Hiking Dude Blog

I was planning to do the Ice Age Trail this month and next, but now that I've pushed that to next summer I've been getting antsy to do something more than a weekend long. I've been hiking about 8 miles each morning and looking around for a long, but not too long, trail to do.
The Superior Hiking Trail is exactly what I need. It's almost 300 miles, close to home, and someplace new for me. I was just thinking of it as part of the North Country Scenic Trail, but it's a complete trail by itself, too.

So, on Sept. 15 I'll start walking south from the Canadian border to Jay Cooke State Park in Duluth, MN. I'm hiking it alone and figure it will take about 2 weeks. There's a 10 mile or so section not yet completed just north of Duluth, but the North Shore Trail runs through there and I plan to follow it as a connecting route.

September seems to me like a great time to hike this trail for a few reasons:

• Summer heat and humidity is gone. The weather should be cooler and fewer thunderstorms, but not too cold yet.
• No bugs. Mosquitos, ticks, and black flies should all be gone or nearly so.
• Fall colors are changing. This is right around the best time for the show to begin. If I'm lucky, this might be a great year for colors.
• Wildlife. Animals should be very active preparing for winter.
• Fewer people. School will have just started so I should have the trail pretty much to myself during the week with more day-hikers on the weekends.

And the most important reason is that my youngest son is off to college and my wife will be very, very, very busy with her first few weeks of teaching. It's a good time for me to be out of the way. :-)

I already have my food purchased and left over from my Arizona hike. I already have all the gear I need. I'm in shape to start. This should be an inexpensive, relaxing trek and a great time exploring part of my own backyard that I've not made time to visit yet.

Interested in joining me? If you are, just send me an email and maybe we can work something out. Even if you'd just like to join me for a few days or a weekend, that would be cool. I'll be tracking my progress and blogging along the way so you can just stop and say HI as I walk by if you're in the area.

Hike On

OK, I believe this is the first time I've posted someone else's content, but I thought this was funny. Ribbing folks for buying the latest gimmicky gear.
I may have actually met this guy on the Arizona Trail :-) - just check out the saguaro and other obviously Arizonian terrain.
I gotta get me one of them backpacks...


Hike One

About eight miles of hiking have started every day for the past few weeks. The exercise lets me eat more and I keep hoping it will give me time to collect my thoughts and get creative ideas. I'm still hoping.

What I find actually happens is I suddenly notice it's been two miles and I've not really thought of anything. Instead, I just check out poison ivy, buckthorn, wild grape vines, and all sorts of stuff growing like crazy along the trail. I see chipmunks, cardinals, hawks, snakes, ducks, and an occasional deer or turkey family. A rare bit of trash will also peek out along the edge and get a free ride home.

But, no creative insights, no life-changing decisions, no plans to bring about world peace, not even an idea about what to make for dinner. It doesn't matter if I walk slow, fast, or even jog - I just sweat more then. So, what am I doing wrong?

I guess maybe, for me, this time is more about getting the day started and the body ready. Sort of like that first cup or two of coffee that some folks always have to start their day.

Hike On

Wouldn't it be cool to turn the problem of an invasive species into a successful business that helps keep the invasion at bay? That's what a New Zealand clothing company is doing by making possum clothing.

Before you get all creeped out about wearing possum clothing, you're missing one very important letter O - that's the difference between opossum and possum.

The possum of New Zealand are native to Australia but were introduced and are now overrunning NZ. They are furry little critters and their hollow hairs make very good, soft, insulating material. Combining the possum hairs with merino wool gives the basis for a unique clothing line of warm, light articles.

Brian at New Zealand Possum Merino sent me a pair of possum hiking socks to try out. My first impression was 'Wow! They're soft and light!' Softer and warmer feeling than heavier socks, I wore them inside for a day and my feet were very happy. They will be great for normal wear during the winter.

