NW/WWF-Day 3-We’re So Good, We Are Ahead of Schedule!

We left our Warmshowers hosts at 7:45 this morning, and that was without even rushing. Makes a difference when you don’t have to take down a tent or fire up the stove for breakfast. 

We decided the best course was to just go back down, and pick up the Lake Trail again. We thought about trying to stay up high as we knew we would have to climb back up from the lake, but there wasn’t really a good way to go. 

The trail was quite nice anyway. 

Soon we made the turn away from the lake. We had the longest climb so far at 1.5 miles (average grade 4%). It was paved, and not that difficult. Eventually, we came to gravel. It was a good gravel road. We alternated pavement and gravel, with some pretty long gravel sections as well as some pretty long paved sections. 

Because we had started further along the route Than I had planned, we got to where I had thought we would camp pretty early, and after just 34 miles (10 less than I thought it would be). We looked ahead, and could see that it was probable that we could make it to either Gooseberry Falls State Park, or a campsite on the North Shore Marine Trail (2 miles further than the State Park, and free).

We had a long section of “rough ATV Trail”. It was certainly tougher than we had encountered so far, but not bad (although I did unlock my front suspension).

Not the rough part. 

This was a pile of literal pea gravel, as I the ricks were perfectly round marbles. 

We filtered water, and ate lunch on the bridge over the Stewert River. 

Bit by bit we worked our way toward Lake Superior. We finally made it to the lake. We had a couple of miles on the Hwy before turning off into Gooseberry State Park. We rode over to the Visitor’s Center. Lani got water, and I got an ice cream bar. I didn’t want to carry more water when I knew I could filter at the campsite. 

We got back on the bikes and headed for the Gitchi Gami State Trail. We had a half mile climb on the path

To one of the falls (not a lot of water right now. 

Eventually, while we remained on the trail, we left the park. 

Gitchi Gami State Trail. 

As we were getting closer to the campsite, I was checking the map on my phone. Lani caught up to me. I asked her if we were to where the marine trail campsite was. We weren’t quite yet, but I had seen a path that went toward the lake. We turned around and went back to it. It was the path to the campsite. 

The campsite is great! Because it’s actually a marine trail campsite (for boaters), it’s right on the lake (actually just in the trees. 

From my tent. 

Sitting on the beach. 

Cooking dinner (photo by Lani). 

We ended up riding just shy of 60 miles, which is about 20 miles further on the route than we planned, putting us ahead of schedule. So, tomorrow we will probably go to a different campsite than I planned (and potentially a better one).