PNT day 26 – Forest Roads Part II

Pierre Lake Camp (412.4) to Boulder Creek Summit Camp (433.5)

21.1 miles + 1.4 miles off-trail

When I arrived back at the trail junction I bumped into Indie and Hummingbird. They had caught up quick! Together we shooted down the road towards Kettle River.

While the two others took a break and stayed for second breakfast I started climbing up along the forest road. Over the next ten miles the road would climb from 1500 ft to 6000 ft. Ways to go!

I put my head down and climbed as there was nothing exciting along the way. Around midday I took a lunch break and tried the “Original Bavarian Landjaeger” I had bought in Northport at the grocery. They are not quite the original but they are not too bad. I kept one for dinner tonight.

Along the hike I met a biologist who was counting a special type of bumblebees. He also told me about the Huckleberries in the woods. Now I know! 😉

I hiked on until I got to a weird junction nearly at the top of the climb. I asked my GPS app. It didn’t show a junction and so I followed the obvious road. It was downhill and I felt it wasn’t right. I checked again with the paper map. I should have taken the smaller road up. Damn! I backtracked and followed a small road. The paper maps called it “decommissioned” forest road and a small note warned “rugged conditions”. I had been looking forward to a gentle downhill and munching on my afternoon snack but it didn’t happen. I had to be concentrated to find my way through the plants and had to step over burned trees. The trail went through a big burned area.

Two miles before I reached my dedicated campsite things got worse. The trail was barely visible and lots of trees were down. I scrambled and screamed as my right foot got stuck under a branch. It hurt! My right foot was hurting for days already, then the dog attack and now the branch. It had to take a lot. Tired as I was I scrambled over the last trees and hiked down the forest road afterwards to the campground. It was closed but I didn’t care.

Indie and Hummingbird camp here as well. But tomorrow they’ll be gone as they are aiming for an early start and well over 25 miles. Too much for me and I need to sleep in a bit!