Right now, it's very, very hot here and I figured they'd be too warm for walks. But, I wouldn't have much to write if I didn't try them so I've been wearing them the past couple weeks on my hikes and even a few miles of jogging. They weren't hot and they didn't absorb sweat like cotton socks. The extra softness has been pleasant and they've held up well.

I've not noticed much piling and they've been washed a few times now. The combination of merino wool with possum hairs seems to make a sturdy, comfortable, warm cloth. The socks aren't inexpensive, but a couple extra dollars for such a unique conversation starter might be worth it. 'Hey, see my socks? They're POSSUM!'

Hike On

The most common question I'm getting this summer as I talk about my AZT hike is how to lighten a pack. I tell about all the ways I cut out ounces and pounds from gear, but I save the best tip for the end. It costs nothing, is healthy, saves your body work, and makes a much larger impact than all the other gear tweaking you could possibly do.

I reduced my pack weight from around 40 to around 25 pounds by making a light shelter, quilt, and pack, reducing redundancies, and purchasing a few lightweight items. That includes food and water, so carrying less water and stopping more often to tank up can make the pack even lighter. So, I removed about 15 pounds from my pack that I don't have to lug across the country.

During my 6 weeks of hiking the AZT, I lost about 14 pounds. Most of that was in the first 2 weeks and then I stabilized more as I got used to eating, hiking, and sleeping.

Just by losing weight off my body, I nearly reached the weight savings that I got from all the gear tweaking I did! And, I don't really have a lot of excess - I'm 6-1 and weigh about 175 now that I've gained 10lbs of the weight back.

Going into a backpacking trip with the idea of 'Super! This will be a great way for me to lose a few pounds!' is NOT a good idea. Your body will need calories to function properly on the trail and holding back the food it needs will cause you to be weak and increase the risk of injury. If it's a long trek, you will most likely lose some weight anyway, but that should not be your plan. I lost weight because I did not force myself to eat as many calories as I was burning each day - I should have eaten more.

A much better idea is to lose some weight before a trek. For two or three months before your trek, while you're doing practice hikes, also cut back on the ice cream, hamburgers, soda, chips, and all that other fattening stuff. The increased physical exercise will burn from 100 to 150 calories per mile, depending on your body and pack weight. Since there's about 3500 calories in a pound of fat, you can figure out how many miles you'll need to hike to remove 10 pounds of fat. More than you thought, huh?

But, that fat won't burn off if you increase your calorie intake. Thoughts like, 'Hey, I hiked 6 miles. I can have a second bratwurst' will thwart your efforts. Self-discipline is the key to long-term weight lose. Or, hire a personal trainer if money is no object. :-)

However you do it, losing weight before starting a backpacking trip or long hike is the best way to reduce the complete package you need to haul over mountains and valleys.

Hike On

The sun's thinking about creeping over the horizon for the start of a beautiful day. Camp is quiet except for muffled snoring from some nearby tent. No one has stirred, no coffee or bacon aroma on the breeze, and no reason to emerge from the warmth and comfort of my sleeping bag. I resist the temptation to roll over and collect another dozen winks before the chaos begins.

Slipping into my down jacket and camp shoes, I unzip the tent as quietly as possible, which still imitates an irritated rattlesnake and is sure to wake someone. As I emerge from my safe nylon home, the world is fresh and wild before me, unspoiled and unaware of the hectic day ahead. This is the time of day reserved just for me and the wildlife.

Exploring with others, especially youth, is one of the most enjoyable ways I can imagine to spend a day, helping them experience nature and the wilds around them. But, the style of exploration with a group is different than solitary walks. A dozen or twenty feet clomping through the woods, with or without a handful of voices being exercised, makes for rare animal encounters. Most animals have long ago fled our invasion reaches them. We occasionally encounter a deaf deer or lame raccoon, but that is the exception.

