Winter Camping - Gooseberry to Split Rock
Kat planned to visit friends in Duluth this weekend, and also do a little winter camping to try out her gear, and she invited me along.
Friday night was fun - while Kat visited w/a girlfriend, I had a chance to have dinner and catch up w/my friend Heidi, who I had last seen Grandma's marathon weekend. We met at Fitger's Brewhouse, and I enjoyed one of their great Blueberry Porters - yummy.
Heidi told us about a huge sale going on at Granite Gear in Two Harbors, so we stopped in on Saturday and snagging some incredible deals (I got a steal on an ultralight backpack, and also picked up a pair of super warm mittens that should be perfect for winter camping and winter riding - I don't think my fingers will ever be cold again!)
By the time we parked the car at Gooseberry Falls and hit the trail, it was a little later than planned - I think we got started around 2:30pm under overcast skies. It was fairly warm though, 20 degrees or so - pretty nice, actually. Plan was to hike northward to the Split Rock River.
Gooseberry river and falls were totally frozen over - very pretty.
Surprisingly, there was little snow, maybe an inch or so - definitely less than in Mpls. Despite this, trail conditions were still challenging in spots. There was just enough snow to conceal icy patches, which were frequent and often unexpected. We both fell down/over on numerous occasions - my backpack definitely saved me from a broken tailbone on at least one occasion.
Took a little over an hour to reach the first campsite, at Blueberry Hill. We debated pitching camp there, but I suggested we push on a little further, since I thought there was another campsite between Blueberry and Split Rock. We made a friendly wager on whether such a campsite actually existed ... and I lost. Hiked the remaining 3 miles to Split Rock without coming upon any other campsites :-( Light was fading fast, and even though the snow reflected available light and our eyes adjusted fairly well, we hiked the last 1/2 hr or so with our headlamps. Kat was a good sport about all of this - she had been looking forward to an easy hike/camp just to test out her gear, and she got more than she bargained for with me pressing to hike onward.
Once we hit the river, it would have been another 2 mile hike upstream to reach the first campsite, so we instead opted to pitch our tent out on the frozen river (but only after testing the ice to ensure that it was plenty solid - river ice is always questionable and can be thin in spots where the water rushes beneath it.) This is also a no-no since we were inside the State Park boundary, where camping is allowed only in designated campsites. But we rationalized our actions be telling ourselves that we were causing no damage to the soil, flora or fauna by pitching camp on the ice - no harm, no foul.
Cool ice formations at the few spots of open water
Ferns and moss clinging to rocks, still green despite the freezing temps
Pitched the tent, fired up the stove and fixed ourselves a bottle of hot chai, and crawled into our sleeping bags for a light dinner of jerky, trail mix, and tea. It was still so early! One thing I love about roughing it is the heightened appreciation for little things - like warm tea, good conversation - things that are so easily taken for granted during the hustle and bustle of the normal day-to-day.
Camp on frozen Split Rock River
Goose down is our friend
We both crashed, and I slept like a baby until around 5:30am. Kat noticed that the sky had cleared and the night sky was now full of stars, so we unzipped the bottom the tent door, poked just our heads outside (the rest of our bodies still toasty warm in our sleeping bags) and gazed up at the stars for a while. I really wish I could identify more constellations - for me, it's the Big Dipper, maybe the Little Dipper as well on a good night.
Breaking camp
Broke camp around 8, and hiked out to Hwy 61. Kat's plan was to start walking in the direction of Gooseberry while trying to hitch a ride - a plan that probably works quite well if you're a lone woman, but not quite as well when you have a dude with you. Quite a few vehicles passed us before a kind woman in a minivan picked us up.
Friday night was fun - while Kat visited w/a girlfriend, I had a chance to have dinner and catch up w/my friend Heidi, who I had last seen Grandma's marathon weekend. We met at Fitger's Brewhouse, and I enjoyed one of their great Blueberry Porters - yummy.
