rising into a sea of fog to overlook treetops, waterfalls and brief glimpses of Lake Superior below.

On our first night some friends graciously invited us to stay at their home in the woods. It was a wonderful evening sitting around laughing and talking while they planned the next day for us. So decisive we are… We were in bed by midnight and were up and walking by our usual 5 a.m. Thanks to the wonderful planning of our hosts, the first morning trail conveniently led us to the steps of a fantastic donut shop.

The days have been crazy leap frogging from one portion of the Gitchi Gami trail to the next. The Gitchi Gami is comprised of 5 trails, ranging from 1.0 mile/1.6 kilometer to 13.1 miles/21.1 kilometers. Early on Erin and I had debated a bit as to how to handle the offshoots and extra trail loops. I thought she was nuts for her insistence on walking every tiny portion of a trail, no matter how far the drive or how short the trail was. Funny enough, despite my misgivings, I have loved every single one. On the other hand, Erin has found herself slightly frustrated at all of these little detours. My favorite has been the Tofte Segment. Starting down the trail I felt like we were transported into a scene from Alice in Wonderland, surrounded by huge white birch trees with striking white mushrooms growing from their sides. Above us was a bright blue sky, waterfalls cascading down cliffs, songs of birds and multitudes of monarch butterflies fluttering by.

There have been lots and lots of hills, small bridges leading us over rapids and breathtaking views. Oh, and animals. We’ve seen deer, including a newly born baby fawn being nudged forward by her mother and a fox running alongside the very trail we were walking.

We saved a small portion of the trail for this morning, a crowning vista overlooking Lake Superior. As luck would have it, as we topped the cliff, the skies opened, and pelted us with rain. Not a nice sweet sprinkle, but a cold rain that left us looking like we jumped into the lake itself after three minutes. Did that dampen our spirits? Nope. Well, honestly it almost did until Erin yelled, “Look a cleansing rain!” It was enough to break us into laughter. We decided to take our time at the top, despite the rain, enjoying the solitude and looking down at the islands and beaches below.

Well, it is still raining. However, we are warm, dry and ready to start our next trail tomorrow!

This entry was posted in Boots are Made for Walkin on Monday, June 4th, 2007 by Jenny. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.