Real hope of seeing animals requires an early rise, stealth, and silence. That's why I venture out alone before camp wakes. I head into the breeze, slow and watchful, with high hopes. My reward may be nothing more than a lone chattering squirrel or a set of obscure tracks. On the other hand, I may catch a pair of rabbits unaware or deer grazing on moist grass. It's the anticipation that make the early morning hike such fun.

This morning, I'm on vacation Up North with my wife. I'm not on a camping trip or long trek but I still woke early and enjoyed a sunrise before guests at Pehrson Lodge were up and active. A lone stroll through the forest rewarded me with spider webs across my face, dew-soaked shins and shoes, and a few loons, ducks, and heron on the lake.

Now, I've had my selfish refreshing time with nature and am ready for the motorboats, fishermen, and the rest out here, like me, getting away from it all.

Hike On

The Red Cross is asking for much needed blood donations this summer. Scouts and Scouters that are at least 16 and weigh 110pounds have a great opportunity to do a simple, but valuable, Good Turn by pumping out just a pint of their blood. It's easy, and you even get cookies and juice!

The Red Cross says its blood supply has reached emergency low levels, with 50,000 fewer donations than expected in June. This shortfall leaves about half the readily available blood products on hand today than at this time last year.


Every two seconds in the USA, someone needs a blood transfusion and the Red Cross needs to gather 17,000 pints each day for patients in over 3,000 hospitals across the country.

I've given over 6 gallons of blood, starting in college when the fraternities had a contest each semester to see which could give the most.

See Red Cross Blood site to find or host a blood drive.

Hike On

Photos from my Arizona Trail hike are online now. I put them into a Google Maps / Google Earth file just for something different.
You can see a map of the trail with thumbnail images near the location where the photo was taken. This is done by using the time the photo was taken which is embeded in the photo by the digital camera and the tracking points from the Spot Messenger I used on my hike. The tracking messages contain a Lat/Lon location and the time. Some free software works its way through the waypoints and the photos and creates a KML file for Google to read. I used GPicSync, but there are other packages out there.
Google Maps views the photos in a web page. If you view the file in Google Earth, you can take a tour which automatically hops through the photos and locations. (Open KMZ file (200KB) in Google Earth)

Well, if you want to take a look, click the 'Map' link on my AZ Trail page. On that page, you can also check out gear, food, and expenses from the trip.

Hike On

I've been quietly resting my legs and putting together my Arizona Trail Journal for the past week.
You can read all about my trek Right Here. I've included pictures from the trail, information about my homemade gear, and a daily record of the hike. I hope it provides you with helpful information, some tips, a little humor, and maybe gets you thinking about doing a longer hike yourself or with others.
A GoogleEarth map of the trail with pictures will be available pretty soon.

Hike On

Now that my little 800-mile hike through Arizona is over, I get to move on to other things. I plan to take a couple weeks to mostly rest up and ensure my leg is ok - probably need to see a doctor about that when I get home. Here's my list of things to do over the next few months:

• Present my story at District Roundtable. Show my gear and some pics and then answer questions from other Scouters. Hopefully I'll get them thinking about lighter weight backpacking possibilities with their scouts.
• Present Red Cross training. I've got a backlog of Scouters needing certification so they can go to Philmont, Seabase, and Northern Tier. Since I've been gone 7 weeks, I'm adding a couple more training sessions to make sure everyone gets training that needs it.
• Write my first book. This is the big one. I plan to write a handful of short stories from the trail for children. They will demonstrate human/nature interaction and include discussion outlines so teachers can use them for nature lessons. I'm very excited about this and look forward to working with my niece to make it a reality.
• Rest, then keep hiking. I have to make sure my legs are whole and secure and then I can start back up walking each day to keep in shape. I'd hate to just sit and eat and lose my fairly good heart/lung/leg development I received from walking every day for the past couple months.
• Let the local papers and TV know what I did. They might be interested in a short story. I'd also use that exposure to promote the ScoutStrong program a bit more.
• Catch up on my hundreds of emails that have accumulated while I was on the trail.

So, I won't be bored. :-)
Hike On