Sunday Night with John: The Whole Story

As I wandered around the Superior Hiking Trial, a couple of miles off of the great lake, a couple of themes waved over me. I’ll share the one that followed me off the trail.... How easy it was to ditch my cell phone and contact with the outside world. Yes, there was an urge on the first half day to snap a picture and text it to someone.  But, as the days wore on I felt more free and alive with out being plugged in. I began to pay attention to little details in nature, such a tiny frog jumping off the path under my feet, as well as the scarier site of stepping over wolf scat. I enjoyed the sound of the wind from top of steep, rocky hills, or a long conversation with my fiancé and friend who joined me. Even though some of these conversations had long pauses, because we were breathing so hard from climbing the hill.  I knew I wanted to share the beauty I was taking in with others, but I realized sharing it could wait until I had the whole story. Often my weakness is rushing in, not re-reading what I have written, and not preparing properly for the task at hand. Hiking has drilled into me that one must prepare and let the whole trip play out before we share it with our audiences. Facebook, Email, and Twitter are such great tools to stay in touch and shoot off quick thoughts. I hope we don’t lose the fact that sometimes the long processed thought is still more valuable then the one we can shoot off with in 140 characters.

The beginning of our trip those bags are weighing in a at cool 40 pounds. 

Split Rock River: We camped here the first night and that's me having my morning cup of hot chocolate before we take off for the day. 

After the first long, tough climb we got our view of the biggest lake of them all. Yes, I was breathing heavy. Good thing we only hiked 15 miles on this day. 

Bear Lake, half way through our hike on hump day. I took a nap right where this picture was taken. It was glorious. 

Ryan and I atop of Mount Trudee. It was not a fun climb but the view was beyond beautiful. 

After hiking 17. 5 miles in one day through the toughest part of the trail, we decided we deserved a cabin for the night. 

Last campsite of our trip. 

The last great view from our trip. Those are my fiance's shoes. I was still eating a whole pot of rice behind her. 

The end of our trip, we made it. 60 miles in 5 days and the fiance's parents showed up with drinks, food, and a ride back to our car. It was clutch.