It was quite beautiful as the sun set.
On day 2 (9/9), we went for a ~10 mile hike around the park. The red pines were amazing! (Can you see me in the first picture and Mike in the third?)
On day 3 (9/10), the wind picked up and it got quite blustery - and therefore COLD. We spent the day collecting fallen tree limbs so we could sit by the fire and read all day, which was a great way to recover from our blisters after the previous day's hike.
Read and drink, that is. Yum to BotaBox and double-yum to "loopy juice" (i.e., gatorade and vodka). Alcohol certainly does take away the chill.
And late that evening is when the storm blew in. It started drizzling right around dusk, and just got heavier and heavier as the night went on. It turns out that our tent is not at all waterproof! Mike bailed out enough water from our tent during the night to fill two Nalgenes! As soon as dawn started to break this morning, we made the unanimous decision to abort our camping mission. Turns out that was the right call - apparently the storm was supposed to drop an additional 2" of rain up north during the rest of the day today. I'm so glad to be back home - finally dry, finally warm, and eager to collapse in my own comfortable bed tonight. But I'm also happy that we made the obligatory stop at the headwaters of the Mississippi before we headed home - now I feel like a real Minnesotan.
(For the record, Mike is dressed like that not because it was warm - in fact, it was only about 50 outside, and still drizzling off and on - but because those were the only clothes he had left that didn't stink to high heaven after four days in the wilderness, and he didn't want to offend the other diners when we stopped for lunch after we left the park!) :)
2 comments:
It was 10 nalgenes full! I don't think that you truly appreciate the puddle that I was sleeping in!!!!
I'm sorry! I thought you had said one Nalgene, but now I understand that it was MANY nalgenes!
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