Heidi told us about a huge sale going on at Granite Gear in Two Harbors, so we stopped in on Saturday and snagging some incredible deals (I got a steal on an ultralight backpack, and also picked up a pair of super warm mittens that should be perfect for winter camping and winter riding - I don't think my fingers will ever be cold again!)
By the time we parked the car at Gooseberry Falls and hit the trail, it was a little later than planned - I think we got started around 2:30pm under overcast skies. It was fairly warm though, 20 degrees or so - pretty nice, actually. Plan was to hike northward to the Split Rock River.
Gooseberry river and falls were totally frozen over - very pretty.
Surprisingly, there was little snow, maybe an inch or so - definitely less than in Mpls. Despite this, trail conditions were still challenging in spots. There was just enough snow to conceal icy patches, which were frequent and often unexpected. We both fell down/over on numerous occasions - my backpack definitely saved me from a broken tailbone on at least one occasion.
Took a little over an hour to reach the first campsite, at Blueberry Hill. We debated pitching camp there, but I suggested we push on a little further, since I thought there was another campsite between Blueberry and Split Rock. We made a friendly wager on whether such a campsite actually existed ... and I lost. Hiked the remaining 3 miles to Split Rock without coming upon any other campsites :-( Light was fading fast, and even though the snow reflected available light and our eyes adjusted fairly well, we hiked the last 1/2 hr or so with our headlamps. Kat was a good sport about all of this - she had been looking forward to an easy hike/camp just to test out her gear, and she got more than she bargained for with me pressing to hike onward.
Once we hit the river, it would have been another 2 mile hike upstream to reach the first campsite, so we instead opted to pitch our tent out on the frozen river (but only after testing the ice to ensure that it was plenty solid - river ice is always questionable and can be thin in spots where the water rushes beneath it.) This is also a no-no since we were inside the State Park boundary, where camping is allowed only in designated campsites. But we rationalized our actions be telling ourselves that we were causing no damage to the soil, flora or fauna by pitching camp on the ice - no harm, no foul.
Cool ice formations at the few spots of open water
Ferns and moss clinging to rocks, still green despite the freezing temps
Pitched the tent, fired up the stove and fixed ourselves a bottle of hot chai, and crawled into our sleeping bags for a light dinner of jerky, trail mix, and tea. It was still so early! One thing I love about roughing it is the heightened appreciation for little things - like warm tea, good conversation - things that are so easily taken for granted during the hustle and bustle of the normal day-to-day.
Camp on frozen Split Rock River
Goose down is our friend
We both crashed, and I slept like a baby until around 5:30am. Kat noticed that the sky had cleared and the night sky was now full of stars, so we unzipped the bottom the tent door, poked just our heads outside (the rest of our bodies still toasty warm in our sleeping bags) and gazed up at the stars for a while. I really wish I could identify more constellations - for me, it's the Big Dipper, maybe the Little Dipper as well on a good night.
Breaking camp
Broke camp around 8, and hiked out to Hwy 61. Kat's plan was to start walking in the direction of Gooseberry while trying to hitch a ride - a plan that probably works quite well if you're a lone woman, but not quite as well when you have a dude with you. Quite a few vehicles passed us before a kind woman in a minivan picked us up.
posted by equipoise at 11:54 PM
3 Comments:
Nice to see the Moss put to good use in the conditions for which is was designed! You're made of more stout stuff than I am.
Do you intend to press the ultralite pack into service for your big trips? 3800 ci seems tight but I'm not sure of the volume of your current big pack.
The Moss performed quite admirably. The only sucky thing is that it's fly vestibule requires staking out - pretty impossible on ice or frozen ground. So we didn't use the fly.
I'd love to put the ultralight pack to use on the longer trips. If I get a more compact 3-season down sleeping bag, I think I might be able to swing it on longish trips - time will tell!
I thought an old BF and I were the only nuts to go camping in the mountains in December. We were in Utah....brrrr! The propane lamp wouldn't work and we got so cold we had to sleep in the truck!
How nice you are having memorable fun with a new friend. Very good luck to you both!
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